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World Premieres of Richard Ayres's No. 57 (K's Strange Day) and No. 58 (Bruckner)

Sep. 26, 2024

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and timpanist Kazutaka Morita opened their 2024-25 season with Richard Ayres'sNo. 57 (K's Strange Day) on September 4 at the Concert Hall of the Helsinki Music Centre. The composer notes, "In a lot of my music I try to make a sort of ‘film without pictures’ in the imagination of the listener. I’m very influenced by early films, and by people like Charlie Chaplin. There is often a central character around which a story revolves, in this case the timpanist. When I was still playing in orchestras, the timpanist seemed to be a mysterious figure, sitting alone and encamped behind a wall of enormous magical cauldrons. They often seemed to be bending over the drums as if in conversation with them. Half musician, half wizard."

Watch their full performance here.

Ayres's No. 58 (Bruckner) was premiered at the Bruckner Casco Festival on September 13 at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam. Ayres notes, "I’ve both loved the music of Anton Bruckner, and at the same time been confused by the composer. In this piece I use his notes, some historical facts, and quite a bit of imagination to celebrate his 200th birthday. An intimate sound biography using recordings of things that Bruckner touched."


Trailer: Richard Ayres & Frederik Neyrink each compose a new piece for the Bruckner Casco Festival Muziekgebouw

To learn more about Richard Ayres, visit schott-music.com.

Richard Ayres
No. 57 (K's Strange Day) (2023)
pic.1.2.2.1.cbn-2.2.1.1-2perc(glsp, vib, tub bells, high metal wind chimes, mark tree, b.d.)-str(16.14.12.10.8)
14'

No. 58 (Bruckner) (2024)
for ensemble and soundtrack
fl.bsn-tpt-keybd(sampler)-vln.db
35'

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