Friends Newsletter Summer 2024
Welcome to the Summer 2024 edition of the NMC Friends Newsletter!
I am thrilled to introduce the Summer 2024 edition of the NMC Friends Newsletter. As many of you will know, NMC has recently celebrated its 35th anniversary with a concert as part of Spitalfields Festival. Within this edition of the Friends Newsletter, NMC Founder & Executive Producer Colin Matthews reflects on the last 35 years and NMC Executive Director Cathy Graham details how NMC is looking to the future. Listening Corner also makes a return to this volume, as NMC’s new Head of Fundraising, Claire Wright shares a selection of music from her past.
Also in this issue, we hear from Josh Cirtina, Bass Trombone/Artistic Director of Slide Action, who are due to release their debut album later this year, as well as a behind-the scenes insight into our 35th Anniversary Concert at Spitalfields Festival. Moreover, if you missed Lisa Illean’s article from the previous newsletter, you can now read it our NMC Discover blog, and we also showcase our recent and upcoming releases.
Finally, I would like to once again say thank you for your steadfast support of NMC Recordings. The support we receive from our Friends and Producers’ Circle members is critical to our survival as an organisation. If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything related to NMC, please do not hesitate to get in touch with myself on stephen@nmcrec.co.uk, or Claire Wright on claire@nmcrec.co.uk – it is always wonderful to hear from you.
Best wishes,
Stephen Balfour Office & Fundraising Co-ordinator
The front cover features the National Youth Choir Fellowship Ensemble performing at the NMC 35th anniversary concert © Ollie Denton Photography
Listening Corner
NMC’s Head of Fundraising, Claire Wright, shares a selection of music that has stayed with her over the course of her life. Claire writes:
I first encountered Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater through singing it in the school choir. It is so beautiful and poignant. I doubt that our rendition was up to much, but it has stayed with me ever since.
A few weeks ago I heard of the death of French singer Françoise Hardy, I suddenly remembered the moment when I first heard her voice. I was 16
or 17 and I went to a party at a friend’s house. Someone I didn’t know put on Dans le Monde Entier and I thought it was the most stylish “cool” thing I’d ever heard. I am still captivated by her voice, and I’ve been listening to it from time to time ever since.
I came very late to Leonard Cohen. A friend persuaded me into watching a video she had of a concert he had given – I was hooked. I am so glad that I managed to see him live in his last years – he had charisma and authenticity by the bucketload, and was above all so human. I go back to his music over and over again.
Not long ago I tuned into Britten’s Violin Concerto broadcast from Aldeburgh. Somehow it’s a piece that I don’t recall having heard in the past, but it’s been resonating with me at the moment. Sometimes music needs to reach your ears at just the right moment for you to fully connect with it.
Claire Wright, July 2024
Claire Wright © NMC Recordings
NMC at 35 — Foreword from Colin Matthews
NMC Founder & Executive Producer Colin Matthews shares some insight into NMC’s history, and how after 35 years, NMC is looking to the future. Colin writes:
Back in 1988 when we were struggling to get approval for establishing NMC as a charity (until we showed them our projected accounts the Charity Commissioners had assumed that record companies only existed to make money!) no one would have believed that 36 years later we would have a catalogue of over 300 albums. Nor that we would represent more than 550 composers between our own label and the 5 labels that we distribute. And of course we didn’t anticipate downloads and streaming, which now play such a large part in what we offer.
The 35th anniversary of our first releases gives us an opportunity both to reflect on past achievements and to look to the future. Our original mission was to fill the huge
NMC 35th anniversary logo © NMC Recordings
Colin Matthews with Imogen Holst © NMC Recordings
gap in the recording of living British and Irish composers, an area which at the time the major labels largely ignored. But we have gradually expanded to include significant 20th century composers — previously unrecorded music by Britten, Tippett and Elgar for instance - while making compilations for the younger generation who are not yet ready for a complete album to themselves.
Debut Discs provide the next step, where we also help composers with career development - to quote two of them, Charlotte Bray;
‘Having my music recorded and released for the first time by NMC has made a fantastic contribution to my career’; and Edmund Finnis; ‘Having my music recorded by a wide range of exceptional musicians and released by NMC has been a significant milestone in my development as a composer.’
All income from our recordings is ploughed back into the label, although we’re well aware that very few discs break even, and fewer still make a profit. Our amazing small team work wonders, but we are so grateful for the generosity of our many supporters and friends, who do so much to help us on what has been — and will continue to be — an extraordinary journey.
Colin
Matthews, June 2024
Charlotte Bray © NMC Recordings
Recommended on Discover
Click on the images to go to the articles on our website.
The partially heard and the partly known: Lisa Illean on her new album
12 June 2024
Lisa Illean reflects on her new album with NMC: arcing, stilling, bending, gathering.
The
Remembering Sir Andrew Davis (19442024)
22 April 2024
NMC’s Founder and Executive Producer Colin Matthews pays tribute to Sir Andrew Davis.
Impermanence of Things: Q&A with composer Michael Zev Gordon
3 April 2024
Composer Michael Zev Gordon on the themes and processes behind his new album, The Impermanence of Things, released by NMC on 19 April 2024.
NMC at 35 Spitalfields Festival
On Wednesday 3 July 2024, NMC and Spitalfields Festival hosted a special anniversary concert at the Dutch Church in Austin Friars in central London, to celebrate 35 years of NMC Recordings.
How can one possibly fit 35 years of history into a 90-minute concert? Luckily for us, NMC Creative Director Eleanor Wilson was on hand and did an outstanding job, as we heard a wide variety of music from both new and established composers from NMC’s catalogue.
The Fellowship Ensemble from the National Youth Choir opened the
The National Youth Choir Fellows perform Sol by Ben Nobuto © Ollie Denton
Roderick Williams and Andrew West performed a selection of songs by NMC composers © Ollie Denton
concert with Ben Nobuto’s Sol (winner of the 2023 Ivor Novello Classical Award for Best Choral Composition) and Millicent B James’ Finding Your Home. Both Ben and Millicent feature on NYC Young Composers Volume 4 and 5 respectively. Interspersed between these works were A Hymne to Christ by Imogen Holst and Roxanna Panufnik’s O’Hearken
Zoë Martlew oversaw the evening’s proceedings, and was next to perform, as we heard her own composition, G-Lude. Zoë completed G-Lude in 2021 as a commission from Spitalfields Festival and we are delighted to announce the piece will feature on her upcoming Debut Disc, due for release in 2025.
Roderick Williams and Andrew West then performed several works for piano and voice by Brian Elias, Colin Matthews, Robert Saxton, Howard Skempton, Roderick Williams himself, in addition to a selection of songs from Richard Rodney Bennett’s Songs Before Sleep; Judith Weir’s The Voice of Desire and Hugh Wood’s The Isles of Greece.
Trombone quartet Slide Action concluded the concert with Sasha Scott’s Hypernova, which was specially commissioned by NMC for this concert. We then heard Ryan Latimer’s C. Exigua and Matthew Locke’s Flatt Consort featuring bass trombonist Josh Cirtina, who you can hear from on page 14 of this newsletter. Alex Paxton’s ESTAMPIE was a raucous and electrifying close to the concert. The concert itself received five-stars from The Arts Desk, as Bernard Hughes wrote:
“NMC deserves accolades for all it has done and all it continues to do, and this concert, sandwiching the older generation of voices between two bursts of young composers, was the perfect summary of its mission.”
Bernard Hughes (The Arts Desk)
Stephen Balfour, July 2024
Zoe Martlew performing her own G-Lude © Ollie Denton
A full house applauds all the performers at the conclusion of the concert © Ollie Denton
Slide Action performing Flatt Consort by Matthew Locke, arr. Josh Cirtina © Ollie Denton
Slide Action: RE:BUILD
Josh Cirtina, Artist Director of Slide Action and Principal bass trombone of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra provides an insight into the quartet’s upcoming release entitled Slide Action: RE:BUILD. Josh writes:
If you’re an avid follower of the NMC upcoming release schedule, you’re as surprised as us that they chose to take on a debut album from none other than a trombone quartet, much to our delight (and shock!). I think it speaks volumes of NMC’s forward-thinking approach and openness in their core values that they chose to work with us for ‘RE:BUILD’.
I should probably now tell you a little about what it’s all about, and how we got the idea to where it is now. Ultimately the album is a statement of intent from Slide Action. I’m probably generalising a little
Josh Cirtina, Huw Evans, Jamie Tweed and Benny Vernon © Slide Action
but as a medium, brass music has probably seen the least progression in terms of volume of new composition in comparison to others (strings, winds, percussion etc).
A good deal of trombone quartet repertoire was written in Paris in the mid 20th century which could hardly be termed contemporary music in 2024 (though some groups still try … ), or most commonly seen in concerts are arrangements of music written for other formats. As we developed as an ensemble, we found ourselves at a loss when programming … constantly looking for new sounds and ideas yet having to reuse the same pieces over and over again.
We explored more ‘innovative’ performance techniques including movement and entirely memorised programmes which was a great step forward and started to move us away from the traditional brass chamber music box… yet something was still missing. Gradually it dawned on us that ultimately what we wanted to be didn’t exist yet … it was time to change that!
Slide Action performing © Slide Action
That seed of an idea has grown into not only into this album, but also our identity as a group. We set about commissioning music from renowned British composers: Emily Hall, Laura Jurd, Ryan Latimer, Alex Paxton and Joanna Ward. Part of our attraction to all of these composers was that while some had experience writing for brass, none were ‘type-cast’ as ‘brass composers’. Therefore, we felt they had unfiltered and untamed approaches to what was possible and what kind of sounds they could create with us.
As commissions arrived on our doorstep, we felt that when it came to performing or recording this new music, it wasn’t enough to simply programme it all as a compilation of new music. Rather we wanted to create a seamless journey for the listener, utilising ‘interludes’ to travel from one work to the next. The interludes are entirely composed or arranged by ourselves and all have a distinct identity that takes inspiration from what comes before and after.
I think to offer any description to this would not serve any purpose other than to bore you, so if you get a moment please do listen to our album from October 11th … I hope that it will make much more sense than my ramblings above … !
Josh
Cirtina, June 2024
Slide Action: RE:BUILD will be released on NMC Recordings on 11 October 2024.
Third Party releases
Birmingham Record Company
Neil Luck: HYPERROMANTIC
Luck’s work explores the pathos and interaction between live human performance and multimedia, and attempts to frame the act of music making as something curious, or weird, or useful, or spectacular in and of itself.
BRC025 DL/Streaming
Jamie Savan: The Polyphonic Cornett
Release date: 21/06/2024
Savan has been a member of His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts since 2005. As a cornettist he has performed with many of the leading period instrument ensembles, and is interested in exploring the cornett’s full range of musical possibilities.
BRC026 DL/Streaming
Huddersfield Contemporary Records
Ernest Berk: Diversed Tapes
Release date: 15/11/2024
Ernest Berk was a German choreographer, electronic music composer, improviser, dance therapist and pegagogue. The Nazi suppression of Jewish intellectuals led Berk to flee to the UK in the 1930s, where his multifarious career spanned six decades.
HCR34 CD(2)/DL/Streaming
ELISION Ensemble: title tbc
Release date: 24/05/2024
Australia’s premier new music ensemble play works by Cat Hope, Mary Bellamy, Aaron Cassidy, Golnaz Shariatzadeh, John Aulich, Charlie Sdraulig, and Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh.
HCR35 CD/DL/Streaming
Release date: 15/11/2024
NMC at 35 Cathy Graham
NMC Executive Director details how NMC is looking towards the future in our 35th anniversary year. Cathy writes:
The story of NMC Recordings is of a constantly evolving journey which has the development of UK and Irish composers and the future of these countries’ new music at its very heart. It is as impressive as it is heartwarming, and the journey continues. I still feel that the organisation is an unsung hero, quite simply because very few people understand its breadth and ambition beyond the production and global distribution of recordings.
NMC is not just a record label, but an ambitious and growing arts charity. The work supporting composers of all stages through the many facets of the recording process, and the work with younger people opening doors to the music of our composers and the recording industry, though central, is rarely highlighted. Nor are the resources we make freely available for students of all ages.
Like many organisations we continue to work energetically to redress the absence of many exceptional voices in classical music and are committed to creating opportunities for communities that are traditionally under represented. 50% of our release schedule since 2019 features music by women composers and we constantly challenge ourselves to give a platform to those who have been excluded for whatever reason, be that gender, cultural background or disability. This enriches all of us, as well as the development of the art form.
In our 35th anniversary year and beyond, our catalogue –a truly diverse living archive of contemporary classical music – will continue to grow. We will continue to work closely with outstanding composers from Britain and Ireland to produce highquality recordings of their music. But I hope that this year, as well as celebrating NMC for the outstanding recordings which continue to enrich our listening, we will celebrate and support the totality of the work of this unique organisation.
NMC Recordings
Our work would not be possible without the support of individual donors, trusts, foundations, and Arts Council England, for which we are truly grateful. As all arts organisations currently we are having to work harder than ever to ensure we raise the funds to enable the exceptional and vitally important work we do. But with our eyes set firmly on our goals I am excited and confident as we stride into the future.
Cathy Graham, 2024
Cathy Graham ©
Recent & upcoming NMC releases
Recent releases
Anthony Payne: Visions and Journeys
An album of the late Anthony Payne’s previously unreleased orchestral works, including Visions and Journeys, Seeds Long Hidden and Half Heard in Stillness
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins and Sir Andrew Davis. NMC D281
Lisa Illean: arcing, stillling, bending gathering (Debut Disc)
On arcing, stilling, bending, gathering, Illean’s debut portrait album, four different works are assembled to offer a portal into her delicately captivating sound-world.
Explore Ensemble, GBSR Duo, Juliet Fraser, Sydney Symphony Orchestra. NMC D264
Upcoming in Autumn 2024
Imogen Holst: Discovering Imogen
A new album of Imogen Holst’s previously unreleased and largely unheard orchestral works, produced by NMC Executive Producer, Colin Matthews.
BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Singers, Alice Farnham. NMC D280
NMC at 35 Sampler
A digital release celebrating the 35th anniversary of NMC Recordings. The carefully curated 35 track compilation album features an eclectic mix of works taken from the label’s back-catalogue. NMC DL3059
Philharmonia Composers’ Academy Volume 7
Florence Anna Maunders, Mathis Saunier, and Yfat Soul Zisso write an original chamber work for an ensemble of Philharmonia players.
Philharmonia Orchestra. NMC DL3057
Slide Action: RE:BUILD
Slide Action is a virtuosic, multi-award winning trombone quartet, on a mission to discover a new voice for the trombone.
Slide Action. NMC D289
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