Release Date: 15 November 2019

The centrepiece of this album is formed by a substantial string quartet in seven movements. To anyone who knows Sam Hayden and his music, the seemingly traditional genre may come as a surprise. Transience, here performed by Quatuor Diotima, explores the sonics of extended techniques – it is a work full of soft, whistling overtones as well as microtones. It is dedicated to the late Jonathan Harvey, who was Sam Hayden’s teacher, mentor and friend.

Relative Automony, for 16 players, is dense, rich and visceral. A heavy layer of bass instruments contrabass clarinet and contrabassoon, tuba and bass trombone, cello and double bass is contrasted with the prominent use of instruments at the opposite extreme, such as piccolo flute and E flat clarinet. Substratum follows in a similiar vein but includes contrast between passages of frantic activity and sudden periods of stasis when notes are sustained as if frozen in time.

This album includes the bonus track Die Abkehr. Hayden explains, the more poetic meanings of the title hint at a critical commentary on the increasingly nostalgic and inward-looking culture of the UK … the composition is the latest of a cycle of pieces that combine ideas related to spectral traditions with algorithmic approaches to composition, where aspects of the pitch and rhythmical materials are computer-generated using IRCAMs OpenMusic. Available for FREE with all purchases of the Substratum album.

Ensemble Musikfabrik
Stefan Asbury conductor
Quatuor Diotima
BBC Symphony Orchestra
David Robertson conductor

AUDIO REVIEWS

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP 100 BEST ALBUMS OF 2019

‘The title piece is a large-orchestral unfolding that unites compelling turbulence with rarest detail’ The Sunday Times

‘a substantial, impressive work of complex orchestral texture’ Records International

‘Sam Hayden has developed his own compositional trajectory with tenacity and vigour’ The Wire

‘fierce explosions of sound … the music’s sonic imprint is unmistakably Hayden’s own.’ Gramophone

FUNDERS

Special thanks to Hinrichsen Foundation, RVW Trust and Research at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance for their support of this album.

Relative Autonomy was commissioned by London Sinfonietta. Substratum was commissioned by BBC Radio 3. Transience was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and Quatuor Diotima with the support of DRAC Centre/Rgion Centre France.

RECORDING CREDITS

Relative Autonomy and Die Abkehr were recorded at Funkhaus Wallrafplatz, WDR, Kln, Germany on 6 October 2017.

Executive Producer: WERNER WITTERSHEIM
Recording Producer: STEPHAN SCHMIDT
Sound Engineer: THOMAS KUPILAS

Substratum was recorded at Barbican Hall, London on 8 December 2008.

Recording & Editing Engineer: NEIL PEMBERTON
Recording Producer: ANN MCKAY

Transience was recorded at St Paul’s Hall, Huddersfield on 26 November 2016.

Recording Producer: SAM HAYDEN
Recording Engineer: CHRISTOPHER MCDONNEL

Mastering: DAVID LEFEBER

(P) 2019 NMC Recordings Ltd
2019 NMC Recordings Ltd

Catalogue number: NMC D247
Release Date: 15 November 2019