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TIM HODGKINSON – COMPOSER
Born in 1949, graduate in social anthropology at Cambridge, co-founder of the politically and musically radical group Henry Cow in 1968, Tim Hodgkinson has followed a restless and critical creative path. To composition he brings a long and unique experience in musical improvisation and ethnomusicology. Whilst his scores do not incorporate improvisation as such, he has found a way of writing that draws not only on models of instability and timbre transformation, but also a sense of resistance against the hardening of technical and stylistic habits. In resonance with the dialogues between Francis Bacon and David Sylvester, he feels that composition is, above all, an artistic practice, a searching, cutting away, sculpting process of ongoing work, dealing and re-dealing with impulsion and doubt, vertigo, dirt, error and nerve.

In 1995 he presented his 50 minute long 'expressionist' work Stop Mortal at the QEH, inspired by the work of Tadeusz Kantor, with Nicholas Hodges, Dagmar Krause, Zoe Martlew and Charles Mutter. Following this, his composing underwent a marked change from a combinatorial and procedural emphasis to an acoustic and phenomenological one. This change catalysed the liberation-from-the-inside of a long experience in sound work which until then had been a hidden dimension in his scores. He started to collaborate with the Romanian composers Iancu Dumitrescu and Anna-Maria Avram and with the Hyperion Ensemble, founded by Dumitrescu.

In the same period he made a series of study trips to Siberia which brought him into close and ongoing contact with musicians and ritual specialists from non-western cultures. This, as he wrote in New Notes magazine, 're-focussed my approach to sound and my efforts to ground music in being.' He has published an article on Tuvan musical and sculptural aesthetics in Cambridge Anthropology Journal and contributed a paper to a symposium on music and shamanism at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

His compositions have been interpreted in such international festivals as: Spectrum XXI (Brussels, Paris, Geneva), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (U.K.), Craiova and Ploiesti Festivals (Romania), Guarda Festival (Portugal), Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano (Italy), Konfrontationen Festival (Austria), Nordlyd Festival (Norway), Musique Action (France) and the European Symposium of Experimental Music at Barcelona. He has published articles on improvised music, musique concrète, the ethnomusicology of shamanism, and on the aesthetic problems arising from the impact of new technology on contemporary music making - in Contemporary Music Review, Musicworks, The Wire, Rer Quarterly, etc.

He has given lectures and workshops at Cagliari and Lyon Conservatoires, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, and at art schools in several European countries.

COMPOSER DISCOGRAPHY
Sketch of Now : Hodgkinson : New works 2001-04. Mode 164, USA
Ensemble Phoenix Basle, cond Jürg Henneberger: Buess/Hodgkinson/Feiler 2004. Phoenix - 1 ,CH
Apophasis ; with David Connearn 2003. BIPH 03 CD, UK
Dumitrescu, Avram, Cutler, Hodgkinson 1999. ReR DACH 1, UK
Sang : Hodgkinson: New works 1999. ReR TH 2, UK
Pragma : Hodgkinson: New works 1997- 8. ReR TH, 1 UK

From reviews of SKETCH OF NOW CD, Mode 164.
What separates Hodgkinson from the myriad others that work in similar modes of musical construction is a unique attention to recurrence, both of sound and of silence. His palette is that of the contemporary classicist, but his cyclic deployment of sound and its apparent antithesis – his explorations of the genesis, motion and fruition of each sound in context – reveal many layers on repeated listening that render any notion of classicism irrelevant.
Marc Medwin, Dusted, Sep 2006

Each gesture feels liberated by its notation, and here are six pieces crammed with the sound of surprise….. music that recklessly occupies the present..
Philip Clark, Gramophone, Feb 2007

PERFORMANCES 2003-7

  • The Hum of Destruction whirrs through the National Cackle of Love and Produce (2007) for amplified bass flute and spanish guitar, and (radio-derived) electronics. Nov 23, 2007, St Paul's Hall, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. HCMF commission.
  • Amhas/Nirriti (2006) for ensemble and electronic sound, Nov 20, 2007, Insomnio ensemble, St Paul's Hall, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. First performed by Hyperion Ensemble Nov 21, 2006, Auditorium St Germain, Paris. Spectrum XXI Festival.
  • Nomos-Yozu (2007) for Insomnio ensemble, Nov 18, 2007, St Paul's Hall, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. HCMF commission.
  • Tmesis (2007) for cello, tape, 2 percussion, 2 clarinets, 2 brass. Espace Demeer, Brussels, Oct 31, 2007, and Centre Wallonie-Brussels, Paris, Nov 3, 2007. Spectrum XXI Festival.
  • Nameles Tower II (2007) for solo clarinet with live electronic manipulation. Espace Demeer, Brussels, Oct 31, 2007, and Centre Wallonie-Brussels, Paris, Nov 3, 2007. Spectrum XXI Festival.
  • Fragor (2003) for computer processed cello and electric guitar, Institut Culturel Roumain, Paris, Nov 22, 2006, first performed at Acousmania Festival, Bucharest, May 2003.
  • Pragma (2006) for bass clarinet solo, Hotel de Béhague, Paris, Nov 17, 2006 Spectrum XXI Festival,.
  • GUSHe, (1999), for Bb clarinet and tape, Hotel de Béhague, Paris, Nov 17, 2006 Spectrum XXI Festival. First performance Musica Nova Festival, Sinaia, 8.10.05.
  • Hearken (2006) for bass clarinet and tape c 12m. Spectrum XXI, Paris, Nov 19th 2006. First performed Acousmania May 6th 2006.
  • Carillon for Amplified Harpsichord and four pre-recorded Electric Guitars, 4.45, (2006). Performed by Jane Chapman at Cargo, London March 28th 2006.
  • Ulaaraar, (2005), 10m, bass clarinet with string ensemble (min 2 altos, 2 cellos) and small gong. Musica Nova Festival 8.10.05 and 9.10.05 at Bucharest and Sinaia.
  • Thrown, (2005), 9m, harp, bass clarinet doubling clarinet, piano, double bass, percussion and live sound treatment and projection. Performed Bindou Ensemble, at Musique Action Festival, Vandouevre. May 28, 2005
  • Nameless Tower, (2005), for ensemble (vln, 2 alto, cello, flute, clar, bass clar, trombone, piano, 2 percussion). Performed Hyperion Ensemble, Acousmania Festival, May 3 2005.
  • Aici Schiteaza Pe Acum, (2004), for tape and instrumental ensemble (3 vln/vla, 2 celli, 2 cb, oboe, 2 flt, clar, bass-clar, bassoon, sax, trom, 2 percuss, piano). Performed Hyperion Ensemble, Acousmania Festival, May 5 2004.
  • Watching into a Hard Stone , (2004), clarinet, ring-modulator, prepared piano, pitch shifter. Acousmania Festival, May 3 2004.
  • De Yoknapatawpha, (2004), for 2 clarinets ( 1 doubling bass clarinet ) and piano, commissioned by Jacques Di Donato for De Mendelssohn à nos jours at Nevers, France. Performed Feb 2004, Di Donato, Duthoit, Berthelot.
  • Vers Kongsu (2002), for clarinet solo, percussion and strings, performed Hyperion Ensemble, Oct 2003, Musica Nova Ploiesti. First performance Bucharest, Feb 2002, broadcast on S.S.R.
  • Breathing/Fighting, (2001), for bass clarinet and wood percussion, fp Guarda Festival, Portugal June 2001. Also Oct 2003, Musica Nova Ploiesti, with Gustavo Aguilar (perc).
  • Repulsion, (1997), for clarinet, electric guitar, trombone, percussion, performed Phoenix Ensemble, Basel and Rottenburg Ars Nova, Apr 2003. Recorded for release on Phoenix CD 2004.
  • Apophasis, (2001), concrète sound-art collaboration with David Connearn for the Sleeper gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2001. Also Old Truman Brewery, London, May 2003 and Fruits de Mhère Music Festival, Aug 2003.
  • Mise en Abîme , (1994), for 3 percussionists commissioned by Basler Schlagzeug Trio. Also performed by the Nidaros Slagverksensemble at Trondheim Nordlyd Festival 1995, and by Percussion-Trio HOW 2 at Winterthur, Bern, and Basel , May 2003.
PERFORMANCES 2002-1994
  • Mà, 1999, Montage: in series Internationale Digitale Radiokunst, SFB, Berlin, 2001.
  • GUSHe, 1999, for Bb clarinet and tape, performed at Atheneu, Bucharest and Craiova Festival, Romania Dec 1999, and broadcast on SRR – also at Guarda Festival, Portugal 2001.
  • Black Death & Errors in Construction, for bass clarinet, prepared piano, elec guitar, 2 cellos, 2 violas, percussion, tape, 1998, performed at Nancy Musique Action 98 by Hyperion Ensemble, conducted I. Dumitrescu. and on 8/12/99 at the Sala Auditorium National de Arta al Romanei, Bucuresti. Broadcast SRR.
  • SHHH, 1997, electroacoustic work, dedicated to Xanana Gusmao, performed at Composers' Union, Bucharest, Dec 1997.
  • Eixam, 1997, for wind orchestra + double basses, commissioned by Gracia Territori Sonor and performed by Banda Municipale de Barcelona at 2nd European Symposium of Experimental Music, Oct 1997.
  • Seven Vomits Rising in the Real Body of Music, 1996; radiophonic work commissioned & broadcast by R.A.I. Rome, Apr 1997.
  • Alceste, 1996, for instrumental ensemble and voice, performed with Dagmar Krause & Ossatura at Goethe Institute Rome & broadcast on R.A.I. radio, Nov 1996.
  • Eidos 6 , 1995, for 3 percussionists, commissioned & performed by Basler Schlagzeug Trio, Switzerland.
  • Stop Mortal, 1995, for voice, piano, violin, cello and sampler, commissioned by Musique Action Vandoeuvre, and performed at Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano, Queen Elizabeth Hall London, Musique Action Vandoeuvre, Konfrontationen Festival Nickelsdorf, Nordlyd Festival, Trondheim & Bergen Ny Musikk. With Dagmar Krause, Nicolas Hodges, Charles Mutter, Zoe Martlew, James Clapperton.
  • The Nail, 1994, for 4 brass, 3 percussion, amplified double bass, commissioned by the Podium voor Ongehoor Muziek, Tilburg, performed Tilburg, den Haag, Rotterdam.
PUBLICATIONS/ARTICLES
  • The Henry Cow Book , with Chris Cutler, Third Step 1981.
  • Sulla Libera Improvvisazione , Musica/Realtà 15, Milan, 1984.
  • Interview with Pierre Schaeffer , ReR Quarterly 2, 1, 1987. reprinted in The Book of Music and Nature, ed Rothernburg & Ulvaeus, Wesleyan UP 2001. also translated in Muzikalnaya Akademiya 2, Moscow, 2003.
  • Virtuosity, ReR Quarterly 3, 1, 1990
  • Alternative Spaces, ReR Quarterly 3, 3, 1991
  • Siberian Shamanism & Improvised Music , Contemporary Music Review, 1995.
  • Sampling, Power & Real Collisions, Resonance, 5(2) 1996. also translated in Magyar Muhely 107, Budapest, 1998
  • Impovised Music and Shamanism, Musicworks 66, Toronto, 1996 also translated in Musiche 17, Milan, 1997 and reprinted in
  • Musiche e Sciamani, ed Antonello Colimberti, Textus, 2000. also translated as Musica Improvisada y Chamanismo Siberiano, Hurly Burly 1, Madrid, 1997. also translated as Improvisoitu musiikki ja samanismi, Kulttuurivihkot, Finland, 4-5/2005
  • Notes from the Underground; Interview w Iancu Dumitrescu, Resonance 6(1) 1997. reprinted in Iancu Dumitrescu – Acousmatic Provoker, Ed Modern, Bucharest, 2002
  • In the Land of the Ninth Sky , Musicworks, 71, 1998.
  • Migraines of a Caustic Ear; problems in Musique Concrète, Resonance 6(2) 1998.
  • Az Improvzacio Esztetikaja, Magyar Muhely 112, Budapest, 1999 also translated as La Estetica de la Improvisacion, II CEDI Symposium, Madrid, 1999
  • Level Nine: Spirit Music in Siberia, Resonance 7(2) 1999
  • Indeterminacy & Shamanism; Variant 11, summer 2000.
  • A Rich Field of Possibilities, Resonance 8(1) 2000
  • Sibérie, Cybernétique, Si Bémol, Revue et Corrigée 62, December 2004
  • Musicians, Carvers, Shamans, Cambridge Anthropology vol 25, no 3, 2005/6