Parkinson Saunders consists of the composer / performers Tim Parkinson and James Saunders. Best known for their live performances, their instrumentation comprises any sound producing means other than conventional instruments. The second edition of BORE collects together a number of individual compositions by each of the composers.
Tim Parkinson and James Saunders Any Sound Producing Means *SOLD OUT*
Tim Parkinson
Songs 2011
1. la dee
2. iSong
3. nana na na na
4. and i do like
James Saunders
Things whole and not whole
Pairing
Everyone doing what everyone else is doing
The difference in potential arising from different points in the circuits
Object Network #16 (printed on Arches watercolour paper)
Object Network #17 (printed on clear acetate)
“Founded by Sarah Hughes and David Stent, BORE is a biannual publication of scores by composers, ensembles, artists, writers and musicians. Their emphasis is on text-based notation but the open-ended format allows for a variety of approaches. In this way the project resembles the classic journal Source: Music of the Avant-Garde, by Larry Austin. Source published eleven issues from 1967 to 1973 and featured artists and composers such as George Brecht, Gavin Bryars, Morton Feldman, Harold Budd, Dick Higgins, the ONCE group, Bob Cobbing, Christopher Hobbs, Endre Tot, Image Bank, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros, Henri Chopin, Robert Filliou, Jon Hassell, Earle Brown, Robert Ashley and countless others.
The thick spiral bound issues often included unusual formats. Issue 7-8, for example, featured John Cage’s Not Wanting To Say Anything About Marcel, printed on transparent acetate. Other issues included 10” vinyl records, a photographic slide and the tactile score Fur Music II by Nelson Howe, which featured actual fur.
BORE continues the tradition of experimental formats, at least based on the handsomely produced issue #2, which arrived here in the mail earlier in the year and got lost in the shuffle. Published in February 2014, in an edition of only fifty copies, the issue collects together a number of individual works by composers Tim Parkinson and James Saunders, who are frequent collaborators.
Saunders contributes two Object Network pieces, which, according to his website, are “a series of individually made scores which double as performance surfaces. Each score is drawn onto a found surface. A network of points and lines is used to direct movements of small objects across the surface, resulting in a range of different friction sounds.” Object Network #16 is printed on Arche watercolour paper and #17 is printed on clear acetate, recalling the Cage work from Source, or some of Dick Higgins’ overlay compositions from the Graphis series.
The difference in potential arising from different points in the circuits is printed on thick paper and mounted on card stock, held in place with photo corners.”
Artists’ Books and Multiples
Tim Parkinson (b.1973) is an independent composer, based in London, UK since 1997. Music has been written for various groups and ensembles including Apartment House, [rout], Incidental Music, Dedalus, Basel Sinfonietta, London Sinfonietta; and for various instrumentalists including Stephen Altoft, Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Julia Eckhardt, Anton Lukoszevieze, Tanja Masanti, Andrew Sparling, Craig Shepard, Philip Thomas, Stefan Thut. Music has been performed in UK, Europe, USA, Armenia, New Zealand, Japan. He is also active as pianist and performer, both independently and also by invitation, having been an occasional performer with Apartment House, and Plus-Minus, and having performed in the UK in venues such as Tate Modern, Barbican, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and further afield in Europe, and South America. Independently he has curated, presented and performed many concerts, forming working relationships with musicians without intention of forming an ensemble. Since 2003 has been regularly performing with composer James Saunders in the lo-fi electronics, auxiliary instrument and any-sound-producing-means duo Parkinson Saunders.
James Saunders is a composer who makes modular compositions and series. His music has been played at numerous international festivals, including Bludenz Tage fur Zeitgenossiche Musik, Brighton Festival, BMIC Cutting Edge, Darmstadt, Donaueschingen, Gothenburg Arts Sounds, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Inventionen Berlin, The Kitchen, Music We’d Like to Hear, Ostrava New Music Days, Rational Rec, Roaring Hooves, Ultima, and Wittener Tage fur Neue Kammermusik. It has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Resonance FM (UK), WDR3, BR Klassik and SWR2 (Germany), and national radio in Czech Republic, Norway, Italy, New Zealand, and Sweden. In 2003 and 2007 he held residencies at the Experimental Studio fur Akustiche Kunst in Freiburg. James has worked with Apartment House, Arditti Quartet, asamisimasa, Sebastian Berweck, ensemble chronophonie, duo Contour, Rhodri Davies, EXAUDI, Nicolas Hodges, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Neue Vocalsolisten, plus minus ensemble, Psappha, ensemble recherche, SUONO MOBILE, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, and 175 East. As a performer he plays in the duo Parkinson Saunders with composer Tim Parkinson, Apartment House, and has also performed with Alvin Lucier, Christian Wolff and Phill Niblock.
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