a performing instrumental ensemble
specialising in contemporary and 20th century music
a promoter and curator of concerts and festivals
also promoting other performers with similar artistic aims
an organizer of creative educational events
related to new music, for all ages and levels of experience
The aims of Uroboros Ensemble are:
* The performance and promotion of music, with special emphasis on contemporary music.
* Creating new opportunities for emerging and undiscovered composers.
* Presenting recent musical developments of which the public is either unaware, or through lack of exposure finds problematical.
* Giving exposure in the UK to musical ideas and developments from different countries.
* Helping to develop future international partnerships.
* Encouraging young performers to embrace contemporary music, and supporting them in performance.
* Making young children aware of contemporary music, and the joy to be found participating in it and listening to it.
* Building an audience for music, especially contemporary music, by engaging people from all walks of life.
Rowland Sutherland (Flöte), Max Welford (Klarinette), Darragh Morgan (Violine), Deirdre Cooper (Violoncello),
Gwyn Pritchard - conductor
“2016-E”is scored for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), violin and cello, and was written in 2016 for the Uroboros Ensemble, directed by Gwyn Pritchard. It lasts nine minutes. Clarke′s compositions are either ′Untitled′ or are given a number, which is the year of composition, and a code letter. The composer has said, "The purpose of music is to reach parts of the brain, parts of our experience of perception, which can evaluate and appreciate matters in ways beyond the capacity and realm of words. The listener is invited to form his or her own understanding of the musical work. A musical composition, like an abstract work of visual art, should be allowed to speak for itself."
“Me, me and myself“ ist ein Dialog zwischen mindestens drei von uns in uns selber... Aber... wer sind "wir" in diesem Moment? Das Stück versucht, es herauszufinden und erforscht mit Energie, Farben und Bewegung die verdecktesten Seiten in uns selber. G.B.d.N.
Vier beginnt mit zwei unabhängig voneinander stattfindenden Duetten. Jedes Duo spielt mit einem kleinen begrenzten Tonmaterial. Im Verlauf des Stückes wird dieses Material ausgetauscht und es entstehen verschiedene neue wechselseitige Beziehungen …
This piece evokes an invented “folk” violin style through the use of irregular meters, grace-notes, pedal tones, diatonic modalities, microtonal inflections and irregular rhythmical subdivisions. Such techniques create a quasi-improvised feel to the surface of the music, yet every detail is notated precisely. The piece involves no quotation, transcription or transformation of any pre-existing musical material.
A simple five-note motive is the basis for all the melodic and harmonic material, becoming gradually less tonal as the piece progresses. A continuous line becomes increasingly displaced between registers. A general formal trajectory from low to high registers is combined with an acceleration of pulse and harmonic rhythm and a transformation of texture from modality to timbre.
Aggressive und markante Motive leiten die Komposition ein. Die schnelle Folge der unterschiedlichen Motive hat eine suggestive, sich verdichtende und hypnotisierende Kraft.
Im Mittelteil baut diese ab. Doch die ruhige Klangfläche (Trance) wird immer wieder durch blitzartig einsetzende, die Ruhe störende Motive unterbrochen - gegen Ende allmähliches Erwachen. Ideal wäre es, wenn die vier Musiker über die Vielfalt der Spieltechniken und rhythmischen Verzahnungen den Zuhörer in optimale Spannung versetzen und diese zu Ende wieder lösen. Gisbert Näther
’Sikangnuqa’ is the third part of a tetralogy, drawn from Hopi Indian creation myth. The title means ‘yellow light of dawn’, in which human beings took their first breath. Initially conceived for Roberto Fabbricciani [1979], and later revised for Matteo Cesari [2010].
Komponieren heißt Entscheidungen treffen. Nach jedem Ton wählt man aus einer Vielzahl von Möglichkeiten den nächsten Ton, was so gesehen auch Verzicht bedeutet...
Erst wenn eine Komposition fertig ist, wähle ich einen Titel. Ich betrachte das Stück dann wie ein Fundstück, dem ich einen Namen gebe, damit ich es nicht verwechsle. Bei der Namensgebung denke ich aber auch an die Interpreten. So könnte ′secret movie′ auch eine Assoziation für die Instrumentalist*innen sein.
In this music, as at the time of day suggested by the title, a world is evoked in which the defined becomes blurred, making details difficult to isolate, but at the same time the complex becomes reduced and simplified; the ambiguous is set against the defined. Furthermore, an emerging nocturnal atmosphere brings with it many dualisms: fear/intimacy, festivity/loneliness, dreams/nightmares; and similarly the music, although not attempting to express any of these specifically, is characterized by many contradictory forces. Nightfall was composed in 2011, for Ensemble Ex Novo of Venice, at the invitation of their director Claudio Ambrosini to whom it is dedicated.