James Dillon

What took you so long???!!!

haha I've had it for a while actually (his 'greatest hit'?) but I've been lame at getting anything else...recently got to hear one part of his nine rivers cycle on the radio, absolutely gorgeous work for 16 singers but didn't tape it.

Well, you started with a good one. If you have 'helle nacht' do you have 'ignis noster' too? (they're paired on the BBC Symphony CD).

The CD 'East 11th St NY 10003' takes its title from a piece for percussion ensemble. (The piece, in turn, takes its title from John Cage's longtime NYC address, if I'm not mistaken.) Anyway, the two two chamber-orchestra pieces on that disc are also quite good: Windows & Canopies; La femme invisible. (I'm less convinced by the percussion piece.) Some or all of these are parts of 9 Rivers; unfortunately I don't think there's a commercial recording of the vocal ensemble piece.

There's a chamber music disc with a string quartet played by the Arditti Quartet, plus an odd and really beautiful piece entitled Vernal Showers. And a very odd violin duo which is sometimes Bartokian but sometimes much stranger. And an earlier piece that didn't make much of an impression on me.

I'm not as crazy about his solo pieces (some of them collected together on a CD, others scattered around on various "compilations"). Actually, the early piano solo, Spleen, is kind of cool.

And the big solo-piano The Book of the Elements is good -- and rather different from what you'd expect based on the rest of his recorded output. It's an expensive double-CD and maybe not his very best work, but it's nice, and an interesting contrast to the other things I've heard from him. Kind of "conservative" -- certainly in comparison to the high-modernist surface of Spleen -- but still quirky and not really backwards-looking.

He's been pretty prolific in recent years, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are more recordings in the pipeline. I'd particularly like to hear his violin concerto from a few years ago, having read good things about it.

two two? (sorry, typing fast and with distractions)

just for completeness, there's Überschreiten, another chamber orchestra (or large-ensemble) piece. Influenced, apparently, by the French "spectral" composers (Murail, Grisey, et al).

yeah it has 'ignis noster'...its the montaigne CD with the orange cover.

real shame that part of nine cycle hasn't been put out. really regret not taping it.

thanks again - I'm going record shopping tomorrow and wanted a few recommendations on this so I'll look out for those.

Maybe I'd recommend the disc with Vernal Showers and the Quartet above the rest.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000501BC.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

(It's funny, montaigne re-issued lots of discs in dark saturated single-colored cardboard packaging; my copy of helle nacht/ignis noster is black text on a plain white background, with a black and white photograph of the composer or the orchestra or something, don't quite remember.)

Also, this is OT but if you're CD shopping look for this, it's my favorite find of the year (it's from last year but I just discovered it):

Denis Smalley - Impacts Interieurs

There's a hand-drawn "listening score" you can follow along with one of the pieces here: http://www.electrocd.com/partition.e/8002.html (haven't tried it yet)

will look out for this...

(those montaigne discs really stand out in the racks: ugly but effective packaging)

I tracked down that 'east...' disc quite a while ago and have been enjoying other compostions I tracked down via MP3. Will prob post some more soon but for now i'll post a link to a radio programme devoted to his music. His 3rd str quartet and 'book of elements' have been perf at the Huddersfield festival and these have been archived here. You can hear an interview w/him and the pianist as they both describe some of the ideas behind the piece.

Is he Scottish? Or am I confusing him with James MacMillan?

They are both Scottish.

I am betting James Dillon is sick of people like me confusing him with James MacMillan!