Martin Slidel: Music

In recent years, I have refocused on composition. I enjoy writing for all instruments, exploring the possibilities of different combinations. I welcome opportunities to develop new works for performance. I have produced original soundtracks and AV installations, as well as concerts and events combining music and poetry. This blog entry is a start at cobbling together recollections. I continue to compose for its own sake, that is, sustaining momentum as a priority. Most pieces are available as digital audio, partly because my resources are very limited. I use formal notation, working with Noteflight. However, I also feel that these digital realisations have legitimacy as pieces of music in their own right. Of course, it would be lovely to hear more of them played on real instruments. My work is individual, playful and off-kilter. Supportive feedback from a wide audience encourages me. I relish collaborating with musicians to realise my compositions. However, if it’s not “the done thing”...

Martin’s earlier works include: Albino Carillon, No. 1 If You Said So Improvisations, Nos. 1–4 Morning After Night Before Peel Playtime Sensing The Terms Of My Existence Tonight You Are Frida Treading Air Underarm Chiming Shirt Unthunk This archive comprises 15 compositions and improvisations, plus six arrangements of traditional and Songbook pieces. THE NIGHT BEFORE • ELECTRONICA Ten compositions and two arrangements of traditional songs, presented across 13 Bandcamp tracks. Morning After Night Before — vocal by Martin Da Beano (Albino) — remix The House Of The Rising Sun (traditional)  Tonight You Are Frida — vocal by Martin Carillon, No. 1 — remix The Terms Of My Existence — narration Improvisation (No. 3)  If You Said So — narration Minka (traditional)  Unthunk — narration Playtime Da Beano (Albino) — piano remix Improvisation (No. 4)  Morning After Night Before was written in the early 1990s, recorded with Emily Madill in the mid-2000s, and reworked in the 201...

For chamber ensembles, piano, voice, other forces. Enquiries: martinslidel@outlook.com Martin Slidel’s compositions include 16 chamber pieces, 16 piano pieces, and eight other recorded songs in both instrumental and vocal versions. His works have been presented in audiovisual installations and performed live in London and Europe.  CHAMBER MUSIC (16)  Anthesis — marimba, percussion Anthesis — trombone, bass clarinet Barbar — saxophone, piano, percussion Begin Again — clarinet, electric piano, percussion London Bone — trombone, piano, percussion Looking Glass World — piano, percussion, trumpet Lure — flute, piano, snare drum Melody For Mabel — clarinet, guitar, percussion Mirror — flute, piano, snare drum Ochiba, Movements 1 and 2 — woodwind trio Ochiba — clarinet and piano (mvt 1 only) Pour Les Enfants, Nos. 1–3 — piano, percussion Someone — tuba, piano Uteki — clarinet, piano, percussion Whatever — harp, synthesizer Wish — clarinet, piano, percussion Wish — string quarte...

I was working in a record store in Chelsea 100 years ago. In my glass box that was the classical and jazz section, I manned alone… Why did I leave those days? She came in with an entourage of youngsters she had clearly picked up at some watering hole. Of course, wanting to award them her CDs. She initially asked if I had broken biscuits. When I looked at her perplexedly, she explained, “That’s what we call ‘Broken English’ in our house.” I suspect she knew that I knew all along but enjoyed the game. Though when I returned with a single obscure title from her back catalogue, she appeared furious. Someone named Beck was big at the time. I remember her mouthing off, “They’ve been going on about fucking Beck. I suppose you’ve got fucking Beck CDs in stock, haven’t you? Get me copies of the fucking Beck CD.” Once they had their gifts, they all pissed off, abandoning moi with a half-cut Marianne Faithfull on my arm. instagram.com/readingbymartin The Diva insisted on walking me up and down th...

Variations in music highlight transformation and continuity, while mirroring reflects duality and ambiguity. Mirroring can make the familiar seem strange, inviting the listener to question the relationship between the original and its reflection. In this sense, mirroring is inherently bound to the idea of duality: a musical space in which two perspectives coexist. The spherical nature of musical exploration, with its variations and mirrors, suggests that endings are inextricably linked to beginnings. Each reflection is an opportunity to see the familiar anew. Traces of marks and patterns, played out over time, vary in their retracing. Whether shifted compositionally or in the alteration of aural expectation. worknetdupage.org In the process of a third movement of my Wind Trio, a pulling-together of threads is sought. To attempt to navigate a sonic landscape. To reach a sense of wholeness. Not, to reference Julian Barnes, a more formalised “sense of an ending”. It is to repeat elements ...

I am an experienced educator and composer, holding an MA in Art Education from UCL with a grade A dissertation focused on the developmental visual communications of the very young. My first degree, a BA in ‘Music with Visual Practice’ from Brighton (2:1), provided a fertile environment for experimentation and interdisciplinary exploration. Under the tutelage of Scottish composer Billy Cowie, I was exposed to the vibrant world of new and experimental music, as well as Live Art. Highlights included participating in The International Festival of Live Art at The Sallis Benney Theatre and working as an accompanist for children's eurythmy classes at St Michael’s Dance Studio. This period saw me introduced to emerging contemporary composers such as Rebecca Saunders, while my foundational influences include Erik Satie, John Cage, and Stephen Oliver. Teaching music was formalised through teacher training at Brookes. My mentors included Dr Sarah Maidlow and Nigel Timms, and I benefited from ...