Legacies

various artists compilation - Legacies: Works from BEAST Vol. 2

BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre) was founded in 1982 by Jonty Harrison. In 2002, it became part of the newly-formed Centre for Composition and Associated Studies (COMPASS) in the Department of Music at the University of Birmingham, and enjoys a close working relationship with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

BEAST refers properly to the performing wing of the University of Birmingham Electroacoustic Music Studios (also directed by Jonty Harrison), where some of the UK's most important electroacoustic works have been produced, but the name has also come to describe the group of composers associated with and working in the Studios. In the twenty years since the first BEAST concert in 1982, over 50 composers have been members of BEAST. As well as winning international competitions and receiving performances, broadcasts and commissions for a number of new works, many of these composers have gone on to teach in universities in various parts of the world.

BEAST's comprehensive and unique sound diffusion system was specifically designed for the performance of electroacoustic music. It has performed extensively in the UK and other parts of Europe, including at London's South Bank Centre (often as part of Sonic Arts Network promotions), the Edinburgh and Huddersfield Festivals, the Henry Wood Hall in Glasgow, the Adrian Boult Hall in Birmingham, MultiMediale II in Karlsruhe, The Royal Dutch Conservatory in The Hague, The Acousmatic Experience in Amsterdam, the Aspekte Festival in Salzburg and the Inventionen Festival in Berlin. It received very high acclaim as the concert sound system at the 1990 International Computer Music Conference in Glasgow and was an important contributor to both Sounds Like Birmingham - UK City of Music 1992, and Birmingham's Towards the Millennium Festival during the 1990s. BEAST's own promotions in its home town have included ten years of the Barber Festival of Contemporary Music, several years of rumours... and related events at the Midlands Arts Centre, murmurs... at the Crescent Theatre and, for the past few years, it has been part of The Series season in the CBSO Centre.

The Beast diffusion system normally uses up to thirty-two channels of separately amplified loudspeakers, each speaker pair having characteristics which makes it appropriate for a particular position or function. The system includes arrays of high frequency speakers suspended over the audience, as well as ultra-low frequency speakers. The performer/diffuser is able, via a custom-built diffusion desk, to create a variety of sound images, and to 'sculpt' the spatial, dynamic and dramatic implications of the music in a particular performance environment to interpret and realise the composer's intentions. BEAST is currently developing a variety of new controllers and interfaces for the performance of acousmatic and electroacoustic music.

Throughout the past twenty years, BEAST has remained first and foremost a community of composers whose varied styles and aesthetics are united by a desire to explore the unique creative potential of the electroacoustic medium.

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Released in BEAST's 20th anniversary season, this double CD celebrates the work of some of the excellent composers who have worked in the Electroacoustic Music Studios at the University of Birmingham over the past twenty years. All the composers represented here performed regularly with BEAST's unique sound diffusion system during their time at Birmingham - an experience which has added a particularly sculptural quality to many of the pieces in this collection. All but one are now teaching in the UK higher education sector, nurturing the next generation of creative sonic artists. (From the liner notes)

Tracklisting:

CD1

1. Alistair MacDonald - dreel {10:47}

2. Joseph Hyde - vox mecanix {10:14}

3. Pete Stollery - onset/offset {7:28}

4. Robert Dow - when all is silent {12:57}

5. Joseph Anderson - ChAnGE'S MUSIC {26:03}

CD2

1. Andrew Lewis - scherzo {8:34}

2. Robert Dow - l'esprit conforme {10:17}

3. David Prior - somewhere submarine {15:38}

4. Pete Stollery - altered images {12:02}

5. Joseph Hyde - goldglow {20:01}

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