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Richard Gavin Bryars (born 16 January 1943) is an English composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 and double bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
ist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
, free improvisation
Free improvisation

Free improvisation or free music is musical improvisation without any rules beyond the taste or inclination of the musician involved; in many cases the musicians make an active effort to avoid overt references to recognizable musical genres....
, minimalism
Minimalism

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and Minimalist music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features....
, experimental music
Experimental music

Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-twentieth century, particularly in North America, and whose most famous and influential exponent was John Cage ....
, avant-garde
Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English, to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
 and neoclassicism
Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct Cultural movement in the Decorative art and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture ....
.

Career
Born in Goole
Goole

Goole is a town, civil parish and seaport located approximately inland on the River Ouse, Yorkshire in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The port is "highly versatile", and is capable of handling nearly 3 million tonnes of cargo per annum, making it one of the most important ports on the east coast of England....
, East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan district with unitary authority status, and is a ceremonial counties of England of England....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, Bryars initially studied philosophy
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
 at Sheffield University before studying music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 for three years.

The first musical work for which he is remembered was his role as bassist in the trio Joseph Holbrooke
Joseph Holbrooke (band)

Joseph Holbrooke were a musical trio active in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and briefly re-formed in 1998. The group consisted of: Derek Bailey , Gavin Bryars and Tony Oxley ....
, alongside guitarist Derek Bailey
Derek Bailey

Derek Bailey was an English Experimental music guitarist and leading figure in the free improvisation movement....
 and drummer Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley

Tony Oxley is an England free jazz drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records....
.






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Richard Gavin Bryars (born 16 January 1943) is an English composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 and double bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
ist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
, free improvisation
Free improvisation

Free improvisation or free music is musical improvisation without any rules beyond the taste or inclination of the musician involved; in many cases the musicians make an active effort to avoid overt references to recognizable musical genres....
, minimalism
Minimalism

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and Minimalist music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features....
, experimental music
Experimental music

Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-twentieth century, particularly in North America, and whose most famous and influential exponent was John Cage ....
, avant-garde
Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English, to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
 and neoclassicism
Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct Cultural movement in the Decorative art and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture ....
.

Career


Born in Goole
Goole

Goole is a town, civil parish and seaport located approximately inland on the River Ouse, Yorkshire in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The port is "highly versatile", and is capable of handling nearly 3 million tonnes of cargo per annum, making it one of the most important ports on the east coast of England....
, East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan district with unitary authority status, and is a ceremonial counties of England of England....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, Bryars initially studied philosophy
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
 at Sheffield University before studying music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 for three years.

The first musical work for which he is remembered was his role as bassist in the trio Joseph Holbrooke
Joseph Holbrooke (band)

Joseph Holbrooke were a musical trio active in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and briefly re-formed in 1998. The group consisted of: Derek Bailey , Gavin Bryars and Tony Oxley ....
, alongside guitarist Derek Bailey
Derek Bailey

Derek Bailey was an English Experimental music guitarist and leading figure in the free improvisation movement....
 and drummer Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley

Tony Oxley is an England free jazz drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records....
. The trio began by playing relatively traditional jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 before moving into free improvisation
Free improvisation

Free improvisation or free music is musical improvisation without any rules beyond the taste or inclination of the musician involved; in many cases the musicians make an active effort to avoid overt references to recognizable musical genres....
. However, Bryars became dissatisfied with this when he saw a young bassist (later revealed to be Johnny Dyani
Johnny Dyani

Johnny Mbizo Dyani was a South African jazz double bassist and pianist who played with such musicians as Don Cherry , Steve Lacy, David Murray and Wadada Leo Smith....
) play in a manner which seemed to him to be artificial, and he became interested in composition instead.

Bryars's first works as a composer owe much to the so-called New York School of John Cage
John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer. A pioneer of Aleatoric music, electronic music and Extended technique, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde and, in the opinion of many, the most influential American composer of the 20th century....
 (with whom he briefly studied), Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman

Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman went through several compositional phases....
, Earle Brown
Earle Brown

Earle Brown was an American composer. Among his many innovations, he near-singlehandedly re-invigorated classical music with improvisation by establishing his own formal and notational systems....
 and minimalism
Minimalism

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and Minimalist music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features....
. One of his earliest pieces, The Sinking of the Titanic (1969), is an indeterminist
Indeterminacy in music

Indeterminacy in music, which began early in the twentieth century in the music of Charles Ives, and was continued in the 1930s by Henry Cowell and carried on by his student, the experimental music composer John Cage beginning in 1951 , came to refer to the movement which grew up around Cage....
 work which allows the performers to take a number of sound sources related to the sinking of the RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic

The Royal Mail Ship Titanic was an Olympic class ocean liner superliner owned by the White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland....
 and make them into a piece of music. The first recording of this piece appeared on Brian Eno
Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno , is an England musician, composer, record producer, music theory and singer, who, as a solo artist, is best known as the People known as the father or mother of something of ambient music....
's Obscure Records
Obscure Records

Obscure Records is a United Kingdom record label which existed from 1975 to 1978. It was created and run by Brian Eno who also produced the albums ....
 in 1975. The 1994 recording of this piece was remixed by Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin

Richard David James , aka Aphex Twin, is an electronic musician who has been described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music." He founded the record label Rephlex Records in 1991 with friend Grant Wilson-Claridge....
 as Raising the Titanic (later collected on the 26 Mixes for Cash
26 Mixes for Cash

26 Mixes for Cash is a compilation album of remixes produced by Richard D. James for various artists, plus four original tracks. It was released on March 24, 2003, by Warp Records....
 album).

A well known early work is Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet

Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet is a 1971 composition by Gavin Bryars. It is formed on a tape loop of an unknown tramp singing a brief stanza....
 (1971), which has as its basis a recorded loop
Music loop

In electronic music, a loop is a sampling which is repeated. Loops may be repeated through the use of tape loops, delay effects, cutting between two record players, sampling , a Sampler or with the aid of Computer Based Looping Software....
 of a homeless person improvising a hymn
Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity/deities, a prominent figure or an epic tale....
 of that name. On top of that loop, rich harmonies
Harmony

In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously, and chord s, actual or implied, in music. The word is related to the word "harmonic" which implies related wavelengths of waves....
 played by a live ensemble
Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who perform instrumental or vocal music. In each musical style different norms have developed for the sizes and composition of different ensembles, and for the repertoire of songs or musical works that these ensembles perform....
 are built, always increasing in density, before the whole thing gradually fades out. A new recording of this work was made in the 1990s with Tom Waits
Tom Waits

Thomas Alan Waits is an United Statesn singer-songwriter, composer and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of Bourbon whiskey, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." With this trademark growl, his incorpo...
 singing along with the original recording of the homeless person during the final section.

Bryars was a founding member of the Portsmouth Sinfonia
Portsmouth Sinfonia

The Portsmouth Sinfonia was a real orchestra founded by a group of students at Portsmouth School of Art in Portsmouth, England, in 1970?however, the Sinfonia had an unusual entrance requirement....
, an orchestra whose membership consisted of performers who “embrace the full range of musical competence” — and who played (or attempted to play) popular classical works. Its members included Brian Eno
Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno , is an England musician, composer, record producer, music theory and singer, who, as a solo artist, is best known as the People known as the father or mother of something of ambient music....
, whose Obscure Records label would subsequently release works by Bryars. In one of the first three releases from the label, Brian Eno's album Discreet Music
Discreet Music

'Discreet Music' is an album by the United Kingdom Ambient music musician Brian Eno. While may be his first ambient album and Another Green World features many ambient pieces, this is Brian Eno?s first purely ambient solo album....
, Bryars conducted and co-arranged the three pieces Three Variations on the Canon in D Major by Johann Pachelbel which constitute the second half of the album.

Bryars's later works have included A Man In A Room, Gambling (1992), which was written on commission from BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on European classical music, but jazz, world music, drama and the arts also feature....
 and Artangel. Bryars's music is heard beneath monologues spoken by the Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 artist
Artist

The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art....
 Juan Muñoz
Juan Muñoz

Juan Mu?oz was a Spain famous sculptor.He is known internationally for his enigmatic sculptural installations, often populated by strangely haunting, almost-human figures....
, who talks about methods of cheating at card games. The ten short works were played on Radio 3 without any introductory announcements, and Bryars is quoted as saying that he hoped they would appear to the listener in a similar way to the shipping forecast
Shipping Forecast

The Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles....
, both mysterious and accepted without question. His Cello concerto Farewell to Philosophy was recorded in 1997 by .

Bryars has written a large number of other works, including three opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
s, and a number of instrumental pieces, among them three string quartet
String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments — usually two violins, a viola and cello — or a piece written to be performed by such a group....
s and several concerto
Concerto

The term Concerto usually refers to a three-part musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra. The concerto, as understood in this modern way, arose in the Baroque period side by side with the concerto grosso, which contrasted a small group of instruments with the rest of the orchestra....
s. He has written several pieces for choreographers, including Biped (2001) for Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham

Merce Cunningham is an American dancer and choreography....
. Between 1981-1984 he participated in the CIVIL warS
The CIVIL warS

the CIVIL warS: a tree is best measured when it is down is an opera created in the early 1980s by director Robert Wilson to music by Philip Glass, David Byrne , Gavin Bryars and others....
, a vast, never-completed multimedia project by Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson (director)

Robert Wilson is an United States of America avant-garde stage director and playwright who has been called "[America]'s — or even the world's — foremost vanguard 'theater artist'"....
.

Bryars founded the music department at Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University
De Montfort University

De Montfort University is a United Kingdom university situated in the centre of Leicester, England. The university is made up of one main campus and one outlying campus....
), and taught there for a number of years. He lives in England, and, in the summer months, on the west coast of Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
.

He was born on the same day, 16 January 1943, as another prominent English composer, Brian Ferneyhough
Brian Ferneyhough

Brian John Peter Ferneyhough is an England composer of contemporary classical music. His complex, multi-layered music is always distinctive when performed, and led Pierre Boulez to refer to it as a 'polyphony of polyphonies'....
 .

In his June 2008 appearance on Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs

Desert Island Discs is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme. It was first broadcast on 29 January 1942 and is said by the Guinness Book of Records to be the longest-running music programme in the history of radio....
 author Peter Carey
Peter Carey

Peter Philip Carey is an Australian novelist and short story writer. He is one of only two writers, the other being J. M. Coetzee, to have won the Man Booker Prize twice....
 chose Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet as his eighth and final record choice.

Selected Works

  • The Sinking of the Titanic (1969, First performance: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London 1972)
  • Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
    Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet

    Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet is a 1971 composition by Gavin Bryars. It is formed on a tape loop of an unknown tramp singing a brief stanza....
     (for Pre-recorded Tape and ensemble), 1972
  • Medea (Opera, libretto after Euripides. ) 1982, revised 1984 and 1995
  • CIVIL WarS (incomplete Opera collaboration with Robert Wilson), 1984 . Some sections of the music exist in completed form, as follows:
    • On Photography for Chorus (SATB), harmonium, piano.
    • 2B for Percussion ensemble.
    • Arias For Marie Curie, The Queen of the Sea, Captain Nemo, The Japanese Bride.
  • String Quartet No 1 Between the National and the Bristol, 1985.
  • Cadman Requiem (Dedicated to Bill Cadman), 1989
  • String Quartet No 2, 1990.
  • A Man in a Room, Gambling for speaking voice and string quartet (Text: Juan Muñoz), 1992
  • North Shore for viola and piano, 1993
  • Three Elegies for Nine Clarinets, 1994
  • Cello Concerto Farewell to Philosophy, 1995.
  • Adnan Songbook, 1996.
  • String Quartet no.3, 1998
  • Biped - music for the dance by Merce Cunningham
    Merce Cunningham

    Merce Cunningham is an American dancer and choreography....
    , 1999
  • Being the Confession and Last Testament of Johannes Gensfleisch, also known as Gutenberg, Master Printer, formerly of Strasbourg and Mainz Opera, 2002
  • Nothing like the Sun - 8 Shakespeare sonnets for soprano, tenor, speaking voice, 8 instruments, 2007


External links


  • - The official Gavin Bryars website : bio, discog, news, etc.
  • - The official Gavin Bryars MySpace page : information and sound clips