ISM MUSIC JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | NMC RECORDINGS DIGITAL HUB
NMC Recordings digital hub A year on from the launch of its digital hub ‘Discover’, Kate Walker of new music charity NMC Recordings outlines the scope of this intriguing resource for exploring contemporary music On 11 November 2021 new music charity NMC Recordings celebrated the first birthday of our ‘Discover’ platform – the corner of our website we’ve transformed into a digital hub for connecting people with music we love created by composers from our catalogue and beyond. Discover was born, with the generous support of ISM Trust, to be a place for the musically curious to explore and experiment: to connect audiences with new music, and encourage listeners who may be less familiar with contemporary classical music to discover the joys it has to offer. As with all anniversaries, this gave us a time to reflect and take stock of what we have achieved so far, to celebrate the great connections we’ve already made through Discover, and also to think about the ways we’d love to grow and develop the platform further.
Diving deeper Discover gives us the opportunity to help listeners connect more fully with composers by telling the stories behind the varied music NMC releases into the world. One of our most popular features since launching Discover has been a meeting of NMC’s Listening Club with composer Param Vir. In a livestream broadcast, Param explored his new album Wheeling Past the Stars, discussing his unique compositional process. He covered topics including the way his work synthesises Indian classical music with Western traditions, inspired by his studies with Peter Maxwell Davies and Oliver Knussen, answering questions from the audience who had tuned in from all over the world.
EExtra-musical T flexible nature of NMC’s Discover platform makes The it the ideal tool for sharing the varied influences and processes behind a composer’s work – the ‘everything p but the music’– which often includes visual media such b aas film, photography and painting.
Above: Traversing Wires Photo: Jimena Maldonado
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Visual responses to music have a rich history of V invention and technical experimentation, enhancing in tthe aural experience as well as being fascinating pieces of art in their own right. For example, the p wildly vivid, improvised, multimedia paintings that w ttrombonist and composer Alex Paxton made to aaccompany his Birmingham Record Company release Music For Bosch People were given time to shine M on Discover in two special features. The intricate o ssketches made by Tansy Davies as she created her sseminal opera Between Worlds gave an insight into h her creative process. And Jimena Maldonado, who identifies creatively as a photographer and a composer id in equal measure, took to Discover to discuss her boundary-crossing work.
