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.

Above: Traversing Wires Photo: Jimena Maldonado 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.

E Extra-musical

The flexible nature of NMC’s Discover platform makes T it the ideal tool for sharing the varied influences and it processes behind a composer’s work – the ‘everything p but the music’– which often includes visual media such b as film, photography and painting. a Visual responses to music have a rich history of V invention and technical experimentation, enhancing in the aural experience as well as being fascinating t pieces of art in their own right. For example, the p wildly vivid, improvised, multimedia paintings that w trombonist and composer Alex Paxton made to t accompany his Birmingham Record Company release a Music For Bosch People were given time to shine M on Discover in two special features. The intricate o sketches made by Tansy Davies as she created her s seminal opera Between Worlds gave an insight into s her creative process. And Jimena Maldonado, who h identifies creatively as a photographer and a composer id in equal measure, took to Discover to discuss her boundary-crossing work.

The COVID-19 pandemic made us realise anew the importance of connecting digitally, and the artistic and personal possibilities this presents. Throughout lockdown, when live performances couldn’t happen, we were able to share and host live-streamed concerts, such as a performance recorded at St John’s Smith Square by violinist Madeleine Mitchell to celebrate International Women’s Day, featuring music by Errollyn Wallen, Helen Grime and Judith Weir; and a world premiere of a new piece by Hannah Kendall given by London Sinfonietta live at Kings Place.

Above left: IMPROVISED PAINTING 1 ‘Music for Bosch People’ Photo: Alex Paxton

Above: IMPROVISED PAINTING 2 ‘Dino Heaven’ Photo: Alex Paxton

Left: Audio Visual composition education project

Facing outwards

Discover has enabled us to collaborate with a wider range of organisations and individuals beyond the usual NMC sphere, partnering with them to host pieces such as Opera-tic, a digital opera in 15 scenes commissioned by the charity Tourette’s Action. Our Guest Playlist series features all kinds of curators, from musicians to artists to presenters to critics and beyond, as they select their listening recommendations and compile them into a playlist. Past selectors include Soho Radio DJ Max Reinhardt; Rakhi Singh, violinist and musical director of Manchester Collective; and the band Public Service Broadcasting. Discover is also the perfect place for us to share other strands of NMC’s work beyond our recordings, such as our education projects. We shone a spotlight on experimental analogue films made by Year 9 and 10 students as part of an audio-visual workshop delivered by the Marsyas Trio and composer Laura Bowler. Most recently we used Discover to share the results of our Together In Sound project, a series of composition workshops with 30 students, led by composer James B. Wilson and musicians from Chineke! Orchestra with Waltham Forest Music Hub. We hope this gives you a flavour of why we’re excited about the new opportunities for connection, conversation, and experimentation that NMC’s Discover platform presents. Got a film about music you’d like to share? An interesting idea you’d like to write an article about? An educational resource you’d like to share more widely? Please get in touch with us and help the Discover community grow.

Check out Discover here: nmcrec.co.uk/discover Contact NMC at nmc@nmcrec.co.uk Kate Walker is Sales & Marketing manager of NMC Recordings