Frank Denyer
Frank Denyer was born in London on 12 April 1943. He was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1967 he founded the experimental ensemble Mouth of Hermes. From 1974 to 1981 he did ethnomusicological fieldwork in West Asia and northern India, then joined Dartington College of Arts in Devon, where he taught composition until 2010. His music uses microtonality and unusual placement of players. With the shakuhachi player Yoshikazu Iwamoto he made Wheat and Stalks. Mode released Faint Traces and Silenced Voices.
Five Muted Quartets
Frank Denyer's String Quartets 2 to 6, played by the Luna Quartet with heavy mutes at the volume of a conversation: microtonal single-movement pieces with sung notes, pellet bells, a buzzing string and a tap-dancer's shoe, meant to be heard in sequen…
Screens
British composer Frank Denyer (born London, 1943) presents an extraordinary collection of five works spanning nearly fifty years of creative activity, performed by the Octandre Ensemble conducted by Jon Hargreaves. This release, recorded at the Menuh…
Melodies
*In process of stocking* An extraordinary project arising from Frank Denyer’s ethno-musicological studies in the 1970’s, which forced him to go back to basics and ask himself ‘what is a melody?’ and ‘what is a note?’ Frank answered these questions …
The Fish That Became the Sun
This CD offers the first recording of Frank Denyer's extraordinary hour-long piece for large ensemble The Fish That Became the Sun (Songs of the Dispossessed), composed between 1991 and 1996. The ensemble includes a huge number of home-made percussio…
The Boundaries of Intimacy
British composer Frank Denyer presents seven beautiful chamber works dating from 1974 to 2018, opening a door to his unique soundworld. Released by Another Timbre in November 2019, The Boundaries of Intimacy features sublime, unexpected pieces of del…
Whispers
‘Whispers’ was co-produced by Bob Gilmore, who sadly died before the disc was released. The CD is dedicated to Bob’s memory. Bob was a longstanding champion of Frank Denyer’s music, and wrote the notes both for this CD and for the previous Another Ti…
Music For Shakuhachi
Four works spanning two decades document an extraordinary musical collaboration between British composer Frank Denyer and shakuhachi master Yoshikazu Iwamoto. They met at Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1974, where Denyer was a doctoral student…
Faint Traces
Six chamber works by Frank Denyer from 1973-2001, including Out of the Shattered Shadows 1 and 2, Faint Traces, Music for Two Performers, Play and Passages, in composer-supervised performances by The Barton Workshop.
Silenced Voices
Four recent works by Frank Denyer for very quiet voices and rarely combined instruments, including muted strings, flute, clarinet and percussion, played by The Barton Workshop under Denyer and James Fulkerson.
Fired City
Composer, theoretician, inventor and instrument builder Frank Denyer is a legendary figure in the Harry Partch/Scelsi tradition. His music is utterly unique and intensely personal, often requiring specialized new instruments of his own design and rad…