Tim Hodgkinson

Tim Hodgkinson about Cuts: "These rambles concern technical aspects of the pieces on this CD. In the first piece, a solo for bass clarinet, I did not apply any mathematical thinking to the time organisation. It is one of a series of pieces in which I set out to write for wind instrument + ring-modulation, and ended up ditching the modulation and finding ways to play some equivalent on the instrument itself. Experimenting with embouchure and breath, I came up with certain harmonics which I then interspersed with occasional multiphonics. I explored some harmonic combinations, wrote down the results, then practiced until I could play them more-or-less accurately, and then went on to record a set of improvised variations, so that the piece keeps returning to the same pitch material and approach, even as it develops. The complete score is downloadable on the SCORES page of this website."

Tim Hodgkinson (b. 1949) studied social anthropology at Cambridge, and co-founded the politically and musically radical group HENRY COW with Fred Frith in 1968. In addition to composing, he has a long involvement in improvisation, and came back to anthropology in the 1990's with research into music and shamanism in Siberia. 

He has participated in many concerts with Iancu Dumitrescu's Hyperion Ensemble both as bass clarinetist and composer and conductor. His compositions have been interpreted in such international festivals as: Spectrum XXI (Brussels, Paris, Geneva, , Berlin, London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (U.K.) where he was a featured composer in 2007, Craiova and Ploiesti Festivals (Romania), Guarda Festival (Portugal), Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano (Italy), Konfrontationen Festival (Austria), Nordlyd Festival (Norway), Musique Action (France) and the European Symposium of Experimental Music at Barcelona.