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Melancholia’ (2018), a piece for two horns by Donald Bousted

dedicated warmly to Michael Hugh Dixon, has been uploaded to the folder of Donald’s microtonal compositions on Dropbox (Microtonal Projects’ Resources Folder).

Michael writes:

Donald loved the films of Lars von Trier and gave this duet its title from the film of the same name. Donald said it was his first piece structured in just intonation but he had been thinking about something like it since around 2000 when listening to Erv Wilson at LA MicroFest. He structured the work very simply, from 4 scales which have tonal relationships to each other In an email he said “For me, there is a real power coming from the transformation of the 3 scales which have lots of connections to one which – although still the same scale – has only one pitch rooted in what has gone before. It’s a work with some emotion behind it and some movement away from the strictly ‘just’ would not be inappropriate.” Melancholia was performed in Sydney MicroFest 3 in 2019, both in Sydney and Wollongong by Michael Hugh Dixon and Gergely Mályusz.

The recordings, on Soundcloud and the play-a-longs on YouTube, are by Michael Hugh Dixon in 2022.

The Donald Bousted Edition has been founded in order to preserve his immense creative and artistic output. Follow our ‘Tributes to Donald’ YouTube series, on microtonal and non-microtonal flugelhorn.

Hello Everyone,

I have added a new folder to the Microtonal Projects Resources Folder to host scores of Donald Bousted’s microtonal works.

Scroll to the bottom here for details

Hello Everyone!

Today is once again Bandcamp Friday, when all proceeds go to the artists! Bandcamp take no cut- it is their response to the pandemic.

We are using this day to launch publicly the Bandcamp version of TIME DREAMING featuring Stephen Altoft on 19-division trumpet!

Purchase here

This album saw the debut recording of the 19-division Flugelhorn, with Sarabande? by Eleni Ralli, the first piece written for Stephen’s ‘Inspired by the Baroque’ project for this instrument.

This third album featuring the 19-division trumpet deals very thoroughly with harmony: in the form of electronics, multi-tracked trumpets, duo with a malletKAT (featuring Stephen’s duo Contour partner, Lee Ferguson), and ultimately with very precisely defined 19-division three-part harmony in the title work, Time Dreaming by Donald Bousted.

Other composers featured are:

Julia Werntz (Boston)

Manfred Stahnke (Hamburg)

Eleni Ralli (Basel)

Elia Koussa (Lebanon)

Vasiliki Kourti-Papamoustou (Freiburg)

Gordon Kampe (Hamburg)

Georg Hajdu (Hamburg)

Carlos Cotallo Solares (Philadelphia)

Stephen Altoft (Freiburg)

This epic microtonal journey undertaken by composer, Donald Bousted with the Bennetts-Bowman Recorder Duo, will be available from 7th March on digital platforms, such as iTunes/Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify. You can pre-order on Spotify here

‘My Time is your Time’ for quarter-tone accordion by Donald Bousted will be PREMIERED by Lore Amenabar Larrañaga tomorrow at 5pm UK time, 7pm Helsinki time. Also there will be pieces by our friends, EUROMicroFest guest James Batty and David Gorton, a former UKMicroFest partner, are on the programme.

Lore is Basque, studied in Helsinki, before continuing her postgraduate studies in London.

New Year Re-release: ‘The end of the beginning’, Album of works by Donald Bousted. This was originally a double CD/DVD, which we are releasing the CD part of on Bandcamp, as a tribute to Donald, our founder, who passed away sadly on 4th December, 2021. The Original Physical CD/DVD has been unavailable for years, as it sold out! Now people can access it again.

It features the following pieces:

– Solo for Elisabeth, Alan Thomas, guitar

– Four Comedic Studies, William Raaijman, alto sax

– In preparation. Rachel Barnes, Helder recorder

– Tears , Tubulate, Tuba Quartet

– Verses 1 & 2, duo Contour

Stephen Altoft, 19-division of the octave trumpet, Lee Ferguson, percussion

On the DVD where the following films:

– Slide, with Gary O’ Connor, Stephen Altoft, quarter-tone trumpet

– A Young Girl goes to Sea, with Anne Robinson, Donald Bousted, quarter-tone guitar

– Slice through the Night, with Anne Robinson

– Verses 3 & 4, duo Contour

– The Night which Took the Appearance of day, Donald Bousted, quarter-tone guitar

The film pieces can be viewed on the Donald Bousted YouTube Channel

My dear friend of thirty years and longterm collaborator of twenty-five years, Donald Bousted, composer, and Artistic Director of Microtonal Projects passed away last Saturday after a second and short battle against cancer.

He founded Microtonal Projects in 2004, ran four UKMicroFests in London (having visited LA MicroFest), nine Wild dog media events in London and then founded  the EUROMicroFest with me in Germany. We travelled to South Korea together, we toured the UK and around Europe presenting the Microtonal Trumpet.

I have been co-director sind UKMicroFest 4, but performed at the events since the beginning because of our Microtonal Trumpet project.

We will try to continue what he started, always with him in our hearts and mind, remembering his vision, energy and determination, and ‘just getting on with it’.

Both Resource Folders are now hosted on my Dropbox, so I have invited those whom we still had registration records of to join the new folders, but if you find that you no longer have access, simply re-register using the registration forms on the appropriate pages.

Stephen Altoft

Time Dreaming is available on most digital platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music etc)

This third album featuring the 19-division (of the Octave) trumpet deals very thoroughly with harmony: in the form of electronics, multi-tracked trumpets, duo with a malletKAT, and ultimately with very precisely defined 19-division three-part harmony in the title work, Time Dreaming by Donald Bousted. As 19-division tuning is a modern version of the historical third-comma meantime temperament from the early baroque, there exists a constant link to the distant past, at the same time as a glimpse towards future harmonic possibilities still to be explored.

Four of the works were premiered as part of a US Tour in 2014, playing at American Festival of Microtonal Music and Boston Microtonal Society events. Others were first played in 2019 at EUROMicroFest, TechFest Aberdeen and Festival Mikrotöne Basel. This album also sees the premiere recording of the 19-division Flugelhorn, with ‘Sarabande?’ by Eleni Ralli, the first piece written for my ‘Inspired by Baroque’ project.

TRACKS

1. Time Dreaming (2018) Donald Bousted (UK) for 3 19-div trumpets 6:32

2. Upward in time (2013-2014) Elia Koussa (LBN) 8:35

3. noiwont (2014-2021) Georg Hajdu (DE) with playback 5:04

4. Cerulean (2018) Carlos Cotallo Solares (ES) 3:05

5. Hidden Jewels (2018) Stephen Altoft (UK/ DE) for 7 multi-tracked 19-div trumpets 9:01

6. Gathering Meaning (2014) Julia Werntz (US) 6:13

7. Interlude (2019)  Vasiliki Kourti-Papamoustou (GR) with malletKAT, Lee Ferguson 4:43

8. Sarabande? (2020) Eleni Ralli (GR) for 19-div Flugelhorn 4:12

9. Studie 2: Lines (2017) Manfred Stahnke (DE) with 3 pre-recorded 19-div trumpets 1:13 From ‘Vier Studien für 19ton-Trompete’

10. Studie 3: Dance (2020) Manfred Stahnke (DE) with 3 pre-recorded 19-div trumpets 0:37 From ‘Vier Studien für 19ton-Trompete’

11. Studie 4: Complex Flow (2019) Manfred Stahnke (DE) with 1 pre-recorded 19-div trumpet 5:12

12. Yiiiha (2014) Gordon Kampe (DE) 3:49

The scores for all tracks are now in the Microtonal Trumpet Website Resources Folder on Dropbox

Microtonal Projects have long been associated with the french composer, Pascale Criton. She was a featured composer twice at UKMicroFest, where she was a Keynote Speaker, and has also appeared with the ‘cellist, Deborah Walker at EUROMicroFest 2017.

We are delighted to announce that Pascale is now contributing to the Microtonal Trumpet project. She and Stephen Altoft have been awarded a Virtual Partner Residency by the Goethe Institut, and are meeting online to research a work for quarter-tone trumpet and pre-recorded electronics.