Nick Writes Music

Flyer for Montreal

Nick Norton — Tue, 14 Feb 2012

Ch ch ch check it:

Live recording of Tiny Machine

Nick Norton — Tue, 31 Jan 2012

Hi all. This past weekend's concerts with Synchromy, Symbiosis, and Music on Argyle were great. Awesome performers, cool new pieces, good sized energetic crowd, good desserts, all around fun times.

I recorded the performance of my piece Tiny Machine Designed to Make Altocumulus Clouds. Johanna Borenstein, Sixto Franco, and Paul Macres did an excellent job premiering it. Here's the recording, from the Friday show:

Next on the calendar is Montreal, while next on the composing schedule is a piano piece, then the guitar one for Matt's wedding, then one for guitar and electronics for Fabricio Mattos. Good times.

And the band gets played

Nick Norton — Tue, 10 Jan 2012

Is the name of my new piece for clarinet, string quartet, and audience. It gives five volunteers a good bit of control over what the players do onstage throughout most of the piece. A score will be posted here after the premiere concert, which will be given by L’ensemble Portmantô on February 23 at OFF Interarts in Montreal. I’m really looking forward to it.

If you’re here in LA, I have two shows coming up, on January 27 and 28, as part of Listening Alive!, a project put on by Synchromy, The Symbiosis Chamber Orchestra, and Music on Argyle. They’ll be premiering my piece Tiny Machine Designed to Make Altocumulus Clouds, which is for flute, viola, and bass. Details are on the flyer below:

That’s about it for now. There’s other big news on the way. Hope everyone had a good New Year.

Mission Accomplished

Nick Norton — Tue, 6 Dec 2011

Look what I found at Amoeba Records in Hollywood this weekend:

Also, the Picasso estate signed off on my using "On The Beach" as the album art for On The Beach. Did I mention that I was releasing that? If not, I meant to. Alex Chiu and I got dinner the other night to talk about what to do re: the visual and interactive parts of the installation, and I'm pleased to say that we are totally on the same page.

Work on this clarinet and string quartet thing for Portmantô continues. It's short, about six minutes, but it's a beast of a choose-your-own-adventure type rondo-structured microconcerto. Looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

CYBER MONDAY COMMISSIONING SPECIAL

Nick Norton — Mon, 28 Nov 2011

ATTENTION EVERYONE! TODAY ONLY! COMMISSION A PIECE, 50 PERCENT OFF!!!! COMMISSION ONE AT FULL PRICE, GET THE SECOND ONE FREE!!!!!

See the following guide from Meet the Composer for prices before discount:

Email me today and today only to place your order with this one-time only pricing!

Music to Heal Video

Nick Norton — Thu, 17 Nov 2011

UC Irvine just released this video about Music to Heal, the charity that my best friend and Honest Iago bandmate Matt Fradkin founded a few summers ago. I'm on the board, and we're putting together some benefit concerts at the House of Blues in Anaheim this December, if you're around.

A couple of quick updates

Nick Norton — Wed, 16 Nov 2011

I've been musicking like crazy lately, hence the lack of updates. Here's a quick catcher-upper:

All of the tracks for the sound installation version On The Beach are ready, and the standalone program to run them is in the works. I realized I can run them equally well using Ableton Live, and recently bought an Akai APC 20 (my new favorite toy), so I'm going to use that in some circumstances, the standalone in others.

I'll also be releasing a stereo rendition of the work in the form of a single, sixty minute track. It'll be available for download by the end of the year.

After a series of mixing console disasters involving UAD's new plug-ins, Nick Tipp's work continues on mixing the Better Looking People record.

Better Looking People With Superior Ideas now have a website, at BetterLookingWebsite.com. Actually, I probably shouldn't say that yet, because it's in the works, but hey, what the hell.

I'm currently focusing most of my compositional attention on writing this clarinet microconcerto for Portmantô. It's due in January, for a February premiere in Montreal. It is going to be so cold there!

Synchromy and the Symbiosis Chamber Orchestra are playing my piece Tiny Machine Designed to Make Altocumulus Clouds on January 27 and 28 in LA. Complete details are over on the concerts page.

I'm getting a laptop. Solo shows with guitar and electronics will be happening. Probably not for a while, while I develop a set, but I'm excited nonetheless.

NewClassic.LA has been extremely successful lately and I've been getting lots of compliments. If you haven't checked it out yet, and like modern music, and are in Los Angeles, please do.

Pianomania was a good flick, catch it if you can. It's got Pierre-Laurent Aimard playing Elliott Carter's Catenaires in it, which was the inspiration for my Piano Piece for Mr. Carter's 100th Birthday. Lots of Bach in there too.

In a shallow effort to sell a couple of downloads, I've finally created a Facebook page for my music. Click here to check it out.

I attempted to score my first commercial the other night. While there's no artistry in the music whatsoever, it was kind of fun, and absurdly easy. Maybe I'll do it again sometime. MAYBE.

I really need to get back into finger exercises, for both guitar and piano. Technique is suffering with all of this "composing" and "launching clips."

I think that about covers it as far as music is concerned. In other news, I have learned how to make, and have successfully made, cheese. Also, I beat Half Life 2 two nights ago, and am pretty excited about that. I'm pretty sure New Vegas is next in line. Saw the LA Master Chorale do David Lang's Little Match Girl Passion last Sunday, and aside from being awestruck by both the piece and the performance, it gave me a lot of ideas about text setting. Ben Loory, expect a message regarding certain stories in Stories for Nighttime, and Some for the Day sometime soon. You too, Italo Calvino. Oh wait...

How to Sing Poorly/Yet Another New Project

Nick Norton — Wed, 5 Oct 2011

Lots of reasons I haven't updated anything in quite some time. Most importantly, I've been busy as hell. The Better Looking People With Superior Ideas record is off to Nick Tipp for mixing, and we should have something released before the end of the year. Immediately after getting stuff to him Honest Iago started working hard again ahead of a string of shows for December, and a new record is in the works there too.

Craig (from both bands) and I recently appeared in a commercial that was shot for a call for submissions from Experian. Craig's the suave producer, I'm the terrible singer. We're in my studio for it, and he plays a little bit of a Better Looking People song on an acoustic guitar, which will sound absolutely nothing like the finished product. But it's fun nonetheless:

I have also started a new blog, over at NewClassic.LA. I figured there's no central source for modern classical/outsider type stuff in LA, and that I could create one. The feature I'm most proud of is the concert listing, which is modeled after SanDiegoPunk.com, the site I wrote for in college. Good times. Fact is, LA has an awesome post-classical-or-whatever-we-want-to-call-it scene, it just doesn't get much attention. Hopefully I can help it get some, or at the very least get a few free concert tickets.

Got the 8 channel interface I need for my installation, and Hunter Knight (also from Honest Iago, just completed an MS in acoustics, looking for a job!) has designed a stand-alone program built on MAX/MSP to run the tracks. Getting excited for Brazil already. What I'm going to lecture on is another topic entirely.