Tim Rutherford-Johnson

Who? What? Why?

Hello there, and welcome. I'm a PhD candidate in musicology, an occasional writer and teacher on music, and in the gaps I work as a freelance editor. A full list of my professional writings appears below.

My PhD is a study of the reception of new Eastern European music in Great Britain, with analyses of four early works by Penderecki and Ligeti (Anaklasis, Passio et mors domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Lucam , Apparitions and Requiem) that apply that reception history to musical interpretation. It is due for completion in September 2007, under the title Krzysztof Penderecki and György Ligeti, 1958–1966: a Study in Reception and Analysis . I welcome any correspondence about my work; if you're interested in further details about what I'm doing, just email me (NB remove SPAMPROOF from the address to send).

On the non-professional side I have also maintained a music blog, The Rambler, since August 2003. This focuses on contemporary classical music, but none of my other musical loves – drum 'n' bass, dubstep, grime, electro, mashups, motown and post/avant/drone rock – are excluded. As a rule, I like drones, thick chords, rich production/orchestration, brashness/poor taste, and a pinch of cultural significance. Imagine my nirvana as a Glenn Branca/Grooverider/Phil Spector reworking of the Turangalîla-Symphonie. I also have a perverse, frustrating fascination with the workings of the modern intellectual property industry and its impact on contemporary music making, and The Rambler documents my thoughts on this matter.

In the right-hand column of this page I have collected links to some of my posts on The Rambler; feel free to browse or not at will. Two ongoing features of the blog are a live list of musician and music-related obituaries and the Music Since 1960 series, which is a year-by-year survey of my favourite concert music written since 1960.

Writings and other activities

Articles

'Rudolf Steiner and Learning Through the Body in Kurtág's Játékok', Piano Journal, no.69 (2002), 19–22

'Communication and Experience: Some Observations on the Relationship Between Composer and Performer in Játékok', Studia Musicologica, xliii (2002), 281–7

'Out of Belfast and Belgrade: the Recent Music of Ian Wilson', Tempo, no.224 (2003), 2–9

'Klang.Bilder: Ian Wilson und sein neues Streichquartett "Veer"', Musikfreunde, Sept/Oct (2003), 32–5

''Shiny and New'? Rereading Madonna's Virgin', British Postgraduate Musicology, no.6 (2004) <http://www.bpmonline.org.uk/bpm6-shiny.html>

Conference papers

'Communication and Experience: Some Observations on the Relationship Between Composer and Performer in Játékok', Hommage à Kurtág, Balatonföldvár, 21–24 June 2001

'Does Size Matter? Kurtág's Játékok Miniatures', 2nd Biennial International Conference on 20th-Century Music, London, 28 June–1 July 2001

'Lendvai Comes to Cologne: György Ligeti in the 1950s and '60s', 5th European Music Analysis Conference, Bristol, 4–7 April 2002

'Restructuring Reference Works Through Multimedia Content', poster session, 2nd International Conference on Web Delivering of Music, Darmstadt, 9–11 December 2002

''Shiny and New'? Rereading Madonna's Virgin', 3rd Biennial International Conference on 20th-Century Music, Nottingham, 26–9 June 2003

Reviews

'CD Reviews: Ian Wilson: from the Book of Longing, Riverrun RVRCD65', Tempo, no.230 (2004), 85–6

'First Performances: Warsaw Autumn Festival 2004', Tempo, no.232 (2005), 75–7

Other activities

'Nationalisms': series of undergraduate lectures covering nationalism and national identity in 20th-century music. Divided by nation into Hungary, United States, Russia, France and Germany, and Poland. Goldsmiths College, London, 2000–05

Editor-in-chief of British Postgraduate Musicology , 2004–present

'Euro-orientalism and reception theory: toward an analysis of Penderecki's St Luke Passion', paper presented at Music Research Forum, Goldsmiths College, 11 January 2005