Another Timbre is a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

, based in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

and known for its releases of

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. The term can refer to both a technique (employed by any musician in any genre) and as a recognizable genre in it ...

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

and

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...

. It was founded by television sound recordist Simon Reynell, who also

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

and produces most of the label's recordings. Many of the label's releases have received positive reviews in the UK and international press, and it has been the subject of several published articles, profiling the label's distinctive

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

. In addition to its release schedule, the label has organised concert events at the

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (also known by the acronym HCMF, stylised since 2006 as the lowercase hcmf//) is a new music festival held annually in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since its foundation in 1978, it has feature ...

and Cafe Oto, London, and Reynell has occasionally commissioned composers to write new music for release and performance. The label's first release was ''Tempestuous'' by improvising musicians John Butcher, Xavier Charles &

Axel Dörner Axel Dörner (born 26 April 1964 in Cologne, Germany) is a German trumpeter, pianist, and composer. Biography Dörner studied piano in the Dutch town Arnhem (1988–89) and at the Music Academy in Cologne (1989–1996). From 1991 he studie ...

(2007). Reynell has stated that "most of the early releases n Another Timbrefeatured improvised music in the tradition of AMM and/or Derek Bailey's 'non-idiomatic' improvisation". The label has gradually released more 'composed' music, especially experimental classical music influenced by John Cage and

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...

Wandelweiser und so weiter

A key release in the label's history was a 6-CD box set, ''Wandelweiser und so weiter'', released in 2012 and featuring composers associated with the Wandelweiser collective, whose music is generally very sparse and quiet, with frequent silences. These included Jürg Frey,

Radu Malfatti Radu Malfatti is an Austrian trombone and harmonica player, and composer. He was born in Innsbruck, in the province of Tyrol, on December 16, 1943. Malfatti is associated with the style of music known as reductionism and has been described as " ...

and Michael Pisaro. The set also included music by younger composers influenced by this sound. Reviewers noted that the set "will surely come to be seen as a landmark release" and in subsequent label profiles the set has been described as having "introduced the music of the group to a whole new audience and helped establish it as one of the most influential forces in Western experimental music today".

Other significant releases

In 2014, Another Timbre released a double album of music by the UK composer Laurence Crane, ''Chamber Works 1992-2009''. This was the first release on the label to contain solely fully composed music, as opposed to 'open scores' ( indeterminate music) that include some element of improvisation or choice. The album was a commercial success and was later re-printed. In 2017 the label embarked on a series of ten albums, focusing on Canadian composers, including albums of music by Linda Catlin Smith, Martin Arnold, Cassandra Miller and

Marc Sabat Marc Sabat (born 22 September 1965) is a Canadian composer based in Berlin, Germany, since 1999. Works He has made concert music pieces, works with video, and installations with acoustic instruments and, in some recent pieces, computer-generat ...

. The label has also released extensive recordings of the music of Morton Feldman: a two-CD box set including works for two pianos and a five-CD box set of his works for solo piano. As of 2021, the label has released more than 160 discs.

References

External links

* – official site {{Authority control Classical music record labels Record labels established in 2007 British record labels