Episode 2491
Blood on the Floor (Turnage)
Thu, 2024-Feb-29 01:07 UTC
Length - 2:56
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Thursday, 29 February 2024 is Blood on the Floor (Turnage).
Blood on the Floor is a suite in nine movements composed for orchestra and jazz trio by Mark-Anthony Turnage. It was composed over a span of three years (1993–1996) after a commission from the Ensemble Modern—a German music group—to produce a piece for an evening jazz event in 1994. After the performance, Turnage expanded the piece into the larger nine movement suite that is now performed. During this period of composition, Turnage's brother Andrew died of a drug overdose, shaping the music greatly. As a result, drug culture is one of the main themes in the suite. Blood on the Floor also draws influences from the paintings of Francis Bacon and Heather Betts; the suite's title is an adaptation of Bacon's painting Blood on Pavement.
Like other compositions by Turnage, Blood on the Floor incorporates elements of both classical and jazz music. Due to this, it has been described as being part of the "third stream" genre, a term coined by Turnage's former teacher Gunther Schuller. The suite is written as a concerto grosso and features a blend of classical, jazz, non-western and electronic instruments. As part of this fusion, the suite contains space for soloists to improvise in four of its movements. Blood on the Floor shows elements of non-functional harmony and has complex rhythmic changes, often changing metre every bar. Motifs are found recurring throughout the suite.
Blood on the Floor was premiered by the Ensemble Modern at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, in May 1996. The suite received a mixed reception from music critics. Some enjoyed the suite's fusion of classical and jazz music, while others found it to be an unfulfilling combination. Outside of the Ensemble Modern, Blood on the Floor has been performed by various ensembles, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:07 UTC on Thursday, 29 February 2024.
For the full current version of the article, see Blood on the Floor (Turnage) on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm Kimberly Standard.
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