Perspectives on the Music of Christopher Fox ─ Straight Lines in Broken Times

Christopher Fox (1955) has emerged as one of the most fascinating composers of the post-war generation. His spirit of experimentalism pervades an oeuvre in which he has blithely created his own version of a range of contemporary musical practices. In his work many of the major expressions of European cultural activity - Darmstadt, Fluxus, spectralism, postminimalism and more - are assimilated to produce a voice which is uniquely resonant and multi-faceted. In this, the first major study of his work, a number of musicologists, composers, thinkers and practitioners scrutinize aspects of Foxa€?s music, each exploring elements that relate to their own distinct areas of practice, tracing Foxa€?s compositional trajectory and situating it within post-war contemporary European music practice. Above all this book addresses the question, how can one person dip his fingers into so many paint pots and yet retain a coherent compositional vision? The range of Foxa€?s musical concerns make his work of interest to anyone who wants to study the development of so-called new music spanning the latter twentieth century into the twenty first century.

Rose Dodd (1967) is a composer of instrumental and electronic music. From 1990-94 she lived in the Netherlands studying briefly with Diderik Wagenaar at the Royal Dutch Conservatoire (the Hague). Coming from an acousmatic background with a strong interest in Scandinavian soundworlds, whether electronic or instrumental, the Swedish text sound-art tradition in particular has led to a number of electronic works with text. Dodd has been awarded a number of prizes, including Honourable Mention at Prix Ars Electronicaa€?96, 19th International Luigi Russolo Concorso and Prix de Residence at Bourges Synthesea€?97. Engaged in a significant research residency period at Notam Oslo, Norway, which began in 2011, she is working on a series of works for instruments and electronics. The results so far have been mobius ii for Hardanger fiddle (Britt Pernille FrA﹐holm) & electronics premiered HCMF 2011; Aandacht for 2 pianos and electronics, performed by Philip Thomas/Lisa Ullen premiered HCMF 2013 and Waternish Ballad for Scottish fiddle (Sarah-Jane Summers) & electronics premiered at Scotlanda€?s Sound Festival, Banchory in October 2014. She has also written pieces for Ere Lievonen, for the 31-tone Huygens-Fokker Organ, situated in Amsterdama€?s Muziekgebouw, Kleurenspelletjes (2015). She was awarded a PhD in Composition in 2006 at the University of Huddersfield, UK, where she studied with Christopher Fox.