Jan 22, 2024
Today’s episode celebrates the culmination of a years-long project with Matthew Sheeran, widely celebrated composer, orchestrator, and arranger. The album we’ve been working on is called “Acoustic Microtonal,” and it is a recording of Easley Blackwood’s Twelve Microtonal Etudes using acoustic instruments, playing monophonic lines in isolation and then being re-tuned using Melodyne. Matthew commissioned the Budapest Scoring Orchestra to achieve this huge compositional feat. Check out our episode here for the largest dive into the notes and chords behind the music, and be sure to check out the full album in all its glory!
The album:
https://cedillerecords.lnk.to/3019
Episode music:
Intro: Blackwood – 23 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Blackwood – 16 notes (Stephen Weigel version)
Blackwood – 16 notes (Hesangasang score)
Blackwood – 16 notes (original)
Blackwood – 16 notes (Stephen Weigel version)
Blackwood – 17 notes (12-TET scordatura)
Blackwood – 16 notes (Stephen Weigel version)
Vicentino – Madonna il poco dolce (Jonathan Wilde version)
Blackwood – 13 notes (original)
Blackwood – 13 notes (12-TET version with diminished 3rd)
Blackwood – 14 notes (original)
Poulenc – Sextet for piano and winds
Blackwood – 14 notes (original)
Blackwood – 14 notes (12-TET version)
Blackwood – 14 notes (original)
Blackwood – 14 notes (Stephen Malinowski video clip)
Blackwood – 14 notes (12-TET version)
Blackwood – 15 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Blackwood – Suite for 15 tone guitar
Stephen Weigel – open guitar chords in 15 video clip
Blackwood – 15 notes (Stephen Weigel version)
Stephen Weigel – What if we played EB’s 15 note etude in 12 video clip
Blackwood – 16 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Blackwood – 16 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Blackwood – 17 notes (original)
Blackwood – 18 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Blackwood – 18 notes (isolated flute in Matthew Sheeran version)
Stravinsky – The Firebird Suite (Dance of King Kaschei)
Blackwood – 18 notes (original)
Blackwood – 19 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Blackwood – 19 notes (original)
Blackwood – 20 notes (original)
Henri Duparc – La vie antérieure
Blackwood – 20 notes (original)
Blackwood – 21 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Blackwood – 21 notes (12-TET version with Hendrix chord)
Blackwood – 21 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Blackwood – 22 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Blackwood – 23 notes (original)
Blackwood – 23 notes (Matthew Sheeran Kontakt arrangement – different orchestration)
Blackwood – 23 notes (isolated harp in Matthew Sheeran version)
Blackwood – 14 notes (12-TET version)
Blackwood – 14 notes (Matthew Sheeran version – comparing 12 and 14)
Blackwood – 23 notes (12-TET version)
Blackwood – 23 notes (Matthew Sheeran version – comparing 12 and 23)
Blackwood – 19 notes (Matthew Sheeran version cello ending)
Blackwood – 24 notes (original)
Blackwood – 24 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Stephen Weigel – 11 notes (original)
Stephen Weigel – 11 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Stephen Weigel – 7 notes (Matthew Sheeran Kontakt arrangement)
Blackwood – 15 notes (Stephen Weigel version)
Stephen Weigel – keyboard fingering for 11-TET
Stephen Weigel – 11 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Stephen Weigel – 7 notes (original)
Stephen Weigel – 7 notes (Matthew Sheeran Kontakt arrangement)
Blackwood – 18 notes (original)
Stephen Weigel – Zones of Lasting Novelty (9-TET)
Ben Johnston – String quartet No. 7 (guide tracks only)
Blackwood – Gulliver’s Travels (23-TET)
Matthew Sheeran – Lyres of Ur (7-TET)
Outro: Blackwood – 17 notes (Matthew Sheeran version)
Matthew’s stuff:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7401095/
https://www.youtube.com/@matthewsheeran1989/videos
https://soundcloud.com/user698273169
https://smatalent.com/matt-sheeran/
Microtonal Etudes and Macrotonal Etudes:
https://www.cedillerecords.org/albums/easley-blackwood-microtonal/
https://stephenweigel.bandcamp.com/album/six-macrotonal-etudes-for-electronic-music-media
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