Lucy Railton & Peter Zinovieff

RFG for cello and computer

– Part of the NODE17 Closing event

The collaborative project RFG by classical Cellist Lucy Railton and electronic music pioneer Peter Zienovieff was born out of a long collaboration involving electro-acoustic manipulation, improvisation – and as rumour has it, Rowntree’s Fruit Gums (RFG).

Its structure is neither derived from modern electronic music nor does it comply with the traditional sonata form: RFG has a unique structure combining a live instrumental part and an assemblage of pre-recorded, manipulated material forming an “orchestral” counterpart.

Designed for performance with 7 spatially configured loudspeakers, RFG articulates a bold and luminous meshing of voices, a visceral encounter between a venerated technological innovator and one of today’s leading instrumentalists.

The 40-minute piece is composed for cello and a computer, needless to say, as Zienovieff was certainly the first person to wheel one onto a concert stage to perform ‘live’.

 

Lucy Railton & Peter Zinovieff

Composer, Musician

London, United Kingdom

Peter Zinovieff ​ is best known as the founder of London’s Electronic Music Studio, where he spent the late 1960s developing the ground-breaking VCS3 synthesiser. EMS was a legendary hub of innovation for electronic music, traversing the popular, experimental and avant garde domains. Zinovieff has also worked closely with figures such as Harrison Birtwistle (The Mask Of Orpheus for English National Opera, Royal Opera House) and Hans Werner Henze, and has been hailed for his pioneering work by artists and writers across the board. Since 2010 Peter Zinovieff has come back to electronic music with two commissions by TBA 21 (​Bridges from Somewhere – the Morning Line, Istanbul and ​Good Morning Ludwig- ZKM), 2 Violin Concerti with Aisha Orazbayeva (Radio France and London Contemporary Music Festival) and a series of poetry and 5.1 surround sound compositions with Katrina Porteous (The Sage, Gateshead).

London and Berlin based musician ​Lucy Railton is considered one of the leading instrumentalists working in experimental and electronic new music today. Original works have been made and presented the Tate Modern Turbine Hall (sound installation for Philippe Parreno’s ‘16 – ‘17 Hyundai Commission) at Institute of Contemporary Arts – London, Electronic Music Studio, Stockholm, House of Electronic Arts – Basel, James Cohen Gallery – New York, the Royal Opera House – London, Wysing Arts Festival – Cambridge and Dean Clough – Halifax. Commissions include the OST for Philippe Parreno’s short film – Lin-Yen, and PAF Festival of Film Animation, Czech Republic in collaboration with Rebecca Salvadori, Sonic Acts/Dark Ecology/Borealis Festival with artist Russell Haswell.