Gavin Bryars
On Tour
Play Radio
Listen to Gavin Bryars Radio,
featuring artists like Henryk Górecki, Michael Riesman, Morton Feldman, Sofia Gubaidulina and more…
-
Search on Spotify
Yes, it scrobbles! Learn more
359,198 plays (71,498 listeners)
Richard Gavin Bryars (born 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in (or has produced works in) many varied styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism experimental music, avant-garde, neoclassicism, and ambient.
Born in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, Bryars initially studied philosophy at Sheffield University before studying music for three years.
The first musical work for which is he remembered was his role as bassist in the trio Joseph Holbrooke, alongside guitarist Derek Bailey and drummer Tony Oxley. The trio began by playing relatively traditional jazz before moving into free improvisation. However, Bryars became dissatisfied with this when he saw a young bassist (later revealed to be Johnny Dyani) play in a manner which seemed to him to be artificial, and he became interested in composition instead.
Bryars’s first works as a composer owe much to the so-called New York School of John Cage (with whom he briefly studied), Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and minimalism. His first known work as a composer, The Sinking of the Titanic (1969), is quite an indeterministic work which allows the performers to take a number of sound sources related to the sinking of the RMS Titanic and make them into a piece of music. The 1994 recording of this piece was made famous to a whole new audience via its promo single featuring the Aphex Twin remix “Raising the Titanic” (later collected on his 26 Mixes for Cash album).
Born in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, Bryars initially studied philosophy at Sheffield University before studying music for three years.
The first musical work for which is he remembered was his role as bassist in the trio Joseph Holbrooke, alongside guitarist Derek Bailey and drummer Tony Oxley. The trio began by playing relatively traditional jazz before moving into free improvisation. However, Bryars became dissatisfied with this when he saw a young bassist (later revealed to be Johnny Dyani) play in a manner which seemed to him to be artificial, and he became interested in composition instead.
Bryars’s first works as a composer owe much to the so-called New York School of John Cage (with whom he briefly studied), Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and minimalism. His first known work as a composer, The Sinking of the Titanic (1969), is quite an indeterministic work which allows the performers to take a number of sound sources related to the sinking of the RMS Titanic and make them into a piece of music. The 1994 recording of this piece was made famous to a whole new audience via its promo single featuring the Aphex Twin remix “Raising the Titanic” (later collected on his 26 Mixes for Cash album).
Shouts:
42 shouts
Top Albums
-
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
Gavin Bryars
Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
-
Hommages
Gavin Bryars Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $8.99
- 7digital Search
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $107.66
- eBay Search
-
The Sinking Of The Titanic
Gavin BryarsBuy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $7.98
- 7digital $8.99
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $18.71
- eBay Search
-
After the Requiem
Gavin BryarsBuy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $30.12
- eBay Search
Shoutbox
-
Hannesr wrote:
Gavin opens a cosmos (beauty)...a breathing space... nourishing by his creative source.
-
swoephowx wrote:
lol aphex is on top... the original versions is painfully beautiful...
-
precipitous wrote:
Gavin Bryars is like a god to me...
-
ChriSThaaRippeR wrote:
Genius
-
Phaeton wrote:
@iDEATHMACHINEi Love the anecdote matey, all versions are great, the full 20 minute, or those shorter versions with or without Tom, they're all fantastic.
-
F0000000L wrote:
it failed me.. yet!
-
Istofaellt wrote:
a big living..
-
Laser_ wrote:
the sinking of the titanic is the bible of minimalism [2]
-
cautivametal wrote:
If you like piano music and minimalism like Wim Mertens or Michael Nyman, you'll like this: http://www.lastfm.com/music/Jose+Travieso
-
headey wrote:
How is it that a big hitter like GB has some tracks with only 33 listeners ?? : http://www.last.fm/music/Gavin+Bryars/_/%28Room+021%29+Cuisine+%28Trio%29 ! HE HAS DONE MORE THAN TRAMP & TITANIC !
-
special_user wrote:
the sinking of the titanic is the bible of minimalism
-
moduin wrote:
you should all check out his 'prologue' for 'three viennese dancers'. hauntingly beautiful.
-
iDEATHMACHINEi wrote:
your right. to me the only version is the 27min- version: Tramp with Orchestra I (string quartet). probably my favorite song of all time. i remember first hearing this as a child in east germany behind the iron courtain at night in bed under the covers. and after about 10 minutes i finally started recording it, thank goodness. still have this very bad recording, and never will give it away. thank you gavin and all the people who made this,THANK YOU!
-
lumbercartel wrote:
that whole version of jesus' blood with tom waits is terrible. the music overpowers the old guy's voice too much, the music itself is too clean and disney, and tom waits coming in just ruins it completely.
-
Pewp wrote:
Hommages and After The Requiem are excellent.
-
gingerweir wrote:
To understand how Barking this man is......sorry how much off a genius. lol Portsmouth Sinfonia ! Off with the fairies.
-
eric_atd wrote:
OK, I feel better now.
-
eric_atd wrote:
WHAT?! Wagner is Bach? Aw geez, my head is spinning.
-
malaguti23 wrote:
ou isso é o céu ou isso é o inferno.
-
KraeheK wrote:
After the Requiem has orgasmic textures :3
Videos
Events
-
Feb
24
Off The Page
The Playhouse Theatre, Whitstable, United Kingdom
1 going
-
Apr
15
The Sinking of The Titanic
Barbican Centre, London, United Kingdom
25 going
Top Listeners
-
cheeze5
Top Listener
-
timconway
Top Listener
-
flhor
Top Listener
-
jernejevic
Top Listener
Recent Activity
-
lemmycaution2, sergey-star, Othhambis and 10 other people added Gavin Bryars to their libraries. Tuesday afternoon
-
gervej tagged Gavin Bryars with ‘minimalism’. last month
-
gervej, Rocketzap, nweiler1 and 1 other person added Gavin Bryars to their libraries. last month
-
richwhitelaw added Gavin Bryars to the lineup of Off The Page at The Playhouse Theatre. last month
-
dingram1, DanielDolezal, goatlegs1 and 7 other people added Gavin Bryars to their libraries. last month
-
shbadr tagged Gavin Bryars with ‘contemporary classical’. last month
-
swoephowx, itLiveAlivE, plipbt and 3 other people added Gavin Bryars to their libraries. last month
-
Sa6a666 tagged Gavin Bryars with minimalism and contemporary classical. December 2011
-
abele tagged Gavin Bryars with awesome, seen live, experimental and one other tag. December 2011
-
Hunterinvitus tagged Gavin Bryars with ‘minimalism’. December 2011
Related Journals
-
Gavin Bryars – The Sinking of the Titanic 9.0
by utopiantheorist |
23 Nov 2010
-
Ocean of sound
by fru-n-quiz |
6 Feb 2010
-
What I was actually listening to in 2009 - at home and @iphone - measured in minutes
by qss |
8 Jan 2010
Groups (29)
-
Contemporary Classical
2,735 members
-
mnml
1,721 members
-
Music for Films
794 members
-
ECM
634 members
-
Composers
594 members
More Information
- Links
- Labels
