‘Synthrumentation’ is a technique for the resynthesis of speech with acoustic instruments developed by the composer Clarence Barlow in the early 1980s. Over the past decade instrumental speech synthesis has been thematised by a diverse range of composers (e.g. Peter Ablinger and Jonathan Harvey); however, Barlow's work is rarely accorded the credit it deserves for the pioneering role it played in this field. This article seeks to explain the basic mechanics of the synthrumentation technique and to demonstrate its practical application through an analysis of Barlow's ensemble piece Im Januar am Nil composed between 1981 and 1984. It should become apparent that Barlow never uses synthrumentation in its conceptually pure form, but rather its realisation is always integrated into an overarching musical context, which reflects Barlow's general approach to musical invention allowing different factors to interact.

In this article the Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy reflects upon the research and composition process of his 2006–07 composition Grá agus Bás, written for the Irish sean nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird. The piece is the first to bring together this traditional Irish singing style (literally, ‘old tradition’) with techniques derived from spectral music. In the second part of the article Dennehy reflects on his own relationship with spectralism, his points of inspiration and points of departure from what have come to seem spectral orthodoxies.

The oeuvre of Austrian composer Bernhard Lang (b. 1957) is based upon extreme musical repetition. In his Monadologie series (2007-present), short samples of pre-existing music form the starting point for a variety of automatically generated looping and transformation processes. The overwriting of pre-existing music results in the creation of meta-compositions that radically alter the listeners' understanding of the original piece.

Sketching a general overview of the composer's aesthetic beliefs and the compositional strategies originating from them, this article focuses on Lang's Monadologie series. It aims to clarify the relationships between the individual pieces of the series, to analyse the musical techniques used to reinterpret pre-existing scores within a contemporary setting and, finally, to interpret the implications that arise from that procedure. The 2009 Monadologie VII: …for Arnold… functions as a historico-analytical case study, from which a deeper insight into the series' hermeneutics can be gained.

This interview with American composer Morton Feldman (1926–1987) has never before been available in English. Recorded in Paris in 1970, when Feldman's music was just at the point of significant change, it was published (in French) by the interviewer, critic Françoise Esselier, in the short-lived journal VH 101 which she co-ran with the Austrian critic Otto Hahn, in a translation by Nicole Tisserand. The original recording seems not to have survived. Here re-translated into English by the pianist and Feldman specialist Ivan Ilić, the interest of its content makes it a valuable addition to the literature on Feldman.

This year's Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music were plugged-in, wired-up, mixed-down, line-out. Scarcely a main-stage concert wasn't amplified, at the very least. More often, new works synthesised spatialised sound design, video material, lighting and electronics in high-tech, high-concept performances.

Throughout the 2014 International Summer Course for New Music, the correlations between Darmstadt's scientific and artistic nuclei resonated. In his ‘Greeting’ note in the Summer Course programme booklet, the Mayor of Darmstadt, Jochen Partsch, describes the Summer Course as ‘an artistic laboratory … in which new works are presented and developed, in which musicians from all over the world find a forum for exchange and experimentation’. As in previous years, the Summer Course took place at various locations around Darmstadt city, which ensured the establishment of a vibrant learning environment. In turn, Darmstadt the ‘Wissenschaftsstadt’, or ‘City of Science’, also inspired old and new musical debate.

It seems clear that, by a certain point in the twentieth century, the roles of composer and performer had become increasingly separated, but when we think of composers such as JS Bach, Beethoven and Rachmaninov, we are reminded that the idea of the musician as composer-performer is not new. Today, we can see an increasing number of musicians running a double life as composer and performer. What does it mean to be a composer-performer in the twenty-first century? How does the relationship of compositions to their performances change when the composer is the performer?

Cultures collide and combine in the new works presented in the opening weeks of the 2014 BBC Proms. In music by Roxanna Panufnik and Sir John Tavener, ideas from different religious traditions are brought together. Both composers acknowledge the resulting tensions, but seek to transcend them. Various resolutions are proposed, and with them models for mutual understanding. Utopian ideals, indeed, and none of the works quite reach the lofty goals to which they aspire; but, in each case, the journey proves more interesting than the destination.

A traditional four-movement violin concerto might seem a departure from the grime-influenced crossover language of the composer of the infamous Concerto for Turntables (given its Proms premiere in 2011). However, in many ways Gabriel Prokofiev's first Violin Concerto, commissioned by the BBC for Daniel Hope and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, is a highly satisfactory step in the composer's artistic trajectory.

Its nature as a festival that is fundamentally about standard orchestral repertoire means that the Proms continues to exhibit a slippery relationship with new music. Challenging works still appear to be sidelined while showy, more conservative pieces end up in prime slots with big audiences. Whether or not this is the right way round remains open to debate and, indeed, the bustle of social media has provided an interesting platform this year for discussion around the issue.

Three new piano works premiered at the 2014 Proms showed an intriguing variety of styles and idioms in twenty-first-century music with varying levels of success. Paradoxically the more inventive piano techniques emerged in the more vividly characterised and communicative works by Judith Weir and Zhou Long, while Bernard Rands' neo-modernist concerto lacked a clear identity.

How many flutes are there in Simon Holt's flute concerto Morpheus Wakes? Nominally one, here the amazing Emanuel Pahud, but more usefully two or more. Scored for alto as well as standard flute, Holt exploits the timbral possibilities of both while ensuring that the orchestra's own flautist (doubling bass flute) and alto flautist (doubling piccolo) continue the idea of ‘two-in-one’ so central to his other recent concerto Centauromachy for clarinet, flugelhorn and orchestra written in 2010 and given its London premiere at the 2011 Proms.

Amidst the wide range of events staged as part of Glasgow's 2014 Cultural Programme in celebration of the Commonwealth Games, the New Music Biennial Showcase occupied the closing weekend of the Games. Hosted at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on 1 and 2 August, it made use of three separate performances spaces: the main hall, the newly redeveloped Strathclyde Suite and the more intimate brand new City of Music Studio. As at its London partner event, which took place between 4 and 6 July at the Southbank Centre, audiences were provided with an opportunity to hear 20 new commissions from a diverse selection of composers from across Britain, each of which had already been performed across the country in a variety of locations, ranging from skate parks to concert halls.

Based in a small market town just inside the Welsh border, the Presteigne Festival annually punches well above its weight in contemporary music terms. The conductor George Vass has been Artistic Director at Presteigne for 22 of its 32 years, and his tireless advocacy of living and lesser-known composers has garnered not only increasing international respect, but a loyal and substantial audience, including many locals for whom encountering ‘new music’ has clearly become something to relish rather than suffer.

Over the past five years, Austria's Bregenzer Festspiele has given some 22 world premieres, including five major new operas at the Festspielhaus. It is an impressive record for a festival that has had its government subsidy frozen since 1997, and that relies for 80 per cent of its funding on box office receipts and private investment. Hence, the theme chosen by David Pountney for his eleventh and final year as Intendant, ‘Bittersweet Vienna’, felt tinged with added irony.

Neither is Morton Feldman's only opera. The libretto is a single page of text by Samuel Beckett. British director Katie Mitchell has paired her new staging of this single act work, premiered in 1977, with her staging of Beckett's 1975 short play, Footfalls. This new production was presented as part of the Infektion! festival of new music theatre at the Berlin Staatsoper in June of this year.