Name: Mixtape
SKU: 224888

To mark our 30th Anniversary we have created an alternative sampler to celebrate our releases over the last three decades. We invited experimental producer/DJ Beatrice Dillon to delve into our back catalogue and the result is this 50-minute blended mix, including works by composers ranging from Judith Weir to Kate Whitley, Benjamin Britten to Huw Watkins.

'I’ve been wanting an opportunity to dive a bit deeper into contemporary British classical music for a while so this invitation from NMC was a nice entry point. I chose exact parts of the recordings that I wanted to work with, grouping isolated sections, layering different instrumentation and atmospheric combinations trying to leave enough room for each melodic, rhythmic and arrangement idea to sit comfortably. As much as the music itself, I was interested in the range of frequencies available in these acoustic recordings and drawn to pieces in which certain instruments stood in isolation – pianos, strings, percussion, bells, woodwind, voices, handclaps – each element bringing its own acoustic qualities. Whilst there are plenty of cuts and edits, I also wanted certain pieces to run in full without interruption. The mix is a brief snapshot of NMC’s rich archive of contemporary classical music from the British Isles.'
Beatrice Dillon (Mixtape Curator and Producer)

'That our name, NMC, originally stood for ‘New Music Cassettes’, is difficult to explain to a generation that hardly knows what a cassette is, and is unlikely to have any means of playing one. Thirty years ago it was the medium by which most music was played, and was our tentative way of starting what was then an ambitious venture of recording as much new British music as we could. So it seems appropriate to celebrate our anniversary by releasing a cassette. For anyone who can play it*, it’s a very special souvenir – Beatrice Dillon has dived into the catalogue and come up with a unique mixtape, her own choice of recent and not so recent NMC releases.'
Colin Matthews (NMC Founder & Executive Producer)