Quiet Music Ensemble wins Coup de Coeur

27 Feb 2025

An album by Quiet Music Ensemble, a group created by UCC’s head of Film, Music and Theatre, John Godfrey, was awarded a prestigious Coup de Coeur for Experimental Music by the Académie Charles Cros in Paris this February.

One of only 10 albums from a shortlist of 250 to receive this plaudit, the double album ‘…we return to ground…’  (Other Minds Records, OM-1034-2) features three major works created especially for QME by Irish composer Karen Power.  
 
Field recordings taken throughout the world create ‘environments of considerable sonic complexity, within which the musicians of QME act as explorers of the space created’

QME was founded in 2009 to pursue an approach that is about exploration of sound itself, empowering all parties - makers of ‘pieces', ensemble, audience - in the creative process. ‘Works’, fashioned for the ensemble through close collaboration with others,  explains Godfrey, are seen as ‘interventions in the act of improvisation, not as prescriptions for action’. The group derives its repertoire by working with a wide range of artists, not just composers of music. These interventions take many forms, including specially-designed software and hardware, graphic and text scores, sculptures and dance. 

 In  ‘…we return to ground…’, Karen Power harnesses field recordings taken throughout the world to create ‘environments of considerable sonic complexity, within which the musicians of QME act as explorers of the space created’.
QME is in the midst of releasing a substantial series of recordings with labels Other Minds Records (USA), Farpoint Recordings (IRL), Diatribe Records (IRL) and NMC Recordings (UK). www.quietmusicensemble.com