Tim Brady (Canada, 1956) became known for the
music for solo guitar and electronics of Imaginary Guitars (1992), Scenarios (1994), Strange Attractors (1997), the double-disc 10 Collaborations (2000), Go (2006).
They had been preceded by the duets with
John Abercrombie of
Double Variations (Justin Time, 1990).
The prolific
Brady also composed more ambitious works:
the brief String Quartet Number One (1980):
the brief Sextet (1981) for clarinet, horn, harp, violin, viola and cello;
Concertino for Orchestra (1982);
the multimedia event Sound Off (1983) for
40 saxophones, 30 trumpets, 30 trombones and 8 bass drums;
the multimedia work Solo Games (1984) for six instruments and sound effets;
Mobile (1984) for flute and classical guitar;
the five-movement Visions (Justin Time, 1984) for flugelhorn (Kenny Wheeler) and orchestra;
the first Chamber Concerto (1985);
the Quintet (1987) for clarinet, horn, piano, viola and cello;
the chamber trio In the Wake (1988);
Ranei Te Take (1988) for guitar, voice, piano and percussion;
the dance piece Inventions (1988 - 1989) for guitar, saxophone, piano, percussion, cello, three jazz improvisers and electronics, collected on
the chamber concerto The Songline (1991);
Inventions (Justin Time, 1991);
the saxophone quartet Unison Rituals (1991), included in Unison Rituals (2003);
the concerto for electric guitar and orchestra Loud (1993);
Double Helix (1994) for piano, percussion, cello and saxophone;
Dance Me To The End (1996) for string quartet, electric guitar and live electronics;
the song cycles Revolutionary Songs (1994), included in Revolutionary Songs (1996), and The Knife Thrower's Partner (1997);
the concerto for electric guitar The Body Electric (1997);
Escapement (1997) for guitar, cello, percussion and soprano saxophone;
the Saxophone Quartet (1998);
Lightning Field (1999) for piano, soprano saxophone, violin, viola and double bass;
Slow Dances (1999) for clarinet and string quartet;
Scat (2000) for percussion (marimba, gongs, tam-tams and cymbals), clarinet, violin and double bass;
Playing Guitar - Symphony #1 (2002) for electric guitar, sampler and 15 musicians;
the multimedia work Hommage Rosa Luxemburg (2003) for string quartet, tape and video projection;
Twenty Quarter Inch Jacks (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2002) for 20 teenage electric guitarists;
the chamber operas Three Cities in the Life of Dr Norman Bethune (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2005), premiered in 2003, and The Salome Dancer (2005);
Double Quartet (2005) for electric guitar, tenor and soprano saxophones, percussion, piano and sound effects;
the chamber work SCAT (Ambiances magnetiques, 2007);
the multi-media work My 20th Century (2008);
the bass clarinet concerto Opposites Attract (2008);
The Spontaneous Sonata Project (2008);
Stages in the Search for Radium and Love (2009) for large chamber ensemble, based on the life of Marie Curie;
En Amour en Hiver (2010) for voice and orchestra;
The Choreography of Time - Symphony #2 (2010) for saxophone quartet and orchestra;
Amplify Multiply Remix and Redfine - In Memory of Les Paul (2010) for 21 electric guitars and orchestra, which is a revision of The Body Electric;
Requiem 21.5 (2012), a concerto for violin and string orchestra;
Spin (2012) for percussion quartet;
The Absence of Shelling is Almost Like Music (2013) for cello, video and orchestra;
Journal - String Quartet #2 (2013);
Viola Concerto (2013);
Fast (2015) for percussion ensemble
etc.
Atacama (ATMA, 2013) contains is Symphonie #3.
The How and the Why of Memory (Centrediscs, 2015) contains his Symphony #4.
The four-disc box-set 24 Frames (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2011) collects
one of his longest works.
Instruments of Happiness (Starkland, 2016) contains music for electric guitar: Brady's Symphony No. 5 - The Same River Twice (2013) for four guitars and sound effects; Antoine Berthiaume's Fungi ; and Rainer Wiens' What Is Time? .
Brady's Symphony No 5 is in four movements. The first one indulges in
intricate minimalist repetition, erratically hijacked by sound effects, and ends
in a Terry Riley-esque mode; and the second one lays down
subliminal drones before intoning a fantasia that sounds like a somnolent remix of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.
A follow-up was the multi-media work Symphonie 5.1 (2016).
The Luxury of Time, his Symphony #6, was premiered in 2015.
Music for Large Ensembles (Starkland, 2018) contains the 26-minute Desir (2017), his third concerto for electric guitar and large chamber ensemble, and the 38-minute Eight Songs about Symphony #7 (2017), a tribute to Shostakovitch's Symphony #7 "Leningrad".