Dorico Showcase: Robert Laidlow – Recording Gravity

In this Dorico Showcase article, we’re delighted to feature a video interview with composer and researcher Robert Laidlow. Based in the UK, Robert's music has been commissioned and performed internationally by leading ensembles including the London Philharmonic Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic. His research focuses on developing and deploying artist-led creative technologies that empower creativity.

Earlier this year, we partnered with NMC Recoridngs, a UK-based record label and arts charity dedicated to the promotion of contemporary classical music from Britain and Ireland, to support the recording of Robert's string quartet Gravity. Performed by the acclaimed Piatti Quartet, the work was created in Dorico music notation software and appears on his debut album, Reality Eaters, released by NMC today.

Reality Eaters brings together three major works that explore the boundaries of music, science and technology. The album which was recently awarded 5 stars by BBC Music Magazine, reflects a formative period in Laidlow’s career, shaped by his doctoral research and collaborations with leading UK ensembles. Among its featured works is Gravity, a string quartet that traces humanity’s evolving understanding of the force – from myth and early scientific thinking to Einstein’s warped space-time – culminating in a collapsing singularity rendered as a striking “active silence”.

During the recording sessions, we had the opportunity to sit down with Robert to discuss his creative process, the ideas behind Gravity, and how Dorico supported his workflow.

Watch the full interview:

https://youtu.be/9m31-WR3tao

It’s much faster! Once you have your logical settings right, which doesn’t take very long, it takes weeks less of time to do my parts, which is weeks more time I can spend on actually making the music good. That parts thing is really a life saver!

What I really like about Dorico is that it’s easy and quick to replicate what I’ve got on the page.



🎧 Listen to Gravity

🎧 Listen to Reality Eaters