Introducing New Music 20x12 - part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad

Howard Skempton (front centre) and the Five Rings Triples band - the Kingston Bell Ringers

The London 2012 Olympic Games aren't all about athletic achievement; the Cultural Olympiad brings an artistic element, too, and a major part of this is New Music 20x12.

Composers representing a range of different styles and backgrounds have been commissioned through the PRS for Music Foundation to write 20 new works, each of 12 minutes in length, celebrating the Games. These works will be performed in varying locations around the country - churches, arts centres, concert halls and even on a train journey - and will encompass a number of different genres, from brass band and chamber opera to folk and jazz. BBC Radio 3 will broadcast each new work and you'll be able to buy downloads of each of the pieces from NMC Recordings.

Gramophone has teamed up with NMC to bring you free audio excerpts of each 20x12 work on the Gramophone Player as it becomes available to download. The first is Howard Skempton's Five Rings Triples, a piece for church bells commissioned by the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers and Third Ear, which marks the beginning of the Olympic year. Hear the excerpt below:

Next to be released in April will be Anna Meredith's Hands Free performed by the National Youth Orchestra, along with Luke Carver Goss's Pure Gold: a 4x4 Relay Race performed by the Black Dyke Band, and Sally Beamish's Spinal Chords performed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Look out for excerpts of these on the Gramophone website.