Balmorhea THE WIND

 

THE WIND

 

CLARICE JENSEN For this from that will be filled

For this from that will be filled explores the variable differences between acoustic and electronic sound as well as depiction of the simulated and the unconscious. It was originally conceived as a collaboration between Jensen and the artist Jonathan Turner as an audio-visual work, but is here presented in its pure audible form.

Building on a long and romantic tradition of solo cello repertoire, Jensen expands and confuses the familiar sound of the cello through the use of effects pedals, multi-tracking, and tape loops recorded at variable speeds, presented in works she has written for herself as well as a piece she conceived together with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Also featured is Michael Harrison’s Cello Constellations for multi-tracked cello and sine tones, written for Jensen, which meditates on long, sustaining tones.

With For this from that will be filled, Jensen has made an incredibly strong first album that feels like a surreal and futuristic journey through an alternate timeline.

RICHARD REED PARRY Music for Heart and Breath

Music for Heart and Breath is a series of compositions that use involuntarily moving organs of the human body (specifically the lungs and the heart) as performance parameters. There are no time signatures: the tempos and rhythms are always governed by either the heart rates or the breathing rates of the individual players. In the case of the latter, the performers are instructed to play directly in sync with their own or another player’s individual breathing (playing at the speed of their inhalations, their exhalations or both). To enable the players to hear and play in sync with their own heartbeats, they wear stethoscopes and, naturally, generally play quietly. That, in combination with the natural variation between the performers’ heart rates, results in a delicate musical “pointillism”: starts and stops that are somewhat staggered, melodies that repeatedly align and then fall out of sync with the rising and falling of individual pulses.

The idea is less about “performance” in the traditional musical sense and more about attempting to translate directly into music the quiet internal rhythms of the body, using the naturally varying tempos inherent within each musician to guide and shape the dynamics of the pieces. Music for Heart and Breath requires that the performers let go of their regular approach to musical interpretation and phrasing, replacing it instead with a commitment to following the subtle rhythmic “instructions” of the body.

This kind of performing can yield a subtlety, a spaciousness and a uniquely fragile style of interplay between performers and musical score that always fluctuates and never repeats itself: each piece is a distinct, gentle collision of notes, dynamics, timing and shifting harmonies that, literally, has new life breathed into it every time it is played. (Richard Reed Parry, 2014)

MAX RICHTER Sleep

Hailed as the most influential composer of his generation, electro-acoustic polymath Max Richter defies definition: composer he may be, but he is also pianist, producer, remixer, and collaborator, and beyond argument one of the most prolific of contemporary musical artists.

Inspired equally by Bach, punk rock and ambient electronica, Richter’s sonic world blends a formal classical training (he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, and was a pupil of renowned composer Luciano Berio) with modern technology. His unique and distinctive brand of heartbroken melodicism bridges the minimalist greats with pioneering electronics and the contemporary digital music production multiverse. Time Out has remarked on the ‘overwhelming emotional power’ of his work, the New Statesman has noted its ‘astonishing depth and beauty’ while Classic FM and Pitchfork have called it ‘stunning’ and The Guardian ‘languorously transcendent’.

Over the years Richter has become best known for his genre defining and highly influential solo albums which have given rise to and are seen as ‘landmarks’ (The Independent, Pitchfork) of the ever burgeoning ‘neo- classical’ movement, but his monumental collaborative output also encompasses concert music, operas, ballets, art and video installations, and multiple film, theatre and television scores.

The over 50 films featuring Max’s work and specifically written scores include Ari Folman’s multiple award-winning and devastating critique of war, Waltz with Bashir (for which Max was awarded the European Film Prize), Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Damon Lindelof ’s first television project post-LOST, HBO’s The Leftovers. Theatre productions include Alan Cumming’s triumphant solo version of Macbeth on Broadway, and the National Theatre of Scotland’s internationally lauded Black Watch. Ballets include his many collaborative ventures with maverick Royal Ballet resident choreographer Wayne McGregor, with his works also being used by, amongst others, The Joffrey Ballet, Nederlands Dans Teatre, Lucinda Childs, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Dutch National Ballet, Dresden Semper Oper, Ballet du Rhin, Northern Ballet.

Art Collaborations include work with photographer Darren Almond at the White Cube, with Julian Opie on McGregor’s ballet INFRA, and with visual art collective Random International on Rain Room at the Barbican and MoMA, and Future Self at Lunds Konsthall in Sweden.

Signed as an exclusive artist to Deutsche Grammophon, Max Richter’s projects for 2015 include his new solo album following on from his bestselling ‘Recomposed: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons’ for which he received the ECHO Klassik Award in 2013. In 2015 Max will also see the premiere of Woolf Works his new full length ballet for choreographer Wayne McGregor and The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden on the life and works of Virginia Woolf, which The Independent noted ‘looks set to be one of the most ambitious shows of the year’ and The Guardian forecasted to be ‘one of the highlights’ of the Opera House Season.

. . . the music here is, as expected, played largo and is clarified to the point where it's thoroughly cleansing, plus the string quintet pieces approach bass-heavy ambience in a beautifully organic way . . . This is a landmark project . . . much of which succeeds in being thoroughly bewitching.

Record Review / Phil Smith, Record Collector (London) 

. . . these are lush, glacially-paced movements that continually glide in and out of focus like fragments of half-remembered dreams. The aptly-titled "Dream 3", "Dream 8" and "Dream 13" form the spine of the album and sound exactly as you would imagine; all delicate piano and ponderous violin . . . [the claustrophobia of "Space"] makes for the most arresting listening on the album . . .

Record Review / James F. Thompson, Crack Magazine (London)