Monthly Archives: February 2023

Switched On – Gaspar Claus: Scaphandre (InFiné)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

It is helpful to reproduce in full the accompanying notes Gaspar Claus has written for this release on Bandcamp:

“Scaphandre is the story of an image found in a lost time on the internet a few years ago. It inspired two sound pieces conceived so that one can dive into it as into the sea.

Once their composition was finished, I looked for the origin of this image. It is one of the very first submarine pictures in history, taken by Louis Boutan in 1893 in the bay of Banyuls-sur-Mer… my home town. The original photo as well as a fantastic series of archives documenting this event can be found at the Arago Laboratory, where I often went as a child, after school, amazed by what the researchers were showing me. They just had never told me this story. This is how this record found its scenery.”

The two pieces Claus brought together on Scaphandre (which translates as ‘diving suit’ or ‘space suit’ in English) are described as ‘an abstract and mysterious B-side of Tancade’, the album released by the French cellist and composer towards the end of 2021.

Both pieces were written alongside the composition of the album, and are broader in scope, each lasting more than 10 minutes.

What’s the music like?

Compelling, and often deeply mysterious.

Inside starts right from the depths, the instrument detuned by a distance of more than two tones. The scratchy, almost pitchless sounds gradually form a rich chord as layers of sound build up, until a rich, wooden wall of sound is secured, constantly evolving and yet acting as an immovable block. As this progresses the treble pitches start to gather and swirl, slowly orbiting the centre. There is a forbidding intensity about the progression of this piece.

Beyond has more consonant harmonies in its beginnings and occupies a safer space, suspended in a rich drone of mostly G major – but with another massive wall of sound to back it up. Gradually the music lifts, and the foundation drops away to leave mere threads, the elements of pitch dissolving into white noise.

Does it all work?

It does – but it is important to listen to these tracks in the right environment, as they are only fully impactful when a static half hour is set aside.

Is it recommended?

Yes, as a complement to the Tancade album – but if you haven’t heard that yet then it is the best place to start. Either way, Scaphandre is further proof of Gaspar Claus’s powers of invention, knowledge and deep love of the cello. He pushes its sonic boundaries further here, for sure!

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On Record – Sebastian Rochford & Kit Downes: A Short Diary (ECM)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is an album with a deeply personal touch. Dedicated to Gerard Rochford, an Aberdeen poet and father of drummer Sebastian, it is described by him as ‘a short diary of loss’, offered as ‘a sonic memory, created with love, out of need for comfort.’

Around the time of his father’s death in 2019, Seb experienced a rush of musical thoughts coming to him, even though he wasn’t looking to write anything. This became part of the grieving process, and though he initially looked to resist the urge he found that giving space to the musical thoughts was helping him cope better elsewhere. Sat at the piano, he was able to vent his feelings through the simple vehicle of a home grand piano, and later the drum kit.

To help him he enlisted regular collaborator, pianist Kit Downes, and the pair recorded the music at the Rochford family home, capturing its ambience on record.

The final piece, Even Now I Think Of Her, is a composition by Gerard himself, sung into his phone and sent to Sebastian.

What’s the music like?

There is a beautiful and often heart stopping intimacy to this music. When experienced late in the day it is a companion for thought and reflection, turning inwards towards the centre of the mind on thoughtful pieces like Night Of Quiet, which at other times opens outwards and bringing the departed spirits and surrounding environment into the conversation.

This Tune Your Ears Will Never Here – a heartbreaking title – is a beautiful piece with which to start, setting out the hymn-like disposition of a lot of Rochford’s musical thinking. It begins with the piano intoning a solemn sequence in block chords, yet distracted by bigger thoughts at play.

The drums are very sensitively used, very much in the background – while on a piece like Love You Grampa complementing the piano’s free-thinking block chords. The first impression here is adding some well-judged percussion to a languid Debussy piece, but then the piece opens out into something more playful.

On Silver Light the music hints at folksong in the right hand of the piano, with modal melodies and light punctuation from the drums. Rochford’s compositions are capable of sustaining their concentrated thought for longer, too – and as Ten Of Us explores the lower ranges of the piano, the audience is effectively placed in the room next door, listening intently. It ends with a show of inner strength, Downes playing ever more expansively as the drum kit also intensifies.

Gerard’s composition fits hand in glove with the rest of the album, its right hand melody lightly insistent and dressed with brushed snare drum. It must have been almost unbearably poignant to record.

Does it all work?

It does. The instinctive nature of the music is wholly absorbing, and although Rochford’s father may have passed on, the strength of his character frequently comes across in writing that is thoughtful, reverent and lightly amusing.

Is it recommended?

It is. This is a concentrated, intimate set of musical studies and meditations, and clearly worked as part of the grieving process for Rochford. It is a beautiful, poignant album for musical reflection and reparation.

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You can explore listening and purchasing options for A Short Diary at the ECM Records website

Switched On – Loscil // Lawrence English: Colours Of Air (Kranky)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This collaboration between Canada and Australia, between composers Loscil and Lawrence English, was born from a long-running conversation on electronic music. It gives both musical minds a chance to explore together the sounds of a pipe organ from the Old Museum in Brisbane. While Lawrence English’s work of the past decade has centred on the sounds of instruments such as this, Loscil’s has tended towards less analogue keyboard instruments.

Here the two combine their unique and deeply personal approach to music, taking the source recordings and manipulating the organ sounds into personal and uniquely colourful responses – hence a different shade for each of the eight tracks.

What’s the music like?

Perhaps inevitably, colourful. However there is something about the way Loscil and English bring colour into their music that sets it well above the ambient ‘standard’. These tracks really do live up to their names, and with eight different hues throughout the album it is certainly one for the mind’s eye.

The Brisbane instrument makes a major contribution, but not just through its resultant music. The mechanical actions are part of the recording process too, so on occasion the very instrument is inhaling and exhaling, providing a white-noise percussion along with the pitches.

Without ado, Cyan allows us to dive straight into these wonderful textures, a glittering array of musical shades that soon become punctuated with soft chimes. The music shimmers in a way that the organ music of Philip Glass does, but the motifs are blanketed, the shape shifting chords taking place like billowing clouds.

As the eight-part suite progresses, so we get to hear more of the nuances of the Brisbane instrument, with varying levels of attack and depth. The pitches stay relatively static, often in a drone-like stasis, but some allow for greater, mysterious movement – such as Aqua, with its ethereal sighing motif. Sharper tones are used for the brightness of Pink, a vivid contrast to the relatively withdrawn colours of Grey and Black that went before.

Black, the longest track of the eight, is a majestic piece of work, dark as space itself but panning out to the edge of perspective. Of a similar dimension is Magenta, whose slight pitch bends create a drawn out and very intense sonic drama.

Yellow is another standout moment, and it just so happened that I experienced this piece of music during a sunrise, which it most certainly evokes – one of those wonderful moments where sound and nature are as one.

Does it all work?

Yes. There are some fascinating processes at work here, and the feeling persists that the outcome is an equal musical agreement between the two parties. The listener still gets Loscil’s uniquely wide, weather-beaten panorama, but the pipe organ adds something special, Lawrence English securing his timeless response in a different and slightly more mechanical way.

Is it recommended?

Without hesitation. A mandatory purchase for fans of either – and for those in need of some musical balm to mark the end of January.

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Online concert – Zoë Beyers, English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods: Elcock: Violin Concerto

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Elcock Violin Concerto Op.13 (1996-2006)

Zoë Beyers (violin), English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods

Filmed at the Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, Thursday 26 May 2022. Producer Phil Rowlands / Videographer Tim Burton

by Richard Whitehouse

The English Symphony Orchestra’s online schedule got off to a fine start for this year with a studio account of the Violin Concerto by composer-in-association Steve Elcock. It may have taken shape across nearly a decade, but the work is no less impressive for that. It also marks something of a transition from less ambitious pieces, often conceived with local musicians in mind, to the symphonic works as have recently been performed and recorded to great acclaim – whose formal as well as expressive concerns it anticipates and shares in various instances.

The concerto opens with an Allegro vivo whose rhythmic energy is maintained throughout, yet with sufficient contrast for its second theme to assume greater emotional emphasis in the reprise, prior to a forceful conclusion. The undoubted highlight is a Molto tranquillo whose haunting main theme, first unfolded by the soloist over undulating upper strings in a texture evidently inspired by change-ringing techniques, is a memorable inspiration. A pavane-like idea latterly comes into focus and the closing stage, which opens onto an eloquent plateau before evanescing almost regretfully into silence, lingers long in the memory. The finale is a relatively taut passacaglia whose theme accelerates through five variations from Andante to Presto, culminating in a combative ‘cadenza’ for violin and timpani then a decisive pay-off.

A tough challenge, indeed, for any soloist and one such as Zoë Beyers and the ESO, under Kenneth Woods, met with assurance over its 33 minutes. Aside from its sheer velocity, the first movement is notable for a close-knit interplay between soloist and orchestra here brought off with admirable precision, while the modal subtleties of the slow movement were deftly rendered as enhancements to its overall tonal trajectory. If its sequence of accelerating variations seemed to be over rather too soon, the finale was nevertheless a cohesive entity that saw this piece to a defiant conclusion.

Good to hear that this performance will be released commercially in due course, as a coupling for the Eighth Symphony which the ESO premiered in 2021 and the tone poem Wreck it gave last year – hence making for a persuasive overview of this increasingly significant composer.

This concert can be accessed free until 7 February 2023 at the English Symphony Orchestra website, but remains available through ESO Digital by way of a subscription. Meanwhile click on the names for more on the English Symphony Orchestra and Kenneth Woods, or on composer Steve Elcock

On Record – Jonah Yano: Portrait Of A Dog (Innovative Leisure)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Born in Hiroshima but based in Montreal, Jonah Yano has been exploring his family history and making sense of his identity. This has been realised in musical form, through a solo album made with frequent collaborators BADBADNOTGOOD.

Yano used the songwriting process to make an intimate piece of work bringing his feelings on his Japanese-Canadian heritage to the fore, while examining family dynamics and personal relationships. Here he is aided by extended solo contributions from his bandmates, and some spoken word clips adding a domestic feel to proceedings..

What’s the music like?

Chilled in the first instance – but definitely rewarding the listener who wants to go deeper into the source material.

On the surface it is easy to admire the resultant sounds from this album. Chief among these is Yano’s velvety voice, a versatile instrument equally effective in soul or jazz. He is backed by thoroughly convincing instrumental parts, too – chief among them some superb drumming from Alexander Sowinski and fluent piano from Felix Fox-Pappas that determine the momentum generated in each track. Both combine in some of the strong solos, while Leland Whitty‘s guitar and saxophone contributions to Haven’t Haven’t stand out.

Always has a searching intimacy, especially when the lyrics make themselves clear. “The way you made me feel is the opposite of caring”, sings Yano in one verse, though by the time the piano takes over for an extended solo, things feel right with the world again.

Song About The Family House is deeply felt, an intimate aside to the listener, while a cover of Vashti Bunyan’s Glow Worms is suitably evocative. Guests Slauson Malone and Sea Oleena both acquit themselves well, with subtle contributions to In Sun, Out of Sun and Quietly, Entirely respectively. The latter has a beautiful introduction, with layers of murmured vocals like the wind in the trees.

Does it all work?

In the main, though occasionally Yano’s voice feels a bit understated in the mix – on headphones at least. The instrumental cameos are sensitively handled and complement the mood of each song.

Is it recommended?

It is. Portrait Of A Dog proves to be an engaging and personal work, featuring some rather special instrumental contributions. Definitely worth a spin.

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