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My name is Ben Hogwood, editor of the Arcana music site (arcana.fm)

Switched On – Daniel Avery: Love + Light (Phantasy)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

A surprise release from Daniel Avery, Love + Light started out as an EP – but as he worked on it under lockdown it soon became clear the piece of work was flourishing into something much more substantial – which become his third album. It is an ambitious piece of work, with 14 tracks split into two distinct halves.

What’s the music like?

Every bit as mesmerising as Song For Alpha, Avery’s previous album from 2018. It doesn’t matter that he put this one together so quickly, as his mastering of an album structure is on the money, treating it like a DJ set of his own music. He nails the ebb and flow of the work, moving between full bodied dance tracks like Dusting For Smoke and the metallic textures of Dream Distortion, which complement each other, and broad brushes of ambience that we see more of in the second half, where tracks like A Story In E5 have a magical quality.

The first half is into its stride quickly with the two big hitters referred to above, before Avery creates a blissful open air secen on the brief Katana. This acts as a prelude to the bubbling, classic techno of Darlinnn, before Searing Light, Forward Motion provides an absolute blast of sound to end the first half, Avery following up the opening salvo with a heavy breakbeat.

The second half could hardly start in a better vein, with the stunning Infinite Future, which is several tracks in itself, beautifully voiced and structured. Avery explores cathedral-like resonance in the thick textures of After The Fire, before panning even further out for the remote standpoint of Into The Arms Of Stillness. Fuzzwar offers greater intimacy and comfort, as does the warm and hazy Pure Life, before A Story In E5, the jewel in the album’s crown, a majestic piece of ambience. After that, One More Morning offers a postlude with its clock-like chimes and featherweight beat, which hints at Aphex Twin in its textures.

Does it all work?

Yes – and if anything Love + Light improves with repeated hearings. Although the album was put together quickly it has a cool intensity throughout, is carefully structured and brings out several wonderful soundscapes. Avery’s take on techno is wholly individual, spacious and unusually emotive.

Is it recommended?

Without hesitation. One of the best electronic albums you’ll hear this year.

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Listening to Beethoven #21 – Ritterballet WoO 1

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Count von Waldstein, about 1800 by Antonin Machek

Dedication Count Waldstein
Duration 13′

1. March
2. Deutscher Gedsang: Allegro moderato
3. Jagdlied: Allegretto
4. Romanze: Andantino
5. Kriegslied: Allegro assai con brio
6. Trinklied: Allegro con brio – Trio
7. Deutscher Tanz: Walzer
8. Coda: Allegro vivace

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Background and Critical Reception

In which we meet the important character Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein for the first time. Waldstein arrived in Bonn in 1788 and was a companion of the Elector. He became part of the Teutonic Order, an organisation of German noblemen, and wrote this Knight’s Ballet for a 1791 meeting of the Order of Bonn. Lewis Lockwood writes that he ‘let it appear that the author of the music was Waldstein’.

Daniel Heartz writes how Gotha’s Theater-Kalender for 1792 called it ‘a characteristic ballet in old German costume…with plot and music invented by Count Waldstein. It honoured the main pastimes of our ancestors – war, hunting, courtship, carousing.’ Despite its brevity there is one particular tune that appears at regular intervals, the ‘returning German song’ as Heartz calls it.

Thoughts

Inevitably it is the melody of the German song that lives long in the memory…and our first fully fledged Beethoven earworm is a real charmer. The whole score is light on the ear, full of good humour and melody.

The Marsch, Jagdlied (Hunting Song), Trinklied (Drinking song) and Deutscher Tanz would not be out of place in a Mozart Serenade or a Haydn Divertimento, while the Kriegslied (War song) is full of bluster. Meanwhile the Romanze is short but perfectly formed, led by pizzicato strings.

Where Beethoven scores particularly highly is in following each of these contrasting sections with the ubiquitous German song, which will have softened even the most hardened features by the end.

Recordings used

Swedish Chamber Orchestra / Thomas Dausgaard (Simax Classics)
Berliner Philharmoniker / Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon)
Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia / Béla Drahos (Naxos)

Comparisons between the Dausgaard and Karajan versions are fascinating. Karajan is bold, striding forward with weight and purpose in the Marsch and Kriegslied – but entertaining too. Dausgaard is sprightly with a leaner gait but also enjoys the subtle humour of the returning German Song – and the harmonic tricks Beethoven plays near the end. When compared to those two the Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia and Béla Drahos feel a little more polite, though still elegant.

Spotify links

Swedish Chamber Orchestra / Thomas Dausgaard (Philips)

Berliner Philharmoniker / Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon)

Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia / Béla Drahos

Also written in 1791 Haydn Symphony no.96 in D major ‘The Miracle’

Next up 24 Variations on ‘Venni Amore’ WoO 65

Listening to Beethoven #20 – Piano Trio in E flat major WoO 38

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Piano trio – an image used by the Viennese music publisher Artaria on the title page of several of its publications of the mid-1780s

Piano Trio in E flat major WoO 38 for piano, violin and cello (1790-91, Beethoven aged 19)

Dedication not known
Duration 17′

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Background and Critical Reception

The piano trio was a growing form in the latter part of the 18th century, thanks principally to the work of Haydn and Mozart. Haydn tended towards works which gave the piano most prominence, with violin and particularly cello in a more accompanying role. Mozart was a little more lenient with the stringed instruments, but as we will see it was Beethoven who fully freed up the form.

This early work, however, stays true to the example of its predecessors, a mark in the sand if you will. Richard Wigmore, writing for Hyperion’s fine cycle of the piano trios from the Florestan Trio, sums it up. He describes the E flat work as a work that was ‘doubtless played with members of the Elector’s orchestra. This slender, amiable three-movement work seems almost tentative beside the ambitious Opus 1 trios. But it contains much charming, unassuming music, together with occasional prophetic touches’.

Wigmore delights in the subtle inventions of the third movement in particular, including a ‘quiet sideslip to a surprise key in the coda’…an ‘early example of a Haydnesque gambit which Beethoven would fruitfully exploit in the years to come’.

Thoughts

The piano leads off, setting the scene for a work where the violin and cello play largely second fiddle, so to speak, to the keyboard. It is an attractive theme, and Beethoven develops it in a relatively safe way.

However the second movement, subtitled as a ‘Scherzo’, is also in E flat major – and does not really exhibit the qualities of a scherzo as we might expect, with not a great deal of wit or daring, which Beethoven would later introduce to the form. The trio feels like a much safer composition as a result.

With no slow movement, the third movement is also based in E flat major, by which time we have pretty much had enough of this key, despite the attractive, open writing. There are some more adventurous moments in this movement, a couple of moves towards the minor key and some lower and quite intriguing murmuring in the inner parts that Wigmore highlights – but these are all relative.

Beethoven has got the form of the piano trio under his pen with relative comfort, but the feeling persists there will be many more radical statements to come in this form.

Recordings used

Florestan Trio (Hyperion)

Beaux Arts Trio (Philips)

Wilhelm Kempff (piano), Henryk Szeryng (violin), Pierre Fournier (cello) (Deutsche Grammophon)

ALl three recordings are excellent, though perhaps inevitably the superstar trio of Kempff, Szeryng and Fournier bring impressive gravitas to even the slightest of music in this piece. They also employ a couple of daring held passages, pulling back the reins on the tempo before moving off again. Either of the three performances has much to recommend it – the Beaux Arts are charming and light footed, while the Florestan Trio are affectionate.

Spotify links

Beaux Arts Trio (Philips)

Wilhelm Kempff (piano), Henryk Szeryng (violin), Pierre Fournier (cello) (Deutsche Grammophon)

Also written in 1791 Mozart Piano Concerto no.27 in B flat major K595

Next up Musik zu einem Ritterballet WoO 1

Switched on – Bibio: Sleep On The Wing (Warp Records)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Bibio has timed this release rather well. Sleep On The Wing is essentially a short album or a long EP, depending on your view – but it is an exploration of life in the wake of a loss, as well as a study of escaping the city to find peace in the countryside. In that sense Bibio – real name Stephen WIlkinson – is uncannily reflecting what many city commuters have found during the Coronavirus lockdown period, that an extended period in the country can shift the patterns of the mind considerably.

Sleep On The Wing is a deepening of Bibio’s folk connections too, using field recordings to bring the pure sounds of the countryside into the music, but also continuing his love of acoustic instruments. It has ten tracks and lasts just under half an hour.

What’s the music like?

Blissful. If you were indeed looking for music to help you escape the city, or as a distraction from the overwhelm brought on by electronic media in recent times, then this is definitely for you.

The music feels like a carefree celebration of the countryside, respectfully done but beautifully voiced. The pastoral language is soft but never too twee, and feels as green and pleasant as the beautiful cover from Joe Giacomet.

There is a slightly woozy feel about Bibio’s vocals, and when applied to the title track they give an appealing and slightly whimsical air. On Oakmoss they complement the rich acoustic guitar lines and ruminative violin,

The instrumentals are rather lovely. The Milky Way Over Ratlinghope spins a picturesque tale with the silvery tone of a viola and treble lines that include brief reveries for flute and wordless vocal. By contrast Awpockes is led by a softly picked guitar, while A Couple Swim follows the ripples of the water with the lazy lapping of its guitar,

The field recordings add to the charm. With what sounds like a thrush singing over running water, Bibio ensures Lightspout Hollow is bursting with life, while Crocus has a murkier profile.

Does it all work?

Yes, beautifully. Bibio’s songs or instrumental threads never outstay their welcome – if anything they could easily be stretched out for at least half their length, for his compressed way of working means time is never wasted.

Is it recommended?

Yes. Sleep On The Wing gets a strong recommendation, adding to the full to bursting Bibio discography a half-hour of pastoral charm. He is a remarkably consistent producer, but even so this is up there with his best work.

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You can buy Bibio’s new release from the Warp Records website

Switched on – Ellen Allien: AurAA (BPitch Control)

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What’s the story?

Ellen Allien is riding the crest of a creative wave. AurAA is her third album in as many years, and finds her descriptive music exploring the notion of unseen energies controlling Earth.

As with much of her solo work Allien uses every instrument at her disposal, including the voice – though there are no songs as such here.

What’s the music like?

Mysterious but also affirmative. Allien’s music draws strongly from primal energy, so although the subject matter may often be unseen, she gets terrific momentum behind her music through full-bodied, four to the floor productions.

AurAA harnesses this energy quickly. After the mysterious introduction of Hello Planet Earth, In Music I Trust strips back to the basics and cranks up the tempo, hitting the dancefloor and not looking back. The pounding bass drum is a familiar companion through the album, used for strong effect on Walking In The Dark, dfgdf and Auraa itself, though the textures often pan back to reveal darkly mysterious backdrops.

Allien’s vocals are strange and otherworldly, entirely in keeping with the album’s subject matter but also complementing the dark colours from which she paints her electronic pictures. Walking In The Dark is quite creepy, its vocals transposed and used as the melody, while . That said, there are flashes of light too – as the album cover implies. Hello Planet Earth appears in its original form later in the album, and shimmers in the darkness, while Traum dances with enormously positive energy, acidic oscillations lighting up the sky.

AurAA’s nine tracks are linked together seamlessly, written in the form of a DJ set – so that the breaks between each function as dancefloor-friendly breakdowns – and the closing track, Human, offers a brooding coda in which to come down.

Does it all work?

Yes. AurAA leaves a powerful and personal impression, and the way Allien uses her vocals only heightens the intensity. As an album with a concept it works really well.

Is it recommended?

Yes – well up to the high standards Ellen Allien has consistently met in her album career to date.

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