Category Archives: On record

On Record – BBC Symphony Orchestra / Martyn Brabbins, Sir Andrew Davis – Payne: Visions and Journeys (NMC)

Posted on by
Reply

BBC Symphony Orchestra / Martyn Brabbins, Sir Andrew Davis (Visions and Journeys)

Anthony Payne
Orchestral Variations: The Seeds Long Hidden (1992-4)
Half-Heard in the Stillness (1987)
Visions and Journeys (2002)

NMC D281 [62’15’’]
Producers Philip Tagney, Ann McKay (Visions and Journeys) Engineers Simon Hancock, Philip Burwell (Visions and Journeys)
Broadcast performances on 22 September 2006, Maida Vale Studios, London; live performance 9 August 2002 Royal Albert Hall, London (Visions and Journeys)

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

NMC issues a tribute to Anthony Payne (1936-2021) featuring three of the most representative among his mature orchestral works and so makes for a viable overview, featuring an orchestra and conductors who between them gave numerous performances of his music in his lifetime.

What’s the music like?

Earliest here is Half-Heard in the Stillness, a short yet evocative tone poem making use of the Memorial Chimes which Elgar wrote for the Loughborough carillon in 1923. By this stage in his career, Payne had evolved an idiom that effortlessly but meaningfully elides between post -war Modernism and a late Romanticism (not necessarily British in derivation) such as gives his later output its tonal and expressive lustre. The outcome is ‘landscape’ music that intimates far more than it states, to an extent which the senior composer would surely have appreciated.

Most extensive of these pieces, The Seeds Long Hidden is a sequence of orchestral variations which outlines an autobiographical trajectory. Other than the opening gesture from Brahms’s First Symphony (a hearing of which in 1947 determined the course of Payne’s life thereafter), the works alluded to over the course of its 10 variations are not quoted directly but rather flit across the music and so inform the context from which the ‘theme’ variously emerges. While there is a constant and productive eddying between relative stasis and dynamism, moreover, the overall cumulative thrust seems one of clarification towards an emotional climax of self-realization which quickly recedes into the calm equivocation of the closing bars. If this is, as the composer states, a ‘musical autobiography’, it is an overtly self-effacing and oblique one.

As the first major work that Payne wrote in the aftermath of his realization of Elgar’s ‘Third Symphony’, Visions and Journeys is inevitably bound up with the re-establishing of his own idiom: a statement of intent to be pursued over what became the final phase of his creativity. Nominally inspired by frequent journeys he and his wife – the soprano Jane Manning – made to the Isles of Scilly, this is in no sense pictorial or illustrative in intent. That said, its overall follow-through from unforced anticipation, via understated fulfilment, to underlying regret could not otherwise have been made explicit; the degree to which this is transcended being both the music’s purpose and its primary fascination. A blueprint, indeed, for the select few works that were to come and which reinforced Payne’s standing as a composer of substance.

Does it all work?

Yes, as long as one approaches these works not as compromise between competing aesthetic tendencies but as their synthesis in music which is often eloquent and always appealing. The playing from the BBC Symphony Orchestra could hardly be bettered, with Martyn Brabbins and the late Sir Andrew Davis always committed in their advocacy. Occupying that amorphous middle-ground between the rarified and accessible, Payne’s music neither rejects nor courts popularity but the rewards are considerable for those willing to spend time in its company.

Is it recommended?

Indeed, in the hope a follow-up release which features Spirit’s Harvest (initially intended for inclusion here) and Payne’s culminative statement Of Land, Sea and Sky may yet be possible. The composer’s introductory notes explain everything while giving absolutely nothing away.

Listen & Buy

You can listen to sample tracks and purchase on the NMC website. For further information, click on the names for more on Martyn Brabbins, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and composer Anthony Payne

Published post no.2,218 – Sunday 23 June 2024

On Record – Copper Sounds – Sequenced Ceramics (TBC Editions)

Posted on by
Reply

by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Sometimes, a press release for an album tells you the story in exactly the form you want it to. This is the case with Copper Sounds, whose story runs as follows from the Sequenced Ceramics Bandcamp page:

A unique take on deconstructed club / ambient music, the intimate and immersive sounds on Sequenced Ceramics were made using seven purpose-built ceramic vessels, played using a custom-made sequencer and mechanical beaters. The album is released as a limited edition of 50 ceramic vessels, each one unique, and glazed with a download code. This ceramic is also an instrument, its shape based on one of the seven ceramics used on the album.

“While developing Sequenced Ceramics, we were initially inspired by traditional and highly sculptural clay instruments such as the Udu and the Ghatam. We then experimented with different clays, forms and scales; allowing us to understand the specific acoustic and resonant properties of ceramics. Through this process we began to think about sound, like clay, as a malleable material which you can manipulate through various sculpting and making processes. The final sculptures showcase a range of traditional ceramic making techniques, forms and are made with both visual and sonic aesthetics in mind.”

These sculptures were initially presented together as an installation and have recently been shown at the British Ceramics Biennial 2023 and Indian Ceramics Treinnale 2024. The album features seven sequences composed on this array by the duo, including a collaboration with Tara Clerkin and Sunny Joe Paradisos, and reinterpretations by DJ 2 Button, Memotone, Dan Thorman, Deep Nalström, Wojciech Rusin and Dwhyte Olivers.

What’s the music like?

The music ends up as a fascinating mix of positive energy and ambience. Above all, it feels old and primitive, in a good way – for the rhythmic profiles generated are easy on the ear but could be heard sitting around the fire.

The seven Sequences unfold very naturally, each with a different rhythmic profile that fits the sequences around it.

There is a striking centre point on the album, too – the vocals of Tara Clerkin and Sunny Joe Paradisos adding unexpected emotion to Sequence 4.

As a substantial bonus there is a range of mixes from carefully considered producers, many of whom take the ritual feel of the original further down the road. Dan Thorman’s Pseudo-Spiritual Drone is especially good, time stopping still as the harmonies slowly shift. By contrast Memotone’s Inebriated Cop Following Suspect stumbles across the path with unpredictable movements, and Wojciech Rusin’s Dzban mix projects hyperactive movement.

Does it all work?

It does – and is best heard on headphones, where the wide range of frequencies can be properly appreciated.

Is it recommended?

It is. This is a thought-provoking piece of work that takes its music back to basics, and the mixes are the ideal complement. A sonic investigation well worth making.

For fans of… Kathy Hinde, Cabaret Voltaire, Daphne Oram

Listen and Buy

Published post no.2,206 – Tuesday 11 June 2024

On Record – SUN: I Can See Our House From Here (Alien Transistor)

Posted on by
Reply

by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is the first album from Andi Haberl, long-time member of The Notwist, who specialises on drums but is a gifted multi-instrumentalist.

The charming title of his debut masks a darker subplot, Haberl dedicating the record to the house he grew up in – but had to move out of when his parents split up.

Making the album was something of an epiphany, as he fell under the spell of sampling but also mastered a number of different and complementary instruments.

What’s the music like?

Colourful and multilayered – and rather charming. Haberl builds fascinating and compelling textures, rather like the album cover art, and takes the ear this way and that with persuasive melodic loops and bright textures.

There is a homemade feel to his writing, but a deep set emotion too, meaning that tracks like Sun, while initially revealing their charm, have a more substantial impact when listening back. The elegant Low, too, reveals a great deal with its softly moving piano line, before the softly chugging heart comes through.

Influences on Haberl’s music range from Krautrock to Steve Reich but are never too explicit, and there are winsome harmonic twists that are very much his own. His creative way with instrumentation adds to the appeal, with the doleful piano of Rain On Me countered by mandolin.

Best of all is the title track, where urgent minimal riffs compete and build to a thrilling finish.

Does it all work?

It does. Haberl has great musical instincts, constructing his melodic sentences with instinct and dressing the music with rich harmony.

Is it recommended?

Yes, with great enthusiasm – Andi Haberl has made a colourful instrumental album with unexpected meaning to be found in its musical corridors. This particular house is full of character and charm.

For fans of… Haiku Salut, The Notwist, Public Service Broadcasting, Lemon Jelly

Listen and Buy

Published post no.2,208 – Thursday 13 June 2024

On Record – Kathy Hinde: Twittering Machines (TBC Editions)

Posted on by
Reply

by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Twittering Machines is an audiovisual performance by Kathy Hinde that won an Ivor Novello award in 2020. This recorded version presents a single composition, split over two sides of vinyl, marking the centenary of Beatrice Harrison’s famous BBC broadcast, where the cellist duetted with a nightingale, drawing attention to the bird’s perilous plight.

Her study looks at the disrupted environmental cycles that may threaten its future, in a direct and confrontational way, drawing attention to unsettling interactions of humanity and nature. She uses John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale in a morse code translation, used as ‘a metaphor for humanity’s existential struggle with the climate crisis.” The poem has a counterpoint of music boxes, bird imitation toys, singing bowls, gongs, synths and field recordings, along with the voices of British ornithologist Peter Holden MBE and Bavarian bird imitator Helmut Wolfertstetter, which Hinde has cut onto dubplate.

Thus Twittering Machines profiles not just birds but social media outlets of the same name, its name gaining double meaning as the album becomes a ‘lament for our fast-dying planet.’

What’s the music like?

Both enlightening and unsettling – and affecting, too. The Morse code at the start is an arresting combination when paired with the birdsong, but as it dulls and the birds take over the sense of unrest is real, in spite of the ambience of the natural sounds.

Side B features a spoken description of the chaffinch from Peter Holden, and as it proceeds the monologue becomes detached from the sounds around it, which take on more reverb. Soon the bells take over, resonant to the point of overpowering the listener with their rounded profile, and the piece, having reached an apex, subsides back to the messages of the Morse code.

Does it all work?

It certainly achieves Kathy Hinde’s objectives and presents a powerful case in defence of the birds’ welfare. This is a musical message that proves difficult to ignore.

Is it recommended?

It is – but with caution, for this is certainly not music or sounds for all moods and can prove uncomfortable on headphones. Yet that is the point, for Twittering Machines is a powerful wake-up call, a reminder that nature – and birds in particular – are not to be taken for granted.

For fans of… Erland Cooper, Rautavaara, Cabaret Voltaire

Listen and Buy

Published post no.2,206 – Tuesday 11 June 2024

On Record – BEAK>>: >>>> (Invada Records)

Posted on by
1

by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

There is a refreshing lack of information to go with the new BEAK>> album. It is, quite simply, the need of a group of people to make music, with no back story in particular – just the love of what they do and can achieve together.

This is probably why >>>> does not have more of a distinctive title, as the music is left alone to have the best possible impact. It was recorded at Invada studios in Bristol, the sessions dotted around to accommodate the band’s touring schedule.

There is, however, a story behind the opening track Strawberry Line, which is a tribute to Geoff Barrow’s much-loved dog Alfie, who appears on the album’s cover.

What’s the music like?

Compelling. As the band say, it works best listened to in one breath from start to finish, where the listener can appreciate how the grooves take hold through the album.

The Alfie tribute, Strawberry Line, starts with a solemn, chorale-like figure, which eventually acquires a groove and grows to impressive heights. The Seal has a clipped rhythm and greater urgency, while Windmill Hill starts the more beat-driven section of the album with an appealing, wonky groove.

From here on the bass heads are in for a treat, thanks to the grooves of Hungry Are We and Ah Yeh, which has been around for a little while, and makes a very strong impact in this LP version. As the album progresses the spirits rise further, with a brilliant bass line on Bloody Miles and some clanging, metallic percussion that propels Secrets towards the 1980s in the company of a buzzing synth code.

The closing Cellophane is an unsettling affair, however, going through a woozy vocal and distracted band passage before suddenly gaining momentum like a dance of death, careering into the buffers at the end.

Does it all work?

It does – and the bigger the system the better for this affair, so that the bass driven tracks make their mark and the woozy, psychedelic dressing gets its full perspective.

Is it recommended?

Very much so. BEAK>> are continuing on their compelling path of sonic innovation with this powerful and multifaceted piece of work.

For fans of… Portishead, Magazine, Cabaret Voltaire, Can

Listen and Buy

Published post no.2,198 – Monday 3 June 2024