New music – Orboretum: The Orb Collection (Cooking Vinyl)

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published by Ben Hogwood, with text appropriated from the press release

Flanked by a large colourful cast of ‘characters’ and an even bigger, persistently prolific output, despite adversity, after 30 years Alex Paterson continues to draw from his infinite well of creativity and drive. He’s constantly in the studio or on-stage as The Orb (and an ever-growing list of side projects too), and it’s especially for this reason that a new ‘Best-Of’ is apt.

Released 25th October via Cooking Vinyl, Orboretum: The Orb Collection is a career-spanning, 2CD & limited-edition quadruple vinyl octagonal set including new and rare mixes, compiled by Paterson himself. It goes way back, but also focusses on recent highlights from albums such as Abolition Of The Royal Familia (2020) and Prism (2023) – which were cited by the media as some of their greatest work – up there with the bonafide gold of yesteryear. “I don’t want The Orb to end up milking it like Roxy Music, who were always cranking out another best-of, although we did release the ‘History Of The Future’ best-of in 2013, and its part 2 in 2015 to be fair”, says Paterson. “We have such a gigantic catalogue though, that sometimes even I need a reminder of what I’ve done, especially these days. This is a sort of director’s cut, reframing our output, making new neuro pathways, and new juxtapositions. Some of these tracks are 30 years apart, but there are clear through lines, a continuum.”

Put simply; this is The Orb: Stop and pause to think about what that means to the culture. Alex is a living legend who’s travelled a clear path through one of the most important journeys of music in recent times; starting with punk, heavily influenced by Jamaican / Windrush generation UK dub and reggae, growing with acid house, inventing chill out, topping the charts, then becoming one of the first arena-sized live electronic acts. This national treasure deserves to be celebrated. With his boundless appetite for recording and collaboration, The Orb is happening right now, still new, still striving; not resting on past laurels or dining out on the Dad rave nostalgia circuit, instead seeing from the stage multi-generational crowds losing their minds, from fresh faced teenagers to war-torn rave fossils, and everyone in between.

Orboretum will be available on colour vinyl, in an octagonal 4LP set, with sleeve notes by Kris Needs. Each side of vinyl is pressed on a transparent colour green, lilac, orange and blue, grouped by Alex to represent the 4 seasons, hence its botanical title. The comp’s “roots and more recent shoots” traverses their work for Universal across discs A and B, whilst discs C and D explore their music for indie labels Cooking Vinyl, Kompakt, Malicious Damage, and Liquid Sound Design. In addition, Orboretum will also be available on 2CD and digitally.

You can pre-order Orboretum from The Orb’s official site

Published post no.2,311 – 25 September 2024

On Record – Laurence Pike – The Undreamt-of Centre (The Leaf Label)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The idea of composing a requiem for voices, drums and electronics has sat with Australian percussionist Laurence Pike for some time. Having explored the ‘processes and ecstatic outcomes of rituals’ on the Holy Spring album of 2019, he became more and more interested in applying contemporary instrumentation to an ancient religious form.

The death of his father-in-law in July 2021, in the middle of another Covid lockdown in Sydney, brought a prolonged period of sombre reflection for Pike, along with the well-documented environmental disasters in his homeland. With a new-found appreciation for nature, inspired by his wife’s late father, Pike resolved to write the requiem. For inspiration on the text he turned from the Latin text usually associated with requiem to the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, and in particular his Sonnets to Orpheus – inspired by the classical Greek myth.

What’s the music like?

Both striking and moving. Pike has always shown great invention in his writing, whether in a solo capacity or as a third of the excellent Szun Waves, but here he goes above and beyond.

In his use of percussion the listener can link to Japanese ambient music, while the choral writing is a blend of the ancient – Allegri’s Miserere, perhaps, heard most explicitly in the apex of the Introit – and more modern and rarefied Estonian works for choir.

All these come together on the thrilling Mountains Of The Heart section, a remarkable sequence of energetic drumming and high, held notes from the choir that take the music to the air. This is music of immense power and energy, but it is balanced with thoughtful asides and reflective moments that give the listener space. Universal Forces and All Is Distance are two such sections, intense meditations where Pike also uses the mysterious effect of quarter tones.

Eurydice is a profound, piano-led instrumental, laced with percussive counterpoint and field recordings that complement rather than intrude. This leads to the Requiem Aeternam itself, a combination of stasis (the wordless choir) and movement (percussion), with electronics also intoning a melody of ancient origin. It is an intense song without words.

Does it all work?

It does – and an immense amount of credit should go to the performers, not least the Vox Sydney Philharmonia Choir, the twelve singers who take on any challenge thrown at them. Pike’s drumming has immense power at times

Is it recommended?

Yes, enthusiastically. Laurence Pike has made something very special here, a piece of music that contrasts moments of great energy and contemplation. The Undreamt-of Centre is very much an album for our times.

For fans of… Tonu Korvits, Arvo Pärt, John Tavener, Philip Glass

Listen and Buy

Published post no.2,311 – Tuesday 24 September 2024

On Record – Erland Cooper: Carve The Runes Then Be Content With Silence (Mercury KX)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is no ordinary album. In 2021, having made a recording of his new extended work for violin and string orchestra, Erland Cooper destroyed all digital evidence of its existence, then buried the sole surviving analogue tape in the Orkney soil. The significance of his decision to return the recording to earth lay in its subject matter, for Carve The Runes was written to mark the centenary of Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown. Cooper grew up near Brown’s house, and his voice could be heard on the new recording, giving it a keen sense of time and location.

In 2022, the surviving tape was found, exhumed and restored, the surviving recording transferred – warts and all – to digital. Bearing the indelible imprint of the Orkney soil, it was now a historical relic, and we hear the very earth on the retouched recording, carefully restored and timed for the September equinox.

What’s the music like?

Cooper’s most substantial piece yet is effectively a concerto, beautifully essayed by violinist Daniel Pioro, with support from the Studio Collective. It is bisected by timely interventions from Mackay Brown, his profound verses matched by the intensity of the writing for strings. Pioro commands the piece, which is based on small, folk-based motifs, but grows to become a work of intense meaning.

The earth makes its contribution too, though the music is actually incredibly well preserved. When there are layers of distortion, or the music becomes muffled, the effect is akin to hearing a piece of old vinyl, and creates moments of charm and ruffled appeal.

This is open air music, the violin on the wing for much of the half-hour duration, while the strings – often earthbound – provided an anchor of musical surety and poise.

Does it all work?

It does. Cooper has the measure of this work’s structure, and it peaks at just the right spot – with a phrase whose telling melodic turn burns into the consciousness. It is an ambitious piece, but one that works..

Is it recommended?

It certainly is. Carve The Runes…is a remarkable document of time and place, and with Mackay Brown’s verses it has a great deal of profound meaning within its confines. It is Erland Cooper’s finest work to date, offering further evidence of his ability to communicate through pictorial music – in the way the best classical music can.

For fans of… Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds, Hauschka, Thomas Newman

Listen and Buy

You can explore purchase options at the Mercury KX shop, and you can listen on Tidal below:

Published post no.2,310 – Monday 23 September 2024

In Concert – Leila Josefowicz & John Novacek @ Wigmore Hall: Debussy, Szymanowski, Bray & Stravinsky

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Leila Josefowicz (violin, above), John Novacek (piano, below)

Debussy Violin Sonata in G minor L140 (1916-17)
Szymanowski 3 Myths Op.30 (1915)
Bray Mriya (2023) [Wigmore Hall commission: World premiere]
Stravinsky Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée (1928, arr. 1934, rev. 1949)

Wigmore Hall, London
Saturday 21 September 2024

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

Long among the more adventurous violinists from her generation, this latest Wigmore recital found Leila Josefowicz focussing on music traversing the boundary between Impressionism and neo-Classicism, together with a recent piece such as conveyed a meaningful relevance.

It might not be such a good idea to launch a recital with Debussy’s Violin Sonata, as this last and conceptually most fluid of its composer’s late chamber works is essentially a culmination rather than starting-point. Having rather harried its opening Allegro, Josefowicz brought keen imagination to its Intermède which none the less lacked that fantasy and lightness intended. Most convincing was its finale, the headlong succession of ideas deftly propelled to a payoff not merely decisive but of all-round conclusiveness – whatever Debussy may have intended.

Whereas this piece was admired but initially found relatively few exponents, Szymanowski’s Myths was early recognized as a milestone in its medium and has latterly regained that initial eminence. Josefowicz duly recognized these innovative qualities with an impulsive yet never wayward take on La fontaine d’Arethuse, its capriciousness finding an ideal complement in the simmering emotion and alluring poise of Narcisse – self-aware rather self-regarding as to expression – or increasingly recalcitrant playfulness of Dryades et Pan with its teasingly delayed – even almost avoided – close. Just occasionally, Josefowicz’s snatching at a rhythmic gesture denied the music its high-flown eloquence but, overall, this proved a perceptive and involving account where her interaction with John Novacek’s attentive pianism was absolute.

Those who hear the Szymanowski as a ‘sonata malgré-lui’ might feel likewise about Mriya by Charlotte Bray, which tonight had its first hearing. Its Ukrainian title variously implying ‘dream, vision, ambition and vow’, this four-movement work charted a course of terror but also resolve. The first of these infused its disparate while distinctive ideas with a momentum as merged directly into the feline capering of its successor; after which, a slower movement offered a measure of sustained if hardly serene calm, before the finale once again marshalled its disjunct gestures towards a culmination which was pointedly withheld. A symbol, perhaps, of the Ukrainian people’s struggle as is far from reaching closure let alone victory? Whatever the case, this is absorbing and deeply felt music that received a suitably committed response.

From here to Stravinsky’s Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss was some conceptual leap. One of several such adaptations its composer made during its career as a duo-recitalist with Samuel Dushkin, this takes in most of the ballet’s initial two-thirds – the Sinfonia by turns pensive and restive, while the rumbustious Danses suisses was irresistibly despatched. The Scherzo exuded a capering charm and the Pas de Deux moved effortlessly from its soulful Adagio, via nimble Variation, to an initially dextrous then increasingly uproarious Coda.

This recital ended in a wholly different aesthetic world from which it began, but Josefowicz’s acuity could not be gainsaid. ‘Uproarious’ was also the watchword of the encore – Novacek’s Intoxication Rag, arranged by Itzhak Perlman no less and rendered with appropriate abandon.

For more on the Autumn season visit the Wigmore Hall website – and for more on the artists, click on the names Leila Josefowicz and John Novacek

Published post no.2,309 – Sunday 22 September 2024

In Concert – Sean Shibe @ Wigmore Hall: A Celebration of the Guitar

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Sean Shibe (guitar)

J.S. Bach Prelude in C minor, BWV999 (c1727)
Barrios Mangoré La Catedral (1921, rev. 1939)
Villa-Lobos Prelude no. 3 in A minor (1940); Études (1929) – no.1 in E minor, no.5 in C major, no.8 in C sharp minor, no.10 in B minor
Barrios Mangoré Barcarola in D major, ‘Julia Florida’ (1938)
Mompou Suite compostelana (1962) – nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6
Martin Quatre pieces brèves (1933)
Adès Forgotten Dances (2023)

Wigmore Hall, London
Thursday 19 September 2023

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

Expecting the unexpected has become synonymous with Sean Shibe, who tonight began his season-long residency at Wigmore Hall with this recital which deftly blurred any perceived demarcation between improvised or notated music in a compulsively absorbing programme.

One of a surviving handful of pieces probably written for lute, Bach’s C minor Prelude began proceedings – its elegantly methodical unfolding here rendered with real liquidity by Shibe. It segued seamlessly into La Catedral as is among a relative few of Agustín Barrios Mangoré’s extended compositions: the subdued fervour of (belatedly added) Preludio saudade heading into the hieratic processional of Andante religioso, before the lively yet disquieting motion of Allegro solenne brought this vividly yet understatedly illustrative sequence to its close.

Here, as across this recital, Segovia was a pervasive presence – not least on the guitar output of Heitor Villa-Lobos. From his Five Preludes, Schiebe opted for the Third – a Homage to Bach whose echoing open strings summon an opulence, even majesty, out of all proportion to its length. Then came four of his 12 Études – the intensive arpeggio workout of the First, the stark contrasts between melody and accompaniment of the Fifth, the playful alternation of registers in the Eighth, then rounded off with the exacting rhythmic fluidity of the 10th.

The first half closed with more Barrios – his Júlia Florida a barcarolle of melting tenderness whose allure carried over a second half that commenced with four of the six movements from Federico Mompou’s Suite compostelana. One of the Catalan’s handful of works for other than piano, the distanced evocation of Preludio complemented the austere spirituality of Coral as surely as did the folk-tinged pathos of Canción the ingratiating allure of Muñeira – this latter bringing the Galician environs which had inspired this music into greatest prominence.

Shibe’s including music by Frank Martin was more than welcome in the 50th anniversary of the Swiss composer’s death as has passed largely unnoticed in the UK. His only work for solo guitar, Quatre pieces brèves has been championed by many guitarists in Segovia’s wake and Shibe duly left his mark with his quizzical take on its Prélude, the chaste witfulness of Air then the barely contained emotional impetus of Plainte, before Comme une gigue provided a pointedly ‘contemporary’ vantage on the Baroque dance by turns quixotic and invigorating.

That both Martin and Thomas Adès have written operas on Shakespeare’s The Tempest seems as good a link as any into Forgotten Dances, the latter composer’s first work for guitar. Its six vignettes traverse the restless Overture and Buñuel-influenced speculation of Berceuse, via the Ligetian propulsion of Courante and tenuous repose of Barcarolle, to the cumulatively effusive homage to Berlioz of Carillon de Ville then rather more equable homage to Purcell of Vesper – its allusions emerging, Dowland-like, over what becomes an affecting farewell.

An intriguingly varied recital duly afforded focus not least by the calmly assured presence of Shibe – his appearance this evening redolent of the long-gone, much-missed Billy Mackenzie. A limpid rendering of an as yet unidentified encore provided a brief if wholly appropriate envoi.

To read more about Sean Shibe’s residency at the hall, visit the Wigmore Hall website – and click here to visit the guitarist’s own website