Jordan Russell-Hall, aka Jordan Stanley, is described in his publicity material as a musical magpie, a sampler pilfering material from Charli XCX, Mr Mitch, Ariana Grande and Jimmy Edgar. To these carefully chosen snippets he adds richly coloured synths and busy rhythms that have garnered stylistic comparisons with the likes of Hudson Mohawke and Rustie.
What’sthemusiclike?
Often thrilling, especially when the synths are involved. Stanley gets big blocks of harmony on his side, using them in scattergun fashion to blaze a trail through the busy percussion.
Sometimes the music can move quickly, as though skating across a dancefloor, but he also knows when to pull it back and pan out for wider thoughts. This happens very effectively on Fog, which hovers on a held chord with vibrato before cutting loose, and Impossible, which starts thoughtfully before chopping up its source material.
Pure Morning has a glitchy outlook, while Fascination works well with the tension it creates through rapid piano fire and a relatively slow beat. Quicksand is a thrill that harks back to early rave in its massive parallel chords, Overt is harder hitting, but then the title track goes for broke, a massive production enveloping the listener in huge, floes of icy sound.
Does it all work?
It does – and Stanley works at speed, meaning his ideas never outstay their welcome. Indeed the whole album, with nine tracks, is wrapped up in less than half an hour.
Is it recommended?
It is – a dazzling and colourful set of synthesizer grooves, cutting their way through the noise.
British electronic artists are known for their staying power. Few are more durable than The Orb, however, with Alex Paterson’s band having gone through so many different membership connotations since their formation in 1987.
These days the outlook is relatively settled, as the duo – Paterson and Michael Rendall – have now completed three albums together, bringing the studio album count to 18.
There are plenty of guests adorning Prism, with its artwork homage to Pink Floyd, intentionally or not marking the 50th anniversary of Dark Side Of The Moon.
What’sthemusiclike?
If you know The Orb from the 1990s, the musical content of Prism will come as little surprise. And yet Paterson and Rendall have made an album full of very fresh sounding music, and any familiar formulas that might be used are given the freshest coat of paint.
There are some explicit musical homages made throughout the record. H.O.M.E. (High Orbs Mini Earths) makes direct reference to Mr Fingers’ Can You Feel It in its celebration of Chicago house music, while Living In Recycled Times follows the promise of its title by matching the key, tempo and mood of Adam F’s Circles and Alex Reece’s Feel The Sunshine, both prominent drum ‘n’ bass tunes in the mid-1990s.
These are two excellent tracks, but the pure reggae contributions are best of all. A Ghetto Love Story uses Eric Von Skywalker to bring the sunshine, a great piece of Brixton committed to record – while Tiger makes a powerful impact, its dedication to Paterson’s son and late brother made meaningful in music of strong emotion.
More traditional ambient fayre can be found elsewhere, with the heat-soaked Picking Tea Leaves And Chasing Butterflies a real gem in its use of distant trumpet fanfares and chugging foreground beats.
Does it all work?
It does. Even though Paterson can make this sort of album in his sleep, he shows what a strong instinct he has for structure. Prism works beautifully as a single listen, and although there are a few slightly derivative tracks they all carry the distinctive Orb imprint.
Is it recommended?
Heartily. The Orb have a remarkably consistent discography, but Prism is one of their very best.
In the course of his writing the Los Angeles-based producer documents the importance of the vast, subterranean fungal network known as the ‘mycelium’, and proceeds to explore how he has captured it in musical form.
It is his first long player release in five years.
What’sthemusiclike?
As always, Matthewdavid’s music teems with life, and in this case it feels like a process of continuous growth expressed in musical form. With no drums, and seemingly no pulse under which the music operates, it takes its own elasticated form. The relative lack of bass, too, means that the listener can feel suspended in space, the music taking place all around without ever feeling earthbound.
The music has a closer focus than previous Matthewdavid’s Mindflight material, more psychedelic too – and often carries the impression of tendrils being extended through probing electronic sounds. On occasion the view pans out to take in a wider expanse, as on the tracks Liquidity and Zithercelium.
Does it all work?
It does, and the considerable advantage here is that the listener can sit on the edge of the music, enjoying its calming effect, or go for total immersion on headphones to harness its peak meditative powers.
Is it recommended?
Yes. Matthewdavid’s take on ambient music is a consistently individual one, and this album is full of new life, intriguing sonic tunnels and possibilities.
J.S. Bach Italian Concerto in F major BWV971 (pub. 1735) Franck Prélude, choral et fugue (1884) Rachmaninoff Variations on a theme of Corelli Op.42 (1931)
Wigmore Hall, Monday 1 May 2023 1pm
by Ben Hogwood
This BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert featured the New Generation pianist Tom Borrow, making his debut at the Wigmore Hall with a very well-judged trio of works casting their eyes back to the past. The Israeli-born performer was notably comfortable in the environment, responding to the intimate atmosphere of the hall with compelling music-making.
Bach’s Italian Concerto was first, a work that is particularly successful on the piano. Borrow’s articulation in a crisp Allegro was very pleasing to the ear, his enjoyment of the counterpoint evident. The Andante was particularly beautiful, and completely unhurried – the pianist not afraid to give the right hand plenty of room to expand Bach’s melodies, the left hand hushed but responsive too. The bustling Presto had plenty of musical activity, the energetic profile maintained throughout but again the shapely melodic phrasing winning through.
Franck’s Prélude, choral et fugue is the best known of his works for solo piano. Its form looks back to the organ works of Bach, inserting a ‘chorale’ section in between the more conventional pair of ‘prelude’ and ‘fugue’. Here the Prélude began softly, Borrow’s light touch bringing delicacy to the decorative arpeggios around the theme, while also bringing the parallels with Brahms into focus. The choral started softy but grew in stature, moving from darkness to bright light, Borrow crossing hands to play the theme with apparent ease. The flowing discourse here was notable, maybe not as loud as some pianists but finding the heart of Franck’s expression nonetheless. The fugue was stately but also mysterious to begin with, the pianist bringing forward its chromatic profile, but then taking full command of the intense exchanges and achieving a most impressive performance in the process. The closing peal of bells was brilliantly played.
Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a theme of Corelli completed the trio of retrospective works, this one another remarkably concentrated piece offering plenty of opportunity for virtuosity and interpretative skill. This was again taken up by Borrow, once again setting a reverent atmosphere with the slow exposition of the theme. The lilting second variation in triple time was persuasively delivered, while a commanding fifth variation and sweeping seventh carried all before them. This only heightened the mysterious eighth and ninth variations, lost in thought.
The dynamic contrasts of the twelfth variation were very well observed, then the anxious syncopations of the thirteenth. The following Intermezzo had the requisite elements of fantasy, followed by a yearning chorale for Variation 14. Borrow’s technical command was impressive throughout, notably in the twists and turns of Variation 16 and the jagged edges of the eighteenth variation onwards. The clarity here was notable, in spite of the volume – and the thunderous finish was complemented by a radiant coda.
Borrow’s encore choice was well-suited – a flowing account of Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G# minor Op.32/12, with notes that twinkled in the upper right hand at the end.
For more livestreamed concerts from the Wigmore Hall, click here
Oliver Janes (clarinet), Philip Brett, Stefano Mengoli (violins), David BaMaung (viola), Arthur Boutillier (cello), Birmingham Contemporary Music Group / Otis Lineham, Kazuki Yamada (conductors)
BCMG NEXT [George Blakesley (clarinet), Anna Vaughan (violin), Alma Orr-Ewing (viola), Finley Spathaky (cello), Rob Hao (piano)
Fujikura Scion Stems (2010) Illean Février (2019) Fujikura Halcyon (2011)
CBSO Centre, Birmingham Saturday 29 April 2023 (7pm and 9pm)
Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse
Spring may have arrived tardily this year, but Birmingham Contemporary Music Group was certainly in full bloom with this judiciously balanced and absorbing programme that featured one post-war classic and two pieces by one of the leading composers from the present time.
First, though, the welcome opportunity to hear a work by Lisa Illean, whose understated and fastidiously realized music conceals more than is evident on initial hearing. Such is true of Januaries, inspired by memories of holidays in Queensland together with descriptions of the Australian landscape. Its innate subtlety finding a direct parallel in this composer’s drawing of often ethereal yet always evocative timbres and textures from her 12-strong ensemble; and throughout which BCMG responded with due commitment to the direction of Otis Lineham.
The first of two pieces this evening by Dai Fujikura, Perpetual Spring drew inspiration from the Japanese Garden in Portland (US), notably the idea of growth as a process both ongoing and inexorable. Heard from this vantage, the clarinet represented a conceptual and expressive focal point; around which the string quartet weaved its dense if never claustrophobic texture with audible dexterity. Here, too, the music implied considerably more than was ever stated – no doubt in accord with the ‘‘power of ‘quiet’ nature’’ its composer took as his starting-point.
Although it now tends to be overshadowed by its predecessor, Ligeti’s Second String Quartet remains one of his most significant works – its five movements a compendium of his musical practice during the late 1960s, but with a formal and expressive focus that amply sustains the 20-minute whole. It was a measure of this account that a cumulative impetus carried through not merely to the explosive fourth movement, but also a finale whose textural mirage took in allusions to what went before: the music not so much ceasing as dispersing beyond earshot.
The string quartet was also Toshio Hosokawa’s chosen medium for Blossoming. Taking the image (and most probably its mythical association) of a lotus as its starting-point, the piece opened out in music typical of this composer for its unforced elegance and felicitous aura.
Considerably more engrossing an all-round experience, Fujikura’s Secret Forest is among the most impressive of his ensemble works and not least for its visceral conception. Placed centre-stage, the string nonet was balanced with groups of woodwind and brass either side, and above the auditorium. It was the ensuing interplay between the spatially arrayed sound-sources, strings intense in their eloquence and winds hieratic in their intangibility, that the conductor shaped over its course – not forgetting the solo bassoon, seated in the auditorium, who became a human figure plotting a course through this sonic landscape. The piece was directed with conviction by Kazuki Yamada and promises much for the Fujikura commission Wavering World, which he will premiere with the CBSO in Symphony Hall on January 17th.
A pity not more punters remained for the post-concert performance by musicians of BCMG NEXT, which featured two more works by Fujikura. Scion Stems took string trio as the basis for a wide-ranging discussion of textures made even more immediate by its brevity, whereas Halcyon pursued a more circumspect yet never disengaged interplay between clarinet and string trio. In between, Février found Illean’s writing at its most sensuous in its sequence of exchanges between clarinet, cello and piano to which these players likewise did full justice. The current NEXT line-up performs its final concert on June 11th, while BCMG itself returns to Birmingham Town Hall on May 12th for its TREE Concert featuring a new commission by Christian Mason alongside one of the most impressive compositions by Helmut Lachenmann
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