This provocative title of a new EP release from Sheffield duo The Black Dog refers all the way back to Brian Eno’s celebrated four-part ambient work, Music For Airports – and also to the much more recent Music For Real Airports, a successful album from the duo released in 2010.
Here they present four tracks of a deeply personal nature, lamenting the demise of Sheffield’s two attempts at building lasting airports. The recordings were, in the duo’s words, “written in Sheffield airports, car parks and on the land where both once stood, channelling what should have been, instead of the feverish nightmares they became. Once again we find ourselves reflecting on the difference and why it has to be so.”
What’s the music like?
Dark, but also comforting in its ambience. The personal connection comes across, too, especially if you listen with the names of the airports in mind. Each of the four tracks is spread over a broad canvas – appropriate, given the sprawling nature of the sites under musical observation.
Mother Of Mine (GLA Airport) is first, based on a drone but with a slow oscillation between two principal pitches in the mid-treble. The variety comes from the slowly shifting bass and the changing shape of the field recordings in the middle ground.
The template set, the EP moves on to SHF Is Dead, which carries more worrisome feelings within its sharper tones, accentuated by the steady tread of the kick drum, revealing a dub influence. The bleak canvas of ISA DSA is up next, a true drone that gradually reveals more colour and solace as it opens out. Finally Sleep Deprivation Holiday presents a wall of sound, a drone that sounds like operating machinery but which offers an ambience all of its own.
Does it all work?
Yes – the four tracks work well as a thought-provoking sequence, and though they are describing man-made architecture there is a good deal of emotion at their core.
Is it recommended?
It is. The Black Dog continue to draw strong links between music and architecture, revealing in the process the emotion that is often unspoken when we talk about functional buildings. There is a certain beauty in their work, dark but also rather majestic – and because of this, Music For Dead Airports leaves a subtle but lasting impact.
Poulenc Sinfonietta (1947-48) Two movements from ‘Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel’ (1921, revised 1957) Pastourelle from L’Éventail de Jeanne (1927) Les Animaux modèles (complete ballet) (1940-42)
BBC Concert Orchestra / Bramwell Tovey
Chandos CHSA5260 [74’22″’] Producer Brian Pidgeon Engineers Ralph Couzens, Alexander James Recorded 10-12 March 2022 at Watford Colosseum
Reviewed by Ben Hogwood
What’s the story?
This collection of colourful works for orchestra by Francis Poulenc has as its main work the ballet Les Animaux modèles, based on The Fables of Jean de la Fontaine. A vibrant work, it clearly had huge significance for the composer, who started on its composition after the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1940, his aim ‘to find a reason to hope for the future of my country’. It received its first performance at the Paris Opera in 1942.
The ballet is symbolic, summarised in Nigel Simeone’s excellent booklet note about ‘a celebration of France’s past at its most lustrous’ than a collection of charming animal stories. It does however bring the story to life from the outset, with a vivid description of the dawn cutting to sharply characteristic portrayals of The Bear and The Two Companions, the former portrayed through an excellent horn solo, The Grasshopper and the Ant, The Amorous Lion, The Middle-aged Man and His Two Mistresses, Death and the Woodcutter, The Two Cockerels and finally The Midday Meal.
Complementing the ballet is the Sinfonietta, written for the BBC Third Programme and first heard in 1948. Initially the main themes of the work were to be part of a String Quartet that Poulenc was working on in 1945, but after its abandonment his friend and fellow-composer Georges Auric recognised the potential of the musical material. The work is dedicated to him in acknowledgement.
Completing the disc are two movements from Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel, a collaborative single act ballet with Auric and the other members of composer collective Les Six, of which Poulenc was a leading member. There is also a soft-centred Pastourelle from another such collaborative piece, L’Éventail de Jeanne.
Very sadly this is the final recording made by the BBC Concert Orchestra’s principal conductor, Bramwell Tovey – completed just four months before his sad death from cancer at the age of 69.
What’s the music like?
In a word, colourful. Les animaux modèles is unquestionably the star turn, brilliantly played and characterised in this recording. Poulenc’s music is richly tuneful and beautifully orchestrated, often showing the influence of Stravinsky but realised with his own flair and mischievous humour. The central section of The Grasshopper and The Ant is a case in point, where a thrillingly brisk section cuts to an enchanting violin cadenza, the music briefly held in a spell until its release by shrill trumpets.
The Amorous Lion is a scene of great contrasts, with orchestral outbursts and volleys of percussion cutting to tender asides from string and woodwind choirs. The most substantial section – and arguably music – can be found in The Two Cockerels, where Poulenc realises music of great power and depth to portray the combat of the two birds. The surging climactic point, halfway through, is music of particularly strong feeling and resolve, Poulenc’s sentiments against the war reaching their heartfelt climax – before powerful exchanges between brass and the final toll on low piano. With passions largely spent, The Midday Meal provides a regal epilogue.
The slighter movements are no less fun, and The Middle-aged Man and his Two Mistresses scurries along furtively. Following Poulenc’s synopsis is enormously helpful, signposting the composer’s pictorial responses to the storyline as well as emphasising his wit.
In spite of its name, the Sinfonietta is one of Poulenc’s most substantial compositions. Far from being a slight, frothy work, it has a big-boned structure easily outdoing those dimensions, lasting nearly half an hour. Its convincing melodic arguments are led by the assertive first theme, drawing parallels with the Organ Concerto for its bite and resolve, while the second theme, beautifully realised here, brings mellow woodwind colouring. The second movement is a lively scherzo, balanced with tender asides that are fully realised in the slow third movement, a lyrical and colourful Andante cantabile. The brisk finale signs off with a flourish.
The two movements from Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel are short but mischievous and entertaining, with humourous trombone interventions, while the Pastourelle is a charming addition.
Does it all work?
Yes. These are fresh, vibrant performances given with evident affection by the BBC Concert Orchestra. Bramwell Tovey brings out the colourful orchestrations, allows the lyrical melodies a bit of heart-on-sleeve approach where appropriate, and brings rhythmically sharp responses too. Poulenc’s colourful writing is brought to the fore, along with the melancholic undertones his music often carries.
Is it recommended?
Yes, on many levels. The quality of the music, the excellent Chandos recordings from Watford Colosseum and some very fine performances from which Bramwell Tovey takes his lead. The icing on the cake is the choice of Henri Rousseau’s Monkeys and Parrot in Virgin Forest as cover art. It is the ideal complement for a wonderful album.
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For more information and purchasing options on this release, visit the Chandos website
Vanessa Wagner has been quick to follow up her March release, Study Of The Invisible, where she thoughtfully compiled an album of modern piano music that might be described as ‘minimal’ but which led to a series of inventive and rewarding compositions, imaginatively sequenced.
Mirrored is a collection of studies for solo piano, largely contemplative spaces that leave plenty of room for meditation and a get-out clause from today’s fast-moving world. Normally a listener might associate piano studies with application of technique; functional pieces rather than emotive; but this collection is very much studies in the form of moods and mental images.
What’s the music like?
Introspective, yet wholly rewarding. Particularly engaging is Wagner’s selection of music by Philip Glass, well-chosen and beautifully played. The Poet Acts is a sombre, thoughtful piece, opening out like an uneasy berceuse. Etude 4 is very different, a turbulent and agitated piece generating a large amount of nervous energy. By contrast Etude 2 is a thoughtful contemplation with a hint of darkness, led as it is by the low left hand, before building to a forceful conclusion.
Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Solitude has a similar profile, though its plaintive right hand melody leads the way. Plaintive is also the word that could be used for Nico Muhly’s Quiet Music, though this has an inner power generated through a soft but meaningful chorale, which makes it sound like a deeply spiritual statement. Melaine Dalibert’s Six + Six has gentle undulations that go on their way in watery figurations, while Sylvain Chauveau adopts a still profile for the simple and meaningful Mineral.
Moondog’s Sea Horses is short but descriptive, an active piece flitting this way and that. A similar freedom is afforded to the right hand in Léo Ferré’s Opus X, where the melody is free to travel up and down in the treble as it wishes.
Does it all work?
It does. Once again Vanessa Wagner has chosen a logical and rewarding sequence of pieces, and her affinity with the music of Philip Glass in particular makes these compelling recordings. She has an unusual and vivid sensitivity for this music, creating many different keyboard colours in the course of the collection.
Is it recommended?
Yes – provided you also have Study Of The Invisible, which is the ideal complement to these pieces.
On his albums to date, Daniel Avery has used music as a tool for escapism, dealing as he calls it in ‘misty-eyed euphoria’.
Ultra Truth is the first of his albums to take a completely opposite approach, looking to face the darkness of our times head on. Avery does so with a big production arsenal, aided by Ghost Culture and Manni Dee, while guest vocals are provided by HAAi, Jonnine Standish (HTRK), AK Paul with the voices of Marie Davidson, Kelly Lee Owens, Sherelle and James Massiah.
What’s the music like?
Given the brief outlined above, it comes as no surprise to report that Ultra Truth is a big beast of an album. It’s cover is a remarkably accurate guide to the music contained within, which twists and turns through various forms of discomfort, while also finding broad canvases of dark ambience. These become an effective and alluring backdrop.
The album is full of imaginative rhythms and big, big spaces. No space is bigger than the one found on the deeply mysterious Wall Of Sleep, which has a wall of sound and a thumping good rhythm, not to mention enchanting vocals from HAAi. Higher is equally immersive only with darker colouring, supported by an ominous bass sound. Lone Swordsman, meanwhile, has a fluorescent loop dancing in the middle distance
Sometimes the thick ambience can be oppressive, and Overflowing With Esscape expands so the speakers can barely contain its far reaching tendrils. By contrast, a track such as Collapsing Sky has an empty, remote feel – yet the floated chords still offer a form of consolation.
Avery’s rhythm tracks are often busy, providing a percussive clatter for the likes of Devotion, while thick and intensely ambient figures hang above like musical clouds. Only has more of a shoegaze / Cocteau Twins feel.
Does it all work?
It certainly does. As with his previous long players, Avery shows an effortless ease with structures large and small, meaning the listener can dip into individual tracks or pan out for the whole magnum opus.
Is it recommended?
Without hesitation. This is an artist whose body of work is gaining in stature with each release, as deep emotion and musical sensibilities sit seamlessly together. Another outstanding release.
Two days ago we learned of the sad news that composer Angelo Badalamenti had died, aged 85.
There is a very fine tribute to Angelo on the Guardian website from Sian Cain, but I wanted to add to that – simply – by posting the soundtrack to Twin Peaks here for everyone to listen to. Ironically Julee Cruise, the distinctive vocalist who sings three songs on the soundtrack, passed away only six months ago.
What a ground breaking piece of work this is, the standout of many collaborations with director David Lynch. Its deep romanticism is immediately striking, along with latent menace in Laura Palmer’s Theme, but also of note is the space in which the music operates. Badalamenti makes a great deal from what seems to be very little material – the sign, surely, of a great composer. Listen and enjoy:
Arcana.fm 