On Record – Prepared: Module (Compost Records)

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What’s the story?

Prepared are a trio of jazz musicians from Munich, with pianist Chris Gall, bass clarinettist Flo Riedl and drummer Christoph Holzhauser. Gall plays Argentinian tango with Quadro Nuevo, Riedl plays what is described as ‘folklore-free folk music’ with Dreiviertelblut and Holzhauser is part of German hip hop ensemble Moop Mama.

As Prepared they take short musical motifs and build them into more substantial pieces, in the manner that minimalists such as Steve Reich might work but with several leanings towards jazz, especially in their syncopated rhythms.

What’s the music like?

Engrossing and a lot of fun. Gall’s piano is subtly modified in performance, and the wide range of colours he can secure from the instrument are made through hammering, tapping and plucking, bringing out its more percussive elements. Riedl’s bass clarinet is versatile, too, adding a really pleasing rasp to the texture, whether in bass part or melodic content. It often provides the essential syncopations that keep the music in the air. Holzhauser, meanwhile, is a virtuoso who plays with an improvisatory air but can switch between swinging disco beats and more complicated rhythmic exchanges.

When things cut loose and get into the groove on Modul Vier IV the trio resemble fellow dance enthusiasts Brandt Brauer Frick, but are more obviously jazz-bound in their thinking on Modul Eins II, which enjoys a persuasive sequence of crossrhythms, cutting effectively to the dampened piano. Modul Vier II is made of an attractive, rippling piano figure from Holzhauser, while the invigorating syncopations of Modul Zwei II are prompted by the clarinet.

Does it all work?

Pretty much – the trio have a very clear musical chemistry, and the fluid working out of their ideas is compelling to listen to. The colour combinations made by their instruments are ideal.

Is it recommended?

It certainly is. There is a good deal of enjoyment to be had from a trio who like to push the rhythmic envelope, bringing elements of jazz and disco into close correlation and having a lot of fun as they do so.

For fans of… Brandt Brauer Frick, Christian Prommer, Bugge Wesseltoft, Henrik Schwarz

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Published post no.2,415 – Sunday 18 January 2025

In concert – Sacconi Quartet & Festival Voices: Earth Unwrapped – Terry Riley’s Sun Rings

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Sacconi Quartet [Ben Hancox, Hannah Dawson (violins), Robin Ashwell (viola), Cara Berridge (cello]; Festival Voices [Lucy Cronin, Ana Beard Fernández, Lucy Goddard, Sam Jenkins, Michael Craddock, Oskar McCarthy] / Greg Batsleer; Brett Cox (electronics)

Riley Sun Rings (2002)

Hall One, Kings Place, London
Thursday 16 January 2025

by Ben Hogwood Pictures courtesy of Monika S Jakubowska / Kings Place

A sobering thought: in the course of this concert, the NASA spacecraft Voyager 1 travelled another 60,000 miles away from the Solar System.

Quite how far it will travel in the course of the Kings Place festival Earth Unwrapped remains to be seen, but by that time audiences will have enjoyed a wide array of musical and visual treats, all designed to heighten awareness of the plight in which we find ourselves here on planet Earth.

Such thoughts were close to the surface throughout Sun Rings, an ambitious start to the festival. The substantial work was completed by Terry Riley in 2002, the result of an approach made by NASA to the Kronos Quartet. They wanted to create a work based on recordings of ‘space sounds’ (plasma waves) from Voyager 1 made by Professor Donald Gurnett. Riley had these transferred to audible audio frequencies in order to mark 25 years since the spacecraft was launched, at the same time contemplating the place of humanity in the universe. Since Sun Rings was completed, Voyager I has passed from the Solar System to interstellar space.

The Kronos Quartet released their recording of Sun Rings in 2019 (reviewed by Arcana here), and until now were the only ensemble to have played the piece in public. This UK premiere from the Sacconi Quartet and Festival Voices changed that, an illustration of the ever-growing reach of ‘minimalist’ music. The twelve assembled on stage performed heroically, the unbroken span of ten movements lasting 90 minutes yet delivered with flair, poise and no little emotion.

The music was prefaced by words from Riley himself, a stamp of authenticity and gratitude from the 90-year-old composer. It was the first of many audio clips carefully managed by Brett Cox, whose contributions were crucial to the success of the performance. Chief among these were the audio translations of the Voyager craft itself, converted by Riley from spectrographs. They provided an industrial edge to the sound – reminiscent of Voyager contemporaries Cabaret Voltaire – and were alternately eerie and consoling in their different sound worlds. As the audience sat in the dark the notion of being on our own journey was inescapable, a reminder that our own planet moves even quicker than Voyager 1 itself.

The quartet made a strong start, bolstered by colourful percussion. The Overture, Hero Danger and Beebopterismo sections had rhythmic vitality, complemented by the electronics and samples. Towards the halfway mark however the momentum and intensity flagged, the notion of deep space now all around us but feeling more oppressive. Time stood relatively still in the eerie Earth / Jupiter Kiss section, though Riley’s musical intensity flagged before being re-energised by the Festival Voices. The excellent singers brought expression and impetus to Earth Whistlers and Prayer Central, but on occasion it was difficult to hear some of the words, the singers’ pitch aligned with the frequency of the audio recordings.

The most powerful music, ironically, was the slowest and the most restrained. The coda, One Earth, One People, One Love, became a deeply felt meditation, the singers whispering under their breath as they moved slowly to the exit in an inspired piece of choreography. The pensive strings remained, adding their commentary to recorded spoken word, whose statements could not have been more apt.

As I write this, the news of alarming carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere serves as a reminder of our changing world, hurtling towards the environmental precipice. This stark reality check confirms Earth Unwrapped to be arguably the most important arts festival in London this year – and this was an auspicious start.

For more information on the Earth Unwrapped festival, head to the Kings Place website. Click on the artist names for Sacconi Quartet and Festival Voices, and composer Terry Riley. You can visit NASA to find out where Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are now

Published post no.2,415 – Saturday 17 January 2025

In concert – Quatuor Danel: Shostakovich & Weinberg #8 @ Wigmore Hall

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Quatuor Danel [Marc Danel & Gilles Millet (violins), Vlad Bogdanas (viola), Yovan Markovitch (cello)]

Shostakovich String Quartet no.11 in F minor Op.122 (1966)
Shostakovich String Quartet no.12 in D flat major Op.133 (1968)
Weinberg String Quartet No. 12 Op.103 (1969-70)

Wigmore Hall, London
Wednesday 15 January 2025

by Richard Whitehouse Photo (c) Marco Borggreve

This latest instalment in Quatuor Danel’s traversal of the string quartets by Shostakovich and Weinberg comprised the Twelfth Quartets from both composers – masterpieces both, and was prefaced by the teasing brevity and obliqueness of the former’s preceding such composition.

His 60th year marked the onset of Shostakovich’s ‘late period’ – its overt introspection being appropriate for a piece dedicated to the memory of Vasily Shirinsky, former second violinist of the Beethoven Quartet who premiered all but the first and last of the composer’s cycle. In fact, the Eleventh Quartet is appreciably more varied than this memorial aspect may suggest – the Introduction initiating a subdued discourse given an ironic twist in the Scherzo then erupting combatively in the Recitative, prior to the anxiety of the Etude and ruthlessness of the Humoresque. This performance came into its own with the Elegy, a remembrance of enfolding pathos – after which, the Finale assumed that retrospective function found in many of Shostakovich’s later works with due emphasis on its stealthy and quixotic humour.

Just two years on brought Shostakovich’s Twelfth Quartet – if not his greatest then surely in the top two, while arguably uncharacteristic in its self-conscious yet masterly formal design. Although not introductory as such, the Danel was mindful to keep its opening movement on a tight rein such that its interplay of mood and tempo inferred without defining those seismic confrontations to come. This longest and most diverse of its composer’s quartet movements did not disappoint – the Danel having fullest measure of an 18-minute span whose eventual subsiding presages a pizzicato-driven assault the more visceral for being so methodical in its unfolding. Nor was the allusion to initial material at all misconstrued as this work enters its climactic phase, a transformation whose unbridled affirmation was powerfully in evidence.

It might have emerged barely 18 months on, but Weinberg’s Twelfth Quartet feels comparable only in its scope and ambition. A likely response to the creative radicalism this composer had encountered on returning to his native Poland after over a quarter-century, its four movements essentially reinvent the Classical archetype so that the opening Largo outlines a succession of amorphous or disruptive elements with little audible regard for just how they might interact – something that will only come into focus as the work unfolds while opening-out expressively.

This evolution takes in a stealthy if always speculative Allegretto, and a Presto whose violence has become assaultive by its close. It remains for the final Moderato to effect closure through a synthesis almost improvisatory for all its formal rigour. Allied to this comes a dominance of playing techniques that does not intensify the music as drain it of all emotion and so reduce it to merest gestures by the end. A remarkable piece, even so, and a testament to its composer’s tenacity in the face of an unsympathetic, often antagonistic cultural climate at home or abroad.

Tonight’s impressive reading almost had to be abandoned as Gilles Millet’s bridge collapsed just before the end of the third movement, but his last-minute location of a replacement saw it resume to the close – an unexpected hiatus seemingly in accord with this extraordinary work.

You can hear the music from the concert below, in recordings made by Quatuor Danel -including their most recent cycle of the Shostakovich quartets on Accentus:

For more information on the next concert in the series, visit the Wigmore Hall website. You can click on the names for more on composer Mieczysław Weinberg and Quatuor Danel themselves.

Published post no.2,414 – Friday 17 January 2025

Switched On – Lightwave: Cités Analogues (Bureau B)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

In the story of electronic music – and especially that with a more experimental, ambient viewpoint – the name of Lightwave will not be known to many. Christoph Harbonnier and Christian Wittman released their first album, Modular Experiments, in 1987, after which they recorded Cités Analogues in April and May 1988. It was released as a casette.

Their relative neglect is a mystery, but the restoration of this album should ensure their profile is raised. Bureau B have done the duo proud with a reissue on LP, CD and download. Their press release lists an inventory of RSF, ARP, Roland and Oberheim modular systems, mixed on A&H 12/2 and recorded to tape on a Revox B77 tape machine – a complex set-up but one aimed at what they describe as ‘a concept album, comprising of a series of discrete compositions and atmospheres assembled into two continuous tracks. The tracks are split out a little by dividers, with field recordings and tape processing softening the join between sections.

What’s the music like?

This is a fascinating listen, and if you didn’t already know you might suspect that Cités Analogues had been recorded in the last year, such is its reach and originality. Whether they work in long or short form the duo make subtly shifting soundscapes that are unexpectedly intense in their realisation.

On occasion they hit some winsome grooves, as in the slow but elastic Le Purvis. Agora is lost in thought, musing over a slowly shifting bass, while the eerie Polycentre and activity of News are at once complementary. Cités Analogues itself is an effective long form piece, its quarter-hour duration packed full of ideas and fragments that are given an assured and compelling development. As the album evolves Lightwave create soundscapes with industrial roots but with added splashes of instrumental colour. These are especially evident on Ophelia, a dream sequence with feather-light textures, suspended in mid-air.

Does it all work?

It does. Any regular listeners to the output of the Bureau B label will find much in the way of musical nourishment here. The only regret is that it’s taken so long for Lightwave to get the kind of exposure they deserve!

Is it recommended?

Yes – Lightwave are essential listening for any lovers of Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream and the like. Their music is descriptive, engaging and frequently fascinating, their sonic outlines branching out far ahead of their time.

For fans of… Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Jean-Michel Jarre

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In appreciation – Elgar Howarth

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by Ben Hogwood

This week we have learned the sad news of the death of Elgar Howarth at the age of 89.

Howarth was a master of many disciplines, as this detailed obituary on the brass website 4barsrest outlines. Not only was he an inspired trumpet player, especially with the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, but he was a fine composer and arranger for brass band and an outstanding conductor of music old and new. As a regular conductor of the London Sinfonietta he forged close musical relationships begun in Manchester with the likes of Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Alexander Goehr.

The playlist below attempts to recognise Howarth’s achievements as a player, arranger and conductor, with a wide range of music from Gibbons and Handel to Maxwell Davies and Birtwistle, via Sousa and Copland. Do give it a listen!

Published post no.2,413 – Wednesday 15 January 2025