@Craig - That might have helped. But The Crane Wife was just so good I'm not sure that any follow-up would have done enough for me. Kind of funny that My Brightest Diamond opened for them on that tour...
I took four of the six tracks from Guvera last night. This is awesome. I'm mulling over purchasing the last two from 7dig (they're $1.58 at eMu, but since they disappeared and reappeared recently I have questions about the quality).
@bremble - black dub is good, although I was less blown-away that I anticipated. At times you can hear a bit of No Line on the Horizon, or Oh Mercy (both Lanois productions), I feel like they are a Brian Eno away from becoming a U2 cover band with a sultry female singer. Three times through this morning, I am liking what I hear more each time.
really freakin' good so far, but I don't know what to compare it too. Can and Vision Creation New Sun era Boredoms are touch points, but there's a bit of Konono No. 1 and synth drone in there too.
Name your price:
Note: no minimum price, but your first aboombong purchase of $5 or more will provide you with an access code for exclusive bonus material not otherwise available.
Undoubtedly, the Argento Chamber Ensemble titled their new CD (a collection of pieces by Tristan Murail) Winter Fragments because it contains a piece of the same name. It wouldve made an appropriate title regardless. In the five works presented on the disc, Murails music evokes a uniquely icy beauty. A lot like a barely frozen lake, Murails sound world is lovely to admire, but it keeps you at a distance. Theres nothing inaccessible about his writing (or Argentos lucid performance), but an undercurrent of mystery and fragility keeps listeners sharply attuned.
The disc, appropriately, begins with the titular Winter Fragments, and its this piece that best represents the analogy. In fact, Murail attributes some of his inspiration here to his experience of winter living north of New York in a land of lakes and hills. This experience is rendered in the work as an eerie, stark stillness regularly interrupted by chilly, swirling gusts of varying intensity. Murail achieves this landscape by deftly using electronics to augment a quintet (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano). The acoustic and electronic elements are blended remarkably successfully.
The second track, Unanswered Questions for solo flute, only deepens the mystery (especially since if theres an Ives reference in there, I cant find it). A slow, thoughtful melody wanders perhaps lost, but resigned to that fact. The performer here is Erin Lesser, and she delivers a fine, subtle performance. Clocking in at about four and a half minutes, it leaves me wanting more. Fortunately, Lesser returns in the next piece, Ethers. Here, though, shes immersed in the ensemble, playing several different flutes, and performing extended techniques like singing one pitch while playing another. As you might suspect, its quite a contrast from Unanswered Question. The rest of the ensemble is similarly busy with extremely fluctuating tempi (climaxing with a frenetic section about two-thirds in) and unorthodox techniques of their own to realize. Murail provides a good description of what exactly underlies all the joyful noise here.
The next work, Feuilles í travers les clolches, gives listeners a bit of a breather. I reviewed Argentos live performance of the work at Merkin in February, and further listening confirmed that description for me. I will say, though, that the piece sounds much less still when extracted from that concerts Expressionist context.
The CD concludes with Murails Le Lac, which calls for the largest ensemble of the five pieces and also lasts the longest. As the title (The Lake, in translation) suggests, we again see Murail deriving inspiration from nature, and in many ways the piece does resemble Winter Fragments. The mystery and fragility certainly remain, though its apparent that the weather has warmed up a little bit. Ultimately though, Le Lac doesnt come off as program music. Its not about the lake; its just from there. Thats a good thing, because it frees listeners up to appreciate Murails skilled writing (in particular, his orchestrational talents, which are best represented here), rather than to play spot-the-reference.
As a final note, Argento deserve commendation for delivering a CD that matches fine performance with fine recording and mixing. Murails works live in the details, and Argento have rendered them richly. Its really one of the best recorded classical discs Ive heard. Murail worked intimately with Argento, so perhaps the quality is due to his composerly input. But, conductor Michel Galante and fellow artistic supervisors Michael Klingbeil and Joshua Fineberg certainly deserve a hand.
This plays with timbre so beautifully, softening elements of the vocabulary of contemporary Classical. Truly evocative. It's at eMu, but at 7Dig it's 99 cents per track for 5 total tracks.
Listening to British reed player Tim Garland, it's easy to be reminded of saxophonist Sonny Rollins' remark, decades ago, about Stan Tracey, the Ronnie Scott's house pianist who accompanied Rollins on many of his appearances at the London club. "Does anybody here realise how good he is?" asked Rollins rhetorically. Happily, times have changed and many Brits do realise how good Garland is, but there remains the suspicion that were he an American, half the country would be genuflecting before him.
A magisterial tenor and soprano saxophonist and bass clarinetist, Garland is also a richly atmospheric composer and arranger. He is at home in both jazz and classical musics, and in either big orchestral settings or smaller, more intimate surroundings. These qualities are all heard, seamlessly woven together, on the outstanding 2CD set Libra, which features one of Garland's current trios alongside the massed ranks of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
A British blues-jazz bass guitarist. In this trio he plays with a saxophonist and drummer, with the bass guitar taking the lead guitar role. I worked with his siter in the late 1970s and early 1980s when I saw Colin play a number of times in solo gigs in local pubs and also supporting Alexis Korner. He played bass with Whitesnake for a time in the 1980s. Colin really is one of the underated blues guitarists of his era
Comments
@Craig - That might have helped. But The Crane Wife was just so good I'm not sure that any follow-up would have done enough for me. Kind of funny that My Brightest Diamond opened for them on that tour...
I took four of the six tracks from Guvera last night. This is awesome. I'm mulling over purchasing the last two from 7dig (they're $1.58 at eMu, but since they disappeared and reappeared recently I have questions about the quality).
Craig
really freakin' good so far, but I don't know what to compare it too. Can and Vision Creation New Sun era Boredoms are touch points, but there's a bit of Konono No. 1 and synth drone in there too.
Name your price:
After a run of jazz for much of the day, I needed some rock!!! Who better?
Need to go through my Guvera list at least once a week and pick out something not listened to yet.
El invierno no puede durar siempre.
Craig
Phoenix Rising by Bluetech
thanks Brighternow.
Thanks Crazy Horse.
This album set quite a precedent - halfway through, Daft Punk gets ridiculously boring and repetitive...
Hour One
Hour Two
Hour Three
Tristan Murail: Winter Fragments
Reviewed at Sequenze 21:
This plays with timbre so beautifully, softening elements of the vocabulary of contemporary Classical. Truly evocative. It's at eMu, but at 7Dig it's 99 cents per track for 5 total tracks.
From All About Jazz http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=31324
A British blues-jazz bass guitarist. In this trio he plays with a saxophonist and drummer, with the bass guitar taking the lead guitar role. I worked with his siter in the late 1970s and early 1980s when I saw Colin play a number of times in solo gigs in local pubs and also supporting Alexis Korner. He played bass with Whitesnake for a time in the 1980s. Colin really is one of the underated blues guitarists of his era
Grumpy as fuck.