★Another Timbre
Four4
Four4 for four percussionists (1991). By Simon Allen, Chris Burn, Lee Patterson, Mark Wastell. A unique realisation of one of Cage's late 'number pieces' by an ensemble of musicians better known for their work as improvisers. The 72-minute piece uses a system of flexible time brackets which were determined randomly according to a computer programme. Each musician chooses a number of sounds and assigns each of them them a number. Every time that number occurs above one of the time brackets, they …
Pie and Mash
Mathias Forge, trombone. Olivier Toulemonde, acoustic objects. 'Two more relative unknowns deserving of greater attention: Mathias Forge is a young but virtuosic French-based trombonist, and Olivier Toulemonde is a Brussels-based electroacoustic composer-turned improviser who has now developed an extraordinary instrumental set-up which has moved on from electronics altogether. Their duo - recorded with and without audience during a tour of the UK in early 2010 - immediately creates a uniqu…
Giles U.
The tuba's bass sounds are in complete contrast to the higher pitches of the spinet, bringing to mind cartoon images of an elephant and a mouse. But none of that concerned Hübsch and Schiller when they first played together in 2008-09; they felt a strong connection in their playing - it remains obvious here. Both have modified their instruments, in the process getting rid of the seeming disparity. Schiller's spinet has become a semi-percussive instrument, amply illustrated by this CD's opening s…
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Angharad Davies, violin. Axel Dörner, trumpet. 'Neither player should need much introduction, as both are widely acknowledged as leading improvisers on their respective instruments. These domestic recordings mark their first meeting as a duo, and - in the words of another early reviewer, David Grundy - create 'the atmosphere of surprise - of magic - that great improvisation is still so uniquely capable of providing'.'
Nella Basilica
Roberto Fabbriciani, bass flutes. Robin Hayward, microtonal tuba. 'This is the first CD of improvised music featuring Roberto Fabbriciani, one of the giants of contemporary music. Fabbriciani was the instrumentalist with whom Luigi Nono worked most closely in the last two decades of his life, playing in the premieres of virtually all of the composer's late works. On nella basilica Fabbriciani improvises with Robin Hayward, the phenomenal Berlin-based tuba player with whom he has worked on …
Crepuscular Rays
“The young Norwegian guitarist Håvard Volden uses the table-top approach, but his guitar is an acoustic 12-string that he rescued from a skip, so many of the sounds he works with have clear acoustic origins and contrast interestingly with the no-holds-barred electronics of Toshi Nakamura's famous no-input mixing board. The disc contains two powerful extended improvisations that were recorded at concerts in November 2008 during the duo's tour of Norway.” label info
Corgroc
'Ferran Fages: Acoustic guitar. Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga: zither. ap'strophe is the duo of Ferran Fages and Dimitra Lazaridou Chatzigoga. They began working together in 2006, when Ferran Fages recorded 'Cançons per a un lent retard', where Dimitra Lazaridou Chatzigoga collaborated in the track Paraula clau, which they composed and interpreted together. After recording the album they realized the impossibility of re-interpreting this piece, which is based on the detuning(s) of the guitar, but…
Lost Daylight
'The compositions on Lost Daylight' by John CAGE and the almost-forgotten American Fluxus composer Terry JENNINGS date from between 1958 and 1966. Yet in the hands of John Tilbury and Sebastian Lexer they sound astonishingly modern. JENNINGS' solo pieces couldn't be more conventional in using only pure keyboard notes, but they could hardly be more radical in the way in which the notes are reduced, isolated and surrounded with silences. As Michael Pisaro's sleevenotes say, 'It is music of simplic…
Turned Moment, Weighting
'Stephen CORNFORD is better known for his work in sound sculptures and installations than as an improvising musician. But on ÔTurned Moment, weighting' (at-b07) he uses the piano as a source for feedback patterns, which he blends with the gentle Feldmanesque playing of pianist Samuel RODGERS to produce three extended improvisations of astonishingly delicacy. Samuel RODGERS has said that 'though being aware of and struggling with the tradition and limitations of the instrument, I have found the…
The cat from Cat Hill
Loris is Patrick Farmer playing natural objects/E bow snare/tapes/wood, Sarah Hughes on chorded zither/piano/E bow and Daniel Jones supplying turntable/E bow/piezo discs and electronics. Their music is constructed of minimal gestures that seem at times borrowed directly from nature — witness the fuzzy crackling and odd insectile sounds at the start of the first track, "A Heron and a Terrapin", which has a very natural sounding sway, from quiet activity to near silence and back. The electric hums…
Midhopestones
Rhodri Davies (harps), Michel Doneda (soprano saxophone), Louisa Martin (laptop), Phil Minton (voice) & Lee Patterson (amplified objects & processes). Four extraordinary improvisations by musicians spanning three countries and three generations, performed in January 2009 in the freezing cold fourteenth century stone church in the small village of Midhopestones near Sheffield, England. A dark, brooding, swirling music from a quintet who gelled together into a remarkably tight and unified ensemble…
Decentred
Improvisations and realisations of indeterminate scores by John Cage and Michael Pisaro. Performed by Tom Chant (saxes & bass clarinet), Angharad Davies (violin), Benedict Drew (electronics) & John Edwards (bass). A quartet of leading improvisers play a combination of improvisations and indeterminate scores. The disc contains the first recorded performances of three of the American composer Michael Pisaro's ÔHarmony Series' pieces, a brilliant interpretation of John Cage's late work ÔFour 6', an…
Electricals
EKG : Kyle Bruckmann (oboe, english horn & analogue electronics) & Ernst Karel (trumpet & analogue electronics). Electricals' is the fourth duo release by Kyle Bruckmann (oboe, English horn & analogue electronics) and Ernst Karel (trumpet & analogue electronics). As on previous discs, the music is carefully constructed and extended from extracts of duo improvisations recorded in the studio and at concerts.But as the title suggests, the disc has a more electronic feel than much of their previous …
Kravis Rhonn Project
“Very strong, extremely well integrated set, Krebs and Davies meshing perfectly....next to impossible to describe to any degree of satisfaction, but that's usually the case with something as beautifully positioned as this. Mandatory.” Brian Olewnick, Just OutsideAnnette Krebs (guitar, recordings, mixing board) and Rhodri Davies (electric harp & electronics) played together as a duo for the first time for a day at Annette’s flat when Rhodri was visiting Berlin in April 2008. Annette then spent a…
Lunula
Octante: Ruth Barberán (trumpet, speaker & microphones). Alfredo Costa Monteiro (accordion & objects). Ferran Fages (electronics). Margarida Garcia (bass). Recorded at ca l'escuder on february 8th and 9th, 2008 by Ferran Conangla. Mixed and mastered by Ferran Conangla. Cover by Alfredo Costa Monteiro.
Two
Axel Dörner (trumpet), Thomas Lehn (analogue synthesiser) and Phil Minton (voice). two extended improvisations by three of Europe's most accomplished improvising musicians, taken from live performances in Austria (2005) and Germany (2008).
Blasen
‘blasen’ is the first duo disc by two of the rising stars of London’s improv scene. Seymour Wright’s recent solo disc ‘Seymour Wright of Derby’ was rapturously received by critics and was described by Dan Warburton as “the best solo sax music I’ve heard for years”. And Sebastian Lexer – a pupil of and collaborator with John Tilbury – has developed his own software to extend the sound of the piano electronically in live performance. Both musicians emerged from Eddie Prevost’s improvisation worksh…
Obdo
Frédéric Blondy (piano) with Thomas Lehn (analogue synthetiser) recorded in France, 2003-2006. An interaction of electronic and acoustic sounds from two of Europe's top improvisers. The creation and detailled exploration of a spectral and timbral landscape quite unlike any other.
For Hugh Davies
A unique celebration of the work of Hugh Davies, one of the great pioneers of improvised music who died three years ago. Solo recordings of Hugh from three decades ago are played back to a trio of musicians whose work has been influenced by Hugh, and they improvise around his music to create a living homage to his memory. Beautiful, strange and challenging music.
Performances 1969-1977
To accompany the release of the 'for Hugh Davies' cd, an archive cd-r featuring all of Hugh Davies' recordings from 1969-1977 that were used in the production of the cd. Seventy-nine minutes of historic music, previously unissued and featuring five solos by Hugh plus a duet with Richard Orton for two 'shozygs' - one of the many simple but extraordinary instruments that Hugh invented. Unmissable.