Tony Moore

Observations is a set of sixteen solo improvisations by the cellist Tony Moore, recorded over two days in Amsterdam in August 1993. Nothing was double-tracked and the pieces appear in the order they were played, much of the music continuous, so the disc keeps the shape of the sessions themselves.

Rob Garner recorded Moore digitally at the Basement Studios on 16 and 17 August 1993. The pieces range from under a minute to just over seven, and the record opens in fairly conventional cello territory before moving towards less familiar sounds; the last observation relies on extended techniques such as string crossing, double stopping and simultaneous pitching. Cadence heard it as improvised chamber music drawing on the intimacy of the classical tradition. The cover is a detail from a portrait of Moore by the artist Josep Vallribera, his partner in the scores of Assessments and Translations, recorded in the same studio two years later. The booklet carries notes by Moore and by Eddie Prévost.

Released by Matchless Recordings in 1993 as MRCD 22, on CD.