Variations 2: A London Compilation

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 01:12:02
Recording information: City University Electroacustic Music Studio (12/01/1992); ICA MusICA 2 Festival (12/01/1992); The Klinker (12/01/1992); City University Electroacustic Music Studio (12/16/1997); ICA MusICA 2 Festival (12/16/1997); The Klinker (12/16/1997); City University Electroacustic Music Studio (1997); ICA MusICA 2 Festival (1997); The Klinker (1997). Photographer: Barrett Langlinais. This is the second volume of music curated by Paradigm label producer Clive Graham to feature various British composers/improvisers operating near the further fringes of contemporary music. It's a wide-ranging bunch, from the delicate sound installation of Akemi Ishijima to the brutal-massed saxophones of John Grieve. Michael Ormiston contributes a lovely, dirge-like piece written for the (apparently overdubbed) Mongolian two-stringed, bowed lute known as the morin khuur. Its keening tones, approximately in the cello range, have a rich, gravelly texture that's wonderfully compelling. One of the more surprising and effective works is Tom Wallace's "BrixtonQuatrain," a relatively brief composition which begins as an ultra-quiet assemblage of environmental and electronic sounds before exploding into a welter of jungle beat rhythms and noise that effervesces almost as soon as it's arrived, like a sudden blast of fireworks. Hugh Davies, known for his longtime collaborations with the cream of English improvisers, presents a piece for an Aeolian Harp of his own invention (shown in an accompanying photo in the beautifully laid-out, if lacking in information, booklet) combined with tape sounds that are evocative and, despite abstraction, even romantic. Other works, while inevitably at least interesting, succeed to a greater or lesser extent depending on the listener's tolerance for things that the growling/barking vocalizations of the Cobbing/Upton duo or the cacophonous assault of the aforementioned piece by Grieve. In general, this volume, if not quite as rich as the first in the series, is an intriguing and fascinating glimpse into a side of contemporary British music rarely seen and is recommended to anyone with even a vague interest in the area. ~ Brian Olewnick
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