This wide-ranging programme, curated by composer and musician, Thanos Chrysakis, brought together ten highly versatile musicians, some studying at the Royal Academy of Music, some members of major orchestras, and others who are well advanced in their individual solo careers based on experimentation and improvisation, including Tim Hodgkinson, founder in 1968 of the legendary Henry Cow, fusing rock, jazz and the experimental.
The spirit of the evening reflected Chrysakis’s statement that ‘Sound – a small animal almost everywhere nowadays – appears recognisable by everyone but equally unknown to anyone.’
The eleven contemporary works (listed below) explored the potential and possibilities offered by woodwind and brass instruments which are rarely the focus of contemporary composition and live performance.
The featured instruments – four bass clarinets and a contra-bass clarinet, two trombones and three tubas – were taken on journeys that dived in to the liminal, the unfamiliar and the mildly alarming, pushing techniques to the limit, extracting unexpected sounds and tonal ranges from these imposing instruments.
It was not possible to put a musician’s name to every composition as not all the musicians were introduced by name in this lively pot pourri of performances. As tuba player Stuart Beard said, before he got to grips with Chrysakis’s Verdant Terrain, ‘The music will speak for itself!’
Jason Alder, originally from Detroit and now based in Amsterdam, set the tone with his navigation of the contra-bass clarinet on Penumbra, flushing out guttural tones, slapping the keys, reaching the lowest bass notes then lightly tonguing on the reed to exhale breaths redolent of gusts over the steppes. On the Denisov piece he contrasted softly played, deep notes with strident, assertive passages.
In his tour de force, the 1966 Stockhausen Solo, Alder explained how, in 2010, he had adapted for computer this complex work with its many layers of instruction and the requirement for up to six tape operators, by using Max/MSP software. As delays were prompted, samples of Alder’s live playing re-emerged subtly through the speakers above, enabling an intricate solo dialogue to take place.
Chris Cundy, self-taught and inspired to take up the bass clarinet by hearing recordings of Eric Dolphy, gave a sensitive rendition of Dave Smith’s lively, melodically-rooted piece from 1998, pumping the bass notes and swapping registers with ease. Smith, coincidentally, has been a recent visitor to Cafe Oto, for performances of his Albanian Summer suite celebrating his 75 years and also as pianist in the Gavin Bryers Ensemble.
Oraculum, composed for trombone by the formidable George Lewis, a member of AACM with numerous honorary doctorates and awards, and occasional duettist with Evan Parker, was noted for its unusual opening directive, ‘Bovine’! Short, sharp bursts receded in the search for the instrument’s lowest vibrating resonances.
Ed Lucas worked with large score sheets in his meditative interpretation of the Chrysakis trombone piece which had him gliding and stretching to the full and working with the mute on selected passages.
Group works introduced unusual combinations. The bass clarinets of Yoni Silver and Tim Hodgkinson to the left , balanced with the trombonists, Jamie Tweed and Ed Lucas to the right, floated, clattered and coalesced into the marginal zones of Veiling Asterism, expertly guided by Matthew Harding, who similarly steered the two trombones either side of a single tuba through the brassy ebbs and flows of Herbarium.
Equally engaging were the tuba solo works, with Stuart Beard shivering, shuddering and rasping to bring out the richness of his gleaming, gold brass instrument in the evening’s penultimate piece.
The full ensemble, ranged symmetrically either side of Alder’s towering contra-bass clarinet, was directed by Tim Hodgkinson who smilingly explained that silences were built in to his composition, Chthon, and that these should not be cues for clapping! Group blasts and sustains gave way to a mass exhalation of breath to draw this stimulating evening to its close.
Performers
Jason Alder: bass clarinet and contra-bass clarinet
Stuart Beard: tuba
Chris Cundy: bass clarinet
Callum Davis: tuba
Matthew Harding: conductor
Tim Hodgkinson: bass clarinet
Ed Lucas: trombone
Yoni Silver: bass clarinet
James Tavares: tuba
Jamie Tweed: trombone
Programme
1: Penumbra (solo contra-bass clarinet) by Ana-Maria Avram
2: Veiling Asterism (two trombones and two bass clarinets) by Thanos Chrysakis
3: Oraculum (solo tenor trombone) by George Lewis
4: Tines (solo tuba) by James Keirle
5: Sonata for Clarinet Solo (solo bass clarinet) by Edison Denisov
6: Herbarium (two trombones and tuba) by Thanos Chrysakis
Interval
7: A Shaft of Night (solo tenor trombone) by Thanos Chrysakis
8: Off Peak Single from Symi (solo bass clarinet) by Dave Smith
9: Solo für ein Melodieinstrument mit Rückkopplung (Solo for Melody Instrument and Feedback) (solo bass clarinet) by Karlheinz Stockhausen
10: Verdant Terrain (solo tuba) by Thanos Chrysakis
11: Chthon (full ensemble) by Tim Hodgkinson
One Response
Thanos Chrysakis has kindly listed the trombonists, some of whose names I could not put to the individual pieces. These are:
The trombonists and the pieces below :
A Shaft of Light : Ed Lucas (GW note: listed on the Cafe Oto site as ‘Shaft of Night’)
Verdant Terrain : Stuart Beard
Veiling Asterism : Jamie Tweed, Ed Lucas,
Oraculum : Jamie Tweed
Tines : James Tavares
Herbarium : Jamie Tweed (GW note: still unclear as to who the 2nd trombonist was!)