 |
 |
|
 |
||
| BMIC Cutting Edge 2005
Salvatore Sciarrino - Piano Trio No 1 (UKP) The composers' notes were mostly unhelpful for 'ordinary listeners' or else flippanjt - "I think I wrote it in 1996, but I'm not sure" & "I think it needs personality, so I called it Archie ". There were 11 items, so various in idiom and aesthetic that it is inconceivable that many in the packed, knowing audience enjoyed them all, but they were applauded politely and fairly equally. Occasional old fashioned 'new music booing' countered bystanding ovations would liven the scene? I liked best Sciarrino's Piano Trio - high energy with coruscating piano textures sometimes embracing harp-like flourishes against more austere strings mostly offering harmonics, and Furrer's trio which brought to mind Webern and Lachenmann, riveting audience attention. Harvey's early (1971) trio was impressive, although less ingratiating than his later music. I departed before the items sourced from Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, which will have brightened the atmosphere, no doubt. Trio Fibonacci The Warehouse 3 November James Clarke - Piano Trio
Julie-Anne Derome: violin A truly memorable evening at the Warehouse featured superb playing by this Canadian trio. The level of commitment and the virtuosity of the players was evident in every bar and the musicians combined in a way that only a first class chamber ensemble can. Although the above programme was the one advertised on the website, Trio Fibonacci started their programme with Michael Finnissy's Independence Quadrille, an excellent choice to start a programme for a trio as each musician is given space in which to breathe before a final recombination. The other highlight of the four work first half was the James Clarke Piano Trio. This is a rigorous, serious work overlapping glissandi and edgy, distorted string sounds and the impact is to create the sense of a journey taken with some trepidation and uneasiness. I found Mark-Anthony Turnage's A Short Procession , a farewell, funereal piece dedicated to two female friends, and with a distinctly Irish feel, deeply moving. The evening finished with a premiere of a piece by Laurie Radford that placed huge demands on the players and combined the playing of the trio with various electronic techniques. The piece was a complete success as one entered a sound world in which time and space were challenged in a way that was difficult to precisely define. Trio Fibonacci have produced a CD featuring some of the music from this concert Mark Dennis
Music and Text The Warehouse, 10th November 2005
RICHARD BARRETT - interference IAN PACE - piano, CARL ROSMAN - clarinet and voice A concert focussing on music and text and their communicability together, this was a frustrating event, very much one for London's new music in-group. Many of the words were either inaudible or incomprehensible or both; sometimes deliberately so! Possibly all would become clearer with an opportunity to hear the recording which BMIC made of the event. Kate Westbrook's contribution ** gave me the greatest pleasure of the evening, in Eisler and Mike Westbrook etc., and from my seat at the back she was well balanced and all her words clear. PHILIP CLARK has kindly let me see his text All the Rage, quotes from which (reprinted with permission) give something of the flavour of this duet between Kate Westbrook's (crystal clear) delivery and the seemingly inconsequential (but carefully scored, so I understand) contributions on guitar: - - This piece began with a thirty second guitar solo. Above the line ‘this piece began with a thirty second guitar solo' is an instruction to wait for thirty seconds, which I have just carried out. Alex and I both have six sheets of instructions that we will use to create this piece. Since I started thirty seconds later than Alex, the end of the piece will probably consist of my voice alone - - the composer of the present piece has no idea how he wants to combine music and text - - . So please beg his pardon. ** See also a perceptive review by Frank Eichler Coming Together (1971) is given here as arranged by Matt Albert (2000/2003) for his theatre-music chamber group Eighth Blackbird, in a far less austere and relentless form than that given at The Warehouse, where I heard it for the first time, but mounting to a hysterical climax. • For an overview of Frederic Rzewski's vast corpus of piano music, I recommend • Also, see review of his recital Rzewski plays Rzewski at the 2003 London Jazz Festival
|
Fidelio Trio at The Warehouse, London 29 September 
very strongly the boxed set of