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at56x6  Wandelweiser und so weiter


A 6-CD box set of music in, around or near that of the composers in the Wandelweiser collective.


sleeve notes - including roundtable discussion with Antoine Beuger, Michael Pisaro, Dominic Lash and Philip Thomas


Interview with Stefan Thut            Interview with Sam Sfirri



Sold out of physical copies of the Wandelweiser und so weiter box set,

but you can still order downloads from our Bandcamp page here




                             






1 Sam Sfirri   natural at last   (2010)   realisation #1                 7:51

Neil Davidson – guitar & objects, Rhodri Davies – harp, Jane Dickson - piano, Patrick Farmer – amplified objects / open CD players, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga – zither


2 Antoine Beuger   Lieux de Passage (2008)    26:16               youtube extract

Jűrg Frey – clarinet  + Angharad Davies – violin, Phil Durrant – electronics, Anton Lukoszevieze – cello, Radu Malfatti – trombone, Lee Patterson – amplified objects, Philip Thomas - piano


3 Manfred Werder   2011(4)        9:43                                        youtube extract

Anett Németh – recording, instruments, objects


4 Sam Sfirri   natural at last   (2010) realisation #2        4:45

Angharad Davies – violin, Phil Durrant – electronics, Jűrg Frey – clarinet, Anton Lukoszevieze – cello, Radu Malfatti – trombone, Lee Patterson – amplified objects, Philip Thomas – piano   


5 James Saunders  various distinct spatial or temporal locations  (2011)      1:48

Simon Reynell – coffee carton                


6 Radu Malfatti   Heikou   (2010)         27:46

Angharad Davies – violin, Phil Durrant – electronics, Jűrg Frey – clarinet, Joseph Kudirka – double bass, Anton Lukoszevieze – cello, Radu Malfatti – trombone, Lee Patterson – amplified objects, Philip Thomas – piano


The six discs:

CONFLUENCES

CROSSCURRENTS

1 Sam Sfirri   the undulating land   (2010)     5:12

NMC Chamber Ensemble:  Jason Brogan – electric guitar,  Bill Carson – acoustic guitar, Jared Sinclair – flute, Kim Larson – clarinet, Ron Wiltrout – percussion, Sam Sfirri - melodica    


2 John Cage   Three2   (1991)             9:14                                    youtube extract

Simon Allen, Chris Burn & Lee Patterson - percussion                                                                                       


3 Pierre Borel / Johnny Chang / Derek Shirley   Etchings (2012)  20:28

Pierre Borel – alto saxophone, Johnny Chang – viola, Derek Shirley – double bass


4 Phil Durrant   Sowari for Ensemble   (1997)    12:35

Phil Durrant – electronics, Lee Patterson – amplified objects & processes, Philip Thomas – piano


5 Michael Pisaro   fields have ears (3b)   (2010)    30:29               youtube extract

Set Ensemble: Angharad Davies - violin, Patrick Farmer - electronics, Sarah Hughes - piano, Daniel Jones -electronics, Dominic Lash – double bass


DRIFTS

1 Antoine Beuger   ‘t’ aus ‘etwas (lied)’   (1995)           9:12

Parkinson Saunders:  Tim Parkinson & James Saunders – voices


2 Stefan Thut  Vier, 1-12   (2010)      21:14                                     youtube extract

Angharad Davies – violin, Julia Eckhardt – viola, Dominic Lash – double bass, Stefan Thut – cello     


3 Jason Brogan    Ensemble    (2010)          9:14

crys cole, Jamie Drouin, Lance Austin Olsen & Mathieu Ruhlmann – electronics                               


4 James Saunders   with the same material or still, to vary the material   (2011)    8:54

Neil Davidson, Rhodri Davies, Jane Dickson, Patrick Farmer & Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga – bowed objects


5 Manfred Werder   2 ausfűhrende (seiten 357-360)   (1999-)   30:00

Parkinson Saunders:  Tim Parkinson & James Saunders – organ pipes



EDDIES

1 Stefan Thut   Many, 1-4   (2009)       5:02

Set Ensemble: Angharad Davies - violin, Bruno Guastalla - cello, Sarah Hughes - zither, Daniel Jones -electronics, Dominic Lash – double bass, Tim Parkinson - piano, David Stent – guitar, Paul Whitty – harmonium


2 Improvisation #08.01.12      16:25                                                  youtube extract

Neil Davidson – guitar & objects, Rhodri Davies – electric harp, Jane Dickson – piano, Patrick Farmer – amplified objects / open CD players, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga – zither


3 Sam Sfirri   for the choice of directions   (2010)   realisation #1          9:21

Brogan Sfirri:  Jason Brogan – shortwave radio, Sam Sfirri - melodica                                                                   


4 Taylan Susam   for maaike schoorel   (2009)      5:48

edges ensemble, director Philip Thomas


5 Dominic Lash   for five   (2010)     12:10

Set Ensemble: Angharad Davies - violin, Bruno Guastalla - bandoneon, Dominic Lash – tabletop acoustic guitar, Tim Parkinson – melodica, David Stent - guitar


6 Jűrg Frey   Time Intent Memory   (2012)    25:58

Angharad Davies – violin, Jűrg Frey – clarinet, Sarah Hughes – zither, Kostis Kilymis – electronics, Dominic Lash – double bass, Radu Malfatti – trombone


7 Sam Sfirri   for the choice of directions   (2010)   realisation #2      5:01

Neil Davidson – guitar & objects, Rhodri Davies – harp, Jane Dickson – piano, Patrick Farmer – pitch pipe, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga - zither


UNDERTOWS

1 Jűrg Frey   Circular Music No.2   (2012)      14:44                                youtube extract

Angharad Davies – violin, Phil Durrant – electronics, Jűrg Frey – clarinet, Anton Lukoszevieze – cello, Radu Malfatti – trombone, Lee Patterson – amplified objects & processes, Philip Thomas – piano


2 Manfred Werder   2008(6)         4:56

Anett Németh – recording, instruments, objects


3 Jűrg Frey   Un champ de tendresse parsemé d’adieux (4)   (2011)     19:58

edges ensemble, director Philip Thomas   


4 Taylan Susam   for sesshū tōyō   (2008)      11:34                             youtube extract

Angharad Davies – violin, Phil Durrant – electronics, Joseph Kudirka – double bass, Anton Lukoszevieze – cello,   Lee Patterson – amplified objects & processes, Philip Thomas – piano


5 Michael Pisaro   Descending Series (1)   (2009)     28:39

Philip Thomas – piano + sine waves




UPWELLINGS

1 John Cage   Prelude for Meditation   (1944)      1:13

Philip Thomas – prepared piano


2 Sam Sfirri   little by little (2010)   realisation #1       9:55

Stephen Cornford, Robert Curgenven, Ferran Fages, Patrick Farmer, Alfredo Costa Monteiro & Lee Patterson – electronics


3 Angharad Davies   Cofnod Pen Bore / Morning Records (2011)    9:10

Neil Davidson – guitar & objects, Rhodri Davies – electric harp, Jane Dickson – piano, Patrick Farmer – amplified objects / open CD players, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga – zither


4 Sam Sfirri   natural at last   (2010)   realisation #3     9:00

Neil Davidson – guitar & objects, Rhodri Davies – harp, Jane Dickson – piano, Patrick Farmer – amplified objects / open CD players, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga – zither


5 Sam Sfirri   little by little   (2010)   realisation #2     7:47                                                                youtube extract

Set Ensemble: Angharad Davies - violin, Bruno Guastalla - cello, Sarah Hughes - zither, Daniel Jones – electronics, Dominic Lash – double bass, Tim Parkinson - piano, David Stent – guitar


6 John White   Drinking and Hooting Machine   (1971)       8:09

edges ensemble, director Philip Thomas                                                                                


7 Sam Sfirri   little by little   (2010)   realisation #3     6:58

Angharad Davies – violin, Phil Durrant – electronics, Jűrg Frey – clarinet, Anton Lukoszevieze – cello, Radu Malfatti – trombone, Lee Patterson – amplified objects, Philip Thomas – piano


8 Anett Németh   eine unbedeutende aussage   (2012)        7:18

Remix of a recording by the Set Ensemble (Bruno Guastalla - cello, Dominic Lash - piano, Sarah Hughes, Simon Reynell & David Stent - objects)


9 Eva-Maria Houben   von da nach da   (2005)     19:41                                                                  youtube extract

Angharad Davies – violin, Phil Durrant – electronics, Lee Patterson – amplified objects & processes


Reviews


“In his essay ‘After Modernism’, Morton Feldman suggested that close attention to the work of Mark Rothko could produce “a sensation that we are not looking at the painting, but the painting is looking at us”.  Comparably, the quiet, often beautiful music of the loose-knit Wandelweiser collective seems to place attentive listeners under a kind of scrutiny.  That may explain why so many reflective words have proliferated around this music; why these composers, whose work is so restrained in character and absorbed with silence, feel the need to supplement it with text.  Historical accounts, aesthetic statements and technical descriptions form an extensive gloss to Wandelweiser’s subdued sounds, in printed interviews, on websites, in notes issued with CDs.


Wandelweiser und so weiter (Wandelweiser and so on) includes new realisations of pieces by well-established figures, such as Michael Pisaro, Jűrg Frey and Antoine Beuger, who has been at the hub of the collective since 1992.  There’s welcome exposure for works by younger members, including Sam Sfirri, from South Carolina, and Taylan Susam, from The Netherlands.  John Cage and John White are accommodated as precursors, and there are vital contributions from sympathetic outsiders, including London based improvisors Angharad Davies and Phil Durrant, and Annet Németh, a self-taught composer working with “sounds of everyday life and those of a fragile nature”.  Each composer brings their own perspective, unexpected instrumental resources – Sfirri’s duet for shortwave radio and melodica is indicative – and imaginatively nuanced structures, yet these six CDs sound aesthetically consistent and thoroughly engrossing.


In a booklet that accompanies the music there’s a discussion between producer Simon Reynell, Beuger, Pisaro, cellist [sic] Dominic Lash and pianist Philip Thomas.  They mull over the implications of this creative alliance between Wandelweiser members and practitioners of post-Reductionist improvisation.  There’s talk of shared horizons and disparate backgrounds, an expanded range of sonic possibilities with the advent of the improvisors, different approaches to listening and issues of interpretation, the status of the score and the pivotal role played by trombonist Radu Malfatti.  The thought-provoking chatter ceases once the music starts.  I’m reminded of starlings, voluble when perched, yet in flight virtually silent aside from the flutter of wing-beats and the whirr of their twists and turns.  Certainly Wandelweiser music has less in common with effusive birdsong than with the threshold sounds made by bodies in motion.


In the booklet, Pisaro endorses the image of a flock to describe the way these musicians have come together.  He also approves of Reynell’s pun on the meaning of sound, finding the image of “a narrow passage of water between the mainland and an island” useful for evoking “the often hard-to-parse internal changes in the music”.  Reynell’s wordplay extends to the titles of individual discs: ‘Confluences’, ‘Crosscurrents’, ‘Drifts’, ‘Eddies’, ‘Undertows’ and ‘Upwellings’.  As with a flock of birds, forming fabulous and unpredictable shapes within its own limits, this watery language suggests various forms of musical mobility contained within boundaries established by the composers.  Whatever else may be said, this is music that moves.”


Julian Cowley, The Wire, February 2013