{"title":"Upcoming Releases April 18th","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"klaus-lang-geschrieben","title":"Klaus Lang","description":"\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e1 –\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eweisse äpfel\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(2009)\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e19:57\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eMira Benjamin, violin   Bridget Carey, viola   Anton Lukoszevieze, cello\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e2 –\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003emy heart is singing like a bird\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(2022)\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e     \u003c\/span\u003e14:28\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eHeather Roche, clarinet   Mira Benjamin, violin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eAnton Lukoszevieze, cello   James Opstad, double bass\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e3 - \u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003edie drei dirndln\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(2007)\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e10:32\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eHeather Roche, clarinet   Mira Benjamin, violin   Kerry Yong, piano\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e4 – \u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eaki\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(2019)\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e     \u003c\/span\u003e11:10\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eKerry Yong, electric organ   Michelle Hromin, clarinet\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eHeather Roche, bass clarinet   Mira Benjamin, violin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e5 – \u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003egeschrieben in wasser\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(2007)\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e     \u003c\/span\u003e6:41\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eKerry Yong, piano   Mira Benjamin, violin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eBridget Carey, viola   Anton Lukoszevieze, cello\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0740\/3631\/4426\/files\/Klaus-Lang_portrait_480x480.jpg?v=1775392082\" style=\"margin-bottom: 16px; float: none;\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eInterview with Klaus Lang\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e'\u003c\/span\u003eweisse äpfel', the string trio that starts the album, dates from nearly 20 years ago and is the longest piece on the album.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eI feel it contrasts intriguingly with the second track, 'my heart is singing like a bird', which is the most recent piece. While 'weisse äpfel' is quite textural, with pitches gradually emerging from a bed of noise, 'my heart is singing like a bird' is the most lyrical of the works, with the clarinet having a strong melodic line. Does the contrast between the two demonstrate a general change in the style of your music across this period?\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eAnd also, what does the first piece have to do with white apples?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe development of Western music history is a quest for new sound structures driven by the curiosity of musicians and composers.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eThe history of music is an everchanging process driven by the urge to uncover unchartered territories of sound. This path does not always lead forward or upward but also very often inward into the sound. The same perennial question presents itself today: In which direction should we continue. where can we find fresh approaches? where is today’s the cutting edge?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eToday after a century of focus on the opening up of new musical material resulting in a century of noise and sound textures during which music integrated finally all possible sound structures from white noise to sine waves, for me finding new reiterations of sounds and techniques originating in the 20th century, is not viable any more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe way out of this dead end is often to be found not in front of us but behind us. Often we have to turn back to find the continuation of our path:\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003ewe can find the new in the re-interpretation of the past. This thought made me start looking more closely at pitch material, at interval structures, melodic as well as harmonic, and at medieval and Renaissance compositional techniques, trying to hear and use them differently.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThis led me to rediscover an English group of artists who 200 years ago were trying something similar: the Pre-Raphaelites.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eThe Poem \u003cem\u003eMy heart is like a singing bird\u003c\/em\u003e by Christina Rossetti, one of the most important artists of this movement, is the basis of the second track on the album. When visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum I was happy to discover that the title of the rooms dedicated to the Pre-Raphaelites was ‘Beauty as Protest’.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eThis points to two very important aspects of their art that are also essential to me as a composer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAs to the title of \u003cem\u003eweisse äpfel\u003c\/em\u003e, isn’t it really obvious that the piece has to be called “white apples”?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003e'die drei dirndln' is a beautiful minimal piece for clarinet and violin, with piano accompanying at the very beginning, and then soloing at the end for no apparent reason, except that it sounds great. Did you plan this unusual structure from the start, or did it just emerge as you were composing the piece?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eDuring my compositional process the development of the formal architecture of the piece is a central part. All sounds or textures are not merely sound-effects; they are always structural elements used to create the temporal architecture that constitutes the piece of music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003e'aki' has a different, fuller feel than most of the music on the album, largely because of the constant organ\/harmonium part. Organ and harmonium are instruments that you play, and you have composed a lot for them. What is it that draws you to their sound? Also, what does ‘aki’ refer to?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThere are two main aspects of harmonium and organ that fascinate and attract me. On the one hand their ability to sustain notes for a very long time - potentially endlessly - and time is the tool that opens up the interior of sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eOn the other hand sound production with these instruments is quite mechanical and doesn’t represent or require expression on the part of the player. On all other Instruments playing very loud or very soft implies always a bodily tension and a specific mindset that creates an expressive quality that is added willy-nilly to the sound produced. Very soft or very loud sounds tend to always include this extramusical component. In contrast both organ and harmonium can produce sound as sound in its purest form just because the mode of sound production, i.e. the minimal movement of a finger, is always identical.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eaki\u003c\/em\u003e means “autumn” in Japanese.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eBasho:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003eかれ朶に\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e烏の\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003eとまりけり\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e秋の暮\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003ea bare branch \/ a crow sitting \/ autumn twilight\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eI love the short coda at the end of 'geschrieben in wasser', when the music suddenly moves into a lighter, fleeter mode.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eFor me that sort of unexpected shift in gear is a feature of your music, and gives it a lot of life and energy. Have you ever composed using systems\/processes, or is that anathema to you?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIn fact all my music uses very strict compositional structures and methods - my systems are my best friends. The second part of \u003cem\u003egeschrieben in wasser\u003c\/em\u003e is constructed as a 90° turn of the structure of the first section.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe piece is a homage to my favourite poet John Keats, and uses as its title words he had inscribed on his gravestone in Rome: \"Here Lies One Whose Name was writ in Water\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eReview by Dominic Hartley at Music Web International\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn an interesting interview accompanying this release, composer Klaus Lang is asked a question that crossed my mind more than once while listening to the first work,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eweisse äpfel\u003c\/em\u003e: what does it have to do with white apples? Lang’s reply is wonderfully deadpan. Isn’t it really obvious, he says, that the piece\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ehas\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eto be called ‘white apples’? It’s no answer at all, and that may be the point. The cover of the album reproduces a detail from Pieter Bruegel’s\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWinter Landscape with a Bird Trap\u003c\/em\u003e, which only sharpens the question rather than answering it: bare branches against snow, no apples in sight, white or otherwise. One begins to suspect that Lang is enjoying himself, and that the joke — if it is a joke — is on those of us who keep asking what music is\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eabout\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIndeed, Lang’s music has eluded easy categorisation throughout his career. This new album is no exception, providing a fascinatingly varied selection of pieces for chamber ensemble, the excellent Apartment House.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eweisse äpfel\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis the longest work, just under twenty minutes, scored for string trio. A small handful of pitches become discernible as the music gets underway, and as it unfolds the harmonic field widens, the ear being slowly given more to hold onto. What carries the piece is a regular, almost respiratory pulse of short bowed swells separated by near-silence, the dynamic remarkably even. Bowed breathing, then. Mira Benjamin, Bridget Carey and Anton Lukoszevieze are rock solid here, sustaining a discipline of articulation and dynamic that never wavers across nearly twenty minutes — the kind of playing that draws no attention to itself precisely because the music demands that it shouldn’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003emy heart is singing like a bird\u003c\/em\u003e, the next piece, dates from 2022 and reflects a more recent preoccupation. Lang tells Simon Reynell, ‘finding new reiterations of sounds and techniques originating in the 20th century, is not viable any more. The way out of this dead end is often to be found not in front of us but behind us.’ His ‘way out’ has been to study the Pre-Raphaelites, and specifically Christina Rossetti, whose poem ‘A Birthday’ opens with the line ‘My heart is like a singing bird’. The piece takes its title from that line, slightly altered, and the textural conceit is direct enough that one hears it almost immediately: Heather Roche’s clarinet is the singing bird, and the cello and double bass beneath her — Lukoszevieze again, with James Opstad — provide the continuous ground of branch and air on which the bird is perched. Mira Benjamin’s violin moves between the two, sometimes joining the melody, sometimes dropping into the supporting texture. It’s a gem. Serendipitously I came to this release having just reviewed the glorious Clarinet Quintet by Jürg Frey (also featuring Roche, Benjamin and Lukoszevieze) and the contrast is instructive. Where Frey works through restraint and implication, Lang is more overtly lyrical in this far shorter work, but both composers give one a welcome sense of warmth, contemplation and release.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDie drei dirndln\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(‘the three lasses’) has a particularly unusual structure. For roughly the first four minutes, clarinet, violin and piano coexist in a sustained, slow-moving texture in which the piano interjects only sparingly, sharp and discrete against the longer bowed and blown lines. Then, gradually but unmistakably, the balance tips: the piano’s interjections become more frequent and more weighted, the sustained writing for clarinet and violin thins out, and by around the five-and-a-half-minute mark Heather Roche and Mira Benjamin have receded almost entirely, leaving Kerry Yong’s piano to carry the rest of the piece more or less alone. The piano has been there throughout, but the piece works as a slow gradient of dominance, the centre of gravity migrating from the ensemble to a single instrument. The ‘three lasses’ of the title presumably correspond to the three instruments, but the procedure is more subtle than a simple subtraction; one of them outlasts the others by being patient. As ever the playing is unimpeachable, and Yong’s solo passages at the end have the alertness of someone who knows exactly how much air is around each note.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAki\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— the Japanese word for autumn — takes its cue from Bashō’s famous haiku of a crow alighting on a bare branch at autumn twilight. It is, again, different from anything else on the album. Kerry Yong moves to electric organ, and from about a minute in he plants a low D that runs almost unbroken to the end of the piece — like the line of the horizon, audible the whole way through. The two clarinets (Roche and Michelle Hromin) and Benjamin’s violin articulate above this drone in phrases that come and go, settle and resettle, never quite arriving and never quite departing. If Bashō’s haiku is about the moment in which a single image — crow, branch, twilight — becomes sufficient, then\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eaki\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis the musical analogue. It is a piece about patience, perhaps, and about being at peace with not arriving.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shortest piece on the album closes it:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003egeschrieben in wasser\u003c\/em\u003e, just under seven minutes for piano quartet. The title is taken from the inscription on John Keats’s gravestone in Rome — ‘Here lies one whose name was writ in water’ — and the homage is real, but I would not press the watery metaphor too far where the music is concerned, because what\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003egeschrieben in wasser\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eoffers is one of the most clearly articulated structures on the disc. Lang has spoken of the piece’s second part as a ninety-degree rotation of the structure of the first, and you can hear the rotation point: at around three minutes and twenty seconds — almost exactly the midpoint of the body of the piece, before the coda — the texture changes character. Before the hinge, the writing is articulated and event-based, the piano leading and the strings entering between attacks; after it, the texture becomes continuous, denser, and more sustained, the strings now carrying the weight and the piano embedded in a fuller fabric. Then, in the last thirty seconds or so, a brief lull and a coda that shifts again into something brighter and fleeter. For a Keats homage, the formal clarity is striking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is worth standing back at this point and saying something about the album as a whole, because the sequencing repays attention. These five pieces span fifteen years, from the two 2007 works to\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003emy heart is singing like a bird\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ein 2022. They are not presented chronologically, but rather one comes to feel, by texture and by scale: the longest and most patient piece opens (\u003cem\u003eweisse äpfel\u003c\/em\u003e, nineteen minutes of bowed breathing), the most lyrical and the one most directly in dialogue with a literary source follows (\u003cem\u003emy heart…\u003c\/em\u003e, fourteen minutes of clarinet song over sustained ground), and then we get two middle-length pieces of contrasting architecture —\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003edie drei dirndln\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewith its migrating centre of gravity,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eaki\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewith its single sustained horizon — before the album closes with the shortest and most compressed of the five, the piece in which the formal procedures are at their most explicit. The trajectory is from extensive to intensive, and it works beautifully.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDominic Hartley\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Another Timbre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53271281500474,"sku":"at252","price":10.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0740\/3631\/4426\/files\/at252_Klaus_Lang_cover.jpg?v=1775390973"},{"product_id":"jurg-frey-1","title":"Jürg Frey","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eClarinet Quintet\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e   (2023\/2025)    54:10\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eApartment House \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci style=\"font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eHeather Roche \u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eclarinet      \u003c\/i\u003eMira Benjamin \u0026amp; Chihiro Ono, violins\u003cbr\u003eBridget Carey, viola    Anton Lukoszevieze, cello\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0740\/3631\/4426\/files\/Jurg_Frey_by_Joachim_Eckl_0d951f57-62af-4fa7-a657-27c14d44c6a3_480x480.jpg?v=1751711882\" style=\"margin-bottom: 16px; float: none;\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch2 style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eInterview with Jürg Frey by Marat Ingeldeev\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eFirst off, could you tell us about \u003c\/em\u003eClarinet Quintet\u003cem\u003e? I believe it's a relatively recent piece. How did it come about? I also love that the title is purely descriptive, keeping the work open rather than framing it in advance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eIt all began with a commission from Simon Reynell, though this is only superficially a mere external detail. It is not the first time I have received a commission from him, and each time he has sparked something that has led me to new horizons. And so it was this time too: perhaps Simon spotted or sensed a gap in my catalogue of works, or perhaps he simply wanted to hear a piece by me for this instrumentation; whatever the case, it came at exactly the right time, and his idea and my work were able to form a perfect symbiosis.\u003cbr\u003eThat said, the commission gave me a great deal of freedom: it simply called for ‘something for clarinet and strings’. I began with clarinet and string trio; clarinet and string quintet, or even an ensemble of six strings with clarinet were also ideas on my desk. I initially avoided the clarinet and string quartet line-up, partly because of the well-known pieces for these instruments by Mozart, Brahms or Feldman, all of which I have played frequently.\u003cbr\u003eBut then I realised that the quintet best matched my vision of depth and breadth in the piece—and I decided to take up the challenge.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe music is teeming with moments of wonder: dense clouds of harmony that seem to strain towards release or shift colour without warning, passages of clarity giving way to brooding haziness, intimate confessional duets, unexpected rests, lonely pizzicato. The finale alone is worth the journey—I’ll spare the reader any spoilers. What strikes me most is a sense of stasis that retroactively reveals itself as movement, which feels very lifelike. How did you piece the form together?\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI can say a few words about the term ‘lifelike’, because your comment matches my own feeling. Though I must say straight away that I never had any plan to write a ‘lifelike’ composition. Thinking that way would hinder my work, even make it impossible; plans of that sort are like evil spirits that must be driven away, as they seek to destroy the piece.\u003cbr\u003eBut \u003cem\u003eClarinet Quintet\u003c\/em\u003e isn’t without a plan either, not at all. It’s a web of associations, constructions, sketches, decisions, durations, marvelling at ideas, rejecting efficiency, desires, memories—if there is a plan, then the creation of the piece and the plan are one and the same. That means my aim is to develop a feel for the piece whilst working, to get a sense of what’s possible. And that’s probably how this ‘lifelike’ quality emerges.\u003cbr\u003eFor a while, the piece was also titled \u003cem\u003eCe lent rythme humain\u003c\/em\u003e (This slow human rhythm), a short phrase I discovered in a text by Gustave Roud whilst working on it. In the end, it remained \u003cem\u003eClarinet Quintet\u003c\/em\u003e, and that’s just as well.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eI rarely ask questions like this, but I'm curious about the harmony and its shifts in colour. How did you devise them and what's your approach to harmony more generally?\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI’m not sure whether I really think in terms of the category of ‘harmony’, or at most only marginally, as an afterthought. The category of ‘sound’ as an abstract phenomenon is just as important. I work somewhere on the threshold, or in no-man’s-land between harmony on the one hand, and sound and colour on the other.\u003cbr\u003eThese are questions of the presence and absence of harmony, and related to this is also what you mentioned earlier, ‘a sense of stasis that retroactively reveals itself as movement’. I want to bring a clear architecture and, at the same time, an organic form into balance. Harmony and colour stand in a subtle relationship to one another: allowing things to move forward, but also allowing them to stand still. Actually, it’s mostly stillness. It’s simply time passing, but in the end you’ve arrived at a different place.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eDo you have a compositional routine, and how strictly do you keep to it? What tends to serve as the entry point into a new piece? Do you compose in short bursts or longer spans?\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is already a consistent compositional process that I stick to. The paradox, perhaps, is that this routine often consists of ‘hanging around and not doing much’. And that’s why I can never really say what the entry point into a new piece is. It’s more a case of it looming on the horizon, and then I try to stick with it. A lot of material is produced that just lies around in my sketchbooks, and through composition I try to transform it into something meaningful. Or as William Carlos Williams puts it: ‘The same thing exists, but in a different condition when energized by imagination’.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eReview by Dominic Hartley at Music Web International\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor most of his career, Jürg Frey has been a clarinettist as well as a composer. Over fifty years he played across Europe and taught in Swiss schools, carrying the instrument’s character in both body and mind. As Philip Thomas memorably put it, to understand Frey’s music ‘is to know that underlying each event, each phrase, each rest, each relationship, is the beating heart of a performing musician.’ Around 2022, illness forced Frey to stop playing. He has spoken of this without regret, noting that while someone else can always pick up a clarinet, nobody else can write his music. The Clarinet Quintet, composed between 2023 and 2025, is the first major work for his own instrument that he has completed since that withdrawal. Whether it amounts to a farewell, a distillation of his performing experience, or simply the next piece he needed to write is a question best left open. What matters is the music itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the music is quietly extraordinary. Over fifty-four minutes, five instruments pursue a conversation of such gentle purpose and unforced warmth that the effect is less like listening to a performance than overhearing one. The clarinet is not a soloist here. It is an equal participant, woven into the string texture, breathing with it. Frey knows exactly how to place a clarinet inside a quartet of strings so that it belongs there completely. The result is a work of deep, unshowy beauty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen I\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/musicwebinternational.com\/2026\/01\/frey-je-laisse-a-la-nuit-son-poids-dombre-another-timbre\/\"\u003ereviewed\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eFrey’s\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eJe laisse à la nuit son poids d’ombre\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eearlier this year I was struck by his ability to sustain a 52-minute span with an apparent effortlessness that disguised considerable craft. That piece deployed a large and colourful ensemble: strings, brass, woodwind, percussion, analogue synthesiser, two soprano voices. The Clarinet Quintet could hardly be more different in its means. Five acoustic instruments. No voices, no electronics, no percussion. The most familiar chamber instrumentation imaginable, the same combination that Mozart and Brahms chose. Where\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eJe laisse\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eachieved its atmosphere through timbral variety, the Quintet works with concentration: a narrow palette demanding close attention.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrey has written about the piece in terms worth hearing directly. He describes the listener encountering a ‘paradoxical situation: it is music that seems to stand still, yet continues to move forward, and after 50 minutes we arrive at a place we could not have imagined at the beginning.’ This is an accurate account of how the Quintet feels. The harmonic world is tonal. The opening minutes possess a settled, sympathetic territory that seems to promise very little drama. And yet, listened to across its full span, the piece covers a remarkable amount of ground. The harmonies shift so gradually that the ear cannot quite locate the moment of change, but by the final pages the music has arrived somewhere altogether different from where it began.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe large-scale shape is worth describing. The first half builds slowly from spare, quiet phrases towards the most assertive passage in the entire work, around the ten-minute mark. From there it subsides, the textures thinning, the dynamic level dropping, until it reaches a passage of extraordinary delicacy around twenty-three minutes in. This is not silence, exactly, but something very close: a repeated, faint, single-instrument pizzicato. From this threshold the second half emerges with a different character. It is fuller, more sustained, the instruments more continuously present. The music ends with a long, unhurried withdrawal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sound world is distinctive. The strings play almost entirely in their middle and lower registers. The clarinet sits in its warmest range for much of the first half, rising higher and with more mobility thereafter. The overall effect is intimate and blended, without rhetoric or virtuoso display. The writing has an apparent simplicity: open strings, gentle dialogues between individual instruments, and passages where the clarinet drops out entirely and the strings converse alone. The clarinet’s subsequent return has a particular quality of arrival, each time slightly changed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tonal language avoids strong directional harmony, inhabiting a space that is settled without being static or predictable. The ear can rest inside each sound rather than being pushed forward to the next. In the second half there is an enrichment, the harmonic language broadening, admitting more colour. And the rhythmic profile shifts too. The strings move to shorter, more animated figures. The clarinet begins to play what sounds like fragments of melody, phrases that hint at a song we are never quite given in full. It is deeply affecting, partly because of how much restraint has preceded it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat comparison helps here? The endorsements that accompany the album invoke Brahms and Schubert, and I understand why. But listening repeatedly I found myself drawn to an older sound-world. The strings, in their colour and the intervals they favour, reminded me at times of a viol consort. The clarinet became a complementary voice, not unlike a singer. Think of a Dowland song at its most tender and bittersweet. I don’t want to push the analogy too far, but there is something in the pace of the writing, the sense of each note being placed with care, and the melancholy that never quite declares itself, that made the connection feel real.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is music for repeated listening, not because it is difficult to grasp but because each listening seems to open another layer. A phrase that seemed incidental on first hearing turns out to carry weight. A harmonic shift that passed unnoticed reveals itself as the pivot of an entire passage. And Apartment House are the ideal performers. Every detail of Frey’s quiet, apparently spontaneous conversation is rendered with care and naturalness. Heather Roche deserves particular praise. Her clarinet playing is beautifully integrated, sensitive to the strings around her, never imposing, always present. The recorded sound, captured by Simon Reynell at City University London, is superb. The balance places the listener close to the ensemble without any sense of clinical proximity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a very fine addition to Another Timbre’s substantial Frey discography. I should note that I’ve been working from an advance copy without supplementary material. Another Timbre plan to publish an interview with Frey on their website in time for the CD release, and it will be worth seeking out. But the music truly speaks for itself with an eloquence that needs no commentary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDominic Hartley\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Another Timbre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53271501308218,"sku":"at256","price":11.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0740\/3631\/4426\/files\/at256_Jurg_Frey_cover.jpg?v=1775392979"},{"product_id":"kristofer-svensson-for-a-lemon-tree","title":"For a Lemon Tree","description":"\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2;\" align=\"center\" class=\"Body\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportLists]--\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Tahoma; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-ansi-language: SV;\" lang=\"SV\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-list: Ignore;\"\u003e1.\u003cspan style=\"font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-ansi-language: SV;\" lang=\"SV\"\u003eFor a lemon tree\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e      \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-ansi-language: SV;\" lang=\"SV\"\u003e12\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e:52\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-ansi-language: SV;\" lang=\"SV\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-ansi-language: SV;\" lang=\"SV\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportLists]--\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Tahoma; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-list: Ignore;\"\u003e2.\u003cspan style=\"font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003eImprovisation on Prakāśa, June 10, 2024\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e      \u003c\/span\u003e43:46\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-left: 36.0pt;\" class=\"Body\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003eKristofer Svensson, kacapi \u0026amp; composition  Maya Bennardo, violin\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif;\"\u003eErik Blennow Calälv, bass clarinet\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-left: 36.0pt;\" class=\"Body\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTrack 2 is an improvisation based on a composition by Kristofer Svensson, and track 1 is a composition based on this improvisation by Kristofer Svensson and Maya Bennardo.  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0740\/3631\/4426\/files\/Kampung_Buhun2_ef6d849c-c0eb-407d-8f47-dbb730c3c754_480x480.jpg?v=1776456926\" style=\"margin-bottom: 16px; float: none;\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch2 style=\"text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eInterview with Kristofer Svensson\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\"\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003eFor a Lemon Tree' consists of two pieces: the title track, which lasts 12 minutes, and the much longer ‘Improvisation on Prakāśa’. Both tracks are played by the trio of Maya Bennardo (violin), Erik Blennow Calälv (bass clarinet) and yourself on kacapi (a kind of zither from Indonesia). I’m not clear how much of the music is improvised. Could you explain how both pieces work?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eImprovisation on Prakāśa\u003c\/em\u003e the music is improvised within a tuning and form, while \u003cem\u003eFor a lemon tree\u003c\/em\u003e is fully notated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe instructions to \u003cem\u003ePrakāśa\u003c\/em\u003e are quite brief. The first page of the score gives the tuning and maps the harmonic terrain: sub-modal regions, tunable paths, and a few implied near-pitches that intonating instruments can lean toward when they’re clearly suggested. The second (and last) page gives a simple large-scale form—an order for introducing and omitting materials—so the piece tends to generate a similar harmonic shape each time it’s played.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWhat this gives us in practice is not just a palette of notes to improvise with, but a set of constraints and affordances. Because the intervals are unequal and highly specific, the mode doesn’t behave like a neutral scale: it suggests which pitch combinations can actually settle, which dyads resist stabilizing on their own, which three-note constellations feel calm, and where tension naturally collects. All of this adds up to a distinct attunemental tone: an affective atmosphere, a kind of 'rasa'.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAt the same time, it would be misleading to say that this affect is built into the tuning itself. It arises relationally, in performance, through how we move through the mode. Rehearsal becomes a kind of perceptual learning where we internalize the tuning by performing it, and we work out our version of the piece. While improvisation is our method, we don’t treat it as an obligation to do something new every time. Our practice is more about going deeper into the mode and letting the piece gradually clarify for us—not as something we study from the outside, but as something that can only arise through playing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eFor a lemon tree\u003c\/em\u003e came about directly from this process. We wanted a shorter fully notated piece that could function as a condensed version of how we had learned to play this material. So Maya and I wrote a composition based on \u003cem\u003ePrakāśa\u003c\/em\u003e, using the same tuning and the same attunemental field we had developed as an ensemble. In that sense, I would say that the shorter piece captures something like the essence of our way of playing \u003cem\u003ePrakāśa\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cem\u003ePart of what I love about 'Prakāśa' is its melancholic mood, which I'm always a sucker for. Now, I don't understand the detail of Just Intonation at all, but on the CD cover you describe the piece as an \"11-limit Just Intonation tuning and accompanying rules for modal improvisation\".  Combining this with your previous answer, are you saying that the intervals in this tuning are predisposed to a particular affective atmosphere - in this case melancholy - in the same sort of way as a minor key in tonal music?  Or does this atmosphere arise only because of the 'rules' you give yourselves in the improvisation, which limit your choice of pitches? \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt's a great question, and it gets at a real puzzle in just Intonation: does the atmosphere come from the scale itself, or from how we treat it? With Just Intonation those two are usually hard to separate. Designing a JI scale is already a compositional act, like designing a seed while thinking through the ways the plant might grow.\u003cbr\u003eIn many modal traditions, the affect isn't 'in the mode' by itself so much as in the style. In Renaissance polyphony, for example, moods aren't tied to modes themselves (Dorian, Mixolydian, or what later becomes our major\/minor distinction) but arise largely through compositional constraint: what melodic motions are favoured, how cadences work, how steps and leaps are balanced, and which degrees are repeatedly affirmed.\u003cbr\u003eWhat JI adds is that some of those constraints become acoustically explicit. Certain simultaneities stabilise readily while others resist; some motions feel natural and settle easily, while others feel like deliberate tension. Of course, one can disregard that and treat the scale as generic microtonality, but if you play it as a relational system, the scale starts to teach you its own grammar and atmosphere through perceptual learning.\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003cem\u003ePrakāśa, \u003c\/em\u003ethe form and the order in which the material is introduced matter to the atmosphere because they help establish a tonal centre - especially since I tend to design scales with multiple plausible centres - but most of the 'rules' we follow, and the melodies and harmonies we tend to play, are really extractions from the scale itself: things that, I would argue, any player would discover by living with the tuning long enough.\u003cbr\u003eSo yes: for us it can feel as if melancholy is built into the tuning - but it depends on a way of playing that lets the tuning's asymmetries and moments of settling actually come into focus. And of course tuning is only one parameter: pacing, density, phrasing, and timbre all matter too.\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Tahoma;\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAlso relating to the question of mood, or affective atmosphere, can you explain a bit more about the concept of 'rasa' which you referred to? I know it comes from Indian classical music, but that's about all, so can you elaborate on what you are taking from it?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003eYes, rasa is a term from classical Indian aesthetics (it’s also used quite ordinarily in Indonesia to talk about musical feel, and I heard it often while studying kacapi in West Java), and it literally means ‘taste’. In a loose sense it can overlap with what we call a mood or atmosphere, but the reason I tend to use it is actually that it connects aesthetic moods to soteriological goals. Beyond the more familiar rasas that a piece might attune a listener to (melancholy, tenderness, romance, joy), Abhinavagupta (one of the main theorists of rasa) places śāntarasa, the ‘taste’ of peace, at the apex: an aesthetic serenity that is less entangled with emotional reactivity, and that can intimate liberation. Buddhism has a related but sharper notion: samarasa—the ‘taste of sameness’, where like and dislike dissolve altogether. To what extent music, which often attunes us to a mood, can intimate śā\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-ansi-language: PT;\" lang=\"PT\"\u003entarasa\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e—and perhaps even approach samarasa—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-ansi-language: FR;\" lang=\"FR\"\u003eis a question I\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e’ve returned to for years: whether musical atmospheres can become quiet, thin, and spacious enough to open into these less emotionally bound attunements—or, in other words, \u003cspan\u003eto what extent musical attunement can, through sound, begin to resemble the feeling of meditating in silence\u003c\/span\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Another Timbre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53271579001146,"sku":"at253","price":10.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0740\/3631\/4426\/files\/at253_Svensson_cover.jpg?v=1775393985"},{"product_id":"james-creed","title":"James Creed","description":"\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e1 \u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eDouble Quintet and Duo \u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(2024)\u003cspan style=\"color: #92d050;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e     \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e17:13\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eStandard Issue \u0026amp; Outline Ensemble\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eMichelle Hromin, bass clarinet\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eTilly Coulton, flute\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eMatilda Sacco, violin\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eRebecca Burden, cello\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eKieran Crowley, piano\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eToril Azzalini-Machecler, vibraphone\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAlex Lyon, bass clarinet\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eTabby Griffiths, flute\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eAnne Yin Han, violin\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003ePeter Nagle, cello\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eClare Spollen, piano\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eJames M. Creed, guitar\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e                                                                                                                   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #70ad47;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e2 \u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003ePiano(s) and String Quartet\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(2024)\u003cspan style=\"color: #70ad47; mso-themecolor: accent6;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e15:11\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eTo Your Ear Collective\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eFernando Yada Rodrigues \u0026amp; Jay Austin Keys, pianos\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAnne Yin Han \u0026amp; Matthew Gilley, violins\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eFreya Hicks, viola\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e      \u003c\/span\u003eRebecca Burden, cello\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e3   \u003cstrong\u003eSextet and Solo\u003c\/strong\u003e    (2025)     16:56\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eStandard Issue\u003cspan style=\"color: black; font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eMichelle Hromin, bass clarinet\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eTilly Coulton, flute\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eMatilda Sacco, violin\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eRebecca Burden, cello\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eKieran Crowley, piano\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   with James Creed, guitar\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e4\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eOctet: after five bars by Rebecca Clarke, composer\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(2025)\u003cspan style=\"color: #70ad47; mso-themecolor: accent6;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e25:03\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eTo Your Ear Collective\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eFernando Yada Rodrigues, piano\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eClare Spollen, keyboard\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eAnne Yin Han, violin\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eFreya Hicks, viola\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eRebecca Burden, cello\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eJay Austin Keys, Matthew Gilley \u0026amp; James M. Creed, guitars\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0740\/3631\/4426\/files\/James_Creed_church_Thomas_Carroll_2024_1_480x480.jpg?v=1776329373\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: none;\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003ephoto Thomas Carroll\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eInterview with James Creed\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eBefore we talk about the music on your CD, can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to experimental \/ contemporary music? \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eI broadly came to this music through one of a handful of what I gather to be the \"standard\" routes: I grew up playing guitar in bands of various sorts, gradually got into Sonic Youth and American minimalism(s) at around the same time, and from there started to work outward. Those interests were vague at the time, but at some point they took me almost instinctively into studies in Music at Goldsmiths as a (slightly) mature student in my twenties. At the point of applying and getting started there I didn't really know what I was doing or what I wanted to do, and in part it was a structured way to move (from Berkshire) to London where I was already playing regularly in those bands anyway. Once I'd started those studies I threw myself into as much as I could, and through the guidance of some immensely helpful teachers (I owe a lot of the musician I've become to Mira Benjamin, Pete Furniss and Jeremy Peyton-Jones in particular) I was exposed to a lot of the music that's become central to what I've been writing more recently—Cardew, Beuger, Eastman, Radigue, etc.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eYour CD involves three different ensembles – Standard Issue, To Your Ear Collective and Outline Ensemble – all set up and led by younger musicians from the UK, none of whom have appeared on Another Timbre before. Do you feel that they are part of a new generation of experimental players, and if so, do they differ from more established groups in their approach? \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAll three groups are formed of good friends of mine that I collaborate with regularly. Standard Issue is a generally fixed ensemble who occasionally tag me in to play guitar as needed depending on what they’re playing; To Your Ear is a group of which I’m a member, and is a series as much as it’s an ensemble; Outline Ensemble is the name I’ve been using since 2019 or so for any group I put together for varied events and projects. The three groups are porous: members of Standard Issue are in the To Your Ear group and\/or regularly play in formulations that might usefully be called Outline Ensemble. I’d definitely say that the fifteen players on this disc (not counting me) form part of a young generation of the sorts of experimentalists broadly concerned with notated music (though many of us are keen improvisors). It’s all very collaborative and peer-to-peer—I love working with them all. I don’t think these groups take what’s necessarily a different approach to established groups like Apartment House, Explore Ensemble, Distractfold, etc. in the broad sense, but there’s definitely a buzz to us all being at once early in our personal development and early also in the development of the ways in which we work together. We’ll be continuing to work together in these varied combinations and I’m excited about how that might unfold, especially for my being able to see so clearly how cultivated and mutually-restorative many of the relationships those more established groups have been able to form with each other and with their longstanding collaborators are.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eAll four pieces on your album are recent works written for relatively large ensembles (6 to 12 players). Are you particularly drawn to larger groupings, and if so why? \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eI’m generally interested in certain approaches to textures, activities, uncertainties and endings. That’s vague I know, but to bear it in mind whilst listening to any of my music or when reading any of the notations I’ve written that are part of bringing that music into the air should clarify that statement simply enough, I think. A trajectory might continue until a natural limit is reached (like the end of the piano); a loop might continue until someone decides to end it or until another process has ended. I say all that because I don’t think of what I write for soloists and small groups as being all that different to the music for larger ensembles that’s profiled on this disc. It’s the same sorts of parts, and the scale has more to do with density than with material. The largest ensemble, for instance, is gathered for \u003cem\u003eDouble Quintet and Duo\u003c\/em\u003e. It’s twelve players, but each part is sparse and somewhat free, and I’ve asked the players to listen only (or at least principally) to their instrumental double. The pairs don’t need to play precisely together, but to think about how their playing dovetails with that other person, knowing that this other person thinking about the same. What emerges is a shifting, fragile texture of six murmured conversations and so it’s a dense piece in a way, but it’s six duos guided by the same trajectory of available pitches and the “task” of each player is little different to solos and duos I have written or might write. All that said, I’m very much interested in approaches to homophony and, generally, to being one amongst many. I find that much easier to explore with larger groups, which may just be an issue of skill or something I’m yet to find another answer for. And there are textural affordances, of course—I’m obviously fond of doubling, and that increases ensemble sizes quickly if I’m able to run with it.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eMost of the music on the album has a gently floating, shimmering feel – rather like the cloud formations on your photo on the cover. Is that slightly otherworldly feel something that you’re consciously looking for? \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eI’m often drawn to it, yes. It’s partly that I simply like the sound, of course, but it’s also a useful palette for a lot of the things I’m interested in exploring. Music that’s coaxed into being and then sustained by careful attention—a description I’ve used previously in a notation is the ways that someone might hold a sleeping baby or a delicate glasswork: secure, but not firm. Each action is simple, important, and probably repeated. That’s where a lot of my music sits and it lets some of my other material drift forwards, the expressions of character of players and their instruments that emerge from these simple doubles and repetitions. That’s particularly apparent in \u003cem\u003ePiano(s) and String Quartet\u003c\/em\u003e: the tuning disparity between the new and old piano turns it into a sort of eulogy for the one that was to be donated, but also the different approach taken by both pianists to the pulsed middle C that continues through most of the piece is expressive and generates this beautiful overtone melody, moulded around their characters, that shimmers from both pulsed strings. Things like that are a large part of why we don’t tend to rehearse my music very much. Rehearsing is a wonderful thing for lots of music, but it can be flattening for some and certainly for mine. The recording of \u003cem\u003eDouble Quintet and Duo\u003c\/em\u003e on the album is a capture of the very first read-through, on the day of the premiere and only a minute or two after I finished setting up the mics—I’m still tuning my guitar through the first minutes! I recorded the public performance that came an hour or two later, too, but this rehearsal version felt better for the disc. The recordings of the other three pieces are of their second or third reading, capturing their first performances. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003eReview by Tim Rutherford Johnson @ Purposeful Listening\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNot long after I put this on, I wondered whether it was high time we got over the slow\/quiet\/gently overlapping\/watercoloury cloudscape music of recent years. What was once a gesture of resistance or reclamation is in danger of becoming one of acquiescence and repetition. Opening piece \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDouble Quintet and Duo\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e put me in that frame of mind: soft string harmonies haloed by piano chimes; later with the addition of soft, foghorning bass clarinets. Very pretty, not yet distinctive. I thought.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut the cleverness of this CD is in how it subverts expectations, each successive piece shedding something of the last. So \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ePiano(s) and String Quartet\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ekeeps the slow pace, the droneyness of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDouble Quintet and Duo\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, but throws a little of its caution to the winds. The pair of differently tuned pianos are our first clue,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ca id=\"footnote-anchor-1\" href=\"https:\/\/purlis.substack.com\/p\/purposeful-listening-15#footnote-1\" class=\"footnote-anchor\" target=\"_self\"\u003e1\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e the source of shimmering, synth-like splashes over a tautly held string chord: the basic idea is similar to that at the start of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDouble Quintet and Duo\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, but the effect is much weirder and more compelling. And then the music finds a different groove altogether – a sudden and unexpected drop away into just the drones. Even after several listenings, this moment still catches me out: it’s like the music has begun in the wrong order, like the first couple of minutes weren’t really meant to be there. They create a weight, an expectation, that is simply negated. Now this is something. And so when the pianos return, on a quietly stuttering tremolo that is itself soon left on its own, it’s clear we’ve been on the wrong foot all along.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd then with the third piece, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSextet and Solo\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the pretences of harmony and movement are gone altogether, and we are into softly throbbing, Radigue-ish territory: seventeen minutes of it, the last four a sort of dissipated chorale of overlapping tones that bring us more or less full circle to where we began at the start of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDouble Quintet and Piano\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat isn’t clear from the CD (with its typically minimalist annotations), or from the interview Creed gives to Simon Reynell \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.anothertimbre.com\/products\/james-creed\"\u003eon the another timbre website\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, is that these three pieces are all developed from an evolving collection of open scores Creed calls \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTending\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. From the score to another of these, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTrio\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: ‘\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTending\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the things I tend to do when making music, written down and so becoming their own score objects; \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTrio\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis composed after reading a handful of these tendings in combination.’ Scores for all the pieces on this album are \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/jamesmcreed.com\/scores-2\/\"\u003eavailable on Creed’s website\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and they are worth a look – there is both more and less going on in there than one necessarily hears at first.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe final piece, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eOctet: after five bars by Rebecca Clarke, compose\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003er\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(those bars being five separate moments from \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Kvab6AO9OEs\"\u003eClarke’s\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Kvab6AO9OEs\"\u003eMorpheus\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Kvab6AO9OEs\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eof 1917–18)\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, is the most dynamic of the four (dynamic being a relative term), although it shares with them an interest in the preservation and dilation of single moments, stretching them past the point of dissolution to where they re-plasticise into something new. Clarke’s harmonic colours remain, although the Ravelian flow of her piece is here crystallized into a sombre tension. I do rather like it, though; it reminds me of the effect a sepia tint and a fixed expression have on a photograph taken in Clarke’s time – when one knows there will have been as much gaiety in those rooms as in any other, despite what the pictures appear to show. This is, I’m forced to conclude, a notable and continually surprising release; highly recommended.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Another Timbre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53271783473466,"sku":"at254","price":10.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0740\/3631\/4426\/files\/at254_James_Creed_cover.jpg?v=1775395021"},{"product_id":"sylvia-lim","title":"Sylvia Lim","description":"\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e1  \u003cstrong\u003eshadowfolds   \u003c\/strong\u003e(2025)\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e      \u003c\/span\u003e7:04\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"IT\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: IT;\"\u003eKerry Yong, piano\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eSimon Limbrick, vibraphone\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eMira Benjamin, violin\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"IT\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: IT;\"\u003eMichelle Hromin, clarinet\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003eNatasha Zielazinski, cello\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\" style=\"color: #70ad47;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\" style=\"color: #70ad47;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e2 \u003cstrong\u003e flare   \u003c\/strong\u003e(2021)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\" style=\"color: #70ad47;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e      \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e6:50\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"IT\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: IT;\"\u003eBen Smith, piano\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e3  \u003cb\u003ethings we overheard\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e(2023)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\" style=\"color: #70ad47;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e     \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"RU\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: RU;\"\u003e4:51\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"IT\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: IT;\"\u003eSimon Limbrick, vibraphone \u0026amp; percussion\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003eMira Benjamin, violin\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e     \u003c\/span\u003eMichelle Hromin, clarinet\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eHeather Roche, bass clarinet\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e4-5  \u003cstrong\u003esame but different   \u003c\/strong\u003e(2021)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\" style=\"color: #70ad47;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e      \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e9:45\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003eMiyabi Duo:\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eHugh Millington \u0026amp; \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003eSaki Kato, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"color: #70ad47;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"IT\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: IT;\"\u003eguitars\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e6-7  \u003cb\u003eGr\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003eafting\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e(2025)\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e      \u003c\/span\u003e12:43\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003eMira Benjamin, violin\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003eHeather Roche, bass clarinet\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"IT\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: IT;\"\u003eNatasha Zielazinski, cello\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e8-11  \u003cb\u003eField of Play\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e(2024-2025)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\" style=\"color: #70ad47;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e     \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e18:29\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e8. hidden place\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e9. seesaw A\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e10. contact\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e    \u003c\/span\u003e11. seesaw B\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Body\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003eNatasha Zielazinski, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003eco-composer, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"IT\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: IT;\"\u003ecello\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"DE\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0740\/3631\/4426\/files\/Sylvia_Lim_-_photograph_by_Nina_Close_480x480.jpg?v=1775900814\" style=\"margin-bottom: 16px; float: none; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003ephotograph by Nina Close\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eInterview with Sylvia Lim\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eBefore we discuss the music on your CD, can you tell us a bit about your background: where you come from, how you came to experimental \/ contemporary music, where you studied, \u0026amp; where you're based now?\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eI’m currently based in London. I moved here to study composition at the Guildhall School of Music \u0026amp; Drama after finishing school. Before that I had spent equal parts growing up in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia and Sydney, Australia. At school my music was mostly influenced by musical theatre and Australian contemporary choral music, but at Guildhall things shifted as I encountered the diverse interests of staff and students. During my undergraduate studies I remember getting very excited when James Saunders gave a guest seminar and mentioned how a very slow bow speed on a string instrument could affect the stability of the sound - this was so new to me and I loved it. I was also really struck by the beautifully delicate world of Edmund Finnis’s \u003ci\u003eUnfolds\u003c\/i\u003e which had a huge impact on me at the time. I became increasingly drawn to unstable and fragile sounds as a way of exploring my own experiences of migration and change, which developed into a PhD on decay. Now I’d say my practice is shifting yet again and I hope it will continue to do so!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eAn interest in and exploration of fragility is certainly evident in the music on your CD, but can you say more about the current \/ latest shift in your music?\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eHow would you characterise it, and do any of the pieces on the album exemplify this? \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eDuring my PhD I became interested in more dynamic processes of decay (e.g. growth within decay), moving away from fragility as solely approaching emptiness or absence. This feels important to mention because it led to a preoccupation with timbral richness. The pieces on this album were written in the years following this. They reflect a deeper exploration of timbre, and consider how form and notation might emerge from the specific materiality of the sound rather than predetermined conceptual framings. For instance, \u003cem\u003eflare\u003c\/em\u003e explores the harmonics of just two keys on the piano, and in \u003cem\u003esame but different\u003c\/em\u003e, one of the guitars is prepared with a cotton bud. Writing these pieces involved working out what the possibilities were within those defined parameters, and listening attentively to what the sounds needed, which I think more frequently led me to places I was not expecting. I’d say the more recent pieces on the album (\u003ci\u003eField of Play, Grafting\u003c\/i\u003e) take this further. The exception to this approach is \u003cem\u003ethings we overheard\u003c\/em\u003e, where the sounds are very open-ended and loosely defined - the players respond to field recordings which they listen to privately while playing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eYes, so focusing in on the music on the album, can we start with the last track, the cello solo, Field of Play, which was the kind of starting point for the CD as it was the first piece you sent me?\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eOn the cover you credit Natasha Zielazinski not just as the cellist, but as co-composer.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eCould you explain how the piece came about, and why you wanted to give Natasha this additional credit?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eI met Natasha Zielazinski while I was a student at Guildhall (she was a mentor on a project). Over the past ten years we’ve been working together on new pieces in various contexts, having discovered a shared interest in certain kinds of sounds and ways of making. A few years ago I became very interested in instrumental preparations, after hearing Angharad Davies preparing her violin with a nail file at IKLECTIK. I loved how the instrument could take on this new richness, as though tapping into another reservoir of coloristic possibility. Some of these sounds are so complex and otherworldly, while at the same time foregrounding the very physical materials and ways in which they are being produced. I started exploring preparations in more depth in my other work, but also separately with Natasha.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eField of Play\u003c\/i\u003e is a collection of pieces, with each one exploring a single preparation - a butterfly hair clip (\u003cem\u003ehidden place\u003c\/em\u003e), a bobby pin (\u003cem\u003econtact\u003c\/em\u003e), and a piece of cork (\u003cem\u003eseesaw A \u003c\/em\u003e\u0026amp;\u003cem\u003e B\u003c\/em\u003e). We were led by our curiosity and intuition, our questions which emerged in the moment and our constant reorientation as we tried to understand what we were doing. Each sound suggested its own world and form, its own imagery and processes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eFrom the start of the project, we wanted to see what would happen if we both shared the creative responsibility for decision-making. This was a new dynamic for us, although it felt like an extension of how we were working together before. It was a joint practice in which we brainstormed and reflected together, and compared our own ‘maps’\/ documentation of our materials to see how we were individually understanding the sounds we were working with. The project was as much about exploring preparations as well as finding new methods for us to work together. Meeting in the home for more extended periods of time (with our routine of making salad or soup for lunch) allowed our project to intersect with home life, which informed the work (e.g. the butterfly hair clip we used belongs to Natasha’s daughter).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eGreat. I also really like the first piece on the CD – shadowfolds.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eCould you say a bit about what were you looking for there?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eI was responding to your invitation to create a new piece exploring polyphony with a slightly larger ensemble to balance out the other pieces in the album. It was an appealing challenge, since polyphony doesn’t usually feature in my music, and I thought it could push me in new directions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eI wanted to explore lines that were more to do with timbre and the physicality of the instrument rather than pitch or melody. I was more interested in the overall sonority, the artefacts that are created through the interaction of the lines (beating, microtonal shifting, resonance), the sonic detail and atmosphere. I didn’t want the lines to go anywhere, but to simply inhabit a space.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe title is borrowed from a fabric art technique called shadowfolds, developed by the artist Chris K. Palmer, in which cloth is sewn to create geometric folds that play with shadow and light. In my piece the lines are more like shadows or blurrings, fragile and translucent, marked across the form through subtle repetition. Although my encounter with this technique came after the piece was written, I feel that it shares deep connections with the ideas I was trying to convey.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAt first I was intimidated by the craft and history behind polyphony, but found it helpful to consider works that were, to me, rooted in a sense of intimacy and simplicity (e.g. Cassandra Miller’s \u003ci\u003eThanksong\u003c\/i\u003e, the first movement of James Weeks’s \u003ci\u003eLeafleoht\u003c\/i\u003e, Grisey’s spectral polyphony, multi-screen installations by visual artists Bill Viola and Allison Chhorn, etc.). I wanted my approach to reflect something personal, something to do with vulnerability, tenderness and care. In the end what felt most intuitive to me was working outwards from multiphonics, harmonics, and other instrument-specific gestures, and getting hands-on with the instruments where possible so I could still feel that physical connection in my body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eThat’s really interesting. Finally, I want to ask about the shape of the album as a whole because I find the movement across the course of the disc compelling. While – as you’ve said – a lot of the music is quite fragile, a couple of the earlier pieces – the title track Flare and the guitar duo same but different are nonetheless relatively upbeat and lively. Then there’s Grafting – the trio for violin, bass clarinet and cello, the penultimate piece, which is in two movements. The first movement is - once again - quite fragile, but also at times rather luscious with fragments of melody drifting through. The second, shorter movement is even softer, but also bleaker in that the lusciousness has given way to a more barren, strangled soundworld. This is followed by the last track - the solo cello piece, Field of Play – which is even more hushed and similarly bleak. Overall it gives me the sense of the music across the album slowly disintegrating into a kind of despairing near-silence. I find it really sad, even unforgiving, but remarkably effective aesthetically.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eDo you find this too when you listen to the album as a whole, and was it something you had in mind from the start, or did it just emerge as the pieces were assembled together?\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe shape of the album emerged as the pieces were assembled together. I know what you mean, there does seem to be a shift from the second movement of \u003ci\u003eGrafting\u003c\/i\u003e. While composing this movement I was aware that it sounded closer to the world of \u003ci\u003eField of Play\u003c\/i\u003e, since in the bass clarinet and violin we hear a very exposed, collective recreation of the cello’s sound (the cello is prepared with a cotton bud). \u003ci\u003eGrafting\u003c\/i\u003e as a whole was born out of a failed piece from \u003ci\u003eField of Play\u003c\/i\u003e that never made it onto the album. It uses only one sound from the original (that you hear at the start of movement 1), but in a new context that as you say, is more melodic in the first movement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eSo in listening to the second movement of \u003ci\u003eGrafting\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eField of Play\u003c\/i\u003e I do sense the bleakness you mention, although I feel that this comes through more in the overall context of the album, and differs from the compositional preoccupations at the time. This is particularly true for \u003ci\u003eField of Play\u003c\/i\u003e, which to me is nocturnal and subterraneous, but also playful, even hopeful and full of possibility. But within the context of the album, yes, \u003cem\u003eseesaw A \u0026amp; B\u003c\/em\u003e (\u003ci\u003eField of Play\u003c\/i\u003e) in particular feel like disintegrated versions of \u003cem\u003eflare\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003esame but different\u003c\/em\u003e, alluding to some of the warmth (from the fifths) but only in a sparse and fragile way. Whether bleak or not, perhaps this shift you mention is more of an invitation for a different kind of listening, a zooming in to a more microscopic world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eReview by Peter Margasak, \u003cbr\u003efrom Bandcamp's Best Contemporary Classical Releases, April 2026\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin-top: 0cm; line-height: normal; mso-hyphenate: none;\" class=\"Default\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis stunning new collection of works by the young London-based Malaysian-Australian composer \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sawyereditions.bandcamp.com\/album\/sounds-which-grow-richer-as-they-decay\"\u003eSylvia Lim\u003c\/a\u003e is very clearly guided by the materials used in her measured, thoughtful writing. She worked closely with the members of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/anothertimbre.bandcamp.com\/album\/number-pieces\"\u003eApartment House\u003c\/a\u003e in discovering specific, highly specialized sounds and techniques from which she built her compositions, which generally rely on tiny gestures and a limited palate. But one listen to a piece like “Flare,” which exploits a stunning range of textures, rhythms, and harmonics from just two piano notes, proves that she doesn’t need more than that. Pianist Ben Smith produces a lively spray of damped notes that shift constantly over the piece’s seven minutes, endlessly reconfiguring the overtones—the primary texture we hear—through the interplay of each note so that it becomes easy to overlook how minimal the music actually is. Lim has a predilection for fragility, asking musicians to produce sounds that feel brittle and on the edge of disintegration, a quality that imparts a hushed intimacy. That quality serves the two movements of “same but different well,” as Miyabi Duo (acoustic guitarists Hugh Millington \u0026amp; Saki Kato) navigate the divide between tuneful fragmentation and extended techniques that suggest a diet of Derek Bailey, generating a lovely tension and leaving the listener uncertain of which side they should lean into. Lim retains this process for the chamber-oriented pieces like “Grafting” expertly balancing lyricism and color. I remember Lim’s promise on her 2022 album \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sawyereditions.bandcamp.com\/album\/sounds-which-grow-richer-as-they-decay\"\u003e\u003cem\u003esounds which grow richer as they decay\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e—\u003cem\u003eFlare\u003c\/em\u003e proves it’s been realized.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"Default\" style=\"margin-top: 0cm; line-height: normal; mso-hyphenate: none;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd there's a great extended interview with Sylvia Lim about her work by Tim Rutherford Johnson in his Purposeful Listening series, which you can read \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/purlis.substack.com\/p\/purposeful-listening-16\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e","brand":"Another Timbre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53272062886202,"sku":"at255","price":10.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0740\/3631\/4426\/files\/at255_Sylvia_Lim_cover.jpg?v=1775397757"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.anothertimbre.com\/collections\/upcoming-releases-november.oembed","provider":"Another Timbre","version":"1.0","type":"link"}