{"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","url":"https:\/\/www.anothertimbre.com\/products\/james-creed","provider":"Another Timbre","version":"1.0","type":"link"}