a r t i s t : The Sealed Knot
t i t l e : Surface / Plane
d a t e : 2003
l a b e l : Meniscus MNSCS 012
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : Jun/2006
t r a c k s : 02
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 62,9 MB
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burkhard beins - percussion
rhodri davies - harp
mark wastell - violoncello
1. surface 15:46
2. plane 26:45
recorded live in london and huddersfield 2001
meniscus records CD MNSCS 012, usa 2003
"In recent years, Western Europe has seen a great deal of
development in terms of standards in chamber settings.
Improvisers embrace the chamber configuration/approach as an
environment where dynamics may take a life of their own, be it
energetic quests for collective compromise or extensive
stretches of silence. Anything goes. Taking sparing cues from
Webern and Cage, The Sealed Knot (Burkhard Beins- percussion,
Rhodri Davies- harp, and Mark Wastell- cello) creates a stage
for shared improvisation with inventive treatments and
preparations for their acoustic instruments.
'Surface,' was recorded in London's acoustically-charming All
Angels Church, a venue of preference for many European
improvisers for its ability to seemingly suspend sound. The
music is unlike the members' various side projects (IST, Chris
Burn Ensemble), though equally compelling, and the trio makes
immediately clear that they are not approaching music as
performance artists, but rather as structuralists. The sounds
evoke a simmering landscape with mineral-rich soil but facing
a looming, threatening season ahead. It is dark music, with
hopefulness replace by urgency, and the percussive tactics
with which each instrument is employed a cloudy reminder that
today's chamber music is not what yesterday may have forecast.
At intermittent points, auxiliary plucks of cello strings
emerge from the bristly undercurrent created from Beins' skins
and the prepared harp. Resonant tones hover and fade, akin to
the uneven trebly moans pulled from a wine glass and a moist
fingertip. 'Plane' was recorded the day before at St. PaulÆs
Hall in Huddersfeld, and while the music is blessed with the
same acoustic quality found in All Angels, the sounds are
quite different. The second piece begins with more abrasive
textures, with Davies' prepared harp at the fore. It is
unclear exactly what devices he used these evenings to alter
the harp, but there are faint hints of paper and metallic
objects at work. Beins' work here is far removed from other
outings, the ethereal Lidingo with Andrea Neumann in
particular. While his playing is sporadic in the first half of
the disc, he is all over the second, his drums at times
leading the music, most notably during a segment where muffled
bass thuds bend cadences to points of chaos. Still, there is
an essence of restraint that should not go unmentioned.
There is an unaffected beauty to the blooms of these two
extended pieces. Impulses seem crucial to the trioÆs ideas in
their limited environment, and their music materializes so
freely. The air is filled with deceptively organized patterns
and it becomes a nagging wonder that these performances
weren't preconceived at all. It is a brilliant work that
exemplifies what we have come to know as contemporary
minimalism."
~Alan Jones
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01-Surface [15:39]
02-Plane [26:46]
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42:25 min