a r t i s t : Gavin Bryars
t i t l e : A Portrait
d a t e : 2003
l a b e l : Philips
c a t : 473 296-2
s o u r c e : CDDA
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : Sep/2009
t r a c k s : 24
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 194,9 MB
_______________________________________________________________________
Gavin Bryars is a contemporary composer of rare integrity and
vision. This 60th birthday "best of" is a fitting tribute,
provided one accepts the (necessary?) absence of the early
Obscure/Virgin/EMI(?) material and that from the ECM sojourn
(After The Requiem would have surely otherwise been
included). This composer-sanctioned selection therefore
focuses on music that first appeared on the Argo and Point
labels. On his website Gavin Bryars sets out the functional
rationale for the selections very eloquently, i.e. to keep as
many pieces as possible in circulation. Again by necessity,
most of the music on this pair of discs is either from the
1990s or was revised during that period.
Julian Lloyd Webber is someone who can be taken on absolute
trust where British music is concerned and his performance of
the Haydn inspired (but much more austere sounding) Cello
Concerto is, and no doubt will remain, definitive (and prove
to be yet another defining moment in the brilliant career of
James Judd - Elgar, Lilburn, Gershwin etc.). The concerto's
wonderfully elegiac mood grates a little against the
following One Last Bar, Then Joe Can Sing, an undoubted
exercise in brilliant percussive arrangement but one that, to
these ears, rings rather hollow against some of the other
music on this set.
Les Fianτailles is a pleasant piece but its avowed Viennese
feel is not one that I find brings out the best in this
composer. The fact it was composed for Robert Wilson's CIVIL
warS makes for an interesting comparison with Philip Glass
but, the ruminative melancholy of the concerto
notwithstanding, the best music on the CD is yet to come. The
original 1975 version of Jesus' Blood, from Brian Eno's
Obscure imprint, was (fairly) recently re-released and
remains the benchmark for this piece (and The Sinking of the
Titanic, also included) but the two short derived pieces here
(re-recorded and featuring the gravel voiced Tom Waits
alongside the long departed tramp) are effective and
communicative. The Titanic excerpt is less successful and I
would recommend hearing the entire piece, either in its
original incarnation or the full, indeed expanded, early
1990s re-recording.
The Green Ray is a stunning musical evocation of an
occasional solar phenomenon experienced when watching the sun
setting over the sea, an artistic inspiration previously to
Jules Verne (Bryars took his lead from the great French
writer's novel of the same name), and, musically, the superb
Bagad de Lann BihouΘ (on their Glann Glaz (Green Wave) album)
and possibly even Van Morrison (Celtic Ray? I concede that I
may be stretching the imagination here a little). Whatever
its source, the ebbing and flowing music, predominantly slow,
builds to a highly evocative climax. Here Bryars shows how
great he can be. The maritime inspirations of Sibelius
(Oceanides), Nielsen (Helios, Faeroese Fantasy) and Bax
(Tintagel) plus those of the underrated British composer
Philip Sainton (The Island, Moby Dick), while more similar in
feel than in form, are all happily brought to memory. I
haven't even mentioned, so far, the contribution of soloist
John Harle; suffice to say that it is up to (and beyond) his
usual high standards. The song cycle that follows, settings
of the Lebanese poet Adnan, is also highly evocative and
expertly realised. However BryarsÆ music rings far truer,
aforementioned reservations aside, in the short excerpt/edit
from The Sinking of the Titanic and, especially, The North
Shore. The latter was inspired by the bleak, cliff-top
setting of St. Hilda's Abbey in Whitby. Again often slow,
Bryars' music evokes the landscape without a hint of recourse
to melodrama (Bram Stoker is not on the map but Bryars
namechecks Glenn Gould and the pianist's Idea of North
trilogy in his always highly readable and informative
notes.). Whereas The Green Ray is an Atlantic idyll, here we
can almost hear the fret billowing in off the North Sea,
establishing Bryars' credentials as a modern day "sea
composer" to rival even Maxwell Davies.
Here, as in all his music, Gavin Bryars reveals his inner
self, a combination of the truly innovative and a real
respect for tradition has generated something wonderful.
Writing this now, I am transported back ten years to The
Grapes (Sheffield), with a guitarist friend playing acoustic
instrumentals of Gershwin songs. Both of us were secure in
the knowledge that Gavin would have approved, remembering his
sessions in the same establishment with Derek Bailey and Tony
Oxley, twenty years earlier, as a member of the improvising
trio Josef Holbrooke (named for the now critically
rehabilitated "Cockney Wagner"). Later a member of the
creative circle which also included Brian Eno, Michael Nyman,
Harold Budd, John Cale etc. and then one of the stalwarts of
Philip Glass's Point project, Bryars has an impeccable
pedigree. Whether writing for the Hilliard Ensemble or jazz
legend Charlie Haden (and you will have to go beyond this
disc to find those excellent collaborations), he continues to
produce music which both challenges and enthralls.
_______________________________________________________________________
cd1
01-Cello Concerto (Farewell To Philosophy) - I [09:13]
02-Cello Concerto (Farewell To Philosophy) - II Piu Mosso [04:53]
03-Cello Concerto (Farewell To Philosophy) - III [04:37]
04-Cello Concerto (Farewell To Philosophy) - IV [02:05]
05-Cello Concerto (Farewell To Philosophy)- V [02:09]
("The Philosopher")
06-Cello Concerto [06:11]
(Farewell To Philosophy) - VI Poco Meno Mosso
07-Cello Concerto (Farewell To Philosophy) - VII [06:03]
("Farewell") a tempo
08-One Last Bar, Then Joe Can Sing - I - Lento [08:28]
09-One Last Bar, Then Joe Can Sing - II - Piu Mosso [07:42]
10-One Last Bar, Then Joe Can Sing - III - Coda [02:55]
11-Les Fianτailles [18:45]
12-Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Single [04:05]
cd2
01-The Green Ray [21:28]
02-Adnan Songbook - Song I [03:27]
03-Adnan Songbook - Song II [04:22]
04-Adnan Songbook - Song III [03:17]
05-Adnan Songbook - Song IV [01:35]
06-Adnan Songbook - Song V [04:05]
07-Adnan Songbook - Song VI [03:14]
08-Adnan Songbook - Song VII [03:13]
09-Adnan Songbook - Song VIII [05:32]
10-The Sinking Of The Titanic - Titanic Lament [04:07]
(Radio Edit)
11-The North Shore [14:53]
12-Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Single remix [04:02]
-------
150:2