The Mark Knoop Supergroup; H&N, Sat 27/10/18; 10:00pm

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A concert ecorded on Friday 6th July at St Mary at Hill as part of the ongoing "Music We'd Like to Hear" series, given by pianist Mark Knoop, flautist Ilze Ikse, trumpeter Chloë Abbott, 'cellist Alice Purton, and Newton Armstrong (electronics).

Catherine Lamb (b1982): nodes, various (2010)
Hermann Meier(1906- 2002): Klavierstuck 1968; Flecken (1980)
Robert Ashley (1930 - 2014): Superior Seven (1988)

Robert Worby presents

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000x87

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The advance publicity for the concert gave more information about the works than does the H&N website:

Catherine Lamb’s prismatic music is becoming better known in the UK. In this programme we present nodes, various, an early work in her continuing exploration of the behaviour of frequencies throughout an open space.

The remarkable work of Swiss composer Hermann Meier (1906–2002) has been gaining attention following a recent exhibition and symposium at the Hochschule der Künste, Bern. As far as we know, this may well be the first presentation of Meier’s direct and uncompromising music in the UK. Thanks to the assistance of Meier's archivist Marc Kilchenmann, we present Klavierstück 1968 alongside a realisation of Flecken, a work of cluster fields and static blocks of sonic material for eight electronic sound sources.

Perhaps best known as a composer of operas, Robert Ashley composed his flute concerto Superior Seven for Barbara Held in 1988. After releasing a version with MIDI orchestra on New World Records, Ashley toured a live version. Thanks to the assistance of Mimi Johnson and Tom Hamilton, we have reassembled the score of this beguiling and mysterious work for this concert.

[Richard Barrett]

Hermann Meier - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbKRfUiaCzA

Quite interesting indeed.

I was listening to the CD recording of Ashley's Superior Seven the other day, coincidentally. I didn't find it beguiling enough to listen to the end.

[Bryn]

I was listening to the CD recording of Ashley's Superior Seven the other day, coincidentally. I didn't find it beguiling enough to listen to the end.

Certainly not a piece by which to judge Ashley's work in general. Well outside his area of 'expertise', as he makes clear in his notes to the New World recording. I will, though, be interested to hear what Mark Knoop and co. make of it.

[Though having its origins in work commenced in 1955, Tract, the other work on the New World disc, sounds, to me, all too much like off-cuts from Vangelis's music for Blade Runner.]

[Quarky]

The advance publicity for the concert gave more information about the works than does the H&N website:

Mark Knoop gave a brief overview of the music - static, monolithic, positioning the listener in a soundscape.......That was fair enough and enough for me.