Patrick Nunn – Morphosis
| Label: | Red Sock Records – RSR003CD |
|---|---|
| Format: | CD, Album, Stereo |
| Country: | UK |
| Released: | |
| Genre: | Classical |
| Style: | Contemporary, Modern |
Tracklist
| 1 | Zubin Kanga, Patrick Nunn– | Morphosis | 9:11 |
| 2 | Zubin Kanga, Patrick Nunn– | ... of bones and muscle | 2:06 |
| 3 | Sarah Watts– | Shadowplay | 7:36 |
| 4 | Carla Rees, Richard Shaw– | Mercurial Sparks, Volatile Shadows | 4:49 |
| 5 | Patrick Nunn– | Lamellae | 1:24 |
| 6 | Rosanna Ter-Berg– | Sprite | 2:42 |
| 7 | Arek Adamczyk, Patrick Nunn– | Gonk | 6:06 |
| 8 | Sarah Watts, Patrick Nunn– | Pareidolia I | 10:24 |
| 9 | Sarah Mason, Matthew Schellhorn, Patrick Nunn– | Isochronous | 6:04 |
| 10 | Maria Oldak*, Matthew Schellhorn– | Transilient Fragments | 5:46 |
| 11 | Zubin Kanga– | Eight Cryptograms: I. for C.R. | 1:20 |
| 12 | Zubin Kanga– | Eight Cryptograms: II. for G.C. | 1:26 |
| 13 | Zubin Kanga– | Eight Cryptograms: III. for S.B. | 0:58 |
| 14 | Zubin Kanga– | Eight Cryptograms: IV. for O.M. | 1:15 |
| 15 | Zubin Kanga– | Eight Cryptograms: V. for J.H. | 2:02 |
| 16 | Zubin Kanga– | Eight Cryptograms: VI. for G.L. | 1:10 |
| 17 | Zubin Kanga– | Eight Cryptograms: VII. for G.L. (2) | 1:16 |
| 18 | Zubin Kanga– | Eight Cryptograms: VIII. For M.P. | 2:26 |
| 19 | Carla Rees, Richard Shaw (18), Patrick Nunn– | Into My Burning Veins a Poison | 7:06 |
Notes
Patrick Nunn: Morphosis
Works for solo, duo and electronics
This CD showcases a selection of solo and duo works written between 1998 and 2015. Spanning seventeen years of creative development, the works represent a clear distillation of musical thought that aims to express musical ideas as evolutionary objects along a temporal trajectory.
In Sprite (1998), the earliest work presented here, clearly defined rhythmic material serves as a basis for the music’s reluctant energy and sprightly nature. In later works, such as Into my burning veins a poison (2004), Gonk (2004, rev. 2005) and ... of bones and muscle (2009), the creative focus shifts to more subtle materials that explore combinations of acoustic instruments and electronic components. These works lay the foundations for what later becomes an obsession with creating meeting points and points of ambiguity between two seemingly opposed sound worlds – the acoustic and the electronic.
The desire to create these points of convergence lies behind the most recently composed works presented here. In Isochronous (2010), the pianist and percussionist perform inside the confines of swirling pulsars played through four speakers positioned at the periphery of the concert space. At times, the performers attempt to blend and mimic the rhythmic regularity of the pulsars (part of a fascination the composer has with otherworldly sounds). At other times, the irregularities of the sounds created by the performers, juxtaposed with the regularity of the pulsars, remind us of the individuality of our terrestrial personalities.
In both Pareidolia I (2012) and Morphosis (2014), the performers attempt to connect with their doppelganger as they shape and manipulate live electronic reflections of their material in a quasi-improvised duo. In Pareidolia I, the sensors are attached to the body of the bass clarinet, resulting in performance controls that are in addition to traditional performing techniques. However, in Morphosis, the 3D sensors attached to the performer’s hands cause subtle inflections to occur in the electronic reflections, which are often directly related to performance gestures and the musical demands of the score.
Despite the addition of electronics as a means to augment the composer’s sound world, the shackles of tradition remain to an extent. This is clearly evident in the acoustic works Mercurial Sparks, Volatile Shadows (2005–6), Transilient Fragments (2007) and Eight Cryptograms (2011–15), where the old rhythmic fascinations coalesce with the more fluid materials found in more recent works. That said, the search for new sounds persists and is expressed in the multiphonic bass clarinet study Shadowplay (2013, rev. 2015), where more traditional writing coexists with the unfamiliar.
Fundamental to Nunn’s creative process is the desire to connect with sounds outside of the concert space. In recent works, this preoccupation has extended to the use of analytical processes to draw pitches and sometimes rhythms from these sounds to make them a malleable part of the musical material. This absorption of these harmonies and rhythms that are traditionally unfamiliar in concert works into the compositional fabric is as often disguised as it is revealed by the music’s surface layer. However, in Lamellae (2015), the composer’s analysis of bell partials is presented transparently to the listener, offering them an insight perhaps into something of what is at stake in all of these works.
Works for solo, duo and electronics
This CD showcases a selection of solo and duo works written between 1998 and 2015. Spanning seventeen years of creative development, the works represent a clear distillation of musical thought that aims to express musical ideas as evolutionary objects along a temporal trajectory.
In Sprite (1998), the earliest work presented here, clearly defined rhythmic material serves as a basis for the music’s reluctant energy and sprightly nature. In later works, such as Into my burning veins a poison (2004), Gonk (2004, rev. 2005) and ... of bones and muscle (2009), the creative focus shifts to more subtle materials that explore combinations of acoustic instruments and electronic components. These works lay the foundations for what later becomes an obsession with creating meeting points and points of ambiguity between two seemingly opposed sound worlds – the acoustic and the electronic.
The desire to create these points of convergence lies behind the most recently composed works presented here. In Isochronous (2010), the pianist and percussionist perform inside the confines of swirling pulsars played through four speakers positioned at the periphery of the concert space. At times, the performers attempt to blend and mimic the rhythmic regularity of the pulsars (part of a fascination the composer has with otherworldly sounds). At other times, the irregularities of the sounds created by the performers, juxtaposed with the regularity of the pulsars, remind us of the individuality of our terrestrial personalities.
In both Pareidolia I (2012) and Morphosis (2014), the performers attempt to connect with their doppelganger as they shape and manipulate live electronic reflections of their material in a quasi-improvised duo. In Pareidolia I, the sensors are attached to the body of the bass clarinet, resulting in performance controls that are in addition to traditional performing techniques. However, in Morphosis, the 3D sensors attached to the performer’s hands cause subtle inflections to occur in the electronic reflections, which are often directly related to performance gestures and the musical demands of the score.
Despite the addition of electronics as a means to augment the composer’s sound world, the shackles of tradition remain to an extent. This is clearly evident in the acoustic works Mercurial Sparks, Volatile Shadows (2005–6), Transilient Fragments (2007) and Eight Cryptograms (2011–15), where the old rhythmic fascinations coalesce with the more fluid materials found in more recent works. That said, the search for new sounds persists and is expressed in the multiphonic bass clarinet study Shadowplay (2013, rev. 2015), where more traditional writing coexists with the unfamiliar.
Fundamental to Nunn’s creative process is the desire to connect with sounds outside of the concert space. In recent works, this preoccupation has extended to the use of analytical processes to draw pitches and sometimes rhythms from these sounds to make them a malleable part of the musical material. This absorption of these harmonies and rhythms that are traditionally unfamiliar in concert works into the compositional fabric is as often disguised as it is revealed by the music’s surface layer. However, in Lamellae (2015), the composer’s analysis of bell partials is presented transparently to the listener, offering them an insight perhaps into something of what is at stake in all of these works.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
- Barcode: 889211924806
Reviews
- Reflections, refractions, shadows: Morphosis by Patrick Nunn
From the moment the first chord is struck, calling forth a ghostly electronic counterpart that echoes and glides in response, this survey of works for solo, duo and electronics by British composer Patrick Nunn creates an immersive world of shifting colours, fusing the worlds of acoustic performance and electronic response that offers large moments for reflection. It is clear throughout this disc that there is a deep, organic link between instrument and the electronics, one which explores the affinity between the two rather than imposing one upon the other. Nunn’s soundworld effortlessly blends acoustic instruments with electronics, sometimes triggered directly by the physicality of the performer, as in the disc’s title track, at other times responding to it or reflecting it. In Pareidolia I, the performer influences the electronic clothing of the instrumental line through sensors attached directly to the bass clarinet, from the opening breathy, fragile slap-tongue gestures to multiphonics and fluttering key-strokes. In Morphosis, the pianist wears sensors on the hands to shape and influence the electronic responses directly at the point of performance.
Bartok is the inspiration for …of bones and muscle, in which the piano’s collage-like responses to the Etude no. 3 is reflected in electronic responses, over which the voice of Bartok appears in ghostly form. The human voice whispers and shivers in Into my burning veins, a poison, briefly hovering above colourful piano sonorities and a quarter-tone alto flute.
What strikes the listener about Nunn’s music is its agility; particularly the nimble solo bassoon in Gonk, or the mischievous solo piccolo in Sprite, sparklingly executed by Rosanna Ter-Berg. Flutter-tonguing, trills and supple melodic shapes are deployed to colourful effect in Mercurial Sparks, Volatile Shadows, in which the flute and piano spin and pirouette around one another.
But for all its dynamic rhythmic impetus, it can also be lyrical too, as evidenced in Gonk or the lachrymaic Shadowplay for solo bass clarinet, full of lines and shadows, here breathed into sinuous life in a mesmerising performance by Sarah Watts. And there are moments of profound stillness, too, as in the mid-point of Pareidolia I, which allows space for delicate nuances to be drawn from electronic-wrapped multiphonics. The brittle Isochronous sees piano and percussion at the centre of an electronic tapestry, sometimes engaging and responding to it, other times stepping against its backdrop. The only piece in the collection to feature the violin, Transilient Fragments, draws on the more romantic, expressive possibilities of the instrument in a sequence of ideas linked by the violin’s yearning gestures. The miniature Lamellae explore a thirty-note manual music box in just under ninety seconds of an eerie nostalgia, like a child’s wind-up toy briefly revelling in unexpected dissonance. Away from electronic adornment, the Eight Cryptograms find a beguiling array of colours offered by the piano, including pinpoint harmonics, circling ostinati and brisk, spiny chords.
What Nunn’s music attempts to do is merge live performance with electronic enhancement, submerging the former into the latter such that they become a single entity, the electronics opening out the wider sonic landscape to reveal a greater realm of nuance, shifting colours at which unadorned sonority would only hint. There are moments when the music becomes almost a field of shimmering, electronic butterflies, diaphanous effects glittering and dancing at the behest of the musical imperative. And, crucially, it’s always the musical gesture that remains paramount, acting as the well-spring for the electronic adornments rather than being governed by them. A deep musical inspiration lies at the heart of this far-reaching disc, available from the composer’s website here.
Shock of the New - 29. April 2016
https://shockofthenew.jimdofree.com/2016/04/29/reflections-refractions-shadows-morphosis-by-patric-nunn/
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