MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

Availability
CD: Buywell

 

Weaver of Fictions
Steve 'Stelios' ADAM (b. 1959)
et døgn (2006) [7:17]
Liza LIM (b. 1966)
weaver-of-fictions (2007) [4:24]
Brett DEAN (b. 1961) and Bob SCOTT (b. 1972)
Miss Genevieve's Nocturne (2006) [10:53]
Arvo PÄRT (b.1935)
Pari intervallo (1976/80) [2:19]
Damian BARBELER (b.1972)
Confession 2 (2007) [6:19]
Confession 3 (2007) [3:38]
John RODGERS (b.1962)
The Butcher Bird (2006) [2:58]
Jackie Winter and Friends (2006) [1:19]
The Grey Thrush (2006) [0:58]
The Magpie (2006) [2:15]
Little Brown Honeyeater (2006) [0:36]
Max de WARDENER (b. 1972)
Minutia (2003) [2:46]
Jason YARDE (b.1970)
A Midnight Dream of Summer (2007) [5:05]
John SURMAN (b.1944)
In the Distance (2005) [4:16]
Peter SCULTHORPE (b.1929)
Maranoa Lullaby (2007) [1:45]
Moritz EGGERT (b.1965)
alien (2005) [12:47]
Genevieve Lacey (see end of review for instrument details)
rec. Iwaki Auditorium of the ABC’s Southbank Centre, Melbourne, February 2006-July 2007
ABC CLASSICS 476 6439 [69:44]
Experience Classicsonline


The recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey has compiled a beguiling programme of solo music to titillate the ear and sharpen the minds of auditors in her latest disc for ABC. Many were written specifically for her and to all of them she brings her accustomed hypnotic tonal allure and amazing technical equipment. She’s called upon to act the multi-instrumentalist as a look at the particular instruments will show and there are instances where samplers, multi-tracking and computers are employed.
 
Steve “Stelios” Adam has written et døgn a rich seven minute tapestry of bird and other calls for sopranino, Ganassi in C, treble and tenor recorders and computer. The density of the avian tropicality induces sweat droplets to form. The album title track was written by Liza Lim in 2007. It was originally written as a solo for Lacey but later incorporated into Lim’s opera The Navigator. There’s a copy of an email from Lim to Lacey about this recording which says; “This particular interpretation is quite free but I like the expressivity of it so let’s not change anything…” It’s quite an intense piece with arduous and technically demanding arabesques to surmount. Brett Dean and Bob Scott have composed an enjoyable tribute to Lacey that moves from languorous near impressionism to fluttering flurry strong on “bass guitar” or gong-like percussive emphases.
 
These few examples should indicate the breadth of the music on offer. There are others. Arvo Pärt’s  Pari intervallo was written between 1976 and 1980 and evokes a kind of Tarkovskian tintinnabulation in its two minute duration. Meanwhile the two recorder-and-tape Confessions of Damian Barbeler are reflective studies. In No.2 the recorder circles over scuzzy tape beneath and in No.3 there’s ruminative, rumbling tape noise before the loquacious recorder appears. John Rodgers contributes some brief enticing bird studies – deft, insistent, full of whimsical song. Birdcall also permeates Jason Yarde’s A Midnight Dream of Summer with its electronic drones adding strongly to its evocative drama. Max de Wardener didn’t write Minutia for Lacey but it fits her perfectly; he hopes that this unadorned version will have something of the effect of a “lost field recording.” I agree – it’s got that old fashioned, front of the porch vibe, which makes it one of my favourite pieces here.
 
But there are good things everywhere we turn – the long cool lines of the virtuoso John Surman’s In the Distance – based on one of his own improvisations - and the colourful lyricism of Sculthorpe’s Maranoa Lullaby. To end we have the bizarre charms of Moritz Eggert’s Alien, an imagined meeting between an alien and a human. This one is full of funky sampled vocals, beat box insinuations, and rapid switching between instruments. Good fun.
 
The sound quality throughout is superb and I mustn’t neglect to praise the book-style CD and images by Nicola Cerini.
 
Jonathan Woolf

Details of instruments played
et døgn: sopranino, Ganassi in C, treble and tenor recorders and computer
weaver-of-fictions, In the Distance, The Butcher Bird: Ganassi in G
Miss Genevieve's Nocturne: tenor and bass recorders and electronics
Pari intervallo: descant, treble, tenor and bass recorders
Confession 2: descant recorder and tape
Confession 3: treble recorder and tape
Jackie Winter and Friends, The Grey Thrush, Little Brown Honeyeater: sopranino recorder
The Magpie: descant recorder
Minutia: sopranino, descant, treble, tenor, bass and contrabass recorders
A Midnight Dream of Summer: sopranino, descant, treble, tenor and bass recorders, effects and tape
Maranoa Lullaby: descant, treble, tenor, bass and contrabass recorders
alien:garklein, sopranino, descant, renaissance-alto recorders (1 player),effects (harmoniser, chorus, octaver), sampler, three microphones

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.