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The helpful notes by Tim Rutherford-Johnson to this album of music by Luke Bedford speak of "tension between stable ground and destabilising surface" and note that Bedford's music "[d]rawing lessons from minimalism and postminimalism... creates musical grounds of delineated blocks of rhythm, harmony, and timbre, whose texture and colour are their own justification." To hear how it works out in a familiar context, sample the Concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra that ends the album. Its six movements offer a spectrum of differing relationships between the solo group and the orchestra, from a traditional oppositional configuration to one in which the saxophones add only a subtle coloration. The song cycle In the Voice of the Living, with a somewhat ponderous text from a work of literary criticism, sets the voice of tenor Mark Padmore against various instrument pairs, while the orchestral Outblaze the Sky has a programmatic basis in an erotic poem by D.M. Thomas. The opening work, Instability, sets out the premises of Bedford's music, with a big, unyielding bass and disruptive upper layers. Bedford's music has a strong personality that asserts itself in the performances by four different orchestras and conductors, and that personality came through to audiences enough to put this album on classical best-seller lists in late 2023. That is not a common feat for a release by the small contemporary music label NMC, and it is well deserved in this case.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, MainArtist - Juanjo Mena, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
BBC Symphony Orchestra, MainArtist - Oliver Knussen, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
London Sinfonietta, MainArtist - Mark Padmore, MainArtist - Geoffrey Paterson, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
London Sinfonietta, MainArtist - Mark Padmore, MainArtist - Geoffrey Paterson, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
London Sinfonietta, MainArtist - Mark Padmore, MainArtist - Geoffrey Paterson, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
London Sinfonietta, MainArtist - Mark Padmore, MainArtist - Geoffrey Paterson, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
London Sinfonietta, MainArtist - Mark Padmore, MainArtist - Geoffrey Paterson, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer - Arcis Saxophon Quartett, MainArtist - Ben Gernon, MainArtist
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer - Arcis Saxophon Quartett, MainArtist - Ben Gernon, MainArtist
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer - Arcis Saxophon Quartett, MainArtist - Ben Gernon, MainArtist
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer - Arcis Saxophon Quartett, MainArtist - Ben Gernon, MainArtist
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer - Arcis Saxophon Quartett, MainArtist - Ben Gernon, MainArtist
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, MainArtist - Luke Bedford, Composer - Arcis Saxophon Quartett, MainArtist - Ben Gernon, MainArtist
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
Album review
The helpful notes by Tim Rutherford-Johnson to this album of music by Luke Bedford speak of "tension between stable ground and destabilising surface" and note that Bedford's music "[d]rawing lessons from minimalism and postminimalism... creates musical grounds of delineated blocks of rhythm, harmony, and timbre, whose texture and colour are their own justification." To hear how it works out in a familiar context, sample the Concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra that ends the album. Its six movements offer a spectrum of differing relationships between the solo group and the orchestra, from a traditional oppositional configuration to one in which the saxophones add only a subtle coloration. The song cycle In the Voice of the Living, with a somewhat ponderous text from a work of literary criticism, sets the voice of tenor Mark Padmore against various instrument pairs, while the orchestral Outblaze the Sky has a programmatic basis in an erotic poem by D.M. Thomas. The opening work, Instability, sets out the premises of Bedford's music, with a big, unyielding bass and disruptive upper layers. Bedford's music has a strong personality that asserts itself in the performances by four different orchestras and conductors, and that personality came through to audiences enough to put this album on classical best-seller lists in late 2023. That is not a common feat for a release by the small contemporary music label NMC, and it is well deserved in this case.
© James Manheim /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 13 track(s)
- Total length: 01:14:03
- Main artist: Various Artists
- Composer: Luke Bedford
- Label: NMC Recordings
- Genre: Classical
2023 NMC Recordings 2023 NMC Recordings
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