Jürg Frey — I Listened to the Wind Again
From Oct 2021 here we have a CD release I listened To The Wind Again…, which is a forty-three-minute example of modern classical composition for string, wind, voice and percussion. The work is a slowly building & developing affair- that features both shrill-to-textured instrumental detail, and haunting vocalising, with moments of harmony and dis-harmony weaving together into a slow and subtle sonic dance of forlorn mystery and gentle surprise.
The CD release appeared on Louth Contemporary Music Society- been presented in a four-panel colour digipak, this features on its front a picture of difficult to define widow shadows and light. And inside/ on the back we get pictures of a tarpaulin warped shape on a beach, close up of beach pebbles, and mist-enshrouded country cottage- all very nicely nodding towards the drifting & mysterious feel of the composition. Also featured is a fold-out inlay featuring the lyrics performed by the piece’s vocalist. The CD release comes in an edition of just 100 copies, so if this release sounds like your thing- I’d act sooner than later, head here for more info.
Playing the just shy of the forty-four-minute piece here are the following Hélène Fauchère – Soprano, Carol Robinson. – Clarinet, Nathalie Chabot – Violin, Agnès Vesterman – Cello, Garth Knox – Viola, and Sylvain Lemêtre – Percussion. And it’s fair to say the piece mangers to remain both pared back and sparse, yet fairly eventful in its unfolding. We open with a blend of shrill and air slicing string work, which is underfed by dragging and grating percussive tone- this creates a decidedly sour, yet oddly compelling enter to the work.
As we near the five-minute mark Soprano Hélène Fauchère intones her first few lines-these are hovering with both glumly fraught-ness, and moments of harmonic grace. Around this the string and wind instruments start to hint at harmony, yet also still remain both grating and shrill as the slicing and dragging percussion stay both hazed and mysterious. By around the midway point, the balance of harmonic and non-harmonic rather starts to blend & blur, with the whole taking on rather a forlorn grandeur - with more pronounced vibe tones brought in on the tracks last quarter. Though don’t get too comfy as there are still more malevolently angular dwells to be found, as well a decidedly eerier ritual drum pattern in the pieces last few moments.
I listened To The Wind Again… is very much an example of sonic yin-yang, with the sour blended with the haunted and harmonic. Frey composition is both fragile and fraught, yet grand and forlorn- it’s certainly a difficult and tricky balancing act, but he manages to pull it off, with wonderfully nuanced performances from all six players.