Two events as part of ‘Sounds of Now’, in collaboration with Music in the Round: ÉLIANE RADIGUE FOR HARP, VIOLIN & DOUBLE BASS and ÉLIANE RADIGUE FOR ORGAN.
Friday 17th October: Éliane Radigue for Organ
Frederic Blondy
St Marie’s Cathedral
RADIGUE Occam XXV (45’)
Éliane Radigue’s ‘Occam XXV’ – written for, and performed here by, the French organist Frédéric Blondy – envelops its listener in a rich and slowly evolving ocean of sound. Beginning with a low, timbral rumble, the music grows over its 45 minutes, always imperceptibly changing, to a richly layered, shimmering and luxuriant texture which then, as the piece draws to a close, dissolves into air. This is music as sensation: sound to be immersed in – expansive and vibrational. As Radigue herself said, “I imagine how we are all bathing in a galactic ocean of sound waves”.
Saturday 18th October: Éliane Radigue for Harp, Violin & Double Bass
Rhodri Davies, Angharad Davies & Dominic Lash
Upper Chapel
RADIGUE
Occam XXI (16’)
Occam River XVIII (15’)
Occam XVII (13’)
Occam River XVII (16’)
Occam (28’)
Occam River XV (15’)
Occam Delta XIV (17’)
In this special concert, Welsh harpist and improvisor Rhodri Davies, together with Angharad Davies (violin) and Dominic Lash (double bass), present a selection of works composed for them by Radigue. Ranging from solos to ensemble pieces, this is a rare opportunity to explore the singular aesthetic of one of the 21st century’s most important composers, performed by some of the musicians with whom she has most closely collaborated. Through extended instrumental techniques (the harp is played using two violin bows) and a close attention to timbre, Radigue conjures luminescent, intricately layered and richly textural soundscapes that slowly evolve.
Part of: OCCAM OCEAN: THE MUSIC OF ÉLIANE RADIGUE
“Radigue writes awesomely gradual music that is always on the move… It is music that flowers in some enchanted hinterland where sounds are sparse and mercurial, spiritual and grounded, narrative and abstract… she is always on the hunt for sound within sound – a realm of partials, harmonics, and subharmonics… the intangible cloud that makes up that note’s aura.”
Kate Molleson
The French composer Éliane Radigue, now 93 years old, has dedicated the last quarter of a century to crafting her extraordinary, subtle and luminescent compositions for acoustic instruments. Each titled ‘Occam’ (after ‘Occam’s razor’, the idea that the simplest solution is often the best), these warm and generous works explore the essence of an instrument’s sound in gradually unfolding, richly present textures.
For ‘Occam Ocean’, Music in the Round has curated a series of special events bringing together some of Radigue’s closest collaborators for two days of music and talks, offering a rare, immersive experience of this composer’s singular sound world.
