Distractfold; HCMF, Thursday 24/11/16
I had originally planned to use the Thursday of the Festival as a "day off" - in previous years, my brain has become full by this point, and I thought I'd need a bit of reflection time. As it happened, I woke up eager for more - and, having been very impressed by the another timbre CD of Marek Poliks' hull treader, booked a ticket online for the concert given by the ensemble playing on that CD.
Distractfold is an ensemble of seven young Musicians, all of whom are proficient both on instruments associated with the Musics of the Western Classical traditions (String Trio and clarinet) and with using computer sound manipulation. They presented a impressively stimulating and enjoyable programme of six pieces, two for technologically-generated and/or amplified sounds alone, two for "acoustic" performance, and two combining both. As often happens in these events, there was a technological "glitch" or two - one of the many cables from mixing desks to stage had come loose, and there was a few moments whilst they tried to sort out which was the culprit (a bit like having to tighten all the bulbs on the Christmas tree to identify which is the one that isn't working) - as, at one point, this resulted in a gently poppy electronic beat, the three girls ("girls"! all in their early twenties, and looking about ten years younger to my decrepit eyes) waiting on stage decided to do a little dance. They are all used to this happening and take it in their stride - just as they are as fluent with traditional string and wind-playing techniques as they are incorporating manipulating laptops and pedals as they play (not a shoe in sight as stockinged and bare feet co-ordinated effects and events with their feet). A delight to watch.
And to hear. Works written in the last seven years by Hanna Harrison (b Sweden, 1961), Alexis Guneratne (Luxembourg, 1982), Sam Salem (UK, 1982), Svetlana Maras (Serbia 1985), and Mauricio Pauly (Costa Rica, 1976) enfolded Liza Lim's wonderful Inguz for 'cello and clarinet from 1996 (the year of her first appearance at the Festival). A truly international choice of composers, each producing works as distinct from each other as the nations of their origins - some delicate, some with a liquid sensuality, some abrasive and gritty in texture, some hovering on the edge of audibility, some making the walls shake. And all of it again performed with total dedication and enthusiasm by the performers who really looked as if they were enjoying themselves as much as the applause that met their performances showed the audience enjoyed their work.
Excellent concert - good call to go, and definitely an ensemble to get to see again whenever possible.
I had originally planned to use the Thursday of the Festival as a "day off" - in previous years, my brain has become full by this point, and I thought I'd need a bit of reflection time. As it happened, I woke up eager for more - and, having been very impressed by the another timbre CD of Marek Poliks' hull treader, booked a ticket online for the concert given by the ensemble playing on that CD.
Distractfold is an ensemble of seven young Musicians, all of whom are proficient both on instruments associated with the Musics of the Western Classical traditions (String Trio and clarinet) and with using computer sound manipulation. They presented a impressively stimulating and enjoyable programme of six pieces, two for technologically-generated and/or amplified sounds alone, two for "acoustic" performance, and two combining both. As often happens in these events, there was a technological "glitch" or two - one of the many cables from mixing desks to stage had come loose, and there was a few moments whilst they tried to sort out which was the culprit (a bit like having to tighten all the bulbs on the Christmas tree to identify which is the one that isn't working) - as, at one point, this resulted in a gently poppy electronic beat, the three girls ("girls"! all in their early twenties, and looking about ten years younger to my decrepit eyes) waiting on stage decided to do a little dance. They are all used to this happening and take it in their stride - just as they are as fluent with traditional string and wind-playing techniques as they are incorporating manipulating laptops and pedals as they play (not a shoe in sight as stockinged and bare feet co-ordinated effects and events with their feet). A delight to watch.
And to hear. Works written in the last seven years by Hanna Harrison (b Sweden, 1961), Alexis Guneratne (Luxembourg, 1982), Sam Salem (UK, 1982), Svetlana Maras (Serbia 1985), and Mauricio Pauly (Costa Rica, 1976) enfolded Liza Lim's wonderful Inguz for 'cello and clarinet from 1996 (the year of her first appearance at the Festival). A truly international choice of composers, each producing works as distinct from each other as the nations of their origins - some delicate, some with a liquid sensuality, some abrasive and gritty in texture, some hovering on the edge of audibility, some making the walls shake. And all of it again performed with total dedication and enthusiasm by the performers who really looked as if they were enjoying themselves as much as the applause that met their performances showed the audience enjoyed their work.
Excellent concert - good call to go, and definitely an ensemble to get to see again whenever possible.
) which featured performances of Stockhausen's Mikrophonie I, Kontakte and Mantra with a masterclass on the last-named; music for instruments and electronics by Berio, Boulez and Ferneyhough; electronic pieces by Nono, Ligeti, Lachenmann, Raaijmakers, Boerman and Koenig; and various talkings. A concentrated dose of the great classics!
They sound like a couple of great concerts.
Toyed with the idea of going to this one, failed to get round to it.... 
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