Rebecca Bruton + Jason Doell: a root or mirror, blossom, madder, cracks; together [Collection CQB]. The two pieces on this disc have been pleasantly doing my head in; they’re enigmatic just by existing. Both works were created for Quatuor Bozzini and junctQín keyboard collective, who perform them here with the understated clarity you would expect. What makes these pieces stand out from the usual repertoire for string quartet with piano six hands? Well, Rebecca Bruton’s The Faerie Ribbon is a guilelessly titled work by a composer I know only from her work as half of a goofy vocal duet with Angela Rawlings. There are small vocalisations in this piece, too, slipping out here and there amongst the knotwork of superimposed melodic elements that make up the first movement. Things then break down into a sequence of vignettes: a short, wistful and wordless chorale for unaccompanied voices, a pensive interlude for piano that dwindles away to almost nothing. Things eventually rebuild into a more coherent and stately reconstruction of the opening thematic material, but the transformation is more enigmatic than a conventional resolution: an interpretation is implied but never revealed. Jason Doell’s to carry dust & breaks through the body sounds stranger than it is when you remember his altered piano pieces in becoming in shadows ~ of being touched. Strings and piano wend their way through a slow processional of restrained polyphony that pauses from time to time to remind you that the whole piece exists provisionally, held in suspense by a quivering after-image of resonant overtones and a soft low drone. The drone steadily, but almost imperceptibly, descends, and as it does the Bozzinis adjust their intonation in accord. As though unconsciously, the harmonies between the instruments stretch apart, as though threatening to break: the immobile tuning of the piano starts to sound out of kilter, even electronically altered, while all the while staying the same. The musicians maintain perfect calmness as the atmosphere grows icy.
Saviet/Houston Duo: a clearing [Marginal Frequency]. I’ve heard violinist Sarah Saviet on two sets of guttural pieces for solo instrument, and pianist Joseph Houston play composers ranging from Lamb, C. to Simaku, T. a clearing is a set of pieces jointly composed by the musicians themselves, when duetting in 2022. As you might expect, there’s a lot of exploration of timbre and technique in here, but the five pieces presented do prioritise compositional thinking and succeed as intimate, self-contained chamber works. The recording is close, detailed and stark, and Saviet and Houston know how to leave plenty of space around them when needed. For the first half, each track focuses on detailed studies of touch and decay, with small piano sounds matching fleeting violin runs, teasing out differences in sustained chords, maintaining an austere impression overall while relishing the variety of sounds they can articulate in dialogue. For the final, long track Houston switches to e-bows on the piano strings and produces drones that merge with Saviet’s held notes, mapping out degrees of warmth and cold to be found within each harmonic complex.
