Now for something quite different. Tuesday 13th we went to see Pianocircus at Cardiff University School of Music. I was going to say 'new' but turns out the group (ensemble doesn't quite seem to fit) formed in 1989. Pianocircus, who according to their website are named after the Latin for circle, perform works for 6 keyboards/pianos and have developed a varied repertoire (which is also listed in full online). One of the reasons for going (apart from pure curiosity) was to try out contemporary compositions.
The set list comprised: Erkki-Sven Tüür-Transmission (2006), Conlon Nancarrow- Study No. 5 and Study No. 26, Colin Riley- Recast, Steve Reich Six Pianos, David Lang- Face So Pale (1992) and Lynne Plowman- Hall of Mirrors (2007). Lynne Plowman was in the audience & briefly introduced Hall of Mirrors as sampling parts of lots of other classical piano works (anything from 1 bar to a more recognisable theme) & threading them together.
In terms of the works themselves, I enjoyed Transmission, Six Pianos and Hall of Mirrors most. Transmission was possibly the most immediately 'pop' related in the rhythm; reminded us, in a somewhat oblique way, of Mogwai! Six Pianos seemed more along the lines of Sigur Rós, and was quite hypnotic in a way reminiscent of Satie's Vexations. Found the Nancarrow works harder to digest, though. The one big gripe is the electrical interference that M noticed during the 2nd half, which at first was just a high whine whilst the group were playing and then started affecting one of the speakers (there were 2 speakers set up as Recast had a prerecorded element). This unfortunately overshadowed Hall of Mirrors. No group pictures but there's a shot of the setup below.
Pianocircus have streaming audio (plus a complete discography) available on their website and also have a myspace page (and Twitter, and Facebook) and are definitely worth a listen; some of the composers mentioned have tracks available on Spotify (unfortunately not Pianocircus themselves).
The set list comprised: Erkki-Sven Tüür-Transmission (2006), Conlon Nancarrow- Study No. 5 and Study No. 26, Colin Riley- Recast, Steve Reich Six Pianos, David Lang- Face So Pale (1992) and Lynne Plowman- Hall of Mirrors (2007). Lynne Plowman was in the audience & briefly introduced Hall of Mirrors as sampling parts of lots of other classical piano works (anything from 1 bar to a more recognisable theme) & threading them together.
In terms of the works themselves, I enjoyed Transmission, Six Pianos and Hall of Mirrors most. Transmission was possibly the most immediately 'pop' related in the rhythm; reminded us, in a somewhat oblique way, of Mogwai! Six Pianos seemed more along the lines of Sigur Rós, and was quite hypnotic in a way reminiscent of Satie's Vexations. Found the Nancarrow works harder to digest, though. The one big gripe is the electrical interference that M noticed during the 2nd half, which at first was just a high whine whilst the group were playing and then started affecting one of the speakers (there were 2 speakers set up as Recast had a prerecorded element). This unfortunately overshadowed Hall of Mirrors. No group pictures but there's a shot of the setup below.
Pianocircus have streaming audio (plus a complete discography) available on their website and also have a myspace page (and Twitter, and Facebook) and are definitely worth a listen; some of the composers mentioned have tracks available on Spotify (unfortunately not Pianocircus themselves).
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