Matthew Barley's Top Five: Classical Instruments with Electronics
Cellist Matthew Barley selects his top five recordings that combine classical instruments with electronics.
Read more…Classical Music That Uses Electronic Music Technology Brilliantly
Messiaen: Turangalila Symphony (Previn/LSO)
This mighty symphony was described by its composer as ‘A love song – a hymn to joy’. And straight away in the opening minutes we hear, faintly at first, the ghostly sound of the ondes martenot, one of the earliest electronic instruments, invented in France in 1928. I would love to know what those sounds were like to listeners when this was premiered in 1949 with Bernstein conducting. This was the beginning of a journey that is bearing considerable fruit in recent decades, of classical music embracing new technology. Turangalila is so full of life, and - also described by Messaien - joy that is "superhuman, overflowing, blinding, unlimited", that one cannot imagine a better birth for electronics in classical music.
The sound of the ondes martenot adds such a mysterious thread of sound; sometimes other-worldly, sometimes almost comic, but always human in its curves and expression. The sound can be hard to hear in some places (easier in others, like around 2mins in the second movement), but it is quite similar to the sound of the theremin, patented in 1928, which, if you google Theremin The Swan, you will hear Clara Rockmore giving a very classy rendition, and looking like a 19th century occult Ouija board operator.
Osvaldo Golijov: Azul with Yo-Yo Ma
This magnificent work, premiered in 2006 by Yo-Yo Ma (who plays peerlessly on this recording) and the Boston Symphony, features a hyper accordion. This is a conventional accordion, linked with digital processing to enable it to make a multitude of different electronic sounds – some totally unlike an accordion. The third movement of Azul only features four players – the solo cellist, two percussionists and the accordionist – but due to the expansive nature of the hyper accordion the soundscapes are monumental – it sounds like a much bigger ensemble on first hearing.
I love how integrated the sounds are, not jarring or fighting against the acoustic sounds of the orchestra. To my ears it’s as simple as: Beethoven added trombones to the orchestra, Golijov added a hyper accordion. It works perfectly. I got the chance to play the piece for the first in New Zealand last summer and it instantly became one of my favourite concertos to play – such a masterful, emotional, original work.
Peter Gregson: Patina
Nice to acknowledge the work of a fellow cellist here, Peter Gregson. Since I met Peter when I sold him my old cello in the 90s he has forged a magnificent career, recording, composing, arranging, collaborating and still playing the same cello. With his electronic magic, Peter has come up with a very moving album and he describes what he is aiming for beautifully in the booklet, and what the electronic processes actually do. “This is a collection of pieces where the sounds have aged, where the music has lived a life; where the reverbs are shadowy, dusty crevices, subtly degrading as they decay. In this album, musical distortion is not used for aggression, but for playing with the perception of the sound like a trick mirror at a fairground. The cello sounds like a smokey, whisky-laced voice late at night or like listening to a storm rage from outside the safety of a warm indoors. All of the sounds in all of the music on this album are the sounds of a life that has been lived. This may be mechanically reproduced - a perfect snapshot in time, never changing, the same forever – but accepting imperfections and appreciating the everyday impact of life is, for me, what PATINA is all about.”
Nils Frahm: All Melody
For me, Nils Frahm is the master (along with John Metcalfe – see next album) of expression with electronics. I’m sure we have all had that experience of listening to some electronics and finding it a little disembodied, hard, or mechanical. Frahm, especially on this album, uses his impressive array of mostly-electronic keyboards (his stage setup has 13 of them, some of them purpose-built), to express as fluidly and humanly as conventional acoustic technology. He has developed organ- and piano-like keyboards that have touch sensitive keys that allow him to use all the dexterity of the fingertips to create expressively just as, say, a cellist would (reference the solos in tracks two and four). I also find the music very powerful and it has opened up what seems like a new audience. Some years ago I attended a gig in London with around 3000 people - during some pieces the crowd was spellbound and silent, listening to minimal chords and textures with huge silences – it felt like evensong in a cathedral – and in others, everyone was on their feet rocking out to the serious beats and colossal walls of sound. Impressive.
Jonathan Harvey: Bird Concerto with Pianosong
As Harvey’s music appears on Electric I wanted to include something of his here as well. His carefully titled Bird Concerto with Pianosong contains so much to admire, although, as it certainly falls in the ‘contemporary classical’ category it may not get as many listeners. Harvey’s imagination is so fertile, the sounds so easy to listen to, the music so naturally phrased, and the way he links the sound worlds of the piano, orchestra, birdsong and the electronic treatments that come from the birdsong that I find the piece so satisfying to listen to. There are magical echoes of Messiaen, of course, with all the birdsong, but also with Stravinsky, particularly Petrouchka. Harvey was and is a hugely respected composer and this is one of his best pieces. The album also has two versions of his Ricercare that is the track on Electric – for comparison.