chasing tails
travels in counterpoint
Music at the intersection ideas, history & technology. This project is a ‘cottage industry’ experiment in bringing old music to life — in the challenging circumstances of 2020…
-
In the scheme of things, not being able to play music together is definitely a first world problem. All the same, the events of 2020 led many artists and musicians to approach what they do with renewed perspective. This project is just one example of many.
Thrown into disorientating and unprecedented circumstances, many musicians spent Spring 2020 trying to keep our playing ‘in shape’. Perhaps this response - which on the face of it seemed a bit irrational, given that no performances were happening - was a way of retaining a sense of purpose. Yet as the weeks went by, I and many others found that the thing we missed most was not really about playing at all: it was responding to fellow musicians.
That feeling, where you’re listening and bouncing off the people around you with absorbed intensity, and experiencing something like a loss of self, is reminiscent of what athletes call “being in the zone”. In my experience, this feeling is almost completely elusive when playing alone: it really depends on others. (I’d even go as far as to say that too much individual practice can be a serious barrier to achieving that state of mind, when you finally turn up to play with colleagues!) In any case, the search for that intoxicating, exhilarating state of mind seems to motivate musicians in practically all genres and styles of music. And recently, we all spent many weeks and months being acutely aware of its absence.
Even classical players like me felt this so viscerally that we - shock, horror - actually resorted to ***TECHNOLOGY***. Right now, you’re starting out on a project which has its origins, like many others of its kind, in an itch that needed scratching. In the first place, it was recording that provided what I was searching for. But as you’ll see, over time the concept morphed into something a bit different; and eventually I hope it will shed that technological clothing entirely, to be more plainly focused on music - and specifically on the delights of playing counterpoint.
As you’ll be aware, given that over a year has passed since the first UK lockdown, this particular response has taken a really long time to come to fruition! But I’ve had a great time working on it so far, and I hope you get something out of it too.
Experimental live multi-track recordings
No clicks here!
Album includes:
William Byrd - Fantasias a3 (i & ii)
& Michael East - Eight Fantasias a2
The fantasia was one of the most important genres of instrumental music.
This multi-track recording — a unique product of its circumstances — presents the contrasting styles of two English composers: William Byrd and Michael East.
Byrd’s exquisite craftsmanship and expressive purity make his fantasias the perfect place to start in exploring counterpoint’s dialogue with the contemporary world. Two examples in three parts bookend a set of eight pieces by Michael East, whose vividly conversational writing embraces spontaneity, wit and imagination.
Inside the process
