Shaken and stirred: madrigals, Deerhoof and Ludwig van B get mightily repurposed
The Barbican’s free weekend festival Sound Unbound wants to blur the boundaries between classical music and contemporary, experimental and pop music. Many of the musicians performing in this festival spread across 20 venues and two days create music that rethinks and re-presents existing classical works, so we asked three of them to make a mini playlist featuring their favourite “reworked” pieces.
Liam Byrne, viol player
Reworking and reinterpreting classical music has been happening since long before the idea of classical music was invented. From the 15th century onwards, composers have been taking famous vocal pieces from previous generations and transforming them into complex instrumental works, either by replacing or adding voices. More than just playing vocal music on instruments, it often involved substantial transformations. One of my all time favourites is this piece by Giovanni Battista Bovicelli, published in 1594. He takes the gorgeous four-voice madrigal Ancor Che Col Partire by Cipriano da Rore and distils it into a beautifully florid single line, played here exquisitely by Bruce Dickey on cornetto. In this style of playing, called diminution, the solo performer is free to create their own accompaniment out of the original madrigal, and this recording involves harp, lute, and viola da gamba, each adapting voice parts to their own idiom. I’ve loved this recording since I was a teenager, and it was another 16th-century version of this madrigal that was the first piece of old music I reworked with Valgeir Sigurðsson, who rendered the madrigal using electronics to accompany the 16th-century viola da gamba part. We released this recording last week on my debut solo album Concrete.
Listen to the original on Spotify and the reworking, Angelus ad Pastores.
• Drum with the backe of your bow: Music for viol and electronics with Liam Byrne is at at Charterhouse Chapel, London, on Saturday 18 May at 2.45pm and Sunday 19 May at 3pm.
Nora Fischer (singer)
I would like to introduce to you the quirky and witty Deerhoof Chamber Variations. This 20-minute set of semi-instrumental music was devised by Greg Saunier, the founding drummer of the acclaimed experimental pop group Deerhoof (formed in San Francisco in 1994). As a composer of both the original songs and these chamber ensemble arrangements, Saunier shows his broad stylistic interest and compositional qualities in a wide array of musical genres. As a fan of anything that dares to be weird and unpredictable, while maintaining high artistic standards, I can’t help but love this suite. Both the original songs and these instrumental arrangements have a playfulness that celebrates creativity while continuously surprising you with multi-layered compositional findings. I encourage adventurous listeners to check out a few of the original songs, too (they have the same titles), and discover many little gems in both versions. Saunier cannot be placed in a box – he and I share a non-hierarchical way of approaching music where all genres can be equally interesting and inspiring. And above all, he shows himself to be a master of musical humour and is bound to put a smile on your face.
Listen to the original songs by Deerhoof, and, below, the reworking.
• The Secret Diary of Nora: Plain Songs from a surveillance society with Nora Fischer + Ragazze Quartet is at Milton Court, London, on Saturday 18 May at 1pm and 2.30pm.
Peter Gregson (cellist)
I’ve chosen Leonard Bernstein’s orchestral recording of Beethoven’s Op 131 string quartet. For me, the rework concept exists to reframe an already familiar piece through a different aesthetic lens, not reinvent the wheel. I think this piece does that in spades. No notes are added, it is “simply” distributed among the orchestra (with double basses joining in key moments). But what this illustrates is the scale of the work. It was written for four players, yes, but the depth and scale of the music can carry a section of 40 or more, and that isn’t always the case. It isn’t simply making it louder; it’s broadening and augmenting the relationships between melody and texture; after listening, go and listen to an original quartet recording and you’ll be staggered. In this Deutsche Grammophon recording of the Vienna Phil it also showcases the most astonishing unison string playing ever captured which, in and of itself, is a joy to hear.
Listen to the original (Emerson String quartet), and, the reworking:
• Bach Recomposed: Cello music reimagined by Peter Gregson is on Saturday 18 May in Barbican Hall, London, at 3pm and 430pm and on Sunday 19 May at 4.45pm
• Sound Unbound is at venues across the Culture Mile, London, from 18-19 May.