|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2CD
|
|
NEOS 11821-22CD
|
The "mimicri" cycle is a central piece by the composer Charles Uzor, in many respects the quintessence of his work since the mid-2010s. Uzor, who was born in Nigeria and moved to Switzerland (where he now lives) at the age of 57, has engaged since 1995 with the music of Machaut and methods of defamiliarization using fixed media. "The phenomenon of concealment strikes me as a survival strategy", says Uzor, transferring the principles of disguise and mimicry as found in nature to his music. He not only takes nature as a formal model, but also borrows sounds from it and changes them, for example birdsong, which he electronically pitch shifts down eight octaves. The main part of the cycle, "Nri/ mimicri", is scored for Ondes Martenot, percussion quartet, and fixed media, with additional parts for piano and fixed media or only the latter. The world premiere recordings on this CD also include vocal music and chamber music in a variety of instrumentations. All in all, this double-CD offers a multi-faceted overview of Charles Uzor's work from the 2000s on. Performers: Caroline Ehret - Ondes Martenot; Ute Gareis - piano; Isabel Pfefferkorn - soprano; Elena Zhunke - violin; Illya Buyalskyy - piano; Percussion Art Ensemble Bern; Ensemble La Notte; SWR Vokalensemble, Rupert Huber - conductor.
|