Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner & Nico Muhly feat. New Trombone Collective &
Navarra String Quartet
Muziektheater
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
8th April 2012 (2012-04-08)
RECORDING:
Type: Audience master, recorded from 15 metres back from centre stage.
Source: 2 x matched DPA 4060 mics ->
DPA MMA6000 amplifier (100 Hz low-cut filter) ->
Edirol R-09HR recorder (44.1 kHz/16 bit WAV)
Lineage: Audacity 2.0.0 (tracks split, fades added) ->
FLAC (compression level 8) [libFLAC 1.2.1 20070917]
SET LIST:
01. [introduction by Bryce Dessner]
--
Performers: Bryce Dessner feat. Navarra String Quartet
Composer: Bryce Dessner
02. Quintets - Blind Willy
03. Quintets - Chorale
04. Quintets - Isorhythms
--
Performer: Navarra String Quartet
Composer: Nico Muhley
05. Diacritical Marks - I.
06. Diacritical Marks - II.
07. Diacritical Marks - III.
08. Diacritical Marks - IV.
09. Diacritical Marks - V.
10. Diacritical Marks - VI.
11. Diacritical Marks - VII.
12. Diacritical Marks - VIII.
--
[intermission]
--
Performers: Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner & Nico Muhly feat. New Trombone
Collective & Navarra String Quartet
Composers: Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner & Nico Muhly
13. [preamble]
14. Planetarium - Neptune
15. [introduction by Sufjan Stevens]
16. Planetarium - Jupiter
17. Planetarium - Venus
18. Planetarium - Uranus
19. Planetarium - Mars
20. Planetarium - The Sun
21. Planetarium - Pluto
22. Planetarium - The Moon
23. Planetarium - Saturn
24. Planetarium - Earth
25. Planetarium - Mercury
Running time: 104m 40s
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NOTES:
Something a little bit out of the ordinary was on the calendar for this
evening.
I haven't been to a concert in the grandeur of Amsterdam's Muziektheater since
seeing Dead Can Dance there in 1993. It really is a georgeous venue and it was
nice to be back.
On the bill tonight: Sufjan Stevens, the singer/songwriter who seems to
reinvent himself with each new album; Bryce Dessner, guitarist of currently
highly acclaimed band The National; and classical compoer Nico Muhly, who has
worked with a great number of artists, including Philip Glass, Björk and
Jónsi, in addition to composing an opera and several film scores.
In a reordering of the scheduled programme, the evening opened with three
quintets composed by Bryce Dessner. These were performed by the Navarra String
Quartet, with the addition of Dessner himself on guitar.
Filtered through your author/translator, the Dutch programme has the following
to say about the quintets:
'Blind Willy' is a contemplation of the pure and emotional quality of Blind
Willy Johnson's guitar. All of the material is derived from two basic chords.
'Chorale' was written as a requiem for a friend of Dessner who died in 2006.
The mediaeval compositional technique of the polyrhythm forms the basis for
'Isorhythms'. Four different rhythms can be heard conflicting with one
another.
Unpon completion of the quintets, Dessner left the stage, leaving the Navarra
String Quartet to continue with 'Diacritical Marks', a composition by Nico
Muhly in eight short parts.
About his work, Muhly says (again translated from the Dutch), "I concentrated
on the details: dotting the 'i's, a subtle movement of the bow."
Following a short intermission came the highlight of the evening (for me, at
least), with Sufjan Stevens, Dessner and Muhly joined on stage by the Navarra
String Quartet and the New Trombone Collective for 'Planetarium', a song cycle
comprising eleven songs and instrumental pieces about our solar system.
Translating from the Dutch programme, "The text and substance of the work are
derived from astronomy and astrology, as well as the Greek, Roman and heathen
mythologies. 'Planetarium' explores, in sound and subject, the mutual
dependence of harmony and discord in the universe."
The piece was composed for trombones, string quartet, keyboards, drum machine
and guitar. Dessner says that he chose those instruments, so that the work
could simultaneously be practical, versatile and expressive.
My motivation for attending this concert was a long-standing desire to see
Sufjan Stevens live. From the show's limited advertising, I didn't really know
what to expect, other than a lot of trombones.
It turns out that even that assumption was incorrect. The trombones were just
one small component of an sublimely diverse evening.
The official world premiere of 'Planetarium' had come just the night before at
the Muziekgebouw in Eindhoven (where Muhly is composer in residence), if one
discounts a practice run-through at Cincinnati's Memorial Hall at the end of
March. The pieces had only been completed earlier that same day, so what we
we witnessed yesterday in Amsterdam was only a week old in its fully formed
state.
The show moves to London's Barbican Centre tonight (Monday) and then on to
Sydney, Australia, for two more performances at the end of May.
Interestingly, the performance in Eindhoven was completely sold out, as is
tonight's concert in London, but not so the one in Amsterdam. There were still
a few tickets available on the night.
If you get a chance to see this show, you should jump at it. I enjoyed myself
immensely. If you can't get to a concert -- and, let's face it, most people
can't, given the paucity of performances -- then there's this recording, at
least, which has turned out remarkably well.
The sound mix on the night was perfect, and I do mean perfect. Of particular
note was the true stereo mix, of most obvious effect on the keyboards, with
many sounds heard panning from left to right and back again during the
evening.
The performance itself spanned a huge dynamic range. There was no
one-size-fits-all gain level for the evening and constant monitoring of the
situation was required.
I did as much as I could on the evening to ensure that the quietest moments
were recorded high enough above the recorder's noise floor to not get lost in
the hiss, whilst simultaneously taking care to ensure that the loudest
passages remained free of clipping. This left me with minimal work to perform
in post-production. Those familiar with my recordings will know that I try to
keep them as pure and faithful as possible to the original performance.
The result is a hugely satisfying recording of these three pieces of work,
none of which has seen any kind of release. The complete recording spans 104
minutes of superb music. I am very, very pleased with how this has turned out.
The first two quintets received some minor amplification in post-processing to
bring them in line with the rest of the show. Apart from that, the only
intervention I have performed is the removal of a couple of prolonged periods
of silence between some of the pieces.
Fades have also been added at the beginning and end of the two sets. I could
have crossfaded the applause at the end of the first set into that following
the intermission, but felt that the fades made for a truer representation of
how the music was presented on the night.
Enjoy!