Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Robert Nichols enjoys a remarkable evening of emotive music anchored by its enriching subject matter
Image by Tracy Hyman
Erland Cooper is something of a musical conjurer in the way he gathers the often parallel universes of the classical, folk and alternative into one performance or event. But with his latest album project, Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence, the Orcadian composer has gone one giant leap beyond, playing with time and space in pretty much bringing a piece of music back from the dead.
The accompanying film Recomposing Earth revealed the story of how Carve The Runes was an uneasy marriage of composition and decomposition. After being performed live by classical musicians all traces of the recording were wiped except for the original master tape which was buried in secret beneath Erland’s native Orkney. Cooper relayed a series of clues, sometimes mischievously misleading, about the precise whereabouts. A couple from the island stayed on the scent and struck gold plucking the master tape from the soil of a hilltop above Erland’s home town Stromness. Also home town of the celebrated poet George Mackay Brown that the concerto was written as a tribute to.
The question was left open at the closing credits of the film, what would be left on that tape? Would it be a musical treasure trove or devastatingly a wiped tape reduced to silence?
The wonderful auditorium of The Fire Station was the perfect setting for the answer to that big question. A quartet of most talented musicians on violins and cello were accompanied by Erland on piano. The rusting master tape itself was poised on a reel to reel machine. The tension was palpable, there was a collective sharp in take of breath and then the first notes cascaded forth in what quickly became evident was a very remarkable piece of music. So strong and emotive and now totally reborn in the light but forever enriched by the very earth of Orkney.
There was the vulnerable, fragility of a lone violin, flying in the face of a storm welling up as the refrain is captured by the full quartet. That tempest broils into a totally invigorating, exhilarating movement climax that also has a built-in nostalgic sadness. It really grabs you and shakes you to your core.
It was revealed by the musicians that Erland had issued instructions for them to play in ways redolent of nature, the calls of the sea birds, the drones of shipping horns etc. His music springs from his own relationship from the physical surroundings of his island home. Live it is testament to the skill and artistry of the musicians that they can interpret all the idiosyncrasies of the score. The fact that Carve The Runes was jeopardised by being trusted to the soil and could so easily have gone so disastrously wrong makes it even more precious. We could reflect on that in the silence that is built into the score and the live performance, a chance also to pause and remember.
For everyone present it felt like we were witnesses to a great archaeological discovery. Very apt from Neolithic Orkney. We bathed in the light of classical earth music flooding forth and down the North Sea coast. The man in black, Erland, cuts a real presence on stage, conducting the mood swings and did a bit of talking and singing, including a gorgeous folky duet with first violin Freya Goldmark.
A highly original audience participation saw us hold our phones aloft and play the chirping of a blackbird recording from Erland’s website. It must have been a dawn chorus first for The Fire Station.
In every way a totally unique and unforgettable performance. What a privilege to be witnesses and willing participants in a work springing from a real genius and played by masterly musicians. Carve The Runes Then Be Content With Silence is in so many ways THE master work of Erland Cooper. So far…
