← more from
Neuma Records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

A Cambridge Musick: solve et coagula

from ORDO by Philip Blackburn

/

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    6 panel wallet with 2 CDs and 16 page booklet

    Includes unlimited streaming of ORDO via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 1 day

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

A Cambridge Musick (solve et coagula)
Not long after my college friends formed a band (a trio-sonata combo) they became frighteningly good. Their mastery of solo Baroque repertoire was matched by their almost-psychic communication and uncanny cohesion as a group. Without a conductor, and with subtle dynamic phrasing bringing the historical music to life, it was as though they acted as one, or there was a ghostly macro player conjured from the four individuals. I decided to write them a piece where that mysterious unity was a core element. It took the form of a composed rehearsal where they are focused only on each other, turned away from audience members who feel they are voyeurs to this hermetic private act. The players start playing while the audience is arriving for a concert (never too late for that last minute practice), sometimes mutter inscrutable signals to each other (solmization symbols in this case), send out fake cues to each other (coy glances and corporeal gestures), and belch loudly at random moments (here a tasteful bass drum); all while staying firmly glued together as a dynamic, organic, living whole (more than the sum of its parts). The mystery of it all is a bit like watching an alchemist at work, turning base metal into gold, refining elements through fire, and staying in a constant state of elusive flux (solve et coagula).

Listening to the result may seem like it is casual and mercurial: variations on a forgotten melody, more Stockhausen than Scarlatti. By the time I finished the score, the members of The Cambridge Musick (Andrew Manze, Robert Ehrlich, Richard Egarr, and Mark Levy) had moved on to successful solo careers and never had a chance to play this impossible piece. I am grateful to the Galan Trio and friends for tackling it 36 years later. I have made slightly simpler scores ever since.

credits

from ORDO, released October 21, 2023
Galan Trio:
Petros Bouras, harpsichord
Babis Karasavvidis, violin
Marina Kolovou, cello

Dimitris Kountouras, recorder
Dimitris Azorakos, bass drum

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Philip Blackburn image

Philip Blackburn Saint Paul, Minnesota

Philip Blackburn was born in Cambridge, England, and studied music there and at the University of Iowa with Kenneth Gaburo. He is a public artist specializing in sound — a composer/environmental sound-artist. Blackburn’s works have been heard in ships’ harbors, state fairs, forests, and coming out of storm sewers, as well as in galleries, parking lots, and on concert stages.

philipblackburn.com ... more

contact / help

Contact Philip Blackburn

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Philip Blackburn, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now