JON ROSE: State of Play

Aug 302021
 


Two CDs and a 44pp colour booklet (CD only) containing full track details, an illuminating essay and nifty photographs of Rose’s recent projects, various automata and invented instruments – you know what to expect by now; Jon is never short of ideas: 60 years and half a new world are packed into this release. You may not warm to it all – there are no half-measures taken – and although it’s (probably) tougher than listening to that Yes album again, it’s also a mine of lightbulb moments, stimulation, unlikely combinations of psycho-somatic data and proper training for the ears.  On disc one, Jon – playing variously violin, Thai pumpkin soup violin, tenor violin, keyolin, el lubricato (a 20 litre oil-drum with wheel-bows), string clusterfuck violin, slow bow automaton and the St. Sebastian violin – duets with Jim Denley (alto sax), Freya Schack-Arnott (nyckelharpa), Clayton Thomas (double-bass) and Robbie Avenaim (automated and manual percussion). Stylistically diverse doesn’t cover it. Disc two features recent larger-scale projects including: 1) The Web – a 32 string automaton with rotating double plectrum, accompanied by a string ensemble (in tonal and microtonal tunings); 2) the Sydney Harbour Bridge (with choir), 3) a violin (with symphony orchestra), 4), an impossible real-time solo for two banjos, tenor violin, interactive bow and a lot of extremely complicated electronic technology, 5) a very intricate variant on the aolian harp, based on an Australian washing line device), 6) a player-piano driven by MIDI data derived from a recording of a La Vegas casino, duetting with an automated violin driven by data from 24 Wall Street traders and, 7) a classic, exquisite, composition for distressed organ, automatic strings, plectraphone,  two violins, a viol, cello, guitar and monochord. Jon doesn’t keep the tills jingling and even I don’t like every second of everything he does, so why do we keep releasing his records, you ask – because the man is Leonardo da Vinci: Track 3, CD 2. I rest my case.
Also appearing: Jim Denley, Clayton Thomas, Robbie Avenaim, Freya Schack-Arnott, Erkki Veltheim, Elizabeth Welsh, The Song Company, Ilan Volkov, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Cor Fuhler, Claire Edwards, Zubin Kanga and Hollis Taylor.DOWNLOAD WHOLE ALBUM:
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DISC 1: Duo improvisations
1. Carpets listen:
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2. Lawson’s Loss listen:
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3. As It Is listen:
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4. Asian Centuries listen:
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5. The Clattering listen:
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6. Whistle While You Wonder listen:
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7. The Spring in Wood listen:
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8. Quartertone Reqiuem listen:
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9. Forecast of Fire listen:
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10. Northlandia listen:
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11. The Large Pocket listen:
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12. Turnings listen:
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13. And Then Some listen:
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14. Valley Heights listen:
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15. Finger Twisters listen:
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16. Rumble in the Jungle listen:
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17. Sebastian and Co listen:
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18. Fluck listen:
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19. Wheel Gems listen:
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DISC 2: A selection from recent projects
1. Music in a Time of Dysfunction 3 listen:
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2. Singing up the Harbour Bridge listen:
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3. Elastic Band listen:
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4. Duelling Banjos and Banjo Duality listen:
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5. Hill Hoist Music listen:
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6. The Gamble listen:
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7. Music in a Time of Dysfunction 1 listen:
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