Ensemble neoN: Niblock/Lamb
Hubro

In pairing Phill Niblock's To Two Tea Roses (2012) with Catherine Lamb's Parallaxis Forma (2016), Norway's Ensemble neoN demonstrates that not all drone-based works are alike. Yet while there's no denying Niblock's instrumental maelstrom seethes for a relentless twenty-three minutes and Lamb's vocal-enhanced setting dials things down to a gentler pitch, these immersive microtonal pieces have much in common, too. They also, however, bring into sharp relief the range of possibilities available to those operating within the drone-based field.

In truth, calling To Two Tea Roses (its title originating from a dedication to Italian composer and grower of tea roses Walter Branchi) a maelstrom is a tad misleading. Yes, it does unspool at the level of a roar, but it also does so with carefully calibrated control, order, and focus. Three woodwinds (flutes, bass clarinet, saxophones), two strings (violin, cello), two pianists, and one bowed vibraphonist execute the work, the eight collectively committed to capturing the nuances of Niblock's material in this live treatment. There are, in fact, two ensembles involved, with the parts by one prerecorded and played back during the performance. That extra layering of sound naturally makes for an even denser presentation, as well as one where the microtonal tension is exponentially increased through the juxtaposition of the ensembles' expressions; imagine, if you will, the collision of two multi-stacked chords time-stretched from the moment of impact to twenty-three minutes. More textural detail is present than can be processed, it seems, as the droning mass advances with unstoppable force before reaching an abrupt close. In the press text, Niblock recounts a personal epiphany he had as a young motorcyclist when he overtook a truck and experienced the near synchronicity of the vehicles' engine noises; that experience, while obviously different in sonic character from the shimmering colossus rendered by Ensemble neoN into physical being, obviously shares certain characteristics with the recorded material.

Utilizing a variant of just intonation, Berlin-based Lamb uses the vibrations of microtonal pitches to generate what she calls “interacting spectra,” a prime example of which is heard in Parallaxis Forms in the interactions between the vocalists and instrumentalists. Two singers participate alongside seven musicians, with the sounds produced by the three woodwinds and two strings augmented by electric guitar and wine glasses. To paraphrase Lamb, during the performance the instruments extract the tonalities from the phonetic timbres sounded by the vocalists and extend them into “a kind of wash, at times becoming a blurred form in the process.” The presentation is delicate, the expressions subdued and the mood intimate; a meditative ambiance asserts itself from the beginning when the voices softly intone and the strings and woodwinds match them with fragile voicings of their own. In contrast to the ocean-deep density of Niblock's piece, Lamb's feels airy and expansive, and the restrained attack allows for easier monitoring of the interactions between the participants and the microtonal pitches in play (including the singers' pitch-shifting). There's an ethereal quality to the material also, abetted in no small part by the slow, ascending lines etched by the vocalists; it's not static either, as shown by the unexpected dropout just past the twenty-minute mark that leaves the singers accompanied for a fleeting moment by the wine glasses only.

August 2019