Jürg Frey & Magnus Granberg (Ensemble Grizzana) - Early to Late (Another Timbre, 2018)

Jürg Frey & Magnus Granberg (Ensemble Grizzana) - Early to Late (Another Timbre, 2018)

Early to Late is an album which I've been eagerly waiting for for a while now. In 2016 (I believe), Another Timbre commissioned two new compositions (it's first time doing so) with a vague concept. The new compositions must start from two short pieces of early music: Johannes Ockeghem's Déploration sur la mort de Binchois and William Byrd's O Lord, How Vain. These instructions were sent to the label's two most prolific composers: Magnus Granberg and Jürg Frey. The pieces were both completed in 2017 and were premiered and recorded that November.

It's a simple concept, but it's perfect for this purpose. The composers were given, as far as I know, no instruction on how to be influenced by these pieces, or how to build from them, or how to write their new pieces. Having heard the original pieces, the connection is far from obvious, but that doesn't mean that there aren't similarities between the two new pieces. They share a similar nostalgic air, although both composers approach this quite differently. Both pieces are also beautifully performed by Ensemble Grizzana (which includes both composers) on mostly the same instruments, allowing the pieces to aesthetically blend together rather than juxtaposing one another.

The first piece is Magnus Granberg's How Vain All Our Frail Delights?, which clocks in at 41 minutes. For those familiar with Granberg's work either with or without his ensemble Skogen, this piece likely won't come as much of a surprise. Granberg's work tends to land in the grey area where indeterminate composition and free improvisation meet. His performers receive an enormous amount of freedom when performing his scores, although they're forced to stick to vague guidelines and frameworks where notes, sounds and timbres are pre-selected (or simply hinted at). Another oddity in his style of composition is that he typically bases his original pieces off of something pre-existing, so this new commissioned experiment lands right in his compositional comfort zone. He's even based pieces off of "early" music before – the most recent Skogen album, Despairs Had Governed Me Too Long, was based on a 17th century piece by John Dowland.

What Granberg does so well with these pieces, and why he's become one of my favorite modern composers, is that he writes music in a way that feels like he's transcribing emotions rather than notes. The music is wide open and the performers can play with a huge amount of personality, but a certain emotional atmosphere is always held. In the past, that atmosphere was typically one of ambiguous melancholy. That may be true for this piece as well, but I think I'd rather call it nostalgic melancholy. The music is cold and uncanny, but it feels reminiscent of something more beautiful – perhaps that's of the original pieces, or just of something personal and ambiguous. Either way, the result is fantastically moving.

I'd like to point out that the performances here are fantastic, and very different than his previous Skogen and Skuggorna och ljuset ensembles. Although I'm sure the performers have plenty of freedom, they play with great personal restraint. They actually do seem to play louder than either of those previous ensembles, and there are typically more of them playing at once than there were with the previous ensembles, but they play in a way which is rather impersonal. Rather than the soft spurts of self-expression which made Skogen so wonderful, Ensemble Grizzana lets the music speak for itself – if I didn't know better, I'd almost expect this to have a straight-forward score. I can't quite say that I prefer this approach, but the change of pace is appreciated.

The second piece is Jürg Frey's 32-minute Late Silence. For those unfamiliar with the music of Jürg Frey, he is one of the pioneers of the Wandelweiser Collective and of contemporary lowercase (ultra-quiet, ultra-minimal) composition. At around the turn of the century, Frey was writing some of the most minimal music one could imagine. Over recent years his avant-garde nature has become more relaxed, finding room for melody and conventional musical beauty. His 2017 Another Timbre release, Collection Gustave Roud, featured a 48-minute piece titled Farblose Wolken, Glück, Wind which was likely his most ambitious piece yet. The piece drifted along in slow movements which seemed to have little to do with each other, several of the movements would even seem to entirely forget the performers who were just playing so beautifully. The piece had many conventional examples of melody and harmony, making it easily enjoyable, but as a whole it felt odd and full of confusing ideas. It was, in my opinion, Frey's greatest piece yet. Late Silence can easily be seen as its successor.

Like the previously mentioned Farblose Wolken, Glück, Wind, Late Silence drifts by in odd movements. Despite the ten-man ensemble, there are seldom ever moments where over three musicians play together. The first movement lasts about 7 minutes and consists of a slow-paced repetitive piano exploration while surrounding strings provide uncomfortable support. Further movements have strings swell over the droning sound of scraping stones and violins and harmonicas exchanging harmonizing tones. Two particular moments feature brief piano solos. Although they're short, they're the most memorable moments of the whole album for me. They're beautiful and minimal, recalling Frey's fantastic Pianist, Alone pieces. The piano does sound beautiful on its own, but it's the odd place within the composition that it makes it stand out as so truly special. It feels like an individual composition within itself – it utilizes a repetitive descending melody which sounds nothing like anything else in the piece, although it does sound like some of Frey's former work. In the next movement we return to the same style of large ensemble abstraction, and it feels as if the gorgeous piano solo was immediately forgotten – no evidence was left behind.

Unlike in Granberg's piece, Late Silence removes both electronic musicians and opts for a completely acoustic ensemble. The music is soft and relaxed, although it still invokes similar themes to Granberg's piece. The strange crossroad between ugly and beautiful still appears, tugging at the listeners emotions in odd ways. The nostalgic melancholy returns as well – the music's cold present seems to long for a warmer past. The layout of the composition may even play into this theme itself – could the oddly placed piano solo, as past-leaning as it was, represent a nostalgic look backwards to a beauty which is no longer anywhere to be found?
Presented back-to-back, these pieces work well. Although the pieces are fairly different from each other, they share enough common themes and aesthetics to allow Early to Late to be a comfortable listen. Magnus Granberg and Jürg Frey again prove themselves to be two of the strongest contemporary composers, although neither of the pieces fall far from either of their comfort zones. But still, Early to Late is a wonderful release which comes far from disappointing. I eagerly wait for more commissioned material from Another Timbre.

Early to Late is available in both digital and CD copies from the label's website:
http://www.anothertimbre.com/index.html