Swing Bridge; Sizzles
Photo Credit - Mia Forrest
This incredible release brings together two never before recorded works by the late, great Alvin Lucier and features the legendary Melbourne Town Hall Grand Organ with liner notes by both the composer and Peter Knight. It includes the AAO commissioned work Swing Bridge, which was premiered as part of our 2016 concert program Exit Ceremonies in collaboration with Ensemble Offspring and featuring Austin Buckett.
Swing Bridge; Sizzles is a stunning document that captures one of AAO most ambitious commissioned works to date. We hear the way the energy produced by the organ ‘sounds’ the space in which the music was performed and recorded, and, for those who witnessed the performance, we experienced the physicality of air moving through pipes as the wavers shifted the tuning of each pipe microtonally with their hands. This is conceptual work of the highest order but it is also sensual, beautiful, and engrossing, with the textures of the ensemble woven into the pulsations produced by the organ and the resonances of the room.
Credits
SWING BRIDGE:
Austin Buckett, organ
Sonya Holowell, voice
Peter Knight, trumpet
Tristram Williams, trumpet
Erkki Veltheim, violin
Anna McMichael, violin
Mary Rapp, cello
Samuel Pankhurst, contra bass
Claire Edwardes, pipe waver
Martin Ng, pipe waver
Joe Talia, pipe waver
Simon James Phillips, pipe waver
Produced by: Peter Knight and Joe Talia
Mixed by: Joe Talia
Recording: live in concert by Myles Mumford and Jem Savage
SIZZLES:
Austin Buckett, organ
Percussion preparation and placement: Jem Savage, Peter Knight, Austin Buckett
Produced by: Peter Knight
Recorded by: Jem Savage
Mixed by: Paul Howells and Brian Brandt
Australian Art Orchestra Artistic Director: Peter Knight (2013-2022)
Produced by: Peter Knight and Brian Brandt
24-bit Mastering: Paul Howells
Liner notes: ©Peter Knight
Published by: materialpress.com, BMI
Cover photo: © Mia Forrest
Art Direction: Brian Brandt
The commission of Swing Bridge made possible with the generous support of Martin Ng
Organ offset chests for Swing Bridge designed and built by Daniel Bittner at Australian Pipe Organs
The premiere of Swing Bridge was part of a concert program called Exit Ceremonies, which was co-produced with Ensemble Offspring
Thanks to Claire Edwardes (Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring), Ronald Ebrecht (Wesleyan), Trevor Saint, Renee Dudfield (Insite Arts), Brian Brandt (Mode Records), Martin Ng, Miles Brown and Ariel Valent (City of Melbourne), Daniel Bittner (Australian Pipe Organs)