| 2-disc set.
Keith Rowe and John Tilbury most likely need no introduction to anyone reading this. Since 1981, they have performed together within the legendary improvising ensemble AMM, as well as in numerous other contexts, both improvised and composed. Tilbury and Rowe first met each other in 1965 when both were asked by Cornelius Cardew to perform Treatise for a BBC broadcast. They have enjoyed a fruitful professional relationship ever since, in the Scratch Orchestra, various Music Now and Cardew groupings, performing Christian Wolff and John Cage pieces, and most notably, in AMM since 1981. They met in Nancy, France at the CCAM studio in January 2003 (on the same stage where AMM had recorded Fine in 2001) in order to record for the first time as a duo, with melancholy in the air due to the passing of John's 95 year old mother, Doris, two days earlier. Her loss, along with the perilous world geopolitical situation, hung as almost tangible events in the air, deeply affecting the atmosphere during the recording. The more than two hours of music presented here (selected from the three hours they recorded) is close to perfect in its conception and its arc from beginning to end, remarkable for totally improvised music. The understated, intricate beauty and modesty of the work belies its complexity. The cover painting is by Rowe, inspired by L.S. Lowry, a well-known British landscape artist and a favorite painter of Doris'. |