Sonic Pieces by Greg Haines and Dustin O'Halloran
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Label: Sonic Pieces
Year: 2010
Format: CD
We recently reviewed Heather Broderick’s collected stories from her hometown, Portland, Oregon, and have always had an eye out for this German label, Sonic Pieces, which housed this fabulous release, previously also releasing the exquisite piano-laden winter journey of Nils Frahm on “Wintermusik” and previously collaborations between Frahm and Swedish David Wenngren’s alias Library Tapes. Our reason for this review are two highly anticipated releases coming out in the next two months, and at the heart of it all we find the Grünewald Church in Berlin – as is the case also with said Frahm for his debut album, “The Bells,” that was released on the Swedish label Kning Disk.
With its beautiful setting, the Grünewald Church sits in central Berlin and embodies the most perfect, natural reverb and immense acoustics and an old grand piano which Frahm and Peter Broderick spent hours recording material from which in the end a 40 minute collection made up “The Bells”. The release party for “The Bells” is thus the backdrop to one of the recordings featured in this review, namely American classical composer Dustin O’Halloran, a virtuoso of classical piano who completely captures the essence of the new generation of classically-trained composers that favour the serenely beautiful over the avant-garde and experimental. O’Halloran’s pieces are composed with an austerity and simplicity but which when heard offers some of the most delicate, heartfelt melodies to gently trigger emotional forces in the listener, be it melancholy, wistfulness or optimism. For comparative purposes, O’Halloran’s style is reminiscent of Satie, Chopin, Debussy, and also contemporaries from Philip Glass to Max Richter, Johann Johannsson, Hauschka and Ólafur Arnalds.
Dustin O’Halloran’s album is entitled ‘Vorleben’ (meaning ‘past’ with respect to life or time) and reads like a retrospective to the listener who will recognise several compositions in this album that previously were released on his two Bella Union albums “Piano Solos” and “Piano Solos Vol. 2”. The album distinguishes itself from being a mere compilation by this being a live recording, and though noise from clapping audience and environment noise is reduced, it’s possible to discern the live atmosphere and the odd cough and of course respectful applause at the end. This adds to the listening experience as the listener easily can imagine the space inside the church as the floating tones of O’Halloran’s piano treatment embrace every corner of the church to dispel the silence and marvel as the church’s seldom-touched coldness returns to still the lingering tones of O’Halloran’s masterful stroke and the dynamics of O’Halloran’s piano tones in this space.
Greg Haines should be well-known to our listeners, as we’ve followed his progress from the blistering, experimental debut of “Slumber Tides” on Norwegian label, Miasmah, to the Danny Saul collaboration as Liondialer and their White Box release, and lately on the Dutch “sleep-label” Slaapwel with the 30-minute endeavour Komarovo – highly tranquilising and sleep-inducing indeed. This meeting with the classically-trained English musician, citing the likes of Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass as his influences as to what he ideally would like music to be like, thus reaches a point of maturity. He appears with a bold statement of reaching musical adulthood, with an album that seems the natural culmination of his career and achievements thus far.
Allegedly the album’s conception is based on Haines’ personal thoughts and emotional circumstances during the album’s gestation period; touring Europe and relocating to Berlin, and as such we are invited to an album with a personal signature.
Greg Haines started out producing solo for Slumber Tides, recording all instruments himself, and moved on to a period of experimentation and improvisation – during which he formed the excellent Liondialer with fellow Englishman Danny Saul. From that, Greg Haines has worked with tight, compositional restraint for his Komarovo release on Slaapwel, and now we stand possibly at the end of the gestation period of Haines as a musician in learning with his release on the German label, Sonic Pieces, curated by Monique Recknagel from her base in Berlin. “Until The Point of Hushed Support” is a 4-piece album written over the past three years with music written for other musicians, including a participating Nils Frahm, a string quintet and a saxofonist. Haines also contributes with playing several instruments and also supplementing with paramount electronics to further effect of being more than acoustic, orchestral instrumentation. The result is an incredible album that pushes the boundaries of post-classical and electronic music, as Greg Haines himself has put it, his desire was to make something distinct from Slumber Tides with more than 4 years gone since the first album and why bother making more of the same stuff. Excellent sentiments indeed, and the result is highly gripping, monumental in its dramaturgy with soaring climaxes that hit you with full force and leave you trembling into breath-taking pauses where new build-ups are brewing – angelic choirs, booming organs and concerted efforts of strings rising to lift the ceiling of the Grünewald Church which again proved venue for recording the album – in addition to some sounds sampled from live shows at The Villa in Oslo, Norway.
In summary, a tour de force by Greg Haines, and utmost respect for the aesthetically sublime Sonic Pieces for presenting Haines at this stage in his career.
Web Resources:
Sonic Pieces website
Sonic Pieces online shop
Greg Haines official website
Dustin O’Halloran official website
