The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra performed with Barry Guy in Falkirk and Glasgow in October 2005. This CD is a recording of a concert we did together in Callendar House, Falkirk.
Over the years, Barry Guy has made a whole series of compositions using images from the work of the painter and percussionist Alan Davie, who was born in Grangemouth just three miles from Callendar House.
The score of Barry Guy's piece 'Witch Gong Game II/10' consists of a set of little panels containing Alan Davie graphics indicating different kinds of music floating over a black void. The panels are all in contact with each other, sometimes along an edge, sometimes just a corner. This is a the message of the piece: contact with each other and a sense of community is what supports us in the darkness of an indifferent universe.
Barry was with us for a week, visiting the Antonine Wall and the Falkirk Wheel, drinking Deuchars IPA and Belhaven Best in the Wheatsheaf, rehearsing in the hall of the Old Parish Church in the very centre of town, and doing concerts and workshops with the brilliant violinist Maya Homburger. We originally intended to do another of Barry's compositions as well as 'Witch Gong Game II/10', but we decided that improvisation would be truer to the spirit of the project, and that's the first track on the CD.
credits
released July 1, 2006
Emma Roche - flute
Matthew Studdart-Kennedy - flute
Nick Fells - shakuhachi
Daniel Padden - clarinet, voice, percussion
Nicola MacDonald - voice
Peter Dowling - alto saxophone
Raymond MacDonald - alto / soprano saxophone
Graeme Wilson - tenor & baritone saxophone
John Burgess - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Robert Henderson - trumpet
Matt Cairns - trumpet
George Murray - trombone
George Burt - guitar
Neil Davidson - guitar
Peter Nicholson - cello
Una MacGlone - double bass
George Lyle - double bass
Mike Travis - drums
Bill Wells - keyboard
Special Guests:
Maya Homburger - baroque violin
Barry Guy - double bass
Thanks to: Bob Tait, Jennifer Hunter, Alex Burt, Falkirk Council, Tamsin Mendelsohn, Ian Smith, The Hope Scott Trust, Falkirk Old Parish Church, The PRS Foundation, Glasgow University and the Ramshorn Theatre, Graham McKenzie.
Produced by George Burt, Raymond MacDonald, Pete Dowling and Kenny MacLeod.
Recorded on 22 October 2005 in the Green Room of Callendar House, Falkirk by Pete Dowling.
Mastered by Pete Dowling and Kenny McLeod.
GIO photographs by Aileen Cambell and Alex Burt.
Barry Guy photograph by Mike Pearson.
Produced for FMR by Trevor Taylor.
Artwork by Ewan Rigg.
Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra is a large improvising ensemble of around 20 musicians from diverse artistic backgrounds. They perform across the UK and Europe, host an annual festival of improvisation and run regular events.
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