DAVE SOLDIER - The Eighth Hour Of Amduat
Multaata: MUL035
Rita Lucarelli: Egyptology and translation of hieroglyphs to Italian;
Sahoko Sato Timpone: Mistress of the Boat, mezzosoprano; Marshall Allen: Sun Ru, saxophone, electronic valve instrument; Rebecca Cherry: Horus of Fragrance, violin; Dan Blacksberg: Wepwawet, trombone; Nick Millevoi: Sia, guitar; Michael Winograd: Nehes, C clarinet; Enrique Rivera-Matos: Hu, tuba;
Adam Vidikis: Conductor; Akhmed Manedov: violin; Juanna Pinilla Paez: violin; Olivia Gusmano: viola: Carolina Diazgronados: cello; Dani Bash: harp; Anthony di Bartoloo: percussion; Thomas Kolakowski: percussion; Dave Soldier: water bowls, electronics.
Choir: Chace Simmonds-Frith, Natasha Thweatt, Sophie Laruelle, Xiaoming Tian, Eugene Sirotkine, Alicia Waller, Melinda Learnard, Sahoko Sato Timpone.
Skimming the credits listed for this recording, you can easily see that you aren’t in any obviously familiar territory. For one thing, the list is headed by an Egyptologist. She has translated, in Italian, the words from ‘The Book of Amduat’. This is the earliest surviving musical score, painted on papyrus and on the walls of various Pharoah’s tombs. The Book describes the journey of the Egyptian god Sun Ra – as he travels across the sky, from East to West, during the day and the descends to journey on the river in the underworld during the night. On his journey, he dies, is reborn and then defeats the serpent Apep before rising with the dawn. The journey involves a number of caverns and, in the extract featured on this recording, Sun Ra travels through ten caverns. So much for the story. What you might also notice is that several of the musicians are given roles in the opera, and that Marshall Allen is given the role of Sun Ra. There is, of course, a lovely irony in this casting – given that 93 year old Allen has been leading (the jazzmen from Jupiter) Sun Ra’s orchestra since his leader left our planet. As the only saxophone of this recording, Allen plays some sharply observed and spikey improvised commentary on the music.
The music itself is difficult to categorise. A lolloping trombone solo suggests a New Orleans march, then the strings build up to introduce Mezzosoprano delivering the first lines of the story. The choir joins in the Towers’ Prayer and Barcarolle. Across this pieces, there is the sound of lapping water, various electronically produced sounds (bird songs, cat noises amongst other things), and a host of vocal improvisations. During each of the ‘cavern’ parts, the strings take a back seat and there improvised interplay between violin, trombone, guitar, saxophone and electronic takes centre stage. The piece closes with the haunting return of the Mezzosoprano and choir over pizzicato strings. Each section has a strong sense of direction and the themes weave into new sections, or hark back to the early sections in a very satisfying manner.
Given the mix of orchestral, operatic, free jazz and electronic on display here, it is quite amazing how this all hangs together. But it does. Dave Soldier is, of course, no stranger to pushing concepts into music and making this work (I can’t think of anyone else who has organised 14 elephants into an ‘Elephant Orchestra’ for example). What I particularly like is the juxtaposition of the oldest of musical scores with the newest of musical sounds (the electronic sounds and the improvised jazz have a very contemporary feel), leavened by the operatic, choral and orchestral to produce a coherent and stimulating experience like nothing you are likely to have previously encountered.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Multaata: MUL035
Rita Lucarelli: Egyptology and translation of hieroglyphs to Italian;
Sahoko Sato Timpone: Mistress of the Boat, mezzosoprano; Marshall Allen: Sun Ru, saxophone, electronic valve instrument; Rebecca Cherry: Horus of Fragrance, violin; Dan Blacksberg: Wepwawet, trombone; Nick Millevoi: Sia, guitar; Michael Winograd: Nehes, C clarinet; Enrique Rivera-Matos: Hu, tuba;
Adam Vidikis: Conductor; Akhmed Manedov: violin; Juanna Pinilla Paez: violin; Olivia Gusmano: viola: Carolina Diazgronados: cello; Dani Bash: harp; Anthony di Bartoloo: percussion; Thomas Kolakowski: percussion; Dave Soldier: water bowls, electronics.
Choir: Chace Simmonds-Frith, Natasha Thweatt, Sophie Laruelle, Xiaoming Tian, Eugene Sirotkine, Alicia Waller, Melinda Learnard, Sahoko Sato Timpone.
Skimming the credits listed for this recording, you can easily see that you aren’t in any obviously familiar territory. For one thing, the list is headed by an Egyptologist. She has translated, in Italian, the words from ‘The Book of Amduat’. This is the earliest surviving musical score, painted on papyrus and on the walls of various Pharoah’s tombs. The Book describes the journey of the Egyptian god Sun Ra – as he travels across the sky, from East to West, during the day and the descends to journey on the river in the underworld during the night. On his journey, he dies, is reborn and then defeats the serpent Apep before rising with the dawn. The journey involves a number of caverns and, in the extract featured on this recording, Sun Ra travels through ten caverns. So much for the story. What you might also notice is that several of the musicians are given roles in the opera, and that Marshall Allen is given the role of Sun Ra. There is, of course, a lovely irony in this casting – given that 93 year old Allen has been leading (the jazzmen from Jupiter) Sun Ra’s orchestra since his leader left our planet. As the only saxophone of this recording, Allen plays some sharply observed and spikey improvised commentary on the music.
The music itself is difficult to categorise. A lolloping trombone solo suggests a New Orleans march, then the strings build up to introduce Mezzosoprano delivering the first lines of the story. The choir joins in the Towers’ Prayer and Barcarolle. Across this pieces, there is the sound of lapping water, various electronically produced sounds (bird songs, cat noises amongst other things), and a host of vocal improvisations. During each of the ‘cavern’ parts, the strings take a back seat and there improvised interplay between violin, trombone, guitar, saxophone and electronic takes centre stage. The piece closes with the haunting return of the Mezzosoprano and choir over pizzicato strings. Each section has a strong sense of direction and the themes weave into new sections, or hark back to the early sections in a very satisfying manner.
Given the mix of orchestral, operatic, free jazz and electronic on display here, it is quite amazing how this all hangs together. But it does. Dave Soldier is, of course, no stranger to pushing concepts into music and making this work (I can’t think of anyone else who has organised 14 elephants into an ‘Elephant Orchestra’ for example). What I particularly like is the juxtaposition of the oldest of musical scores with the newest of musical sounds (the electronic sounds and the improvised jazz have a very contemporary feel), leavened by the operatic, choral and orchestral to produce a coherent and stimulating experience like nothing you are likely to have previously encountered.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
