JOHN POTTER - Amores Pasados
(ECM New Series 481 1555)
John Potter (voice); Anna Maria Friman (voice, Hardanger fiddle); Ariel Abramovich (lute); Jacob Heringman (lute)
Recorded November 2014
John Potter will be best known to readers of these pages for his work with the Hilliard Ensemble with whom he spent some eigtheen years , and the recordings he made with Jan Garbarek. As if purposefully looking to defy any preconceptions this latest album finds him collaborating with rock musicians rather than improvisers with the results no less impressive.
Throughout his career, Potter has looked to work with musicians and situations slightly left of field, or that may even be frowned upon by others in the classical world that he has chosen to predominantly inhabit. The purists certainly made their objections clear when the Hilliard's first started collaborating with Garbarek, their objections however were overwhelmingly drowned out by public opinion with the amazing success of their Officium album, with other notable collaborations with improvising musicians include the ongoing Dowland Project that features John Surman and Barry Guy.
Putting aside the improvisatory nature of some of his work, with Amores Pasados Potter has looked to not just bridge the gap between art song and pop song, but goes someway to showing the evolutionary process that has led from one to the other. Employing the services of Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Genesis keyboard player, Tony Banks and Sting, their remit was to write music for lute for existing songs from the 17th Century through to the 20th.
John Paul Jones takes the albums title track, a trio of three distinct pieces taking text from poems from three great ages of Spanish literature, almost confounding expectation with a groove based riff for lute on the opening 'Al son de losArroyuelos'. Elsewhere what is readily apparent is the quiet seductiveness of the lutes, and the voice floating over the top. Potters rich tenor is a joy throughout, and the pieces where vocal duties are shared with Anna Maria Friman are simply captivating.
Tony Bank's lends his individual harmonic and structural complexity to a couple of 17th century lute songs by Thomas Campion (1567-1620), with 'Follow Thy Fair Sun' and 'The Cypress Curtain' which can be compared to Campion's original arrangements that are also presented here by Potter and Anna Maria Friman.
The oldest music on the album comes in the form of 'In Nomine' separated into two instrumental interludes from the elusive Mr Picforth of whom little is known about the 16th Century musician, apart from his surname and this solitary composition, with the music coming right up to the 21st Century with a composition by Gordon Sumner's (aka Sting) 'Bury Me Deep In The Greenwood' that was written originally for a film Version of Robin Hood.
Released on ECM's New Series imprint, this is an arresting set of compositions that will appeal to all who enjoyed Potter's work with the Hilliard Ensemble and Jan Garbarek, and will be of much more than of passing interest to those spent their formative years (as I did ) immersed in the music of Led Zeppelin, Genesis and the Police.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
(ECM New Series 481 1555)
John Potter (voice); Anna Maria Friman (voice, Hardanger fiddle); Ariel Abramovich (lute); Jacob Heringman (lute)
Recorded November 2014
John Potter will be best known to readers of these pages for his work with the Hilliard Ensemble with whom he spent some eigtheen years , and the recordings he made with Jan Garbarek. As if purposefully looking to defy any preconceptions this latest album finds him collaborating with rock musicians rather than improvisers with the results no less impressive.
Throughout his career, Potter has looked to work with musicians and situations slightly left of field, or that may even be frowned upon by others in the classical world that he has chosen to predominantly inhabit. The purists certainly made their objections clear when the Hilliard's first started collaborating with Garbarek, their objections however were overwhelmingly drowned out by public opinion with the amazing success of their Officium album, with other notable collaborations with improvising musicians include the ongoing Dowland Project that features John Surman and Barry Guy.
Putting aside the improvisatory nature of some of his work, with Amores Pasados Potter has looked to not just bridge the gap between art song and pop song, but goes someway to showing the evolutionary process that has led from one to the other. Employing the services of Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Genesis keyboard player, Tony Banks and Sting, their remit was to write music for lute for existing songs from the 17th Century through to the 20th.
John Paul Jones takes the albums title track, a trio of three distinct pieces taking text from poems from three great ages of Spanish literature, almost confounding expectation with a groove based riff for lute on the opening 'Al son de losArroyuelos'. Elsewhere what is readily apparent is the quiet seductiveness of the lutes, and the voice floating over the top. Potters rich tenor is a joy throughout, and the pieces where vocal duties are shared with Anna Maria Friman are simply captivating.
Tony Bank's lends his individual harmonic and structural complexity to a couple of 17th century lute songs by Thomas Campion (1567-1620), with 'Follow Thy Fair Sun' and 'The Cypress Curtain' which can be compared to Campion's original arrangements that are also presented here by Potter and Anna Maria Friman.
The oldest music on the album comes in the form of 'In Nomine' separated into two instrumental interludes from the elusive Mr Picforth of whom little is known about the 16th Century musician, apart from his surname and this solitary composition, with the music coming right up to the 21st Century with a composition by Gordon Sumner's (aka Sting) 'Bury Me Deep In The Greenwood' that was written originally for a film Version of Robin Hood.
Released on ECM's New Series imprint, this is an arresting set of compositions that will appeal to all who enjoyed Potter's work with the Hilliard Ensemble and Jan Garbarek, and will be of much more than of passing interest to those spent their formative years (as I did ) immersed in the music of Led Zeppelin, Genesis and the Police.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
