Name: Bryars & Lang: Amjad (After Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux
Brand: Njo Kong Kie
SKU: 6409999115216
Price: 9.9 USD
Availability: OnlineOnly
Rating: 3 (119 reviews)

ALBUM

Choreographer Edouard Locke presented Gavin Bryars with the challenge of creating a new ballet incorporating selections from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, but arranged for a chamber ensemble and filtered through a contemporary artistic sensibility. Bryars responded with a series of movements that are recognizably derived from Tchaikovsky's familiar scores but are clearly newly imagined. Scored for the dark-hued ensemble of two violas, cello, and piano, each of the movements retains one or more elements of the original -- the melodic shape, or rhythm, or harmonic progression, or emotional tone -- but refracted through a distorting lens that creates a mixed sensation of familiarity and strangeness. Bryars is largely successful; the result is a somewhat odd mixture of conventional nineteenth Romanticism and postmodern eclecticism, but it works as a large-scale piece of music to accompany a dance. For the staged performances, Locke also interspersed Bryars' movements with short pieces by David Lang, most of which are not discernibly derived from Tchaikovsky, which are recorded here, as well as a series of soundscapes by Blake Hargreaves, which are not. Violists Jennifer Thiessen and Jill van Gee, cellist Elisabeth Giroux, and pianist Njo Kong Kie perform with panache and vitality. The sound is clear, well-balanced, and nicely ambient

1. Amjad New 6-1 Swan

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: David Lang; Composer

2. Amjad No. 8, Pt. I (Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act II No. 13: Danse des cygnes)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

3. Amjad No. 10 (Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act III No. 17: Sortie des invités et valse)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

4. Amjad No. 1 (Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act I No. 2: Tempo di valse)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

5. Amjad No. 2 (Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act I No. 4: Pas de trois)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

6. Amjad No. 14 (The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66, Act II No. 17: Panorama)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

7. Amjad No. 6 (Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act II No. 11: Scène)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

8. Amjad No. 3 (Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act I No. 5: Pas de deux)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

9. Amjad No. 9, Pt. II (Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act II No. 13: Danse des cygnes)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

10. Amjad No. 11 (Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act IV No. 29: Scène finale. Andante)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

11. Amjad No. 16 (The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66, Act III No. 28: Pas de deux)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

12. Amjad I Await

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: David Lang; Composer

13. Amjad No. 7 (Swan Lake, Op. 20 No. 13b, Danse des cygnes)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

14. Amjad No. 15 (Sleeping Beauty No. 18, Entracte)

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

15. Amjad No. 12 (Sleeping Beauty No. 8, "Rose Adagio")

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: Gavin Bryars; Composer

16. Amjad Sleeping Panorama

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: David Lang; Composer

17. Amjad Swan without Bass Drum

by Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux

Performer: Jennifer Thiessen; Performer
Primary Artist: Elisabeth Giroux
Jennifer Thiessen
Jill Van Gee
Njo Kong Kie; Main Performer
Composer: David Lang; Composer