54CD/DVD - Juxtavoices - Guardian Weekend Remix - CD plus download

Guardian Weekend Remix is the second Juxtavoices release.  Music by Martin Archer based on a visual work by Michael Szpakowski, part of which is reproduced on the sleeve of this release.  Interpreted and performed by Juxtavoices. The score consists of the visual work itself plus some performance instructions, and is for any number of singers and / or instrumentalists, and for any duration.    

Three version of the piece are presented here.  The DVD 90 minute Installation version is for voices plus ambient sounds by Martin Archer and is further orchestrated with a video work by Bo Meson.  This version replicates a reading of the music as it might be heard in a gallery or similar installation.  The first CD version (45 minute Concert) is an alternative arrangement of the same material plus additional electronic music by Ian Baxter based on the voice recordings.  The second CD version (35 minute Chamber Group) is an earlier sampler generated recording orchestrated subsequentlywith a chamber group drawn from the ranks of Juxtavoices, directed and arranged by Martin Archer.

Performances of this music can generate a strangely claustrophobic atmosphere.  I think of the piece as being a collection of spirit voices who are desperate to communicate a message of huge importance back to the world of the living.  Tragically however they are trapped elsewhere, out of reach, and to listeners the message simply manifests as the meaningless ravings of a cast of characters imprisoned by the locked loops of language with which they regale us.

Voices on the Installation and Concert versions are:

Julie Archer, Martin Archer, Jon Ashe, David Bartholomew, Ian Baxter, Mick Beck, Nathan Bettany, Geoff Bright, Clinton Chaloner, Julie Cole, Laura Cole, Emma Cooper, Paul Coupe, Edward Eggleston, Sharon Gill, Alan Halsey, Lyn Hodnett, Charlotte Jones, Christine Kennedy, Bo Meson, Tamar Millen, Geraldine Monk, Rick Moran, Tim Plant, Liz Searle, Wolfgang Seel, Walt Shaw,  Jan Todd, Jane Tormey, Caroline Veal, Peter Veal, Linda Lee Welch, Gillian Whiteley.

Voices on the Chamber Group version are:

Julie Archer, Martin Archer, Julie Cole, Alan Halsey,  Lyn Hodnett, Bo Meson, Geraldine Monk, Mike Read, Jan Todd.

The instrumentalists on the Chamber Group version are:

Martin Archer – clarinets, glockenspiel, toy piano, harmonica, bass recorder: Mick Beck – bassoon:  Nathan Bettany – oboe: Geoff Bright – alto saxophone: Edward Eggleston – acoustic guitar: Lyn Hodnett – cello: Maria Kalnars – trumpet: Geraldine Monk – violin: Liz Searle – trumpet: Walt Shaw – percussion: Jan Todd - viola: Sarah Villeneau – flute:  Gillian Whiteley – melodeon

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