Bryars: Nothing Like the Sun

$8.49
Label
GB Records
Release Date
November 11, 2016
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      BRYARS, GAVIN
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      Gavin Bryars Ensemble
    • PERFORMER
      GAVIN BRYARS ENSEMBLE
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      November 11, 2016
    • UPC
      5052442008545
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      BCGBCD 24
    • LABEL
      GB Records
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Orchestral & Symphonic
    Works ⌄

    1. Prologue

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

    2. Sonnet 60A

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Gavin Friday

    3. Sonnet 60B (Soprano, Tenor)

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Peyee Chen, John Potter

    4. Sonnet 123A

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Gavin Friday

    5. Sonnet 123B

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Gavin Friday

    6. Sonnet 128A

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Gavin Friday

    7. Sonnet 128B (Soprano, Tenor)

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Peyee Chen, John Potter

    8. Sonnet 94A

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Gavin Friday

    9. Sonnet 94B (Soprano, Tenor)

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Peyee Chen, John Potter

    10. Sonnet 102A

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Gavin Friday

    11. Sonnet 102B (Soprano)

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Peyee Chen

    12. Sonnet 146A

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Gavin Friday

    13. Sonnet 146B - Bass Postlude (Soprano, Tenor)

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Peyee Chen, John Potter

    14. Sonnet 55A

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Gavin Friday

    15. Sonnet 55B (Tenor)

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: John Potter

    16. Sonnet 64A

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Gavin Friday

    17. Sonnet 64B - Epilogue (Soprano, Tenor)

      Composer: Gavin Bryars

      Ensemble: Gavin Bryars Ensemble

      Performer: Peyee Chen, John Potter


There is a long and honorable history of the sonnet being set to music, starting with composers in the Italian Renaissance and continuing through to the present day. For a composer to set a sonnet, or series of sonnets, almost inevitably and unnervingly, means writing within a historical perspective- as it does with writing operas, string quartets or symphonies. The form itself, though, is particularly satisfying to work with because of its sense of balance and its elegant and apparently simple formal structure. In writing sonnets the poet generally speaks in first person, which draws the reader deep into their world. For a composer this has the huge advantage of giving a very direct emotional link to the poet. In 2007, Gavin Bryars was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and Opera North to set a group of Shakespeare’s sonnets to music, having by then produced four books of madrigals. Shakespeare’s sonnets are full of wonderful technical subtlety and the form of the sonners allowed him to arrive at a shape for the musical setting. Gavin Bryars’ first musical reputation was as a jazz bassist working in the early sixties with improvisers Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. He worked for a time in the United States with John Cage, and collaborated with composers Cornelius Cardew and John White. The Gavin Bryars Ensemble was founded in 1981 and performs internationally to this day.