ENERGY DIAMOND
Concert Music By Lawrence Ball
OVERVIEW
Composer Lawrence Ball has long been fascinated by the intersection of subjective human emotion and algorithmic mathematical objectivity. In his 2012 Navona Records release METHOD MUSIC, produced by Pete Townshend of The Who and PARMA Recordings CEO Bob Lord, he took Townshend’s long-gestating concept of automatic musical portraiture first explored in LIFEHOUSE and WHO’S NEXT and turned it into reality, creating a system which could translate personal information and experiences into sound.
ENERGY DIAMOND, Ball’s latest release, continues his exploration both of sheer intuitive as well as of systems-based composition. Featuring mainly live performances taken from Ball’s own Planet Tree Music Festival (praised by composer Terry Riley as "uncompromising in its artistic integrity… a rare and cherished event") from 1995 to 2011, the music includes the composer’s Harmonic Maths concept and create sounds and structures both expansive and dynamic.
Ball’s approach is refreshing in its desire to avoid presuppositions. “Modulation, harmonic progression – I question the usual base definitions of those,” he says. “They are constructs to question, to look at and to reinterpret and redefine in meaningful ways. Modulation can be change of tonal set, one set of notes changing to another. It can also mean the same tonal set, but with a different tonal centre, or a shift of emphases.”
Acclaimed by Pitchfork for his “wondrous, rippling, and startlingly tactile music” and with a four-decade long composition career at his back, Ball’s profound musical mind is really hitting its stride.
HIGHLIGHTS
Ball’s previous Navona release METHOD MUSIC (2012) featured “Meher Baba Piece”, which was featured on The Who’s 2006 ENDLESS WIRE (Universal Republic) as part of the track “Fragments”
Songs on the album were created using Ball’s algorithmic “Harmonic Maths” system of composition
A classical music based composer with over 170 scored compositions and 3,000 recorded piano improvisations, Ball is influenced by many other genres, including jazz, Indian, Moroccan, and rock music, often combining music with meditation and/or computer-generation
ALSO ON NAVONA RECORDS
Release Date: September 9, 2016
Catalog #: NV6058
TRACK LISTING
Energy Diamond (2000)
1. I
2. II
3. Fractal Study 2 (1985)
4. The Clown (1998)
Viola Suite 2 (1990)
5. I
6. II
7. III
8. IV
Piano Suite 4 (1998)
9. Austere Eastern
10. The Swing
CREDITS
Energy Diamond (2000)
Cor Anglais Qquartet | Althea Talbot-Howard, cor anglais; Jackie Norrie, violin; Amanda Chancellor, viola; Dinah Beamish, cello
Recorded November 11, 2000 at Union Chapel
in Islington, London part of the 4th Planet Tree Music Festival
Recorded by Michael Klein
Fractal Study 2 (1985)
Alessandra Celletti, piano
Recorded November 20, 2011 at The Red Hedgehog
in Highgate, London part of the 8th Planet Tree Music Festival
Recorded by the late Mike Skeet
The Clown (1998)
Javier Negrin, piano
Recorded November 13, 1998 at Conway Hall
in Holborn, London part of the 3rd Planet Tree Music Festival
Recorded by Jason Edge
Viola Suite 2 (1990)
Neil Davis, viola
Recorded February 1995 at Unitarian Chapel
in Hampstead, London part of a concert in aid of the charity Roadpeace
Piano Suite 4 (1998)
Javier Negrin, piano
Cover image by Lawrence Ball using the software "Visual Harmony" created by Dave Snowdon and Lawrence Ball
Executive Producer Bob Lord
Executive A&R Sam Renshaw
A&R Chris Robinson
Audio Director Jeff LeRoy
Production Engineer Lucas Paquette
Art & Production Director Brett Picknell
Graphic Designer Ryan Harrison
Marketing Mike Mahn
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Navona Records offers listeners a fresh taste of today's leading innovators in orchestral, chamber, instrumental, and experimental music as well as prime pieces of classic repertoire. Our music is meticulously performed by the finest musicians and handpicked to ensure the most rewarding listening experience.
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