Caroline Shaw (1982-present)
‘Orange’
Performed by the Attacca Quartet
Nonesuch Recording
Orange (Side A)
1) Entr’acte
2) Valencia
3) Plan & Elevation I-V
Caroline Shaw
She’s Alive! — Timing didn’t quite work out as I planned for this week’s recording. I’d been looking forward to a bit more of a granular take on Caroline Shaw’s Orange—a work that is exciting by the very fact of its existence. As it happens, one of my side projects as Editor in Chief of smART Magazine reached a notable high-water mark of busyness this week as Issue No.3 was launched today. It’s a bit of a trend that I’ve noticed: an inherent feature of a particularly busy week is spending that much more time by the desk, therefore by the record player, therefore exponentially more spin cycles for the choice record of that week. All this without time enough to lance the bulging sack of thoughts and impressions that accumulate throughout the week regarding the piece in question. Indeed a lot of work went into this latest issue, and a lot of creative input from people who I’m incredibly lucky to have on board for this project—please check it out, I have a great belief in the need for an all-purpose space for the arts like this one. Lost in the shuffle of this bustling week is the mere but tremendously significant fact that this is the first time in this journal that I’ve spent the week listening to a work on vinyl that was composed within the last decade. On top of that it’s a female composer who, unlike the almost complete totality of the composers on here, is still alive—in her thirties, in fact, with eons of composing years ahead of her.
The Orangery—I discovered Shaw’s work via the eye-catching un-ironic simplicity of the cover to her debut album of original composition, Orange. At first listen, it was part four of ‘Plan & Elevation: The Orangery’ that caught my attention. The full album doesn’t disappoint: as fresh as it is timeless—nature’s qualities through and through. Perhaps I’m taking too much to the cue of the citral programme but there’s a mediterranean flush of colour that underlines every note on these strings. A very appropo follow-up to the Teresa Carreno quartet from last week. You’ve probably not heard pizzicato quite like this in a long time—communicative of something far from nervous neurotic plucking, and more akin to beads of bursting pulp lanced by the cello’s long coughing lines.
This time next year—As a consolation for not making enough time to tend to this piece, I’ve only waded into first half of it—the first three pieces in the collection—god willing and if the creek don’t rise, I’ll return to the second half next February.
Throwback to: YR3, WEEK28 — YR2, WEEK28
Click here for the full 2020/2021 roster of selected recordings