Ambrose Field & John Potter - Being Dufay - ECM: 4766948 - CD or download

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Potter's singing here is exemplary, and I can think of few singers so suited to such music. Occasionally, washes of electronic sound engulf the soloist, providing compelling dramatic climaxes…... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2009, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 30th Mar 2009
Catalogue No: 4766948
Label: ECM
Series: New Series
Length: 49 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Ambrose Field: Ma Belle Dame Souveraine

Work length5:29

$0.85

$1.15

John Potter (tenor), Ambrose Field (sound effects)
Recorded: 2009
Recording Venue: Bishopthorpe

Ambrose Field: Je Me Complains

Work length6:22

$0.85

$1.15

John Potter (tenor), Ambrose Field (sound effects)
Recorded: 2009
Recording Venue: Bishopthorpe

Ambrose Field: Being Dufay

Work length12:21

$0.85

$1.15

John Potter (tenor), Ambrose Field (sound effects)
Recorded: 2009
Recording Venue: Bishopthorpe

Ambrose Field: Je Vous Pri

Work length7:48

$0.85

$1.15

John Potter (tenor), Ambrose Field (sound effects)
Recorded: 2009
Recording Venue: Bishopthorpe

Ambrose Field: Presque Quelque Chose

Work length2:30

$0.85

$1.15

John Potter (tenor), Ambrose Field (sound effects)
Recorded: 2009
Recording Venue: Bishopthorpe

Ambrose Field: Sanctus

Work length8:34

$0.85

$1.15

John Potter (tenor), Ambrose Field (sound effects)
Recorded: 2009
Recording Venue: Bishopthorpe

Ambrose Field: La Dolce Vista

Work length6:24

$0.85

$1.15

John Potter (tenor), Ambrose Field (sound effects)
Recorded: 2009
Recording Venue: Bishopthorpe

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A new project combining early music and contemporary sensibilities in a most attractive way.

John Potter’s clear and beautiful voice enveloped in Field’s generous electronic soundscapes.

Respectful but imaginative approach to a key figure in Western music history who was the first composer to achieve international fame in the 15th century.

Will appeal to broad audiences beyond the usual.

John Potter, co-founder and former singer of the Hilliard Ensemble, has a strong following also based on his three successful releases with The Dowland Project.

Potter’s new book Tenor: History of a Voice is published on 1 April.

British tenor John Potter and his fellow countryman Ambrose Field, prize-winning composer of electronic/digital music, offer an unusual juxtaposition of Renaissance composition and present-day technology: In seven interconnected pieces, vocal fragments from the songs and sacred works by 14th-century composer Guillaume Dufay soar beautifully above Field’s vast and multi-faceted soundscapes. “Then as now, music was not forever fixed but lived and breathed through the imaginations of former musicians and their listeners”, says Field in his liner notes. John Potter has long been committed to conceptual approaches to early music and, as a former blues and rock singer, has always had a strong interest in uncharted musical fields. His clear, almost boyish voice immerses itself with great ease in the allusively processed sounds. Field: “The fragments of original Dufay are always presented entirely unaltered, and serve as a reference point or cantus firmus within what is new. From that new perspective, I wanted to explore the limits of the electronic medium, produce a new set of musical colours and, perhaps above all, avoid the often mechanical aspects of working with technology.”

Ambrose Field, electronic music composer and performer, uses recorded environmental sound sources and custom computer processes to generate a distinctive soundworld that is dense and uncompromis-ingly relentless. Winner of four international awards including two Ars Electronica Honorary Mentions, he specialises in Surround Sound production, utilising formats ranging from 6.1 through to Ambisonics on installation, live music and film projects. John Potter, for 18 years a singer with the Hilliard Ensemble and one of its prime conceptual thinkers, a vocalist of rare versatility and erudition, has written extensively on singing. His last ECM album, with his own Dowland Project, Romaria (476 5780), containing music from the Carmina Burana manuscript to Josquin Desprez, was released to critical acclaim in 2008.

Reviews

June 2009

Potter's singing here is exemplary, and I can think of few singers so suited to such music. Occasionally, washes of electronic sound engulf the soloist, providing compelling dramatic climaxes… but mostly Field employs pedal-tones and bell-like sonorities that are perfectly apposite to Dufay's music.

Ambrose Field & John Potter - Being Dufay

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