One and a half albums from Catherine Lamb (plus a half from Kristofer Svensson)

The American-born, Berlin resident, composer and violist Catherine Lamb is no stranger to progressive label Another Timbre. Her first album on the label, Three Bodies (Moving) was released in 2012. Since then, a steady stream of her compositions has appeared on the label, performed solo or by small groupings. Once before, on Viola Torros (Another Timbre, 2018) Lamb has shared an album with compositions by others. Now, on Translucent Harmonies, a Lamb piece shares an album with one by Sweden's Kristofer Svensson, both pieces being played by andPlay, the duo of Maya Bennardo on violin and Hannah Levinson on viola.

Catherine Lamb & Kristofer Svensson
Translucent Harmonies
Another Timbre
2023

A good reason for pairing compositions by Lamb and Svensson on one album is that each of them frequently opts for Just Intonation (JI) as a tuning. In JI the frequency ratios of successive notes of a scale are integer ratios such as 4:3. Although Just Intonation is not commonly used, anyone curious about it would be well advised to listen carefully to this album and become submerged in it. The album's two tracks are Lamb's twenty-two-minute "Prisma Interius VIII (Melodic Duo) (2019)" ('Interior Prism') and Svensson's forty-minute "Vid stenmuren blir tanken blomma (2018)" ('at the stone wall the tank becomes a flower'). Featuring andPlay, both pieces were recorded, audio edited, mixed and mastered by Mike Tierney at Shiny Things Studio in Brooklyn, NY, in March 2022.

The violin and viola combination means that the soundscape can be quite spacious, but every note from each instrument is crystal clear even when the two instruments play simultaneously or overlap as they frequently do on the Lamb piece. There are occasional overlaps of the two instruments in Svensson's piece too, but across the piece it has fewer pregnant pauses and space.

As is normal with albums featuring contemporary compositions, here the two composers receive top billing with the musicians named underneath. It is arguable that andPlay give the album continuity and coherence so may deserve top billing, Overall, though, all concerned merit credit for an absorbing and enthralling album.

Catherine Lamb
Parallax Forma
Another Timbre
2023

As Monty Python used to say, "And now for something completely different..." It is difficult to imagine two albums credited to the same composer which differ from one another as much as Translucent Harmonies and Parallaxis Forma do. Where the former features strings in a spacious soundscape, the latter focusses on voices in a well-populated one, without a millisecond of silence on any track.

The three tracks were performed by a combination of Exaudi Vocal Ensemble, Explore Ensemble and vocalist Lotte Betts-Dean. Two tracks with the ensembles were recorded at St. Nicholas Church, Thames Ditton on June 28th and July 4th 2023; "pulse/shade," a multi-tracked piece with Lotte Betts-Dean's voice four times was recorded in Oxford on August 8th 2023.

Although the voices do not sing lyrics, throughout the album they imbue it with a warm human quality. Across the three tracks there is plenty of variety although the pieces are unmistakably all from the same composer. In the ten-minute opener, "Color Residua" the instrumental and vocal ensembles are equal partners in creating a welcoming ambience. The Lotte Betts-Dean track is outstanding enough to suggest that an album devoted solely to her and this music would be very welcome; like the album's other tracks, it has a quasi-religious ambiance. Betts-Dean features again on the closer, the album's eponymous track and its longest at twenty-six minutes, accompanied by Explore Ensemble. It reinforces all of the ingredients that make the album succeed. It would be no surprise if Parallax Forma shows up in various end-of-year lists.

Tracks and Personnel

Translucent Harmonies

Tracks: Prisma Interius VII (Melodic Duo) (2018); Vid stenmuren blir tanken blomma (2018).

Personnel: andPlay: -Maya Bennardo: violin; Hannah Levinson: viola.

Parallaxis Forma

Tracks: Color Residua (2016/2020); Pulse/Shade (2014); Parallax Forma (2016/2020).

Personnel: Explore Ensemble (1):-Nicholas Moroz: artistic director; Julia Doukakis: viola 1; Emma Purslow: viola 2; Deni Teo: cello; Toby Hughes: double bass; Explore Vocal Ensemble (1):-James Weekes: artistic director; Cathy Bell: mezzo-soprano; Michael Hughes: baritone; Lotte Betts-Dean: voices 1-4 (2), voice (3); Explore Ensemble (3):-Taylor MacLennan: flute; Alex Roberts: clarinet; David Zucchi: saxophone; Sarah Park: tuned glasses; San Cave: guitar; David Lopez Ibañez: violin; Deni Teo: cello.

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