Two return visitors to Another Timbre, performed by Apartment House

One would have to think long and hard to find several similarities between composers Adrian Demoč and Linda Catlin Smith. Of different genders, they were born on different continents in different decades. Their routes to becoming composers differed, yet they both ended up as Another Timbre artists with a respectable selection of album releases on the label and the prospect of more to come. Nonetheless, Demoč and Smith do have similarities; firstly each of them is a talented composer who has been accepted as being fit to be called an Another Timbre composer; secondly, each of them recognises the importance of the label using Apartment House to record their music and the quality of the label's recordings...

Adrián Demoč
Zamat
Another Timbre
2024
Although it is only five years since Adrián Demoč's debut album under his own name, Žiadba, was released on Another Timbre, his stature has notably increased in the intervening years. In 2021, Hlaholika followed on Another Timbre as did NahaZamat in 2024. All bar Naha have featured Apartment House playing Demoč's music. In addition to his Another Timbre release, 2024 saw three of his solo piano pieces released on the much-praised Piano album, played by Miroslav Beinhauer.

As Demoč long ago decided that it is impossible to survive as a contemporary composer in Slovakia, his country of birth, he moved to a fairly small town in Spain where he works as a music teacher as well as composing. The music on Zamat comprises three pieces composed in 2023 or 2024. "Zamat (2023)" plays for 10:50, "Gebrechlichkeit (2023)" for 24:26 and ,,...'o proton jasu..." (2024)' for 31:24 giving the album a playing time of 66:40.

Each of the pieces is played by a slightly different quartet—"Gebrechlichkeit (2023)" by a string quartet, the other two with clarinets instead of violins, "Zamat" with a clarinet and a bass clarinet—so each has a sound which is distinctly different to the others. "Zamat" translates from Slovak to English as "velvet" which is appropriate to the ambiance of the piece. "Gebrechlichkeit" translates as "frailty" or "weakness" which again captures the mood of the piece. The oddly-titled third piece has a similar atmosphere to "Gebrechlichkeit" and concludes this fine album which is best summed up by that word—"atmosphere."

Linda Catlin Smith
Flowers of Emptiness
Another Timbre
2024
Flowers of Emptiness is the sixth Another Timbre album on which New York-born, Toronto resident and composer Linda Catlin Smith has featured. Her first appearance on Another Timbre was on the 2016 album Dirt Road which was soon followed by two albums in Another Timbre's Canadian Composers Series, Drifter and Wanderer recorded in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

As so often of her Another Timbre albums, Flowers of Emptiness is performed from start to finish by members of Apartment House, the much-praised ensemble led by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze. (The album's cover artwork is also credited to Lukoszevieze.) In stark contrast to Adrián Demoč's album, in which his three compositions span two years, Linda Catlin Smith's eight pieces span thirty-eight years from 1986 to 2024 (the former being the year after Demoč was born, incidentally).

The pieces range in length from 3:13 up to 19:13. Four pieces are string quartets, one a clarinet plus strings quartet, the title piece a string trio, one a violin duo, one a cello and piano duo and one a bass clarinet solo. As those lineups suggest, they hardly ever sound cluttered but instead allow every instrument to be clearly heard throughout. Linda Catlin Smith sounds as if she savours the sounds of her chosen instruments and writes music to make them sound as good as possible, music that is unhurried and easy on the ear. In a nutshell, this album is beautiful from start to finish.

Tracks and Personnel

Zamat

Tracks: Zamat (2023); Gebrechlichkeit (2023); ,,....o proton jasu..." (2024)

Personnel: Raymond Brien: clarinet (1,3); Heather Roche: bass clarinet (1), clarinet (3); Chihiro Ono: viola (1, 3); Anton Lukoszevieze: cello (1-3); Mira Benjamin: violin (2); Gordon MacKay: violin (2); Bridget Carey: viola (2).

Flowers of Emptiness

Tracks: Waterlily (2008); Blackwing (2018); Flowers of Emptiness (1986); Lamento (2010); Das Rosenn-Innere (2024); As you pass a reflective surface (1991); Nightshade (2021); String Quartet #6 (2013).

Personnel: Mira Benjamin: violin (1, 3-4,6,8); Gordon MacKay: violin (1, 4, 7); Chihiro Ono: violin (6,8); Bridget Carey: viola (1, 3, 6. 8); Anton Lukoszevieze: cello (1, 3, 5-8); James Opstad: double bass (7); Heather Roche: bass clarinet (2) & clarinet (7); Kerry Yong: piano (5).

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