コーネリアス・カーデュー: グレート・ラーニング＜限定盤＞

イギリスの前衛音楽作曲家が"芸術の普遍性を表現した"人気のアルバム

イギリスの前衛音楽作曲家コーネリアス・カーデューの『グレート・ラーニング』から「Paragraph 2 &7」が演奏されたアルバムです。1968年から71年にかけて発売されたドイツ・グラモフォンの「アヴァンギャルド」オリジナル・シリーズ全24タイトルの中でも特に人気があり、高く評価されました。カーデューはロンドンの王立音楽アカデミーでの学業を終えた後、1958年にケルンへ移り、西ドイツ放送(WDR)の電子音楽スタジオでカールハインツ・シュトゥックハウゼンの助手を務めました。イギリスのピアニスト、ジョン・ティルベリーは、カーデューがスクラッチ・オーケストラと『グレート・ラーニング』で目指していることは「西洋芸術の最も基本的な原則、特に芸術家を特権的な存在だとする考え方から脱却すること」で、「スクラッチ・オーケストラは芸術の、つまり生き方としての芸術の普遍性を表現するものだ」と述べています。1971年に録音されたこの『グレート・ラーニング』の発売は、スクラッチ・オーケストラの音世界に出会うための主要な手段であり続け、後世に残すべき遺産に対する最も重要な貢献です。
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

The Great Learning was one of British composer Cornelius Cardew's most important works, a series of seven "paragraphs" with text from the writings of Confucius and scored for generally large numbers of both trained and untrained performers. The original productions of this piece, in fact, served as the genesis of the legendary pro-amateur Scratch Orchestra. This 2000 release includes three of the paragraphs, two from the 1971 Deutsche Grammophon album that premiered the composition, as well as an additional section, "Paragraph 1," recorded in 1982. All three are fascinating musical experiences. "Paragraph 1" works its way from the mysterious, delicate clicking of handheld stones through harsh yet oddly meditative organ tones and penny whistles to the massed choral intonations of the Confucian script. It is eerie and otherworldly but casts its own unique sense of serenity over the listener. This spell is abruptly shattered by the percussive explosion that begins and carries through "Paragraph 2," an exercise in the inevitability and value of failure. The chorus is required to attempt to valiantly surmount the raging drums and to do so over a long period of time, an idea based on the Buddhist method of practicing chanting in front of a roaring waterfall; they will fail in making themselves clearly heard but something valuable may be learned in the process. Little by little, due to sheer physical exhaustion, the singers subside while the drums, gathering rhythmic cohesion, go on and on. The last piece, "Paragraph 7," for "any number of untrained voices," is a lush and complex vocal sea. From a rich and heady underlying drone, individual voices emerge and recede (is that Julie Tippett one hears?) like waves cresting and falling back. The mass of voices becomes palpable and breathing like a single, multi-throated organism. One can easily imagine, in lesser hands, a composition like this disintegrating into a new agey mush, but this one succeeds wildly as a deep and probing conception, realized fully and with passion. The performance of these pieces is credited simply to the Scratch Orchestra, an organization whose membership varied over the years, but it's likely that participants in these sessions included most of the members of AMM, Brian Eno, Gavin Bryars, and Michael Nyman, among many others. Very highly recommended. ~ Brian Olewnick