Goran Mansson - Ol'Jansa - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Göran Marcusson - Sonatas [COMPACT DISCS] date 12/11/2007

ELEPHANT TREE present a remarkable Anniversary Edition of their acclaimed first album InchTheiaInch (2015). While the music of this milestone remains untouched, it's artwork has been given a refreshing inversion, and a wealth of rare photos, liner notes and lyrics have been added to provide a thorough look at the band's first decade since the original . The seed for ELEPHANT TREE was planted in a rehearsal space somewhere in the smelly back alleys of England's sleepless capital of London in 2013. There, the first notes of what would become the song 'Attack of the Altaica' sprang from the bass of Jack Townley and Sam Hart's drums. Thus, it is fitting that this earliest demo became the opening track of the band's new rarities collection InchHandful of TenInch. The infectious blend of warm, syrupy fuzz and soaring vocal harmonies on the InchAttack of the AltaicaInch demo soon led to contract and the debut full-length InchTheiaInch was released in September 2014. Although the album received an excellent reception by critics and fans alike, the hardworking Englishmen did not rest on their laurels. In 2015 they followed up with the self-titled sophomore full-length InchElephant TreeInch. The next album took longer ELEPHANT TREE's decision to try a tag closer to home ultimately did not work out as the new tag ran into trouble, which left the band's third and latest album InchHabitsInch (2020) without the ongoing support it deserved. Looking back at ten most exciting years, ELEPHANT TREE celebrate this occasion with reissues of InchHabitsInch and InchTheiaInch as well as great tunes pulled from their archive alongside the brash and blistering new tracks under the title InchHandful of TenInch.

In her A minor Sonata, Op.5, as in her earlier Sonata in C minor for cello and piano (1880), Ethel Smyth favours expressivity over virtuosity, emphasising the cello's warm and lyrical tone. The piano enjoys a key role in all three movements and is often invited to present the chief subject matter rather than merely playing a supporting role accompanying the cello line. One of Delius's most satisfying chamber works, the Cello Sonata is distinguished by the expressive power of it's material. Both instruments enter at the same time, the cello unfolding a songlike, long-limbed line, while the piano presents the main idea. A second key theme, introduced by the cello over the piano's rippling, arpeggiated chords, is more forthright and sharply defined. An unattributed review of Gibbs's Cello Sonata in E published in The Musical Times in 1953, found it to be 'an ideal piece of work for cellists who want something contemporary on which to develop their technique, for it's difficulties are of the sort which repays practice'. Thanks to this recording of the work more than seventy years after it's completion, contemporary listeners now have an opportunity to appreciate it's melodic strength, understated formal artistry and grateful writing for both instruments. Britten's Cello Sonata is a challenging, bravura piece that benefits immeasurably from the natural affinity between composer and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. The relationship would inspire Britten to produce four more major works for Rostropovich who wrote of the work, 'This is a sonata full of surprises, innovations for any cellist, gifts for the musician flowing freely from the horn of plenty. We meet not merely a novelty in finger-work but, what is most important, a new kind of expressive and profound dramatic composition.'