Matthew Bourne

Tip! "Three harpsichords in various states of disrepair were kindly offered to me by Leeds Conservatoire. I accepted, and a memorandum of understanding was swiftly drawn up. The offer was made under the condition that I might make some music from them, given my penchant for infirm instruments, and their conventional worthlessness to anyone wishing to use them for their intended purpose. There seemed to be an auspiciousness surrounding these harpsichords, the stories they might reveal, and more importantly, the promise of setting them alight in some sort of sacrificial bonfire after their usefulness had expired.

CD A - All Three, At Once - (Tracks 1 - 8)
Myself, Glen Leach and Nika Ticciati improvised a number of pieces on all three harpsichords at once - and is perhaps a world first for such a configuration. Recorded in a single afternoon, we orientated ourselves with each instrument for a few pieces before moving on to the next. The instruments never seemed to tire of us, and, although revealed much of themselves, felt as if we had only scratched at the surface (sometimes literally) of their reach.

CD B - Each One, Separately - (Tracks 9 - 17)
This is a suite of improvisations played on each individual instrument, with simultaneous electronic processing by one half of the Nightports duo, Mark Slater. Like the pieces on the previous disc, these were recorded in a single sitting, but were duo performances, with clear interplay between instrument and electronics - prompting a variety of different responses from us both. The recordings were later subjected to brutal cuts and edits made with the same attitude of spontaneous playfulness as the performances, leaving Adam Martin to provide additional effects and processing, using a mixture of digital and analogue outboard equipment.

In making this music, no one could have anticipated just how generously these instruments would surrender, or the extent to which they were capable of generating music of such singularity and belligerence." - Matthew Bourne