Tom Phillips, AMM

Irma is the opera the painter Tom Phillips sketched in 1969, heard here in a single 39-minute performance by AMM and guests. Phillips built the score from 93 random phrases taken from W.H. Mallock's 1892 novel A Human Document, the book he was reworking as A Humument, and divided them into sound suggestions, libretto and staging directions. Because the score is largely graphic, every realisation depends on the players, as Gavin Bryars showed when he improvised much of the 1978 Obscure recording.

In 1988 Phillips invited AMM to perform the piece with guests at the Union Chapel in London, and this is the concert of 20 May 1988. The AMM trio of the time is there: Keith Rowe on guitar, radio, tapes and cello, John Tilbury on piano and radio, Eddie Prévost on percussion. The voices include Elise Lorraine as Irma and Phil Minton as Grenville, with Lol Coxhill on voice and soprano saxophone, clarinets, further voices and Phillips himself. Ray Beckett engineered the recording and Phil Mouldycliff made the live mix.

Released by Matchless Recordings in 1988 as MR 16, on CD, with artwork and text by Phillips and design by Rowe.