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The Centre is Everywhere

by Manchester Collective

supported by
Gavin Sheedy
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Gavin Sheedy I shall leave instructions that, upon my death, a solar-powered sound system be installed in my headstone. Activated by motion detectors, it shall play this music as people (and possibly foxes) walk by. That way, they can be cheered up in a suitably solemnic manner. You have to have something to look forward to.
Jonathan Pryor
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Jonathan Pryor This album is a shining example of the positive, artistic blessing provided via Covid. Music that would never have been created nor experienced had it not been for the pandemic. Artists WILL find a way to create.
Peter Allen
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Peter Allen Not many music programs successfully combine works a century apart, but this one nails it. Substantive and beautiful. Can we have a CD release? There are so many people I could recommended this to.
António José Silva
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António José Silva One of my personal best releases from 2021. Favorite track: Transfigured Night (Verklärte Nacht), Op. 4.
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

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about

‘The Centre is Everywhere’ is our first album. We created it in rather extraordinary circumstances, at a time when we were all slowly sinking into the banal dystopia of a pandemic-stricken world. Our lives, it felt, had slowed to a crawl. Normally we’re fuelled by our audiences, but touring was off the menu. So, we made this record. For us, it was personal.

In such an uncertain time, we wanted to play music that we loved. We ended up with a set of work written over a 120-year period – weightless and transcendent new music alongside Schoenberg’s anguished fin de siècle storytelling.

Edmund Finnis’ work in particular (the titular ‘The Centre is Everywhere’) is important to us. He’s a friend and a colleague, and it’s been a profound experience for us to live with this piece, to tour it, and to make the first ever recording. Somehow in the writing of it, Edmund seems to have prefigured the lack of certainty that has been one of the defining characteristics of this period. His music spins freely through time and space, wraithlike and beautiful.

Whilst recording both ‘Company’ by Philip Glass and ‘Transfigured Night’ by Arnold Schoenberg, we found ourselves drawn to a pervading sense of wildness and nature. The hypnotic rise and fall of the rhythms and textures in Glass’ quartet (presented here in an arrangement for string orchestra) feel quite separate to industrial, man-made structures and forms. Like Edmund’s work, these short movements feel out of time and cyclical, like eternally repeating tides or moon-phases.

Schoenberg’s masterpiece for string sextet opens on a moonlit forest scene, two lovers venturing through a bare, cold grove. We’ve tried to create a recording that paints the violent contrasts of this piece as vividly as possible, from the claustrophobic confessions that open the work through to the gleaming sound world of the second half. As the piece closes, our wooden, earthbound instruments seem to have been transmuted by the glamour and glow of Schoenberg’s music. We finish amongst the stars.

credits

released March 26, 2021

'The Centre is Everywhere' LP
Manchester Collective
Released by Bedroom Community

Music Director/Violin: Rakhi Singh
Production: Brendan Williams, Adam Szabo, Valgeir Sigurðsson
Recording/Mix Engineer: Brendan Williams
Mastering: Valgeir Sigurðsson

Violin: Rosemary Attree, Gemma Bass, Helena Buckie, Thelma Handy, Pete Liang, Will McGahon, William Newell, Caroline Pether, Steve Proctor, Simmy Singh, Paula Smart, Mollie Wrafter
Viola: Christine Anderson, Ruth Gibson, Kimi Makino, Alex Mitchell, Kay Stephen
Cello: William Hewer, Peggy Nolan, Jonathan Pether, Simon Turner, Nick Trygstad
Double Bass: Sam Becker, Alice Durrant

Artwork: Ella Skinner
Design: Helenskià Collett

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about

Manchester Collective Manchester, UK

Radical human experiences. Known for their experimental programming and daring collaborations, Manchester Collective bring a combination of cutting edge contemporary music and classical masterpieces to a hungry, new audience.

"THE FUTURE HAS ARRIVED"
Bachtrack

"BRILLIANT"
The Observer
... more

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