Between The Notes at the BBC Proms, 30th August 2005
“The other new work featured young musicians….who developed the work with boundary-crossing group Between The Notes. The result was certainly diverse and included some explosive gestures from strings, a bagpipe intervention and a rhythmic propellant derived from bossa nova. Its dynamism, combined with striking commitment from the players and an undoubted feel-good factor, carried it to success.”
George Hall, Guardian, 2nd August 2005
“Performed with Brio”
Geoffrey Norris, Daily Telegraph, 1st August 2005
“Sophisticated”
Geoff Brown, The Times 1st August 2005
“And then we got Invisible Lines, a work written and performed without conductor or score by a talented posse of teenagers with Between The Notes. The piece had shape and thrust, and climaxed in controlled abandon: bravos all round.”
Michael Church, Independent 2nd August 2005-08-09
“More arresting was another new work, Invisible Lines created and played by the ensemble Between The Notes, members of the BBC SO and young musicians from Berkshire, Cheltenham, Gateshead and Southampton. Based on some of Trainer’s compositional principles and a bossa nova rhythm, the piece combined careful preparation with spontaneity. It was presented with impressive, utterly professional discipline.”
Stephen Pettitt, The Evening Standard, 1st August 2005
CD Knots (Black Box BBM 1095, released July 2005)
Viktoria Mullova lends her considerable presence to Knots, the most recent work on the programme, from 2003. Based on R D Laing’s psychological treatise of the same title, the work is “closely related to the various knots, tangles, impasses and disjunctions in which Laing’s words entwine us”. What this means in practice is the projection of low-level anxiety through spiky, disjointed rhythms borrowed from the ‘Bang on a Can’ school of caffeinated post-minimalism. The best movement of three is the second, which slyly spins a sort of slow-motion tango before stepping up the pace; it is the least dependent on the device of building up riffs.
Exploring the freedoms of a post-minimalist, post-modern moment, “Between The Notes” sail in an ocean into which generic traditions pour as mere tributaries. The idea is to combine the immediacy of pop and jazz with the classical interest in structural complexity. It works well in a piece like Tangerine Dream, written in collaboration with a workshop for teenagers to accompany a dance piece. Cello and soprano saxophone soar over a hypnotic pulse; Trainer’s increasingly frantic piano improvisation feels like the natural release of pent-up tension, and there is a satisfying dramatic trajectory. Lucky is also good, with its skittish, shifting tempos and a crystalline sax solo by Peter Whyman.
the best moments come when the band is given space to open out. I hope there will be more such moments in future; for now…..worth hearing.
Rob Witts, classicalsource.com August 2005,
Independent review for Knots
Rob Cowan Independent 6 December 2005 ****
Fraser Trainer’s Knots takes RD Laing’s psychology as its starting pint and, musically speaking, follows a track partially explored by Andriessen, Torke, Reich, Stravinsky (Soldier’s Tale) and others. The ensemble “Between The Notes” grabs this likeable, hot-foot excursion – music that kicks out with the tips of its toes – and turns it into aural ballet. Central to the enterprise are quick reflexes of the cellist-director Matthew Barley and, especially, the violinist Viktoria Mullova, who dances her way through “Knots” and “Love Action”. In addition to Trainer’s work, Barley programmes two collaborative pieces, the quasi-minimalist “Tangerine Dance” and a 15-minute tone essay “Lucky”, which isn’t quite the carefree jaunt it at first seems to be.
Music Web International Classical CD reviews, January 2006
Classical Editor: Rob Barnett
Black Box continue their relentless pursuit for some of the best new music in this release of première recordings from Between the Notes. Featuring five recent works – of which keyboard player Fraser Trainer is the composer, arranger or involved in the collaboration – this innovative group, along with their guest violinist Viktoria Mullova, present some persuasive reasons to listen to more of what they have to offer. They draw from a large number of styles and influences, the unusual combination of instruments allowing them all to be heard, with an overall sense of blend.
The title work of the disc, Knots, was born out of the book of the same name by the psychiatrist, R. D. Laing, and in it Trainer inventively transforms texts from the book into the music that we hear, by way of a code and extensive use of speech rhythms. The repetitive nature of the book is echoed in the music with a minimalist approach to much of the work – particularly in the catchy riffs that litter not only this work. In its three movements Trainer seeks to portray three different aspects of the Laing’s book; the first (Jack and Jill) focuses on behaviour in relationships, the second (How do I feel about my shoes?) is calmer with eventual mood swings, the third (All in all) is a gradual build-up of extreme tension leading to a final release. As is expected a vast array of emotions are portrayed in what is a massively turbulent work, with a massively improvised feel to the music, with an occasional glimmer of both jazz and folk qualities.
Of the remaining four works on this disc, Lucky is the only one on the scale of Knots. Written mostly by Trainer and Matthew Barley, is the perhaps the lightest and also the most sensual work on this disc. Dominated by the opening guitar and keyboard riffs, which recur in different formats, the main feature of this work is the substantial section of improvisation for which this group are known.
Tangerine Dance is the result of a creative collaboration with teenagers in Lichfield – a frequent activity of this group. It represents some of their views on the treatment of the young in society and their sadness at not being able to express themselves how they might like. The original staging of Tangerine Dance depicted in the booklet notes, describes the teenagers struggle to find their own way using the tangerine as a symbol. This struggle is brought across effectively in the music, depicting a restricted riff in the opening which develops slowly, with the introduction of individual voices and with eventual chaos.
ID is exactly that – the identities of each member of the band incorporated into the music, again using a code to create rhythmic elements. The titles of each of the movements (S.ra, P.why and P.gri), refer to members of the band, and their instruments feature noticeably in these movements. The arrangement by Trainer of The Human League’s 1981 song Love Action is a convincing and welcome addition to round off the disc.
The booklet notes by Trainer and the group’s director Matthew Barley offer an indispensable and succinct insight into the processes behind each of these works. The confident and assured Mullova is an ideal proponent of this music, while the band themselves are an incredibly tight unit and complement each other with considerable success. An intimate and clear recorded sound makes this disc an eclectic triumph that is definitely worth a listen.
Adam Binks
“Flight of a butterfly on a winter night”
“Vecherniy Almaty” newspaper, 26.01.2006
“Between the Notes, a unique music project from the British Council, has taken off in Almaty. Between the Notes is the name of a music group, founded in 1997 in the UK, which has toured the world before coming to Kazakhstan…
- We are always happy to meet new friends and music partners around the world – says the leader of the group, Matthew Barley – That is why we are looking forward to meeting Kazakhstani people. It’s an honour for us to visit a country with strong cultural traditions and at the same time open to everything new. It is good to see that Kazakhstan has high standards of music education, which place it amongst the most musical countries in the world. This time we are preparing a joint performance by professional musicians playing classical and traditional instrument; students from music schools and the Kazakh National Conservatoire; and a choir from boarding school #2…”
“Azattyk” Radio, 20.01.2006
“…According to doctors, listening to and performing music has a therapeutic effect on disabled children. The “Between the Notes” project actively involved the students of special school #2 for disabled children, who amazed the audience with their skilful performance. The choir of disabled children were moving in time to their singing, which made the performance even more spectacular…
Karlygash Kozhakhmetova, the mother of one of the choristers, said she was very pleased to see her daughter and other children achieve such good results in such a short space of time.”
“Between the Notes and Worlds”
“Gazeta.kz” newspaper, 26.01.2006
“The British Council is well-known for regularly bringing distinctive musicians, artists and interesting people in general to Kazakhstan. Last week Almaty welcomed a British cellist, Matthew Barley, and his group “Between the Notes”.
The group is unusual, and not only because its members use cello, guitar, saxophone, piano and marimba. “Between the Notes’ is also an education project that involves local musicians, therapeutic. For one week they will rehearse and create new music, drawing on various music styles and trends including classical, jazz, ethnic and funk...”
“In a pot of notes”
“Novoye Pokolenie” newspaper, 27.01.2006
“…The aim of the British Council’s “Between the Notes” educational project is to dissolve some of the barriers that exist between professional and amateur musicians, competing educational establishments, classical and non-classical music, notated and improvised music, able-bodied and disabled children…”
“Delovaya Nedelya” newspaper
“…Almaty has not really seen anything like it before. This is a joint project from British Council Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan and a British group with an unsual name: “Between the Notes”. The project is described as ‘educational’, which sounds quite academic (if not to say boring). But as often happens in literature and music, the content is more interesting than the form…”
“British musicians implementing an extraordinary educational project in Almaty”
“Panorama” newspaper, 27.01.2006
“…the key element of the event is the two-way process of creating music. On one side there is a British group, “Between the Notes’, and on the other students from music schools and the Conservatoire… The Kazakhstani participants are learning new working methods from the British musicians. In particular, between the rehearsals they play special interactive games which enable them to learn to listen and respond to each other… According to one of the organisers of the project, British Council Arts Manager Ainura Ashirova, this event aims to strengthen cultural links between Kazakhstan and the UK, and unite people from different musical backgrounds in the process of making something new and extraordinary, a fusion of classical and contemporary music, various music styles and trends.”
Lichfield Festival, debut performance
1997
The phrase educational drama always tends to make me shudder. It smacks of the wearyingly worthy. But last night’s evocation of the Titanic disaster at Lichfield Civic Hall produced an instant conversion. Given by students from local comprehensive schools and led by Between the Notes, the sell-out show turned out to be a presentation of extraordinary power and professionalism.
Lichfield Star, 1997
