Throughout 2023 & 2024 Gavin Bryars celebrates his 80th birthday with a series of Ensemble concerts throughout the UK and EU.
🧠 “…Listen to him, he’s intelligent…” Lulu
🧠 “…One of the ten most intelligent people on the planet…” Juan Muñoz
BRYARS ON THE ENSEMBLE:
During the 1970’s I worked in composer/performer ensembles with composer friends such as John White, Dave Smith and Christopher Hobbs. We played each others’ music, writing for each other as performers and accepting the frequent oddity of the ensuing instrumentation. The ethos was one of mutual respect, musical trust and an ability to understand forms of musical shorthand. The first time that we gave a concert entirely of my work was at the 1979 Festival d’Automne in Paris, in the Chapelle de la Sorbonne when I augmented the group with 3 of my students to perform pieces such as The Sinking of the Titanic.
In 1981 John White and I put together a combined ensemble for a Regional Arts Contemporary Music Network tour which featured, more or less equally, works by each of us, played by a group which included many of the formidable musicians performing John’s music for Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman at the National Theatre. When I started my own ensemble I worked on the principle that pervaded our early work – that first and foremost the ensemble should comprise musicians with whom I wanted to work rather than players who were there simply because I needed certain instruments. For this reason the ensemble has often had an unusual line-up. In 1986, for example, there were 6 players: violin, clarinet, piano, 2 percussion, bass, with the last four all playing percussion and one of the percussionists also playing recorder. My current ensemble is much larger, between 5 and 12 people according to repertoire, but all are versatile musicians being essentially chamber music players who are also exceptional individual soloists.
The ensemble has changed over the years, and many fine players have either been members of the ensemble or have performed with it on specific occasions. My closest musical colleague Dave Smith has been with me longest, and we worked together even before my ensemble came into being. The only time that I have performed in New York, for example, was when Dave and I gave two curious duo-piano concerts at The Kitchen in 1978. He was also in the group which played in Paris in 1979 though, because of the need to cover university teaching for myself and John White, he did not tour in the 1981 band.
1986 was the first time that the name Gavin Bryars Ensemble was used, when we performed at the Flanders Festival in Ghent. The ensemble comprised violinist Alexander Balanescu, clarinettist Roger Heaton, Dave Smith and myself, along with two of my ex-students Jamie McCarthy, who did the recorder solo in Sub Rosa, and percussionist Andy Bilham. When I gave a series of concerts at the 1987 Almeida Festival in London I added percussionist Martin Allen, who had earlier been one of the six percussionists in the first performance of Effarene, as well as Leslie Howard, one of the great virtuoso pianists of our time. For the 1988 Arts Council Contemporary Music Network Tour I added another great virtuoso pianist Martin Jones to the group, and we used the Balanescu String Quartet in its entirety so that we could perform multi-keyboard works (Out of Zaleski’s Gazebo for two pianos 8 hands featured Leslie Howard, Martin Jones, Dave Smith and myself) as well as the First String Quartet. The programme’s chief feature was the first performance of Doctor Ox’s Experiment (Epilogue), an extended vocal draft for my subsequent opera, which was sung by Sarah Leonard. This was also the first time that Chris Ekers, my sound engineer, worked with the ensemble and his sound designs have become a critical part of the ensemble’s live work.
The next stage in the ensemble’s evolution came when it became clear that Alex Balanescu’s complex performing schedule meant that he could not always join the ensemble. The crisis came with a large-scale public concert, featuring the first performance for many years of Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, at the time of the release of the new version in 1993. At this point, having considered a number of fine solo violinists, I decided that Alex was not replaceable by another violinist (indeed, looking for an equivalent instrument was an unconscious violation of the unstated principle of the ensemble’s rationale) but rather by a superb player on another instrument. Viola player Bill Hawkes was then a member of Alex’s quartet and I re-wrote some of the music for him. His presence, and in rapid succession the arrival of cellist Sophie Harris and guitarist James Woodrow – each following periods of work with them with other groups (The Smith Quartet, Icebreaker) – defined very quickly a new sonority in the group: that of low strings.
There are various combinations of players used according to repertoire (some pieces need sound design as part of the work) and performance space (some performances involve no sound reinforcement). Programmes can be constructed in many ways, the following are examples of recent programmes – any of which can be done, or modified according to availability of new works. Older pieces, such as The Sinking of the Titanic or Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, are either performed as single works in entire concerts, or as a work in the second half of a concert where the first half contains more recent work. These pieces may also involve extra players.
Over the last few years the basic ensemble, to which others are added according to repertoire, has become Morgan Goff, viola; Nick Cooper, cello; James Woodrow, electric and acoustic guitars; myself on double bass and sometimes piano. If I need a second viola, sometimes needed for some vocal repertoire for example, I add Nick Barr or Katie Wilkinson. For a second cello I add Audrey Riley – for almost all the later performances of Biped, the group was Audrey, Morgan Goff, James Woodrow and myself. If I need piano then my daughter Alexandra Maria Tchernakova is the regular pianist
GAVIN BRYARS BIOGRAPHY
Gavin’s first musical reputation was as a jazz bassist working in the early sixties with improvisers Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. He abandoned improvisation in 1966 and worked for a time in the United States with John Cage. Subsequently he collaborated closely with composers such as Cornelius Cardew and John White. From 1969 to 1978 he taught in departments of Fine Art in Portsmouth and Leicester, and during the time that he taught at Portsmouth College of Art he was instrumental in founding the legendary Portsmouth Sinfonia. He founded the music department at Leicester Polytechnic (later De Montfort University) and was professor of music there from 1986 to 1994 (for information on Joseph Holbrooke.
Some of Gavin’s most significant early works which are not published by Schott but can be found elsewhere (they are mentioned in Michael Nyman’s ‘Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond’ and recorded on Obscure. EMC was founded by Christopher Hobbs in 1969. Gavin Bryars ran the EMC from 1972 until it closed its operations in 1981, shortly after the death of Cornelius Cardew.)
His first major work as a composer was The Sinking of the Titanic (1969) originally released on Brian Eno’s Obscure label in 1975 and Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971), both famously released in new versions in the 1990s on Point Music label, selling over a quarter of a million copies. The original 1970s recordings have been re-released on CD by GB Records (BCGBCD22 and 23)
He has composed prolifically for the theatre and dance as well as for the concert hall and has written five full-length operas. His first opera, Medea was first staged by the director Robert Wilson at the Opéra de Lyon and Opéra de Paris in 1984. Following the success of the original production, a revised version was given in concert in 1995 by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. His second opera, Doctor Ox’s Experiment (based on a story by Jules Vernes and with a libretto by Blake Morrison) was staged by the Canadian film director Atom Egoyan for English National Opera in 1998. A separate production of Doctor Ox’s Experiment appeared in 1999 in Dortmund, Germany. The third opera, “G” (libretto again by Blake Morrison), was commissioned by Mainz Opera and was premiered in February 2002, staged by Georges Delnon, in the newly refurbished Mainz Opera House.
His fifth opera is a chamber opera based on Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, directed by Jean Lacorrnerie in Lyon for the Theatre de la Croix-Rousse and the Theatre de la Renaissance.
Among Gavin Bryars’ other works are four string quartets and a great deal of chamber music, much of it for his own ensemble. He wrote a series of vocal works for The Hilliard Ensemble including Glorious Hill(1988), Incipit Vita Nova (1989), Cadman Requiem (1989, revised 1998) and The First Book of Madrigals (1998-2000) and since that time vocal music has been a major preoccupation (see Vocal Music). His background in the visual arts has resulted in works for the opening of the Tate Gallery in Liverpool (1988); an installation in the Chateau d’Oiron, Poitiers, commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture (1993) a work for the Tate Gallery St Ives (1997), an a project for the Valencia Architecture Biennale (2002) with Will Alsop. Other commissions include works for Charlie Haden (1987), John Harle (1991), Nexus (1994), Lawrence Cherney (1994), Fretwork (1995), Maggie Cole (1995), Julian Lloyd Webber (1995), Valdine Anderson (1995/6) Holly Cole (1998), Orlando Consort (2000) Ensemble Tozai (2001), Trio Mediaeval Sextet (Second Book of Madrigals 2002), Red Byrd (2004), Iarla O’Lionaird (2006), Ralph van Raat (2010). Orchestral commissions include Bournemouth Sinfonietta (The Green Ray, 1991), BBC Symphony Orchestra (The War in Heaven, 1993), Primavera Chamber Orchestra (The Porazzi Fragment, 1999, Violin Concerto 2000), Double Bass Concerto (“Farewell to St. Petersburg”) for Duncan McTier (2002), London Sinfonietta (2004), Percussions Claviers de Lyon (2004, 2009).
He has also worked with performers outside the “classical” music world such as Tom Waits, Natalie Merchant, Gavin Friday. He has also worked closely with Father John Misty album arranging two tracks for the album Pure Comedy as well as all the songs for Father John Misty’s live concert with the BBC Ulster Orchestra. He is also embarking on a project for concerts and recordings in France with Mocke.
Since 2006 he has collaborated with Opera North Projects, initially with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) on Shakespeare sonnets Nothing like the Sun (2007) and subsequently on Mercy and Grand (2007-8) – a project on the songs of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan. In 2017 he worked with Opera North Projects on Winestead , related to the small church in East Yorkshire where Andrew Marvell’s father was vicar. Since 2006 he has worked with the Irish singer Iarla O’Lionaird on settings of early Gaelic texts. Gavin Bryars has a particular association with dance and the visual arts: choreographers who have used his work and commissioned new pieces from him include William Forsythe, Lucinda Childs, Carolyn Carlson, Maguy Marin, Jiri Kylian, Siobhan Davies, Edouard Lock and David Dawson.
Among the visual artists who have worked with Gavin Bryars’ music are: Tim Head (on a live performance of Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet), Bruce MacLean (collaboration on Invention of Tradition), James Hugonin (The North Shore, From Mina Harker’s Journal and The Island Chapel were written for his exhibitions). Bill Culbert did an installation for a live performance of The Sinking of the Titanic. Jennifer Bartlett’s paintings were an integral part of the design for Four Elements. A Man in a Room, Gambling, was a collaboration with Juan Muñoz for Artangel. Christian Boltanski did an installation for a live performance of The Sinking of the Titanic in Bruges, France, and Gavin Bryars performed The Sinking of the Titanic as a part of Christian Boltanski’s exhibition in the Mito Art Tower, Japan. Robert Wilson used Gavin Bryars’ music in various exhibitions of his drawings, as well as working with him in the theatre. David Byrne used Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet for his photographic exhibition in Tokyo. In 2002 Gavin Bryars worked on a project with Will Alsop and Bruce McLean for the Valencia Architecture Biennale. In July 2006 he was a keynote speaker at the Alvar Aalto Academy Symposium in Finland. in May 2012 he worked with the Quay Brothers on Overworlds and Underworlds, a series of installations and performances in Leeds
Among Gavin Bryars’ numerous recordings are “Three Viennese Dancers“, “After The Requiem“, The Black River and “Vita Nova” on ECM New Series, “The Last Days” on Argo (1995), and “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet” (1993), “The Sinking of the Titanic” (1994), “Farewell to Philosophy” (1996), “A Man in a Room Gambling” (1997) and “Cadman Requiem” (1998) on Point Music. In 2000 he started his own label GB Records with an initial release of Biped. This was followed with a number of other albums: Lockerbie Memorial Concert (2003), A Man in a Room, Gambling (2003), Oi me lasso (2005), On Photography (2005), A Listening Room (2005), Glorious Hill(2007), Silva Caledonia (2008), Amjad (2008), Season of Mists (2008), I have heard it said that a spirit enters (2010) – being a remastered re-release of an album recorded for CBC Records in 2002 – Live at Punkt (2010), I send you this Cadmium Red (2010), Al Suon dell’acque scriva (2010), New York (2010). Mercy and Grand, an album of Tom Waits songs (2012). The War in Heaven, Music from the Faroe Islands and a live album of The Sinking of the Titanic were released in 2014. In 2016 he released remastered versions of Obscure 1 (Jesus’ Blood, Titanic) and Obscure 2 (Ensemble pieces, with Christopher Hobbs) as well as two albums from Adelaide (one with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, another being a live recoding of Nothing like the Sun) as well as his I Tatti madrigals with Singer Pur. GB Records albums are distributed worldwide by Proper Note. Black Box released a recording of his three string quartets (2002). Universal released a double CD of music recorded for Decca and Philips from the last ten years to coincide with his 60th birthday in January 2003. There are new recordings of his early works on Mute Records and LTM and a live recording of The Sinking of the Titanic on Touch. (see Discography). A recording of his piano music, including a piano concerto, performed by Ralph van Raat, was released by Naxos in February 2011. An album of choral music with The Crossing The Fifth Century was released on ECM Records in 2016 and was awarded a Grammy in 2o18. His latest work for The Crossing, A Native Hill, a large-scale setting of Wendell Berry, will be released in 2021 on Parma/Navona Records
In 2016 he also did a project with Blake Morrison and the GB Ensemble for the Yorkshire Festival, with Sonic Journeys. For The Stopping Train downloaded audio is be played (on headphones) for the whole journey between his home town, Goole, and Hull in both directions. In 2021 he wrote a piece for choir and brass, celebrating Goole, commissioned by Junction and Sound UK.
The Gavin Bryars Ensemble, founded in 1981, performs internationally, including appearances in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Czeck Republic, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Mexico, Norway, Austria, Japan and Australia, as well as giving occasional concerts in UK. (see Ensemble). In 2012 an enlarged ensemble (with guest Philip Jeck, and a quartet of low strings consisting of his four children) performed a special centenary version of The Sinking of the Titanic.
Gavin Bryars has lectured widely and was Associate Research Fellow at Dartington College of Arts from 2004-2008. He has an honorary doctorate from the University of Plymouth, he was awarded a Fellowship of Bath Spa University., and was awarded an honorary fellowship by Birmingham Conservatoire. He is a Regent of the Collège de ‘Pataphysique, was awarded the Ordre de la Grande Gidouille, and has been made a Transcendent Satrap, the most elevated position in the Collège. Gavin Bryars is married to Russian-born film director Anna Tchernakova, has three daughters (two from his previous marriage) and a son. He lives in England and British Columbia, Canada.