From the sublime to the electric, Manchester Collective explores the power of the soloist in a performance of stark contrasts.
David Lang – Mystery Sonatas, mvt 1. Joy
J.S. Bach – Prelude from Cello Suite No.1 in G Major
Zoe Martlew – G-Lude
Missy Mazzoli – Vespers
J.S. Bach – Allemande and Sarabande from Cello Suite No.1 in G major
Julia Wolfe arr. Rakhi Singh – LAD
Rakhi Singh – violin (Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Manchester Collective)
Zoë Martlew – cello
From the sublime to the electric, Manchester Collective explores the power of the soloist in a performance of stark contrasts.
Intimate, resonant sounds lull us into a false sense of security, before the violin and cello begin battling it out onstage. The pair end up drenched in delay, distortion and reverb; flitting between chaos, peace and order.
Gate-crashing the calm is Zoë Martlew’s ‘G-Lude’ for solo cello and electronics. A cathartic howl exploding from the quiet, it’s a celebration of the rough edges, complete with wild scrapes, screeches, thwacks and gasps. ‘G-Lude’ is a raucous homage to the Bach ‘Prelude’ also featured in this show.
Not content with letting the cello have the final say, Rakhi Singh’s arrangement of Julia Wolfe’s ‘LAD’, originally for nine bagpipes, is reinvented here for just one very loud violin – plugged into a crunchy guitar pedal.
Consider the mic dropped.
Book Manchester Classical – Manchester Collective: The Body Electric at The Bridgewater Hall
