Together Alone by Caroline Kraabel for LIO
Together Alone
For London Improvisers Orchestra in pandemic isolation, in lieu of live performance on Sunday 5 July 2020.
Devised, prepared, conducted and combined by Caroline Kraabel (Vauxhall).
I miss the glorious web of connections formed by the London Improvisers Orchestra improvising together live. Could some aspects of those connections be maintained even if we didn't hear each other? For ten days I visited LIO musicians in lockdown, or on video-call, in order to conduct each of them in their own version of a score broken up into 30-second segments, each with a single cue (not necessarily the same for all the musicians). Memories, the experience of having played together, and great skill at improvisation made these segments recorded in isolation into something that, when combined (the parts were simply aligned to start at the same time), sounds recognisably like the LIO. It was a privilege to be able to see everyone, and to hear the miraculous synchronicity and surprises in the music.
Tracklist
| 1. | Caroline Kraabel for LIO - Together Alone | 11:47 |
Credits
Rowland Sutherland: flute, alto flute, voice (conducted via video-conference with Edmonton)
Seymour Wright: alto sax, with Crystabel Riley: percussion, with Eronel: voice, percussion (recorded on their balcony in Haggerston)
Susanna Ferrar: violin, with Pascal Marzan: microtonal guitar, with Jerry Wigens: mandolin (Stamford Hill)
Jason Yarde: soprano sax, baritone sax (conducted via video-conference with Hastings)
Adrian Northover: soprano sax, with Sue Lynch: tenor sax (recorded under Blackfriars Bridge)
Charlotte Hug: viola (with soft bow), voice (conducted via video-conference with Poschiavo)
Pei Ann Yeoh: violin (conducted via video-conference with Kuala Lumpur)
Dee Byrne: alto sax (Highgate)
Steve Beresford: piano (Ladbroke Grove)
Cath Roberts: percussion, with Tom Ward: flute, clarinet (Catford)
Charlotte Keeffe: trumpet (recorded outdoors in Camden)
John Bissett: guitar, snoring (Stoke Newington)
Adam Bohman: two metal goblets, egg box, plastic box (recorded outdoors in Brockley)
Ivor Kallin: viola (Hackney)
Hyelim Kim: Taegum (conducted via video-conference with Seoul)
Loz Speyer: trumpet (Dalston)
Neil Metcalfe: flute (Stepney)
License
All rights reserved.
The London Improvisers Orchestra is dedicated to free and conducted improvisation.
It draws on a large and shifting pool of improvising musicians from London and beyond,
and plays in London monthly, generally on the first Sunday of the month.