Charles Uzor: Mimikry / Pieces With Tape

Contents

Charles Uzor

Nri / mimicri

Caroline Ehret (ondes martenot), Percussion Art Ensemble Bern

spleen / mimicri – Ute Gareis (piano)

Mother Tongue Fire / mimicri – Charles Uzor (tape)

Ave Maria II SWR Vokalensemble /Rupert Huber

Varek Isabel Pfefferkorn (soprano), Ute Gareis (piano)

sweet amygdala Elena Zhunke (violin), Illya Buyalskyy (piano)

qui plus aime… Percussion Art Ensemble Bern

White Paperflowers descending on Tienanmen Square Ensemble La Notte /Charles Uzor

Ave Maria V SWR Vokalensemble /Rupert Huber

The mimicri cycle is a central piece by the composer Charles Uzor and in many respects represents the quintessence of his work over the last few years.

Uzor, who was born in Nigeria and moved to Switzerland (where he now lives) at the age of seven, has engaged since 1995 with the music of Machaut and methods of defamiliarisation using fixed media. ‘The phenomenon of concealment strikes me as a survival strategy’, says Uzor, transferring the principles of disguise and mimicry as found in nature to his music. He not only takes nature as a formal model, but also borrows sounds from it and changes them, for example birdsong, which he electronically pitch shifts down eight octaves.

The main part of the cycle, Nri/mimicry, is scored for Ondes Martenot, percussion quartet and fixed media, with additional parts for piano and fixed media or only the latter. The world premiere recordings on this CD also include vocal music and chamber music in a variety of instrumentations. All in all, this double CD offers a multi-faceted overview of Charles Uzor’s work from recent years. On DSCH Igor Levit (piano)

The mimicri cycle is a central piece by the composer Charles Uzor and in many respects represents the quintessence of his work over the last few years.

Uzor, who was born in Nigeria and moved to Switzerland (where he now lives) at the age of seven, has engaged since 1995 with the music of Machaut and methods of defamiliarisation using fixed media. ‘The phenomenon of concealment strikes me as a survival strategy’, says Uzor, transferring the principles of disguise and mimicry as found in nature to his music. He not only takes nature as a formal model, but also borrows sounds from it and changes them, for example birdsong, which he electronically pitch shifts down eight octaves.

The main part of the cycle, Nri/mimicry, is scored for Ondes Martenot, percussion quartet and fixed media, with additional parts for piano and fixed media or only the latter. The world premiere recordings on this CD also include vocal music and chamber music in a variety of instrumentations. All in all, this double CD offers a multi-faceted overview of Charles Uzor’s work from recent years.