Label: Sub Rosa

Fred Frith本人曰く、氏の最も貴重な作品の一つとされるゴング録音が作品化!!Henry Cowの初期から優れた楽器奏者/即興演奏家として知られているFred Frith。氏が1960年代後半にシュトックハウゼンの[Mikrophonie 1]を初めて聴いて以来魅了されたというゴングの音色。1999年にオークランドに移住した際、世界でも数少ないゴング専門のパーカッショニストKaren Stackpoleの存在を知り彼女の演奏会に何度も足を運び共演を依頼、そこから漸く実現に至ったというゴング演奏を主とした音源[Nature]。膨大なゴング・コレクションを細部に至るまで丁寧に配置、ギターすらもゴングの様に鳴らした凄まじい意欲作。







I have been fascinated by the sound and potential of gongs since I first heard Stockhausen's Mikrophonie 1 in the late 1960s. When I moved to Oakland in 1999 I discovered the work of Karen Stackpole, one of the few percussionists in the world specializing entirely in gongs, and attended several of her performances. I always tried to imagine how I could combine my own sonic vocabulary with her incredibly rich array, and we enthusiastically agreed to a musical meeting which somehow kept being postponed, year after year.
According to Fred Frith himself, these recordings are among his most precious ones. Finally, as my teaching career at Mills College was winding down, we succeeded in making an appointment to record
together at Karen's home studio in the Californian hills. As a seasoned professional recording engineer, she had her vast and beautiful collection of gongs meticulously placed and amplified. It was a joy! Guitar as gong, gong as harmony and everything in between, an interweaving that left me breathless.
Fred Frith.