This is my first introduction to the ‘viola d’amore’. What a beautiful looking and sounding instrument it is.
Emma Lloyd seems to have no problem wrestling with its fourteen strings indeed during the first piece she plays with some strange electronic mitten on her fingering hand and is wired up her sleeve through to what we in the know refer to as a box of tricks. It’s unclear to me whether the subsequent skronks and squeals are being manipulated /generated by colleague Matthew or if it’s purely her own handiwork (Boom, Boom!)
After ‘Solo for Viola d’amore and Electronics‘ is finished, she removes this cybertronic oven glove and reverts to ‘normal practice’ with yer man at the desk throwing his all into treating the sound and how it arrives at our ears.
She is very, very good and indeed so is he.
After the interval we hear
Ulation
Do You Remember the Planets?
and finally Prologue from Les Espaces Acoustiques
The duo are launching a new album tonight and while I am engrossed, if not engorged, with this sonic dish……. I am unsure whether I would splash out on their platter. This is all about being in the moment and watching her exertions and her peching and panting, for it is a strenuous, or appears to be, performance to be sure, I’m not sure sitting down with the Sunday papers and a cup of coffee would make me feel the same. Nevertheless I would cheerfully fork out my hard earned readies to experience this again ‘in the flesh’. Bravo!
Lighthouse Beacon Straight Ahead 