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Renaissance Rave: a playlist by Aisha Orazbayeva & Peiman Khosravi

 
P&A – Cropped & Resized Version
Music
 

Groundbreaking Kazakh violinist Aisha Orazbayeva (releases on ECM, Nonclassical, PRAH, Another Timbre) & Iranian electronic musician Peiman Khosravi with an enlightening guide to music that hits an unusual sweet spot – between the Renaissance and the rave – in honour of a new single and their newly minted collaboration.

Kazakh violinist Aisha Orazbayeva is a pioneering musician with an illustrious pedigree that includes performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, teaching on the Darmstadt Summer Course – a program previously attended by the likes of Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen – and numerous accolades, including a joint Diapason d’Or award for a recording of Morton Feldman’s ‘For John Cage’. 

 

Admittedly, this might not mean much to those of you who just want to hear the next AD 93 release. But Orazbayeva has always made ambitious music which is equally rewarding, for those willing to immerse themselves in her work. Pursuing the future while acknowledging the past, across contemporary composition and inventive interpretations of early music, Orazbayeva has made four solo albums to date, for labels including Nonclassical, PRAH and SN Variations. She’s also collaborated with Fred Thomas and Lucy Railton for ‘Three Or One’, a well received series of reframed Bach compositions, released by Manfred Eicher’s influential ECM label. 

After stepping away from studio recordings for a few years, Orazbayeva is back with some new material; a single inspired by Renaissance conceptions of melancholy titled ‘With My Lute’, backed with a rendition of ‘In Darkness Let Me Dwell‘, a song from 1610 by the English Renaissance composer John Dowland. Music for going all the way back. The latter track also features the Iranian electronic musician Peiman Khosravi who Orazbayeva has formed a new duo with, for a project rooted in violin, voice and electronics. 

Before the likely arrival of more activity and new material, here Orazbayeva presents two sombre, regal yet beautiful works. Suffused with Orazbayeva’s mournful vocals, sleek flourishes of synth from Khosravi and expressive accompaniment from the violin, cello and theorbo (a 16th century Italian lute), both tracks are steeped in the lineage of the Renaissance period yet have a timeless, unique quality. Music situated across multiple eras, recommended for anyone who’s been swept up by the music of Sarah Davachi, Simon Fisher Turner’s soundtracks for Derek Jarman, and Shane Parish’s recent Renaissance-tinged rework of Aphex Twin’s ‘Avril 14th’ (from his album ‘Reportoire’).

To celebrate the release, we asked Aisha & Peiman to shed some light on the influences behind the single and their recent work. They kindly supplied us with a guide to ‘Renaissance Rave’, in the form of an annotated playlist.

Before we dive into that, check out the video for ‘With My Lute’, a stunning visual shot in the Caroux mountains in the South of France. Described by Aisha as ‘a landscape that has not changed for thousands of years’, featuring ‘a solitary figure [that] wanders through nature to encounter one’s own state of melancholy and sadness.’

 
 

Next, get your collared ruffs, ornate bodices and broad-brimmed cavalier hats ready, we’re about to get courtly, with selections encompassing Edward Artemiev, French electro, ancient composition, 11th century Italian love songs & more. Have a listen and read after the other bits below. 

‘With My Lute‘ is out now digitally on Constructive, available via Aisha’s Bandcamp.

Topics
2024 Aisha Orazbayeva Another Timbre Cello Constructive Darmstadt David Lynch Derek jarman ECM Edward Artemiev Electronics Experimental French electro Italy John Cage John Cale John Dowland Karlheinz Stockhausen Lucy Railton Lute Morton Feldman New music Nonclassical Peiman Khosravi Pierre Boulez PRAH Recordings Renaissance Renaissance melancholy Sarah Davachi Shane Parish Simon Fisher Turner SN Variations Synth Violin
LISTEN
VocaMe - Doxazomen sou Christe (We Praise, Oh Christ)

Kassia is the oldest known female composer born in Byzantine in 810 C.E. This hymn performed by the VocaMe ensemble is timeless, otherworldly and a thing of wonder. It is a musical time machine that takes one back a 1000 years.

  • VocaMe - Doxazomen sou Christe (We Praise, Oh Christ)

    Kassia is the oldest known female composer born in Byzantine in 810 C.E. This hymn performed by the VocaMe ensemble is timeless, otherworldly and a thing of wonder. It is a musical time machine that takes one back a 1000 years.

  • Murmur Mori - Crus Ocelle Meum Velle

    Continuing on to the 11th century with this love song from Northern Italy performed by the excellent Murmur Mori ensemble. Medieval European music had not yet developed the standard forms and idioms that developed during the 17th & 18th century. These works were composed at a time when the idea of personal style and expression had not yet emerged. One does not experience this music as an individual’s will and vision but rather as an occurence of nature, like a flowing river or a passing light through the thick branches of the trees.

  • Bruce Dickey - Io son ferito ahi lasso (Palestrina / Bovicelli)

    Having started to learn the Baroque violin I came across the fascinating practice of ‘diminution’. It’s a form of embellishment in which a long note is divided into a series of shorter values. These divisions would then fill the gaps between the notes by connecting them melodically but also adding a driving force to the music. This is one of my favourite examples of that practice: a Palestrina madrigal realised by Bovicelli and performed on cornetto by Bruce Dickey.

  • Alexander Chance & Toby Carr - In Darkness Let Me Dwell (John Dowland)

    The next track is the original version of John Dowland’s song that we cover in our upcoming release performed beautifully by Alexander Chance and Toby Carr who also plays the theorbo part on ‘With My Lute’.

  • David Lynch - The Big Dream

    The dance element and autotuned vocal in our arrangement of Dowland was directly inspired by David Lynch’s dark and cinematic musical world.

  • John Cale - Face To The Sky

    Another model for the way we processed the vocal was this song by John Cale.

  • Maelstrom - Target003

    The French electronic musician Maelstrom brings his usual dexterity and sensitivity to his latest album that weaves together gritty FM sounds, moody harmonies and rhythmically driven patterns into a collection of delicious minimally constructed tracks.

  • Edward Artemiev - Solaris Theme

    We were inspired by Artemiev’s use of Bach’s choral prelude in the soundtrack for Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris, which combines elements of early music with synthesised sounds to create a sense of nostalgia.