Label: Farpoint Recordings

1980年にReinhard Reitzensteinとのスプリットで発表したLP[According]がアート系コレクターの間では知られている、カナダのサウンドアーティストにしてコンポーザーのGayle Young。個人名義の音源は過去にリリースされておらず、なんとこれが人生初となる1stソロ音源[As Trees Grow]。手掛けたのはアイルランドの優秀サウンドアート/コンテンポラリー・レーベルのFarpoint Recordings。ピアニストとしての彼女にフォーカスした作品との事ですが、随所に使用される清涼なフィールドレコーディングのテクスチャーが美しく、もはやサウンドスケープ作品として見事に完成されています。









The first edition of As Trees Grow by Gayle Young is presented in a full colour gatefold sleeve along with a booklet insert containing an essay by musicologist Valentina Bertolini. The artwork is designed by Stephen Seto. As Trees Grow is published in a first edition of 500 copies by Farpoint Recordings and Ars Subtilior.

As you listen to this album from start to finish, a blissful feeling will emerge, as with forest bathing or any activity that helps you connect with the elements of water and earth… The listener participates fully in this multi-sensory experience of recording, composing, and performing, in a moment that transcends time and merges the past with the present. You are invited to join an open-ended journey through budding fruit trees, wildflowers, and hidden creeks.

Valentina Bertolani, musicologist

Farpoint Recordings & Ars Subtilior are delighted to announce the release of As Trees Grow by Gayle Young. Microtonal recordings of frozen waterfalls, truffle mycelia, fruiting trees in Umbria, ephemeral spring wildflowers in Canada: join us on a journey across a rich tapestry of music for piano and electronics by the radical Canadian composer, instrument designer and sound artist Gayle Young.

Xenia Pestova Bennett presents a triptych of piano works by Young.

Collaboration is at the heart of this recording. As Trees Grow was composed during a residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in 2014, where Young met fellow resident composer Ed Bennett and pianist Xenia Pestova Bennett. This fateful meeting resulted in Pestova Bennett’s premiere of As Trees Grow at Café Oto (London) with live-electronic treatments by Ed Bennett. Electronic processing was created by Bennett in collaboration with Young in the days before the premiere, as the three collaborators worked on enhancing the piano’s resonance in sections of the piece.

Ice Creek combines the piano with the sounds of an ice-covered waterfall recorded through a series of tuned resonators, exploring Debussy’s harmonic language. This unusual technique creates striking and aurally beguiling effects, amplifying different harmonic resonances and drawing the listener into the sounds and inviting engagement with the environment and human impact on nature. The piano inhabits and weaves a unique path through the soundscape, guiding the listener. Young and Pestova Bennett collaborated extensively in preparation for the 2018 Premiere in Calgary, continuing developing the music after the premiere by working remotely.

Forest Ephemerals: Four Flowers was written for pianist Eve Egoyan and is structured around a text describing spring wildflowers that grow in forests before tree leaves are formed: violet, trout lily, trillium, and jack-in-the-pulpit. Young references pieces by Charles Ives and includes foraging recipes in the accompanying texts.