H^2 - The Wire May 2011

Sometimes the impact of a composition rests almost entirely on a single sound. For "Message From The Lighthouse," the opening piece on this remarkable CD by Swedish composer Hanna Hartman, that sound is the flutter of pigeon wings. The flapping occurs within a dry, reverberation-free atmosphere, moving between resonant metallophones, toms, glass bottles, and strings—all striving to echo the nervous tremor of the bird. This avian motif and structural device recur throughout H^2: on "Nightlock," birds orbit shimmering string harmonics; on "Circling Blue," they coo in swirling wind while contending with a flowing soprano and a roaring F1 car; and in "Shanghai Fireflies," they set the pulse for a tapping wood drum.