Brahms, by Cloudland Blue Quartet

Brahms

by Cloudland Blue Quartet

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CBQ reimagines Johannes Brahms' four symphonies into a new symphony of ambience. The download version of "Brahms" contains a further 146 minutes of bonus material comprising two alternative versions of the LP, the "clean" mixes of the main LP, without field recordings and short wave radio) and the initial, subsequently abandoned version of the recordings (which contain more SW Radio and piano elements).

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1.	Brahms I 19:15	buy track
2.	Brahms II 18:42	buy track
3.	Brahms III 20:03	buy track
4.	Brahms IV 19:18	buy track

about

"Brahms" is the 8th in an ongoing series of "composer" releases by Cloudland Blue Quartet, which aim to take pieces by various composers (previous albums have featured treatments of works by Satie, Cage, Beethoven, Schoenberg/Webern/Berg, Haydn, Wagner and Bartok, all of which are available on Bandcamp) and warp them into something completely new, whilst retaining elements of the "DNA" of the original works.

As with many of the recordings I make, "Brahms" stems from a chance situation.

Diary Entry 19 May 2023:-
"To Fopp and the new Yes 2CD set purchased. Then, over the road to the British Heart Foundation, where there's been slim pickings for some considerable time. Today, however, a couple of classical items enticed..."

One of those items was a 2CD set of Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic's recordings of Brahms' four symphonies.

Diary Entry 20 May, 2023:-
"I was ripping yesterday's classical acquisitions and got caught up in the first few bars of Brahms' 1st Symphony...

Before I knew it, a new CBQ LP was taking shape, based around a short excerpt from each of his four symphonies and the rest of the morning was taken up with that..."

Diary Entry 21 May 2023:-
"Much of the time...was spent working on Brahms and, in particular, deciding against piano and amending a shortwave radio choice on which some considerable time had been spent on painstaking editing...

Such is how it goes...

Also replaced found field recordings with a brand new one, recorded from the back room as we breakfasted..."

Diary Entry 22 May 2023:-
"Up and doing some stuff re "Brahms" pre going out..."

And so, over the course of a couple of days in May, the chance purchase of symphonies of which I already owned renditions and listening to the opening of the first disc, sparked the idea for this latest CBQ release.

I hope you enjoy the ambience created.

David Reilly
Edinburgh 30 August 2023

credits

released September 1, 2023

Samples, field recording (21 May 2023), short wave radio, treatments, piano (tracks 9-12), cover (“Brahms", 20 May 2023) and production by David Reilly for Crispycat Recordings

Created at Crispycat Studio, Edinburgh, UK, 20, 21 May 2023.

Based on the openings of the first movements of the four symphonies of Johannes Brahms

For best results, please listen on headphones, in the dark

(p) 2023 Crispycat Recordings © David Reilly 2023

Executive Producer : Anne Reilly

Bonus Material (Download Only) (146:15)
Tracks 5-8 are clean mixes of the pieces, without field recordings and short wave radio. Tracks 9-12 comprise the first version of the album, subsequently abandoned, which contain continuous Short Wave Radio and elements of piano pieces by Cloudland Blue Quartet

5. Brahms I (Clean Mix) 17:14
6. Brahms II (Clean Mix) 17:14
7. Brahms III (Clean Mix) 17:14
8. Brahms IV (Clean Mix) 17:14
9. Brahms I (Piano SW Mix) 19:03
10. Brahms II (Piano SW Mix) 19:11
11. Brahms III (Piano SW Mix) 18:36
12. Brahms IV (Piano SW Mix) 20:28

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about

Cloudland Blue Quartet Edinburgh, UK

A quartet in name only, initially influenced by Fripp & Eno's "No Pussyfooting" and The Velvet Underground's debut, songwriter & soundscaper David Reilly started musicking in 1977 by creating drones using sellotape on the keys of his dad's Bontempi Organ. The subsequent junk shop purchases of an electric guitar & fuzzbox and the acquisition of an old Beatles songbook, led him into songwriting... ... more

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