Erland Cooper
Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence?
(Mercury KX)
On my second listen to Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence? I am consumed by the music, its falls and rises, prolonged silent sections where the earth lay claim to what once was. This body of work has a transcendental quality, it reaches out beyond my ears and draws me closer to myself, curled up and hearing this deep inside my chest, I’m not sure when I started weeping and yet here I am beaming ear to ear whilst tears trace paths down my face emphasising what a privilege it is to be hearing this at all.
You see, in 2021 Erland Cooper wrote this three movement body of work, marking the centenary of poet George Mackay Brown, and once recorded on ¼” magnetic tape all other versions were destroyed. The tape, alongside a violin and copy of the score was planted (as we know now on Orkney) and left for the earth to recompose until such a time that it was either found, or exhumed by the composer himself. What we hear now, is what remains intact of either a moment of madness, or a stroke of genius during what will doubtless be one of the strangest periods in many of our lifetimes. When I first read about Erland Cooper's latest project I was nothing short of intrigued. Back then, during lockdown, countless artists were still releasing their work, hosting live streams and forming what felt like for fans direct connections to living rooms around the world. This project then, reflected on that sense of waiting, we were all in essence in hibernation - safely buried in a bubble of our own curation and waiting till we could once more step outside and gather together in celebration. Did it seem a step too far into artistic pretension? Perhaps, and yet - there I was, watching things unfold from afar, that sense of wonderment building slowly. When the premiere was announced I was immediately compelled to book tickets. I'd been invested in this idea for so long I simply had to be there to find out “what would happen if…”
Back in June, I found myself on the front row of the Barbican, a reel - to - reel player centred on an otherwise empty stage. I sat, absorbing the film made about the project, enthralled by the thought process behind it, and sobered by the thought that the piece which was composed and performed exists now only as a memory by those who were present for its recording. When the time came, and Erland Cooper walked silently onto the stage, and started the tape, I was ill-prepared for the anticipation and relief that would follow through the next few minutes of my life. That hiss of blank tape, the faint click of the turning reels, and then an at times crackling and distorted violin… The performance that followed is something I will be forever grateful to have witnessed, with Freya Goldmark on solo violin, and a 16 piece orchestra backing, something overwhelmingly beautiful unfolded, waiting paid off, and now - everyone else is getting the opportunity to hear it.
I don’t want to break this down into movements, I encourage all to hear it as one piece, this is nothing short of astonishing. I genuinely cannot get words around this piece of work, its just this wonderful sound that's grown and survived being planted in the earth. It's flying too close to the sun of perfection. I've had near religious experiences listening to music in various states of consciousness over the years, but this just floors me every time, some state of tragic-ecstasy. I'd hoped it would get easier on repeated listens, but nope, I want to hear this as I die, it's just on beyond amazing. Such that though I seldom speak of my love of classical music so usually if I mention Erland Cooper I am calling back to the days of Erland and The Carnival, which as magnificent as they were do pale in comparison to his solo compositions. Carve the Runes captures the same lightness and joy, as I experience when walking along overfilled rivers, bouncing light dappled by overhanging trees.
Encounters with nature which invoke something akin to synesthesia within me - the movement of water, a swelling orchestra, accompanied by the aeolian songs of the wind through trees, to hear this internal symphony on record from the mind of another is a wonderful moment. Deprived the pleasure of a minds eye and despite the fact I’ve yet to visit Orkney, yet this transports me conceptually to that lonely archipelago, where the wind races in as birds cry. I am lifted from inner city Sheffield to somewhere remote, somewhere beautiful, a place I want to sit alone and watch the sunrise.Listening to this concerto as it rises and falls, with occasional excerpts of George Mackay Brown's poetry, there are periods of silence for which I have no idea are they intentional or are these gaps where the music leached into the earth, and its within that not knowing that the wonder of this work lies. Occasionally I would swear there are samples of bird song, but I have seen with my eyes these are some trickery on strings.
I can’t guarantee Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence will be as deeply evocative for all who hear it, but I would hope it is. It’s easy to forget, in a world filled with instant gratification and short catchy hooks that music exists in any other form. No more, or less worthy of artistic merit, but oh - so very different.
ERLAND COOPER TOUR DATES:
OCTOBER 2024:
Tues 1st Le Poisson Rouge, New York
Sun 6th Constellation, Chicago
Thurs 24th Hannover, Feinkost Lampe
Fri 25th Hamont-Achel, De Posthoorn
Sat 26th Berlin, Fotografiska Ballroom
Sun 27th Büsum, Lighthouse Hotel & Spa
Tues 29th The Hague, PAARD
Wed 30th Paris, le 104
NOVEMBER 2024:
Sat 9th Aerial Festival, Lake District
Wed 20th York, National Centre for Early Music
Thu 21st Manchester, Hallé St Peter’s
Fri 22nd Saffron Walden, Saffron Hall
Sat 23rd Sheffield, Upper Chapel
Sun 24th Sunderland, The Fire Station
Mon 25th Glasgow, St Luke’s
Tues 26th Norwich, Arts Centre
Wed 27th Oxford, SJE Arts
Thu 28th Southampton, Turner Sims
Fri 29th Bristol, Beacon
Sat 30th Brighton, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
