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Collected Systems Music (2002​-​2006)

by Neil Campbell

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Alex Brunori
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Neil Campbell
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Stephen Roberts
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Fitzy
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1.
Tesselations 23:06
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2.
64 Hexagrams for John Cage 09:50
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3.
Rotations: Rotation I 03:49
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4.
Rotations: Rotation II 05:46
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5.
Rotations: Rotation III 01:22
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6.
Rotations: Rotation IV 02:51
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7.
Rotations: Rotation V 02:51
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8.
Mass 11:41
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9.
Assembly 12:00
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10.
Dawn (Carillon) 11:44
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about

This anthology brings together the contemporary classical music I released between 2002 and 2006 mainly on the albums 'Rotations' and 'Assembly'.

The music falls into a category I would describe as systems music, i.e. music in which a significant aspect of the compositional approach is to design processes whereby limited compositional materials are rigorously organised to generate structures that take on synergistic and sometimes unpredictable properties and effects.

More often than not this is achieved through creating managed scenarios whereby a number of similar musical lines or patterns of different lengths are placed together and move in and out of synchronisation with each other (cyclical structures) creating often unexpected and exciting harmonic, melodic and rhythmical interactions ‘on the fly’.

What I found, and still find, most exciting about this approach to music-making, is that it renders the role of the composer the same as that of the listener, given that the exact results of the process are not known to the composer before hearing the emergent music after the process is set to run.

Quite recently I have used many of the techniques and ideas stemming from this minimalist work in the context of the arrangement and production of my newer recordings, and although this newer work has a wider and less rigid focus, because the techniques explored in pure form throughout this anthology are in my view a veritable composer’s and producer’s toolbox, they can be applied in all sorts of production and arrangement contexts to create exciting musical and sonic textures as part of an expanded production aesthetic that embraces pattern-based music-making.

It was in the process of completing of my latest album 'Faldum' (2022) - an album that represents in places a kind of return to the austerity of this earlier music – that I felt the need for this anthology to be put together in the form of remastered audio by Andy Fernihough, more extensive notes (below) and some scores accompanying this release as pdf files.


Notes:

Tessellations (2002)

The propulsive 'Tessellations' is based on four short musical patterns of different lengths presented across four registers of the piano. The starting point in constructing the piece was to graph a process whereby the different-length patterns swap register as they synchronise, thus creating an ever changing flow of musical activity. The points of synchronisation between the cycles in the piano texture are used to trigger doubling processes with harpsichords, synth bass and voices which build in density and intensity in a stepped way through the piece’s duration.

64 Hexagrams for John Cage (2002)

A contemplative piece, '64 Hexagrams for John Cage' is constructed from four notes (C A G and E) proceeding in four groups at different rates in different registers. The process produces 64 bars each of 1, 3 or 5 notes in length separated by rests each of which is the length of the previous 1, 3 or 5 beat bar. The 'I Ching: Chinese Book of Changes', used by the composer John Cage as an organisational component in some of his works, contains 64 hexagrams, each with a distinctive pattern of broken and unbroken lines defining a particular course of action or inaction to take in any situation for which the oracle is consulted.

Rotations I – V (2003)

'The power of the world works in circles. The seasons are a circle and so is the life of Man'

The compositional technique underlying 'Rotations I - V' for multi-tracked pianos is of the layering of melodic strands stemming from the same basic material but stretched at different lengths so that the melodies move in and out of synchronisation creating new relationships with one another. Because of this means of construction, the individual movements are quite literally ‘rotations’; loops which end at the point at which they would synchronise.

Mass (2005)

Based on one single melodic line layered and stretched at different rhythmical levels, 'Mass' is a massive mensuration canon for male and female voices and organ. Beginning with a single line each new voice enters the texture in a gradual and stepped manner reaching maximum density and then subtracting lines to eventually end the piece with long fading organ lines.

Assembly (2005)

'Assembly' is a musical construction consisting of a series of overlapping instrument groups each of which are working through their own textures underneath the surface of the production, based upon cyclical structures and note permutation structures, all based on the six note series E – B – F# - G – D – A. The main instrumental groups at play are handclaps, acoustic guitars/basses, voices/organs and pianos.

Unlike earlier such pieces (as found in this anthology) which adopt a fairly purist approach to musical process, 'Assembly' uses strict processes throughout but arranges the overlapping groups with a more conventional compositional / production approach, giving the piece its more variegated, dynamic and dramatic arc.

Dawn (Carillon 2) (2004)

Taken from the album 'Night Sketches' (2004) this is a shortened ‘ambient’ realisation of an open-ended piece of process music, 'Carillon'. In the piece 'Carillon' six audio tracks are created, again with the notes E – B – F# - G – D – A played on the respective six strings of a classical guitar. However, given each strand is played at a slightly different rate, the six strands move out of synchronisation resulting in unexpected melodic, harmonic and rhythmic interactions.

credits

released August 1, 2022

Al Music Composed and Produced by Neil Campbell

Neil Campbell - pianos, harpsichords, synths, vocals, acoustic and classical guitars, basses, percussion
Annemarie Newton - additional vocals on 'Mass'

Engineering by Andy Fernihough, except 'Assembly' and 'Mass' engineered by Kyle Western

Re-mastering for this anthology by Andy Fernihough

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Neil Campbell Liverpool, UK

Liverpool composer and multi-instrumentalist.

‘One of the best acoustic guitar players of our time’ - Jon Neudorf, Sea of Tranquility

“Neil Campbell remains one the U.K.’s shamefully undiscovered contemporary composers, and I for one hope a larger audience awaits him soon” - Bob Mulvey, TPA

'music of serious quality and distinction' - Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music ... more

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