A fascinating free improvising string duo of textures and sonic interaction from UK harpist Rhodri Davies and Belgian guitarist Pierre Gerard, Davies performing on pedal harp and Gerard on acoustic guitar, though the results feel downright electronic through masterful control of their instruments, eliciting sustain, pitch & amplitude changes as they weave unique and compelling tapestries.
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Sample The Album:
Rhodri Davies-pedal harp
Pierre Gerard-guitar
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Label: Ftarri
Catalog ID: ftarri-948
Squidco Product Code: 35208
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: Japan
Packaging: Cardstock Gatefold Sleeve
Recorded between Abertawe and Lige from September 2023 to February 2024
"British harpist and composer Rhodri Davies (born in 1971) is one of the leading musicians on the international improvised/experimental music scene today. Among his numerous CD releases are several from Ftarri labels, including two duo albums on Ftarri with John Butcher: "Carliol"(2010) and "Routing Lynn" (2014). Pierre Gerard (born in 1966) is a Belgian improviser and composer. Gerard plays a variety of instruments (guitar, piano, cello, electronics and more), selecting different instruments according to the situation. He releases many recordings on international improvised/experimental music labels, such as Edition Wandelweiser Records (Germany), Senufo Editions (Italy), and Winds Measure Recordings (U.S.A.).
This album contains eight works (from two to eight minutes each) recorded between September 2023 and February 2024. Davies plays pedal harp, while Gerard uses acoustic guitar. In each piece the two musicians play sustained sounds throughout while subtly changing the sounds' pitch and volume, creating a simple yet mesmerizing charm."-Ftarri
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Rhodri Davies "Rhodri Davies was born in 1971 in Aberystwyth, Wales and now lives in Gateshead in the northeast of England. He plays harp, electric harp, live-electronics and builds wind, water, ice and fire harp installations. He has released four solo albums: Trem, Over Shadows, Wound Response and An Air Swept Clean of All Distance. His regular groups include: a duo with John Butcher, Common Objects, HEN OGLEDD: Dawson - Davies, a trio with David Toop and Lee Patterson, Cranc, The Sealed Knot and a trio with John Tilbury and Michael Duch. In 2008 he collaborated with the visual artist Gustav Metzger on 'Self-cancellation', a large-scale audio-visual collaboration in London and Glasgow. New pieces for solo harp have been composed for him by: Eliane Radigue, Phill Niblock, Christian Wolff, Ben Patterson, Alison Knowles, Mieko Shiomi and Yasunao Tone. In 2012 he was the recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artists Award." ^ Hide Bio for Rhodri Davies • Show Bio for Pierre Gerard "pierre gerard born in 1966 (BE) i work minimalism with acoustic instruments and electro-acoustic guitar since 2006 ..the object always present was at the center of my first research ..added a new interest in abstract voice since 2017 .. the improvisation in situ is the source of my music work (outdoor or architectural) ..over time i could describe this research more intuitive than minimalist ..in my electroacoustic compositions i try not to lose sight of intuition, silence,and a certain form of minimalism .. work on the object is strongly influenced by the presence of wood (assemblage/assembling, sculpture, installation _'the force fields of wood') but also glass, leather, felt and other natural materials (if possible found or recycled) .. in objects we would sometimes see sound compositions in 3 dimensions ..besides the intuition present here too, i keep a special attention for the encounter between human gesture and the form (organic, natural, accidental ..& intuitive, minimalist) .. each of these disciplines can occupy the architectural space,place par excellence of the gesture and the shape _'the gesture in the shape' .. storage stolen images in the form of paint traces the human migrations mental and physical ..who can inspire my path or express my disagreement .." ^ Hide Bio for Pierre Gerard
9/16/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
9/16/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Untitled 2:39
2. Untitled 4:31
3. Untitled 4:19
4. Untitled 5:24
5. Untitled 4:56
6. Untitled 4:28
7. Untitled 8:19
8. Untitled 4:53
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Stringed Instruments
Guitarists, &c.
Duo Recordings
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Ftarri.
 | Davies, Rhodri Wyth [8 CD Box Set] (Amgen Records) |
| Collecting eight of avant improvising Irish harpist Rhodri Davie's albums on his Amgen label--Trem, Over Shadows, Wound Response, An Air Swept Clean Of All Distance, Telyn Rawn, For Simon H. Fell, Dwa Dni Telyn Wrachïod--a diverse set of approaches and configurations showing both his interest in the history and in the creative use of his instruments. | |
 | Mayas, Magda Filamental (Mayas / Abdelnour / Caddy / Davies / Davies / Mayaas / Parks / Theriot-Ramos / Thieke) Ritual Mechanics (Relative Pitch) |
| The 2nd release from Magda Mayas' Filamental octet of Mayas, Zeena Parkins, Michel Thieke, Christine Abdelnour, Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Aimée Theriot and Anthea Caddy, is a fascinating studio composition developed from individual recordings provided by each musician, assembled into two detailed and cohesive works of impressive contours and almost ceremonial beauty. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri / Nikos Velitotis Hotel Art Head [BOOK] (gwasg amgen) |
| A curious book of images from artists including Rhodri Davies, John Butcher, Angharad Davies, Richard Dawson, &c. photographed in a location familiar to a touring musician--a budget hotel room--pictured laying on the bed with each artist's head covered by that room's hotel wall painting, from typically insipid to perplexingly unexpected. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri Dwa Dni (Amgen Records) |
| Two recording sessions yielding 15 recordings of solo harp improvisations in Rhodri Davies' fifth release on his Amgen imprint, beautifully intricate works from exuberant to introspective, with titles borrowed from the works of Lisa Jarnot, Ed Luker, Nathaniel Mackey, Redell Olsen, Sun Ra, Nisha Ramayya, Sarah Riggs and Leslie Scalapino, and cover art by Jean-Luc Guionnet. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri For Simon H. Fell (Amgen Records) |
| Influenced by bassist Simon H. Fell since first hearing him in 1994 in a quartet with Peter Brotzmann, harpist Rhodri Davies approached Fell to work together, enjoying 20 years of collaborations in many group settings; in 2020 Simon H. Fell became seriously ill and passed in June of that year, this extended improvisation being Rhodri Davies' heartfelt tribute to the great improviser. | |
 | Mayas', Magda Filamental (w / Davies / Caddy / Theriot / Davies / Parkins / Thieke / Abdelnour) Confluence (Relative Pitch) |
| Composed by pianist Magda Mayas for an octet of superb avant improvisers including Rhodri Davies, Zeena Parkins, Michael Thieke, Angharad Davies, &c. and performed live at the 2019 Music Unlimited 33, in Wels, Austria, this extended work uses a graphic score to interpret 12 photographs taken over an hour observing the merging waters of the Rhone and the Arve rivers. | |
 | Gerard, Pierre Imprevu Visible Inverse (Edition Wandelweiser Records) |
| Using guitars, violin, electronics, field recordings, abstract voice, and a "sound knife in the sand", Pierre Gerard recorded this set of 13 works in Liege, Belgium, and Wimereux, France, in 2019, using intuitive approaches to his minimalist electroacoustic compositions as he assembles his elements to convey human gesture and architectural form in sound. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri An Air Swept Clean of All Distance (Amgen Records) |
| First release on the Alt.Vinyl label in 2014, this album finds harpist Rhodri Davies performing on the same instrument as his prior album Wound Response, but here with no amplification, preparations or distortion, improvising through "tumbling phrases, arpeggios and articulate rhythms", in a compelling album of assertive and joyful playing. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri Telyn Rawn (Amgen Records) |
| Dating back to the 13th century in Wales, the Telyn Rawn is a nearly forgotten horsehair harp; UK improvising harpist Rhodri Davies researched the instrument and its unique sound, commissioning the construction of a harp on which he performs 18 improvisations of impressive technique and sonority, launching his new Amgen Records label with this album named for the instrument. | |
 | Granberg, Magnus / Skogen Let Pass My Weary Guiltless Ghost (Another Timbre) |
| First performed in November 2019 at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and then at the Splitter Orchester festival in Berlin, this studio recording of Magnus Granberg's delicately complex and exquisitely dream-like composition features his Skogen ensemble, including Granberg, Rhodri Davies, Toshimaru Nakamura, Erik Carlsson, Petter Wastberg, &c. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri Transversal Time (Confront) |
| Assigning different times systems--standard time, decimal and hex time--to different musicians, harpist Rhodri Davies develops an electroacoustic improvisational environment of unusual perception and sensation, performed live in Cardiff in 2018 with Ryoko Akama, Sara Hughes, Sofia Jernberg, Pia Palme, Andre Parkinson, Lucy Railton, Pat Thomas, & Dafne Vicente. | |
 | Common Objects (Davies / Butcher / Davies / Lapelyte / Patterson / Thomas) Skullmarks (Meenna) |
| Distributing the group--John Butcher, Angharad Davies, Lina Lapelyte, Lee Patterson, Pat Thomas, and Rhodri Davies--inside the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, Butcher chose 4 shamanic objects from the museum's ethnographic collection, evoking water, air, earth, spirit, ritual and utility, used as a score orchestrating varying combinations of players; intense and profound improvisation. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri / David Sylvian / Mark Wastell There Is No Love (Confront) |
| Confront initiates their new Core Series with the text piece "There Is No Love" with David Sylvian on voice, vocal treatments and electronics, Rhodri Davies on harp, vibraphone and radio, and Mark Wastel on tam tam and percussion, a sophisticated spoken word piece of shadowy atmosphere and innuendo, leveraging approaches from experimental, improvised and composed music. | |
 | Davies, Angharad / Rhodri Davies / Michael Duch / Lina Lapelyte / John Lely & John Tilbury Goldsmiths (Another Timbre) |
| An extended group improvisation and compositions by Lely, Sarah Hughes, and Jurg Frey, subtle and beautiful performances by Angharad Davies (violin), Rhodri Davies (electric harp), Michael Duch (bass), Lina Lapelyte (violin), John Lely (objects & electronics) & John Tilbury (piano). | |
| Ist (Davies / Fell / Wastell) Consequences (of Time and Place) (Confront) | |
| ist (The Improvising String Trio) of Rhodri Davies (harp), Simon H. Fell (bass) and Mark Wastell (violincello) performing at The Natural Music Club in London, 1997, using unorthodox techniques in indeterminate systems and free improvisation for fascinating results. | |
| Ist (Davies / Fell / Wastell) Berlin (Confront) | |
| Ist - Rhodri Davies (harp), Simon H. Fell (double bass) & Mark Wastell (violoncello) - recorded this fascinating, quietly active lower case work at Total Music Meeting in Berlin 2001. | |
 | SFE - Simon Fell Ensemble Positions and Descriptions (Clean Feed) |
| Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 with an ensemble including Tim Berne, Joe Morris, Rhodri Davies, Jim Denley, Alex Ward & Steve Beresford, this amazing work is organized in traditional movements using a very modern and free language. | |
| Halliwell, Graham Recorded Delivery (Confront) | |
| Saxophonist Halliwell appears here in three duo performances with Rhodri Davies playing E-bowed harp; Steve Roden with extracts from his "resonantlighttones"; and Mark Wastell on tam-tam. | |
| Ist (Davies / Fell / Wastell) Lodi (Confront) | |
| Since 1995 the string trio of Rhodri Davies, Simon H. Fell & Mark Wastell have created sparse, introspective improvisation, performing here at the Contemporaneamente festival in Lodi, Italy. | |
 | Sealed Knot, The (Beins / Davies / Wastell) and we disappear (Another Timbre) |
| For a decade this trio has created some of the most interesting electroacoustic improvisation, captured in a 38 minute performance at the Ear We Are Festival in Biel, Switzerland, 2007. | |
 | Furt plus Equals (psi) |
| The followup to Furt's expanded format as heard on Spin Networks in 2005, in electroacoustic trios with John Butcher, Phil Minton, Rhodri Davies, Ute Wassermann, &c. | |
 | fORCH Spin Networks (psi) |
 | Haco Another Souvenir: Solo Live in 2002 (Ftarri) |
| After Dinner vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and sound artist Haco undertook her first North American tour in 2002, bringing with her an irregularly tuned electric mandolin, two samplers, a mini-drum synth and her "Howling [tea]Pot" feedback instrument, here in seven uniquely Haco performances of sonic instrumentals and song, performed at Mama Gaia's in Cambridge. | |
 | Creiriau y Delyn Rawn (Rhodri Davies / Richard Dawson / Pat Thomas / Spencer Yeh / &c) Relics of the Horsehair Harp (Amgen Records) |
| A companion piece to UK improvising harpist Rhodri Davie's solo album Telyn Rawn , asking some of his favorite musicians to respond to the 18 improvised pieces on that album, instructing them to imagine that the source material was an ancient musical form from the medieval period, and that their responses were to be modern interpretations of those "ancient" forms. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri Telyn Wrachiod (Amgen Records) |
| Continuing his investigations into ancient Welsh Harps, the Telyn Wrachïod (which translates to the Witches Harp) used pegs or brags emerging from the string-holes, in Welsh called gwrachïod, which could be adjusted to press on the strings to create a buzzing percussive sound used for dancing, here in improvisations by Rhodri Davies using a Urquhart bray harp. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri Trem (Amgen Records) |
| Reissuing his 2003 album on the Confront label, Rhodri Davies' first solo album is a captivating set of uniquely voiced free improvisation, using a pedal harp, radio and tape recorders and percussive devices, and recorded in the natural resonance of All Angels, St Michael and All Angels Church in London, creating narrative and drama through Davie's intuitive sense of timing. | |
