‘The mathematics of harmony are explored through the physicality of the material world’Footnote 1 might sound like a hackneyed description of a new-music composer who has come under the influence of the material turn in the late 2010s. This is emphatically not the case for the American composer Catherine Lamb who has persistently explored the intersections of just intonation – or, more accurately, rational intonation – and the various effects the performers’ bodies can have on the music since the mid-2000s. It is precisely the ‘subtleties of friction, pressure, breath, and bow changes’ that play a crucial role in bringing the faltering nature of human existence into the heart of her music-making, while also ‘connect[ing] the sonic with the tactile and the visual.’Footnote 2
In fact, she was probably one among few musicians who sparked greater interest in just intonation and alternative ways of organising and conceptualising pitch. Not only is she an in-demand composer with prestigious accolades – having received a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts’ Grants to Artists program in 2018, the Ernst von Siemens Composers’ Prize in 2020 and a BBC Proms commission in 2023 – but also an auteur with a distinct style, producing some of the most enigmatically compelling music of today. Coincidentally, issue 305 of TEMPO features a short interview with the composer, should you want to learn more about Lamb.
Her most recent album, parallaxis forma, released in September 2023 on another timbre, is a portrait CD consisting of three works written in the mid-2010s. These pieces showcase her fascination with the human voice and how its predisposition to sing between the notes, that is the twelve piano keys, can seamlessly fit into an ensemble setting or simply establish its own harmonic space. The disc opens with color residua, which, true to its name, evokes images of chemical materials – or, more pertinently, sonic materials – evaporating and leaving a residue only in one's memory. Like much of Lamb's output, it is a textural composition where the interplay of harmonics produced by the joint force of EXAUDI (featuring soprano Juliet Fraser, mezzo-soprano Cathy Bell and baritone Michael Hickman) and Explore Ensemble (comprising Julia Doukakis and Emma Purslow on violas, as well as Deni Teo on cello and Toby Hughes on double bass) forms a mesmerising sonic landscape. Pitches, timbres and voices resolutely enter the soundscape with long notes and then leave, all within short periods of time, contributing to the overall texture, but constantly morphing it. This procedural unfolding, adorned with a perfect blend of warmer voices and cooler string timbres gives this music its radiant omnidirectional quality. Well-placed rests in the middle of the piece inflict a shocking sensation, almost as if somebody pulled an emergency brake, only for the music to re-emerge soon after. It is no wonder that at some point I began hearing a train horn; it seems like one can discover pretty much any sound in this piece.
The second offering on the album is pulse/shade intended for four voices, but realised as a multi-track version by Lotte Betts-Dean. While rhythm is not usually Lamb's primary concern, the pulsating nature of this composition adds variety to the predominantly textural essence of the other two pieces. The concept behind pulse/shade involves four singers subdivided into two pairs, with the first pair starting very slow and gradually building up the speed while the second pair does the opposite. It is a different kind of procedural music: this time not so much timbral, as rhythmical. Similar to the other two works, this piece requires the vocalists to sing pure phonemes without any recourse to words or text. Upon the initial listen, I found the rhythmic element of the work quite fascinating. However, my subsequent discovery that it was digitally manipulated by Explore Ensemble's artistic director and the recordist of this album, Nicholas Moroz, to achieve a perfectly symmetrical structure altered my perception of the piece. One can still appreciate Betts-Dean's splendid production of vocal formants and get carried away with focusing on different overtones, but somehow it is not the same.
The album's namesake piece, parallaxis forma, rounds up the release. This time Lotte Betts-Dean is joined by an extended line-up of Explore Ensemble – featuring Taylor MacLennan (flute), Alex Roberts (clarinet), David Zucchi (saxophone), Sarah Park (tuned glasses), Sam Cave (guitar), David Lopez Ibañez (violin) and Deni Teo (cello) – to dissolve ‘any trajectory of vertical/horizontal thinking… into refracted or expanded space.’Footnote 3 The recurring theme of the piece involves resonant vocal formants washing up against the backdrop of shimmering instrumental overtones. Due to the expanded nature of the instrumental line-up, Lamb has a broader palette of colours than in the previous pieces, emitting both lighter and darker shades. Often, moments of evanescent beauty arise not so much from various timbral combinations, but rather from the faltering or stalling of the bow or breath pressure. However, the real gem of this work – an ascending scalic melody in the voice – only begins to crystallise as the attentive listener invests enough time and follows through the compositional process, being rewarded for such a demanding task. It is the preceding, repetitive washing up of sustained vocal fragments at the start of the pieces that gives birth to this marvellous gem.
One can feel how much thought and care the composer has poured into the music on this CD. It is undoubtedly well crafted, possessing an enigmatic quality and an allure that can attract a range of music lovers. It is also clear how competent the musicians are at versing in Lamb's compositional speak. Yet, I personally found it challenging to listen to all three pieces consecutively. It required serious heavy lifting even for my somewhat trained ears. There are many things to unpack here, and each listening iteration can bring its own revelations. Importantly, the inclusion of pulse/shade as the middle piece balances the CD nicely. However, when listening to the individual compositions, their shorter duration allows for careful and focused listening, providing much-needed time to digest and enjoy their inward, as well as outward beauty.
