Kyriakides, Yannis

Antichamber [2 CDs]

Label: Unsounds Country: Netherlands

"Previously I knew the music of Amsterdam based composer Yannis Kyriakides from his live electronic improvisations with guitarist Andy Moor and from "The Buffer Zone" (2004), an incisive audio drama addressing the geopolitical separation of his native Cyprus. "Antichamber", ten pieces for small groupings written since the mid-1990s, confirms that he is a musician working with serious and stimulating ideas, and with attractive sounds that can carry that weight. His musical education in the Netherlands has left its mark. Kyriakides' own compositions resonate with the Spartan minimallsm of Louis llndriessen and the off-the-wall resourcefulness of electroacoustic maverick Dick Raaijmakers. both acknowledged as his teachers in the notes to this release, yet his own voice is exhilaratingly different.

The pieces on "Antichamber" combine conventional instruments with technology that amends, enhances, obstructs or complements their sound. On the opening track the sound of an acoustic sextet is gated by means of telegraph keys. "Zeimbe lriko" presents a gradual dialogue between violin and electric guitar, interspersed with crackling echoes of Turkish traditional music, excavated from an old recording. "As They Step Into The Same Rivers" is scored for viola, contrabass and iPod shuffle.

The title "Antichamber" may suggest that Kyriakides is turning his back on chamber music conventions, but the pieces on this excellent release are not a negative reaction. Rather they engage with the changing technologies and conditions of our reception of music in space. The title track - tellingly scored for string quartet and computer - is acutely responsive, like the rest of this fine music, to the modified sensitivities that come with new forms of attentiveness, other ways of listening and different things noticed."-Julian Cowley, The Wire

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