{"id":33221,"date":"2020-11-20T13:28:52","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T18:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/records\/a-question-of-angles\/"},"modified":"2020-11-20T13:30:20","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T18:30:20","slug":"a-question-of-angles","status":"publish","type":"records","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/records\/a-question-of-angles\/","title":{"rendered":"A Question of Angles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Earlier this year, Ang\u00e8le David-Guillou, a French composer and performer based in England, concluded the arc of her <\/strong>Mouvement<\/em><\/strong> trilogy<\/strong><\/a>. Though initiated well before the first fit of coughing in Wuhan, these works \u2013 particularly the concluding Sans Mouvement<\/em>, an almost hour-long solo organ meditation \u2013 provided an excellent reflection of the global lockdown, thick with churning, compressed sentiments and toying with the very idea of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s unlikely that David-Guillou had insider information about the bug back then, and likewise doubtful that she could have predicted to the week the announcement of a vaccine, a light at the end of the tunnel. Regardless, her timing is again excellent. A Question of Angles <\/em>is again an ensemble work, like 2017\u2019s En Mouvement<\/em>, with over a dozen string and saxophone players, supplemented as is seen fit, for instance by a soaring Theremin on the title track, or the choir on the concluding piece, \u201cQuid Pro Quo\u201d. It\u2019s not only a collective effort, it\u2019s also bold, effusive, and extroverted music, a righteous release. This is apparent from the first volley, the forceful \u201cValley of Detachment\u201d, a piece so martial that the \u201cdetachment\u201d in the title might be a military double-entendre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

En Mouvement <\/em>contained several explicit pastiches, most prominently of Philip Glass and Michael Nyman, and their spirits linger over the entire proceedings of A Question of Angles <\/em>\u2013 David-Guillou makes no effort to obscure that. From Glass she borrows the strident, loping melodic patterns, dramatic valleys and peaks in rapid succession, and from Nyman, the intractable drive, the pugnacity and piercing ache. She has her own voice, though, and like most of us, much to say at this point in the global ordeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n