Watching The River Flow

This is another of NMC's enterprising 25 minute "singles". It features two orchestral pieces by Martin Butler performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The conductor for Fixed Doubles is Martyn Brabbins and for the title piece of the disk, O Rio, it is Arturo Tamayo. Fixed Doubles is an energetic piece, rhythmically active with contrasting lines evolving in a repetitive nature over static harmony ( the "fixed" part of the title of the work )O Rio began with a desire to explore Latin American dance rhythms but these end up fairly deeply subsumed in the orchestral soundscape, with a subsidiary idea taking over involving an indigenous indian creation myth and the onward progress of a giant river to the sea, with the meandering and delta formations reflected in the music. Both pieces have an irresistable forward momentum and rhythmic drive that remains a constant in Butler's orchestral work as shown in a recording I have acquired of the premiere of his Saxophone Concerto given last year at the Prestaigne Festival by Australian saxophonist Amy Dickson. Written for soprano sax and string orchestra, there are jazz and North African elements interwoven with the riffing strings.