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Neural Circuits | 
| Artist: Joanna Macgregor
Creators: Britten Sinfonia, Cameron Sinclair
Label: Sound Circus
Category: Music
New (1) Used (2) from £8.95
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 113811
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.8 x 0.4
EAN: 5060048890082
ASIN: B000067A6F
Release Date: July 17, 2002
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| Tracks:
| • | Neural circuits - Nitin Sawhney | | • | Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten - Arvo Pärt | | • | Ghanaian Siwe Bell Music | | • | Louange a l'eternite de Jesus from "Quartet for the end of time" - Messiaen | | • | Urban prophecies - Nitin Sawhney | | • | Concerto for piano and strings - Schnittke |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
For her own label, Sound Circus, pianist Joanna MacGregor always pulls something new out of the hat. Neural Circuits could have been a hotchpotch, but the imaginative vigour with which it's put together--and the intrinsic excellence of many of its tracks--lifts it onto a much higher plane. The most substantial piece is Schnittke's Concerto for Piano and Strings, in which the two opposed forces enjoy a productively combative relationship: Schnittke's trademark melange of styles is done with a light touch and with mercurial invention. The cello in the Messaien--a movement from Quartet for the End of Time--is in the hands of the late Christoher van Kampen, now sorely missed as MacGregor's sleeve note observes, and especially in music as movingly plangent as this. Arvo Pärt wrote his Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten--a canon for strings plus a single tolling bell--to celebrate the unusual purity of his music, and that phrase aptly describes his piece too. The other three items are typical MacGregor curiosities: Ensemble Bash playing Ghanaian village music as to the manner born, plus two pieces by Nitin Sawhney. Urban Prophecies is actually a delightful little number, full of vigour and pungency, for a combination of Eastern and Western instruments. It's simply a pity that he felt impelled to puff it with a sleeve note that, in its absurd grandiosity, is pure Pseuds' Corner. The indefatigable MacGregor plays and conducts--sometimes both at once--on every track. --Michael Church
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| Customer Reviews:
very interesting June 25, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
quite different
excellant playing of an unusual mixtureit really works i come back regularly to it and each time enjoy a new & unseen part i am grateful to her and wish there were more
Eclectic and fascinating December 15, 2002
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Even more wide-ranging than her Mercury short-listed 'Play' album.
Not just piano-playing that can be muscular and percussive (in the Sawhney) but also lyrical and restrained when necessary (in the Messiaen), but also a fine choice of collaborators and even sympathetic direction of the Britten Sinfonia. A well-programmed disc, also, although I don't listen to the trad Ghanaian bell music every time... A brave and eclectic selection, played with power and skill. Now, if only there had been a track with Django Bates or some Piazzolla, this would have been perfect, but as it is it really is mostly wonderful. Why just 'mostly' ? The politicised sound-bites in the Sawhney are no doubt inspired by sincere motives, but they will inevitably date badly. All the same, the quality, passion and emotional depth of the playing on this album make it an essential next purchase for anyone who enjoyed 'Play'. What talent, what scope ; to think that she can play Bach, Dowland and Nancarrow as well as she plays all this. A remarkable pianist.
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