Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, 7 April 2024 Barbican Centre.

Aquarium Drifter began life under a very different title. As Double Chorus, it was Christian Drew’s three-minute creation for the 2020/21 LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme workshops: a diptych of sleazy harmonies and timbres and floridly ornamented melody. Invited to further develop his ideas, he adapted the three-minute miniature into the first of four short movements of a longer piece, which took the title of Aquarium Drifter. 

Reflecting on the musical qualities of the original Double Chorus, Drew was inspired to pursue more deeply its destabilised, floating soundworld. This led him to the idea of aquariums, or ‘aquarium-adjacent things’, as he puts it. Specifically, these include woozy, lounge-style jazz; the muffled (perhaps even submerged) sounds of a Hawaiian guitar; the sun setting over the Thames Tideway construction site in Bermondsey, south London; and the watery, reverb-heavy doowop of The Flamingos. 

At the same time, working with the LSO pulled Drew in another direction, towards the sounds of the existing Classical and Baroque repertoire. This is music ‘that the LSO play incredibly well and are extremely knowledgeable about’, he says, but which in its formal principles of poise and balance sits some distance away from the heady sounds of hotel lobby pianos and slack-key guitars on the beach. 

The surrealistic juxtaposition is reflected in the Hunter S Thompson-meets-Henry Purcell portmanteaus of Drew’s movement titles: ‘Freedive Gigue Lente’, ‘Rocococeanarium’, ‘Subtropicali Antiquarium’ and ‘Sunset Over the Super Sewer’. The second of these in particular – a mix of wobbly continuo and conga/tom-tom obbligato – exemplifies the unique mix. The third includes the first violins divided to create a six-part ‘slide guitar’ effect; Baroque ornaments and suspensions in the flutes, oboes and trumpets; and – pushing the genre boundaries still further – a passage towards the end of the movement marked ‘becoming renaissance EDM’, with electronic dance music-like piano chords and a thumping bass drum.

For his final movement, Drew takes an off-kilter romantic turn, with dreamy string chords suspended beneath a mellifluous marimba solo. When it is joined later by vibraphone, harp and celeste, this quartet leaves the rest of the orchestra behind – although the music stops abruptly here, it is with the sense that these four could continue, swaying slightly in the current, for ever.

Copyright Tim Rutherford-Johnson 2024

Aquarium Drifter (excerpt 3)

Aquarium Drifter (excerpt 4)

Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, 7 April 2024 Barbican Centre.

Aquarium Drifter began life under a very different title. As Double Chorus, it was Christian Drew’s three-minute creation for the 2020/21 LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme workshops: a diptych of sleazy harmonies and timbres and floridly ornamented melody. Invited to further develop his ideas, he adapted the three-minute miniature into the first of four short movements of a longer piece, which took the title of Aquarium Drifter.

Reflecting on the musical qualities of the original Double Chorus, Drew was inspired to pursue more deeply its destabilised, floating soundworld. This led him to the idea of aquariums, or ‘aquarium-adjacent things’, as he puts it. Specifically, these include woozy, lounge-style jazz; the muffled (perhaps even submerged) sounds of a Hawaiian guitar; the sun setting over the Thames Tideway construction site in Bermondsey, south London; and the watery, reverb-heavy doowop of The Flamingos.

At the same time, working with the LSO pulled Drew in another direction, towards the sounds of the existing Classical and Baroque repertoire. This is music ‘that the LSO play incredibly well and are extremely knowledgeable about’, he says, but which in its formal principles of poise and balance sits some distance away from the heady sounds of hotel lobby pianos and slack-key guitars on the beach.

The surrealistic juxtaposition is reflected in the Hunter S Thompson-meets-Henry Purcell portmanteaus of Drew’s movement titles: ‘Freedive Gigue Lente’, ‘Rocococeanarium’, ‘Subtropicali Antiquarium’ and ‘Sunset Over the Super Sewer’. The second of these in particular – a mix of wobbly continuo and conga/tom-tom obbligato – exemplifies the unique mix. The third includes the first violins divided to create a six-part ‘slide guitar’ effect; Baroque ornaments and suspensions in the flutes, oboes and trumpets; and – pushing the genre boundaries still further – a passage towards the end of the movement marked ‘becoming renaissance EDM’, with electronic dance music-like piano chords and a thumping bass drum.

For his final movement, Drew takes an off-kilter romantic turn, with dreamy string chords suspended beneath a mellifluous marimba solo. When it is joined later by vibraphone, harp and celeste, this quartet leaves the rest of the orchestra behind – although the music stops abruptly here, it is with the sense that these four could continue, swaying slightly in the current, for ever.

Copyright Tim Rutherford-Johnson 2024

Aquarium Drifter (excerpt 2)

Aquarium Drifter (excerpt 1)

!!! Please note, this audio recording is a part of audio-visual work. To see the full performance visit: https://vimeo.com/403347556 !!!

Shout #3 (2019)
for violin, cello, bass clarinet, percussion, electric guitar, audio-playback and video
composed by Monika Dalach 
performed by Plus-Minus Ensemble 
at 62. Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music.

Shout #1-3 is a series consisting of three pieces composed for the London-based collective, Plus-Minus Ensemble. Shout is a hybrid of electro-acoustic music, theater gestures, and an audio-visual spectacle where the collection of signs, sounds, gestures, images creates the full representation of the concept. The project was influenced by primal scream therapy and the British song 'Shout' written by Roland Orzabal and Ian Stanley from Tears for Fears considered to be one of the most successful works of the 20th century. Shout #1-3 deals with a study of tensions, those visible and those deeply hidden – tensions which are embodied, silenced, and publicised; tensions noticeable on people's faces and in their body movement.

Shout #3 for violin, cello, bass clarinet, percussion, electric guitar (Plus-Minus Ensemble)(2019)

a polish composer & sound artist based in London
www.monikadalach.com

Shout #3 for violin, cello, bass clarinet, percussion, electric guitar (Plus-Minus Ensemble)(2019)

Monika Dalach

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