REVIEW: SPONTANEOUS MUSIC ORCHESTRA - SME PLUS EQUALS SMO

 

SPONTANEOUS MUSIC ORCHESTRA - SME PLUS EQUALS SMO (Emanem Disc, 2001):

Technical data:

Recordings made in London by Martin Davidson on January 25, 1975 at St John´s Smith Square and Januay 24, 1974 at Little Theatre Club.

Editing, Mastering and Design by Martin Davidson

Artwork by Margaret Richards.

Track List: 1- Plus Equals, 2- SMO at LTC

In 1974-75, John Stevens had to present his compositional works at the St. John ´s Smith Square and at the Little Theatre Club concert and he decided to present it in a really radical format: with the Spontaneous Music Orchestra. This Orchestra was formed with the 10 musicians that were part od the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and adding to the eleven other great musicians. The first tracks here is almost 40 minutes long and is formed by three different pieces: "Search and Reflect", "Sustained Plus" (which is more than 23 minutes long) and "Free Improvisation". Here all and each of the musicians of the orchestra have the space that they need to showcase their habilities as solo improvisers and their skills in the orchestra interaction. In fact, the first part, "Search and Reflect" was design to see how the musicians listened to and reacted to each other before evolving into something else. I have the idea that if you put together two different people to improvise they will always achieve very different results without repeating themselves. Here, with 21 musicians at the top of their possibilities we have some spontaneous interaction at its maximum level!!. Favorite tracks: All the track "Plus Equals". Contact: www.emanemdisc.com