Philip Sheppard’s previous disc of self-composed music for his five-string electronic cello, ‘The Glass Cathedral’, was warmly received in these pages (3/99) for its integration of technology into a spontaneous and persuasive musical experience. The follow-up features seven tracks contrasted in mood and inspiration.
Clear Blue pursues its undulating melodic course through alternating modal harmonies, creating an expectation left purposely unfulfilled. Penitential Psalm, inspired by Galileo’s correspondence with his daughter, has a gently mystical aura, Sheppard’s extemporising of each verse-like section never seeming calculated. Rain, Steam and Speed, after Turner, depicts a journey which passes through eerie, almost sculpted harmonic formations, on its way to a dematerialised end. In The Diver in the Crypt, Winchester Cathedral is saved from sinking to a superimposition of ostinato patterns and subterranean drones – a video realisation beckons. Via dolorosa, evoking the Jerusalem street that witnessed the stations of the cross, has a curiously neutral air that seems intent on objectifying the centuries of significance generated by the locality. Mechanical Waltz much more graphically complements its setting of the Kew Bridge Steam Museum, with a waltz-motion of palm court-like insouciance. Dark Blue, a nocturnal revisiting of the opening track, takes the latter’s musical substance and atmosphere through to a restful ‘resolution’.
With the proviso that Sheppard’s approach may be best suited to extended improvisation rather than individual numbers as here, this disc can be warmly recommended for its distinctive and accessible approach to contemporary music-making.'