PETER BRODERICK: Music For Falling From Trees (Erased Tapes)

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Posted on May 22nd 2009 12:55 am

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Peter Broderick: Music For Falling From Trees

PETER BRODERICK
Music For Falling From Trees
ERATP15
Erased Tapes 2009
07 Tracks. 28mins46secs

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In just over a year, Peter Broderick has gone from largely unknown to highly respected composer and musician. Beside publishing two albums last year, the classical-orientated Float, on Type, then Home, on Bella Union, on which he showcased his folk compositions, as well as an-all piano exercise, Docile, on Kning Disk, Broderick has been busy touring all over Europe and the US as part of Danish avant-folksters Efterklang.

His latest project sees him returning to modern classical composition. Music For Falling From Trees is a half hour piece written for a contemporary dance production created by London-based choreograph Adrienne Hart. Released on the consistently excellent Erased Tapes, this work, comprising seven different tableaux, was recorded using only piano and strings. Falling From Trees tells of the struggle of a man to maintain his identity as he is locked up in a psychiatric hospital. The music conveys a number of emotions throughout the piece, from isolation and solitude in its opening sequence (An Introduction To The Patient, Patient Observation), to chaos and erraticm on Pill Induced Slumber or Awaken/Panic/Restraint, and debilitating stress on Electroconvulsive Shock, by way of recurring use of a two-tone pattern in the background. The last piece, The Path To Recovery, is, as its title suggest, more peaceful and uplifting, with strings and piano echoing each other into ever richer orchestral swathes. Each composition goes through various phases, at times starting with a gentle piano before building up into a dense swirl of sound, at others ebbing and flowing, as to give the impression of recess and relapse.

Entirely written and performed by Broderick in just three weeks, the music manages to exist all on its own and appear coherent from start to finish. In turn melancholic, colourful, exuberant or dreamy, the rich tones of the various string instruments swirl around the soft piano motifs to give the compositions wonderful relief and texture, especially in the moments of greater density.

While Broderick has been working on film music in the past, composing for a choreographed piece was a new exercise for him, and, while it is difficult to get an overall idea of the project, and how the music fits in, from its soundtrack, the seven compositions presented here are wonderfully evocative and nuanced, and carry the idea of the narrative very convincingly.

4.6/5

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3 Responses to “PETER BRODERICK: Music For Falling From Trees (Erased Tapes)”

  1. […] music on Bella Union, Erased Tapes, Secret Furry Hole and Digitalis. His most recent outputs, Music From Falling Trees and Five Film Score Outtakes, showcased his wonderfully airy and fluid classical work, but he is […]

  2. […] Path To Recovery, from Peter Broderick’s 2009 soundtrack to Falling From Trees. Quotable: “wonderfully evocative and nuanced.” — […]

  3. […] Erased Tapes released Peter Broderick’s score for Adrienne Hart’s contemporary dance production Falling From Trees, it is the turn of Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds to present the work British choreographer […]