 |
| Cloud Chamber: Gavin Greenaway & Caroline Dale (Photo: ottantotto) |
Cloud Chamber is the newly formed duo of Gavin Greenaway (piano) and Caroline Dale (cello), internationally renowned performers whose careers span film and concert music. As a composer, conductor and pianist, Gavin has worked extensively in theatre, film and television.
Cloud Chamber's debut album, Skylines featuring Gavin's music for the duo, was released on MVKA on 25 September. It is a project that has taken time to come to fruition.
Gavin explains, some years ago he was doing a recording of a film score with Caroline Dale and they commented how nice it would be to do more projects for themselves. Then during the long COVID period things seemed to shut down, and he wasn't creative. The spark came with the idea to write an album for someone he knew. Gavin has issued two discs of his own piano music (Woven and Il falco bianco) but felt that there was only so far he could go with solo piano. Having written the music he was nervous at playing the pieces for Caroline. He regards himself as a composer who can play the piano, but making music with Caroline seemed to come easily.
They had plans to record the programme, but after conducting a World of Hans Zimmer concert in Toulon, Gavin was asked about performing is own music. The result was that he and Caroline gave a concert in Toulon and found joy both in performing and in the audience reaction. Gavin comments that in a big arena concert, it is difficult to judge the audience reaction, but in a small auditorium a concert can feel like a conversation.
Gavin loves the idea of travelling through the music, telling a story and going on a journey to a different place at the end at each performance. The story changes slightly each time they perform the programme, and invariably each time they play the pieces live they go on a different journey. As for the audience, Gavin would like people to close their eyes and let the music take them.
He describes the pieces on Skylines as largely introspective and gentle. He admits that there is a story behind each piece, but that this is very much conceptual and is for the audience to decide. All in all, this is very different to his film and TV work.
From the late 1990s he spent eight years in Los Angeles. He worked on lots of collaborations and did some ghost writing, but never had his own film score. He did not express a voice of his own in all that time, partly because he did not have the confidence to say this is what I sound like live. Partly, he attributes this to his classical composition background. He studied music at Trinity College of Music (now Trinity Laban) and his teacher had the view that atonal music was the thing, whereas Gavin wrote tonal music and harmony. It was this, Gavin thinks, that led to his suppressing his own voice.
Eventually he took a step away from writing for film and wrote music for theme parks. He wrote a piece for Disney, he scored for their fireworks show IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth and a parade called Tapestry of Nations at Epcot. He was told he could do whatever he wanted. The music was originally intended to run for five years but ran for over 20 years in Florida.
 |
| Gavin Greenaway & Caroline Dale in rehearsal |
Over the last ten years he has been trying to discover his own musical voice, which he calls the sum of the interests he has. He loves Messiaen, but has no desire to emulate the composer and is searching for an honest expression of what he likes musically. He was recently commissioned for a work for harp, flute and viola which was challenging as he would not be playing the piece. He had to accept that it was only going to come up the way he can write it.
Asking himself the question 'Why compose?' he feels that it tells people who you are, and that he can have a conversation with listeners on that basis. If people copy other composers (which happens in film), Gavin feels that you are doomed as you lose who you are. Another answer is that writing music enables self expression and communication. Expressing yourself through the arts means that everything else follows, you know who you are.
But we are creating a whole generation who have not at the musical education necessary, so that making music becomes a niche art. The corrollary to this is, he feels, a whole generation who do not know who they are.
When planning a project, you think that the work is mainly in writing the music but he has found that there is as much work again to record it and get the pieces played. He laughs and comments on the amount of time they have spent making videos for Skylines. Some of the pieces flowed easily when writing them, he started and something told him where to go. But others took more time. On Rannoch Moor never quite worked until he added a traditional B section in the relative minor. He writes at the piano, then works the piece up in his head. He enjoys playing the music and enjoys the feeling of what his fingers are doing, making nice shapes with his hands. Bu whilst the physical aspects of playing his own pieces is satisfying and important, he has also written pieces that he can barely play. However, he admits that he wants to write music that people enjoy playing.
 |
| Cloud Chamber: Gavin Greenaway & Caroline Dale (Photo: ottantotto) |
Looking ahead, he and Caroline have ideas for future projects together after this disc. His album of solo piano works, Woven (release 2018) was recorded at home and used multi-tracking including using prepared piano. He has now added a cello part to some of these pieces, so he and Caroline have played them in concerts. Also, Caroline wrote music for her own solo album, Such Sweet Thunder and they have ideas for working on these pieces too. But working together is also a matter of time, Gavin has a busy recording schedule whilst Caroline is playing and working as a session musician. However, they are now on the path and want to make more.
Four singles from the disc have been released and Gavin feels the signs are good. THey have had over a quarter of a million streams for the singles which suggests that people are enjoying the music. The disc is being issued by a Brighton-based boutique label, MVKA. There is a vinyl LP of the disc coming out too, and when I spoke to Gavin he had just received the test pressing. He took the vinyl disc along to a friend who runs a high-end hifi shop in New Malden and the results sounded glorious, bringing the music alive.
Gavin doesn't think particularly differently when writing music for the concert hall as opposed to film, though he admits he probably should. When he was writing his piece for harp trio, he was thinking about the venues where it would be performed. Whilst, when writing the pieces for Caroline, the process became more of a conversation with her. But they have had to think about the live concert experience, playing the pieces in a different order when they play live so that the more introspective numbers are broken up by the faster ones.
The most recent single from the disc, 'Drift' was released on 4 September. Apple put it on their Classical Chill Strings playlist and it has been doing well. He comments that by putting yourself out there, you have nowhere to hide though being one of the performers means he does have some control.
Cloud Chamber will perform the album at The Stables, Milton Keynes (1 October), The Quarterhouse, Folkestone (9 October), The Horton, Epsom (10 October), and Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham (17 October), with more dates to be announced. Full details on the Cloud Chamber website.
Hear Skylines on MVKA.
The blog is free, but I'd be delighted if you were to show your appreciation by buying me a coffee.
Elsewhere on this blog
- Challenging genius: The Yellow Tie tells the dramatic story of Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache's rise to fame in a film written & directed by his son - film review
- Britten's War Requiem: Edward Gardner takes an uncompromising & severe view softened by the poetic attention to the words from soloists in London Philharmonic Orchestra's season opener - concert review
- Relishing the challenge: mezzo-soprano Samantha Price on singing her first Dido in Purcell's opera on tour with English Touring Opera - interview
- Not quite the sum of its parts: starry casting with Carmen Giannattasio, Saimir Pirgu & Bryn Terfel fails to lift Oxford International Opera's debut with Puccini's Tosca - opera review
- A sassy Carmen from Katie Bray: Blackheath Halls Opera's celebratory 20th anniversary production of Bizet's opera - opera review
- Between Breath and Brass: Hearing the Sheng in Contemporary London - guest posting
- Fogli d'album: Anna Bonitatibus & Adele d'Aronzo explore the barely tapped wealth of Rossini's occasional pieces - record review
- Unassuming charm & surprising sophistication: Bampton Classical Opera in the Italian version of Grétry's take on Beauty & the Beast - opera review
- Home
