Oren Ambarchi

Oren Ambarchi: Wreckage

Performed by Oren Ambarchi & Ensemble Neon
Composed by Oren Ambarchi & James Rushford

Wreckage is a collaborative work between Australian composers Oren Ambarchi and James Rushford. Cycling through a set of asymmetrical harmonic and rhythmic patterns, the composition is a study in displacement. The material, though repetitive, shifts itself in unpredictable ways to create an amorphous, and extremely delicate, sonic world. Wreckage draws upon both avant-garde and avant pop sensibilities, influenced by a variety of artists including Morton Feldman, Luciano Cilio and Luigi Nono. This is a reflection of both composers engagement with rock, experimental, and improvised musics.

Instrumentation: Piano/Celeste, Viola, Cello, Percussion, Clarinet/Bass Clarinet, Bass Flute, Guitar.

James Rushford is a young Melbourne-based composer, pianist, violist and improviser. Studying with artists such as Anthony Pateras, Fred Frith, Brett Dean, Liza Lim, Markus Schmickler, Reiko Fueting, Donna Coleman and Michael Pisaro, James has developed a keen interest in electro-acoustic media and more experimental forms of music making. He has been commissioned by ensembles such as Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Speak Percussion, ELISION, Ear Massage, The Song Company and Decibel, and has featured in the Melbourne International Arts Festival (2006 and 2008) and the Melbourne International Jazz Festival (2011). As a performer, he is a founding member of the chamber music ensemble Golden Fur, premiering works by Jaap Blonk (Netherlands), Anthony Pateras, Cat Hope and Marco Fusinato. He has also given Australian premieres of works by Alvin Lucier (USA), Phill Niblock (Portugal), Robert Ashley (USA), Klaus Lang (Austria) and Jani Christou (Greece). James also collaborates regularly with Jon Rose, Oren Ambarchi, Ned Collette, Francis Plagne and Joe Talia. His music and performances have been published and released by Cajid Media, Pogus, Sabbatical and Bocian.

Oren Ambarchi's works are hesitant and tense extended songforms located in the cracks between several schools: modern electronics and processing; laminal improvisation and minimalism; hushed, pensive songwriting; the deceptive simplicity and temporal suspensions of composers such as Morton Feldman and Alvin Lucier; and the physicality of rock music, slowed down and stripped back to its bare bones, abstracted and replaced with pure signal. From the late 90's his experiments in guitar abstraction and extended technique have led to a more personal and unique sound-world incorporating a broader palette of instruments and sensibilities. On recent releases such as Grapes From The Estate and In The Pendulum's Embrace Ambarchi has employed glass harmonica, strings, bells, piano, drums and percussion, creating fragile textures as light as air which tenuously coexist with the deep, wall-shaking bass tones derived from his guitar. Ambarchi works with simple constructs and parameters; exploring one idea over an extended duration and patiently teasing every nuance and implication from each texture; the phenomena of sum and difference tones; carefully tended arrangements that unravel gently; unprepossessing melodies that slowly work their way through various permutations; resulting in an otherworldly, cumulative impact of patiently unfolding compositions.