A live album from Portishead’s guitarist which was recorded in St George’s back in February is being released today on Invada Records, the label owned by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow.
Adrian Utley’s Guitar Orchestra In C features an orchestra of electric guitar players reinterpreting minimalist composer Terry Riley’s In C.
The Guitar Orchestra consists of 24 musicians from Bristol: 19 guitarists including John Parish (PJ Harvey), Thought Forms and Jim Barr (Portishead live band); four organs and a bass clarinet.
“I’ve been exploring the sonic possibilities of massed guitars for a while now in various contexts from pure noise to the sacred choral music of Arvo Part,” says Utley.
“So it was interesting to see what would happen if we had 20 electric guitars plus organs playing ‘In C’. It is an amazing piece of writing and original thought.
“A new free idea of organised group playing. The beginnings of what we know as minimalism.”
The core members of the orchestra will tour later in the year augmented by musicians from the countries they visit including England, France and Poland.
