Cardew - Works 1960-70

The Guardian 80

Duch/Tilbury/Davies
(+3DB)

In October 1981, the composer/Maoist activist Cornelius Cardew was evicted from the House of Commons gallery for shouting, during a speech by Enoch Powell, “this house stinks of racism”. He was killed in a hit-and-run two months later; who knows what mischief he would be making in our alarming times, but his music and its social message feel as pertinent as ever. Pianist John Tilbury worked with him a great deal and wrote an astute 1,000-page biography – nobody plays Cardew with more wit and empathy. Now Tilbury, harpist Rhodri Davies and bassist Michael Francis Duch have added a second disc to their excellent Cardew album, Works 1960-1970, comprising seven exploratory Schooltime Compositions. These pieces from 1967 were designed to rouse feelings of collective action and learning. They’re more about process than product, but this recording has both, delivered with abundant imagination and care.