Alan Tomlinson alto and tenor trombones, various mutes
Lawrence Casserley live processing
In 2017, as my 76th birthday approached, naturally I thought of trombones, and most particularly of my old friend Alan Tomlinson. The thought of 76 Alans was just too delicious to resist - a big parade indeed!
I devised in Max/MSP a 75-tap variable delay line, which I could control from my iPad, and gave Alan a graphic score to trigger the magic that I knew would happen.
This is one of a number of graphic scores that I describe as “designed to inspire rather than to instruct”.
The images in the score are derived from the figures “7” and “6” in a number of different notations. Everything Alan plays is heard 76 times with varying delays.
My part consists of a set of models for moving around the delay space, which are used freely, expanding, distorting and amplifying Alan’s genius.
The first performance was scheduled for the Colourscape Music Festival on 17 September, 2017. As so often happens that was one of those days when I gave everybody else the technical help they needed
at the expense of my own, and the premier was marred by problems. Earlier, in our preparation period, I had asked Alan to record his part so I could practice the processing part on my own.
It is one of these practice sessions that makes up the '2017 version'.
In 2021 Catherine Pluygers of the London New Wind Festival asked for a piece to celebrate my 80th birthday. Knowing that Alan would be involved, I suggested a reprise of “76”. This time everything worked fine, Alan was magnificent, of course, and the performance was a big success - the '2021 version'.
Very sadly, the great, the wonderful, the beautiful Alan Tomlinson died before we could issue these recordings. I present them here in loving memory of an extraordinary man.
Lawrence Casserley - February, 2024
credits
released March 25, 2024
2017 version - recorded September 2017 in Lawrence’s studio in Oxford, UK (precise date uncertain)
2021 version - recorded 12 November 2021 at a London New Wind Festival concert at The Warehouse, London, UK
mastered by Olaf Rupp
dedicated to Alan Tomlinson 07 November 1947 - 13 February 2024
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