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Meadow

by Linda Catlin Smith

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1.
Meadow 32:25

about

Linda Catlin Smith (b. 1957)

Meadow 32.35
Mia Cooper, violin; Joachim Roewer, viola and William Butt, cello

credits

released December 11, 2020

Executive Producer Eamonn Quinn
Produced by Eamonn Quinn and Piotr Furmanczyk
Recording Engineer Debbie Smith
Edited, mixed and mastered by Piotr Furmanczyk
Recorded in Camden Studio Dublin 29 August 2020

Cover image kindly provided by Alice Maher (www.alicemaher.com).
Image copyright is held by Alice Maher.
Typography Peter Curzon

Sequenza 21's Best of 2021 Recordings:
​https://www.sequenza21.com/2021/12/best-of-2021-new-experimental-recordings/
​​Best of 2021: New/Experimental Recordings

Meadow. Linda Catlin Smith
Mia Cooper, violin; Joachim Roewer, viola and William Butt, cello
Louth Contemporary Music Society CD
​Meadow was released December 11, 2020, too late for most music critics to catch it in time for year-end coverage (except Steve Smith and Tim Rutherford-Johnson, of course). Since the release of this half hour long string trio composed by Linda Catlin Smith, both the composer and the label of this release, Louth Contemporary Music Society, have grown in terms of influence and recorded output (see the Frey review below). Meadow contains a lush, primarily modal, harmonic palette tempered with piquant dissonances. Smith takes her time unfolding various patternings of the primarily chordal texture, creating a deliciously unhurried amble through fascinating, distinctive musical pathways.


Meadow contains not a single gimmick, trick, conceit or ‘A ha’; it is music that never encourages you to do anything other than continue listening to it, and I did, over and over. It is my favourite release of 2020, and I may not have adequately fulfilled the descriptive function of a review, but I will fulfil the teaser function: run, don't walk and go and listen to this for yourself. You really must.
Ian Power Tempo July 2021

Mia Cooper (violin), Joachim Roewer (viola) and William Butt (cello) play with a tactful reserve that serves to highlight the occasional moments of glowing warmth or severe discordant tension in this deeply meditative work.
Michael Dervan The Irish Times
www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/linda-catlin-smith-meadow-review-deeply-meditative-1.4436496

Linda Catlin Smith: Meadow (Louth CMS)
Any new recording of Linda Catlin Smith’s music is to be welcomed, but this issue of Meadow, released by Louth Contemporary Music Society near the very end of the year (launch event on 11 December here) feels very special. A 30-minute string trio, Meadow scrapes a little deeper into the influences of early music that frequently run beneath the surface of Smith’s music: like a Dufay motet it conveys an atmosphere of melody and polyphony without constraint, but also of contemplation and extraordinary warmth. If Höstman caught the end of the pre-pandemic world, maybe her Canadian contemporary points to a future after it.
Releases of 2020
johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/2020/12/08/rambler-releases-of-2020/

Alex Ross' Notable Recordings of 2020
www.newyorker.com/culture/2020-in-review/notable-performances-and-recordings-of-2020
Linda Catlin Smith, "Meadow"; Mia Cooper, Joachim, Bill Butt (Louth Contemporary Music Society)

Steve Smith For the Record Album of the Week 11 December 2020
nightafternight.substack.com/p/for-the-record-december-11-2020
Contemplative mood
Melody that never ends
Plaintive harmony

Tension melts away
Meadow calms the roil inside
Serendipity

Let it fill you up
This, another treasure from
Linda Catlin Smith.

CD Note from Paul Griffiths
“A meadow”, the composer has said, “is a simple place, with elements that are there quite naturally; it’s not a spectacular garden, but if you look closely there are many different types of plants and tiny flowers. It is a place of infinite variation.”

This is how the music goes, weaving a meadow, weaving through a meadow, in stray fragments of tune that will be repeated until they dissolve or give way to something else, through chord sequences that move slowly but inexorably. Listeners are drawn into this gentle but alert music by three outstanding Irish string players: Mia Cooper on violin, Joachim Roewer on viola and Bill Butt on cello. There is no hurry, no need to hurry. To quote Linda Catlin Smith again, “I like to sit with things for a while, to dwell in the material, to have a chance to listen.” This is the kind of experience she provides in Meadow.

On the cover of the album is a striking image by the Irish artist Alice Maher.
Funded by the Arts Council and financially supported by Create Louth

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Louth Contemporary Music Society Dundalk, Ireland

I would say the Louth CMS is particularly significant because of the dedication, love and devotion that drives Eamonn Quinn to seek out special musicians to bring to his corner of the world. These choices are made on musical worth regardless of their commercial potential. It is these kind of risks that keep music alive. Composer – Terry Riley ... more

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