Linda Catlin Smith (b. 1957)
Meadow 32.35
Mia Cooper, violin; Joachim Roewer, viola and William Butt, cello
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
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.