Gavin Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic
Aventa Ensemble, with Gavin Bryars, double bass; and Phil Dwyer, saxophone
Aventa Productions

“Gavin Bryars’ The Sinking of the Titanic forces us to contemplate one of the most powerful images from that catastrophe: the band that kept playing as the ship sank. We don’t just consider the image and move on; we’re locked into it, into the harmonies of the old hymn, the groaning ship and the sound waves resonating under water into eternity. It’s initially cooler than the celebrated Crepuscule release from 1990; there’s less bass and we don’t hear the bows scrape against the strings, although the reminiscences of the two survivors are more prominent. Aventa also replaces the original bass clarinet – its dark, straight tone gives an eerie depth to the ambient sound – with a saxophone, but it pays off. The sax sounds almost human in the final lament.” Elissa Poole, Globe and Mail