The Enchanted Loom: Orchestral Music by Carl Vine (CD)

Carl Vine AO is one of Australia's best known and most frequently performed composers, with an impressive orchestral catalogue featuring eight symphonies and 13 concertos. This album presents the world premiere recording of his most recent symphony, The Enchanted Loom: an exploration in music of the intricate patterns of the human brain as it weaves together from raw sensory data our understanding of the outside world. Vine’s music takes us through five phases: the brain emerging into order out of sleep; the complex interactions that shape our social fabric; the sources of our creativity; the mystery of euphoria; and our astounding ability to contemplate infinity.

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The Enchanted Loom was commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra during Vine’s tenure as the orchestra’s Resident Composer in 2018. This album of live concert recordings, under the baton of the orchestra’s then Chief Conductor, Sir Andrew Davis, is a celebration of that collaboration and a superb showcase for Vine’s genius with orchestral colours and textures. His Concerto for Orchestra provides opportunities for every single instrument to step into the spotlight, creating a web of melodies and harmonies that are woven intimately together yet remain fluid and endlessly flexible.

Also on the album is Vine’s very first symphony, his MicroSymphony. "Micro" only in length – a single movement of just 12 minutes – the work uses the full symphonic forces in its exploration of rhythmic and harmonic transformation. The disc opens with the playful orchestral fanfare "V" ("vee"), cheekily named for its five-minute duration, and the digital version of the album includes a sparkling performance of Smith’s Alchemy, in which Vine transforms the individual members of the ensemble into a single ‘super-instrument’, sharing techniques across multiple players to heighten the lyrical qualities of the music.

TRACK LIST
MicroSymphony (Symphony No. 1)

The Enchanted Loom (Symphony No. 8)
i. the loom awakens 5’16
ii. the social fabric 4’28
iv. euphoria 4’11
v. imagining infinity 5’47

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis conductor

Recorded live in concert at Hamer Hall, Melbourne in 2018.