Bryn Harrison is a British experimental composer who has a long-held fascination with notions of musical time, and his compositions use recursive musical forms that challenge our perceptions of time and space by viewing the same material from different angles and perspectives. Harrison has developed an individual approach to dealing with time as a circular and repeating entity. He is Professor of Composition at the University of Huddersfield.

Towards a slowing of the past (2023) is Harrison’s 45-minute composition for two pianists – Mark Knoop, who also adds pre-recorded electronics, and Roderick Chadwick, both of whom have worked before with Harrison. It was recorded at the University of Huddersfield in October 2024. Harrison dedicated this composition to Knoop and Chadwick, and pianist Philip Thomas, a Professor of Performance at the University of Huddersfield, and a member of the contemporary ensemble Apartment House. The suggestive cover photo is by photographer Richard Mulhearn, another colleague of Harrison at the University of Huddersfield.

The subtle electronics, with their dark, deep tones, and especially with the sound of the piano being played backwards, contribute to the disorienting, paradoxical atmosphere of this composition, contrasting the linear, often dense dialogue of the pianists, and suggesting a different sonic perspective of time and memory as more elastic, fragile, and serpentine entities. Harrison wanted to reuse and recontextualize these supposedly conflicting sonic materials so that it would become increasingly difficult to predict when the recorded electronic material will enter and for how long, more and more so as this composition progresses and slows down. Each listening reveals more nuances in this composition and enriches its immersive listening experience.

Eyal Hareuveni

Mark Knoop (piano, electronics), Roderick Chadwick (piano)