Garth Knox has released a new single on streaming platforms: ‘Ghosts’ for solo viola d’amore by Ed Bennet, performed (live) by Garth Knox.
You can stream it here
This is the first track on a new CD: ‘The Night with… live Volume 2‘, performed by various artists. Info here.
Here’s what Garth Knox says about the piece in the liner notes:
In this piece Ed found a very clever way to get round what could potentially be a major weakness of the viola d’amore and turn it into strength; namely that when you tune it up in D major (which is the standard tuning for both sets of strings) you really get a lot of D major, and not much else. Or rather, the D major chord sounds incredibly well, but it’s hard to get away from it and after a while it can end up sounding sugary sweet. Ed makes the most of this resonance, then finds a few distinctly ‘not D major’ chords to fight against it. The rest is done with ghostly resonance, which, filtered through the sympathetic strings of the viola d’amore, sounds really otherworldly.
It was a good experience to play this piece in the setting of ‘The Night with…’ where the performances happen in pubs or casual venues where the music has to be delivered with all the conviction of a stand-up comedian. The material has a natural clarity which speaks to all types of listener.
This track will also be my debut vocal recording, as in certain places I have to sing along discreetly with the resonance (that’s the weird ‘ghost’ singing you can hear in places) . A pub is an ideal place to let out your inner singer!