GRAMOPHONE: (Critics’ Choice January 2001)
An enterprising introduction to two young composers, each with something to say and the means to say it with interest and imagination. Thank heavens for small independent labels. There is a wealth of worthy composers whose music deserves wider recognition and accessibility and Metier had contributed to the cause immensely with the release of this recording of music by Paul Archbold and Fabrice Fitch. The rhythmic ingenuity, intricate textures and subtle exploration of sonorities in the five Etudes en mouvement epitomise Paul Archbold's style, where hard edged angularity is often juxtaposed with more hazy, impressionistic textures. These characteristics are subtly blended to great effect in the fascinating harp solo Of Crossed Destinies, which draws inspiration from the novel The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino. Here, Archbold conjures a rich musical narrative that echoes the dark, mystical tone of Calvino's novel. The six short pieces that make up Pas de Deux for piano and viola confine themselves almost exclusively to the exploration of sonority, and there is a sparseness and simplicity found in these pieces (the two instruments often play in unison) which reminds me of Morton Feldman. Disenchanted Voices for flute, viola and harp on the other hand explores more fully Archbold's preoccupation with multiphonic timbres. Archbold's delicate tendrils of sound evoke a haunted, fragile landscape that lingers in the mind long after the piece has finished - one almost feels like an eavesdropper on some strange secret ceremony.

Acting as a demarcation line between Archbold and Fitch's work comes Fabrice Fitch's own transcription of Cuvelier's ballade Se Galaas et le puissant Artus. The transcription is described by Fitch as 'a kind of musical programme note' to the Filigranes pour les Frères Limbourg heard later on the disc. The striking Structures en bronze for trombone and percussion immediately reveals Fitch to be a composer whose command of tone colour and texture is considerable indeed. Structures en bronze is primarily a dramatic dialogue between the two performers, and Fitch utilises an impressive array of effects and devices to create an absorbing and atmospheric work. In Filigranes pour les Frères Limbourg, for flute, recorder, oboe, viola and cello, Fitch creates a sinewy, fragile sound world (reminiscent at times of Brian Ferneyhough, with whom Fitch studied in the late '80s) which reflects musically (and most atmospherically) the 'dense detail and luminous colours' of three illuminated manuscript masters at the court of Duke Jehan of Berry in the early 15th century. By way of contrast, the three short piano pieces from the ongoing cycle Wind-Up sound almost minimalist, as each explore various mechanistic or quasi-mechanistic devices, resulting in strikingly spare but highly focused and fascinating miniatures. Good sound and exemplary performances throughout. An excellent disc well worth exploring.
Michael Stewart

INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW:
If I say that the music on this disc is complex, this is not to suggest a particular style of musical composition (no one would confuse these pieces with anything by Carter or Ferneyhough, for example), but that it requires close attention. As with any kind of elaborate patterning (though, once again, this music is far from mere patterns), one needs to follow the intricacies of the tracery carefully in order to derive anything from it.

Patterns are, in fact, suggested by two of the pieces recorded here: Paul Archbold's Of crossed destinies (inspired by Calvino's The Castle of Crossed Destinies) and Fabrice Fitch's Filigranes pour les Frères Limbourg, and very intricate patterns they are. The final Lento of Archbold's Of crossed destinies is, I think, the most impressive movement of the work, exploring the rich resonance of the harp in a solemn peroration. Pas de Deux makes intriguing and very original use of the sonorities of viola and piano, the two instruments often playing the same material and creating a haunting, spectral sound, as in the opening Lento, or a buzzing, folky timbre as in the tiny Allegro. Fitch's Structures en Bronze for trombone and percussion is a deep exploration of the glissando, quite superbly performed by Barrie Webb and Julian Warburton. The trombone writing ranges from the elegiac to deep rumblings, melting into the percussion sounds, and the extraordinary siren-like effects at the end of the piece. Filigranes pour les Frères Limbourg is rather different, its elusive textures and triptych structure aiming to suggest the work of the Limbourg brothers. The Commentaire en forme de Prologue is a transcription of an Ars Subtilior ballade, Se Galaas et le puissant Artus which puts me in mind of Birtwistle's transcription of Machaut and Ockeghem for instrumental ensemble. Its relationship to Filigranes remains elusive, at least for this listener (the composer describes it as 'a kind of musical programme note', but it is unrelated to the main work musically and is to be performed separately from it). The three pieces from Wind-Up are miniatures, each of which explores, as is the case with Archbold's Etudes en mouvement, a particular musical mechanism. This may sound a Ligetian process, but the actual music is quite different. Performances throughout are excellent.
Ivan Moody

RECORDS INTERNATIONAL:
Not exactly complexicist, but some distance from new simplicity or neo-Romanticism, these solo and chamber works by two youngish UK-domiciled composers share an eclectic view of developments in 20th-century music. Fitch is an authority on early music, though this only shows when he expressly wants it to. Some extended instrumental techniques are in evidence; for the most part these works occupy the realm of free atonality familiar to us from a good deal of music written by the younger generation of European composers.
Unknown reviewer