Richard Reed Parry - Music for Heart and Breath (2014)

Music for Heart and Breath is Richard Reed Parry´s debut as classical composer who is mostly known from the Grammy Nominated Uber Indie Rock Band Arcade Fire. Richard is a multi-instrumentalist and composer, drawing his influences from classical music, folk and electronica. This is his first core classical release that will find his home at Deutsche Grammophon!

The album features various compositions for Heart and Breath for various ensembles, as well as small interludes (Interruptions).

The concept behind Heart and Breath is that every musician involved in the piece generates his own tempo by listening to his/her pulse during the performance. Fragile and intimate, these stunningly created performance effects are the basis for this conceptual compositional approach

Richard explains:

“Music for Heart and Breath is a series of compositions that use involuntarily moving organs of the human body (specifically the lungs and the heart) as performance parameters. There are no time signatures: the tempos and rhythms are always governed by either the heart rates or the breathing rates of the individual players. In the case of the latter, the performers are instructed to play directly in sync with their own or another player’s individual breathing (playing at the speed of their inhalations, their exhalations or both). To enable the players to hear and play in sync with their own heartbeats, they wear stethoscopes and, naturally, generally play quietly.”

The music is performed by an exciting line-up of musicians, produced by Bryce Dessner Nico Muhly (Conductor, celeste/piano), Bryce & Aaron Dessner (guitar) from The National, Kronos Quartet, the ensemble Ymusic