The Soadie Waste / Dillug-Kefitsah / Traumwerk Book III

"... a kaleidoscopic, highly energised piece, magnificently played by pianist Noriko Kawai and those indefatigable navigators of the thorniest of modernist thickets, the Arditti Quartet"
- The Scotsman

"NMC has become a reliable champion of James Dillon's remarkable music, and its third collection devoted to him is not only the most impressive so far, but also marks the belated debut of the Arditti Quartet on the label. Written for that group with the pianist Noriko Kawai, The Soadie Waste from 2003 is archetypal Dillon, a work grounded in the composer's experiences of growing up on the outskirts of Glasgow in the 1960s ... which uses his dense, complex musical language to communicate great physical power, exuberance and immediacy... Dillon's instrumental writing takes no prisoners, but the playing of Kawai and the Ardittis in all these works is remarkable too; no composer could hope for better."
- The Guardian, 2008

Following her acclaimed recording of Dillon's Book of Elements, Noriko Kawai returns to NMC - joined by Irvine Arditti and the Arditti Quartet, in their first recording for NMC. This disc spans Dillon's career - from early piano caprice Dillug-Kefitsah, and the phantasmagorical sequence Traumwerk, for violin and piano, to brooding piano duo black/ nebulae - with pianist Hiroaki Takenouchi - and piano quintet the soadie waste, which takes its name from a dilapidated Glaswegian dance hall on the site of a former chemical-works; it was said that during 'hot' dance sessions the locals could detect chemical seepage.