Bryars: The Sinking Of The Titanic / Barnett, Bryars Ensemble, et al

Gavin Bryars (Performer), Sophie Harris (Performer), Caroline Dale (Performer), Orlanda Bryars (Performer), Ziella Bryars (Performer), Lucy Thornton (Performer), Roger Heaton (Performer), Gavin Bryars (Composer), James Woodrow (Performer), Dave Smith (Performer), Martin Allen (Performer), Alexander Balanescu (Performer), Jonathan Carney (Performer), Bill Hawkes (Performer), Camilla Thornton (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Gavin Bryars, Sophie Harris, Caroline Dale, Orlanda Bryars, Ziella Bryars, et al.
• Composer: Gavin Bryars
• Audio CD (February 14, 1995)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B0000040UW
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #122,499 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Bryars's The Sinking of the Titanic is one of the oddest and at the same time most mesmerizing works to come out of this end of the century. It began in 1972 as an abstract art piece that kept on building and changing in the composer's mind. It's a ghostly tapestry of eerie echoes, distant sounds almost like whale songs, and interjected rifts representing the band that was playing even as the boat sank. This is a masterpiece that rewards repeated listenings. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars probably perfect..., June 25, 2000

By	Scott D. Cudmore (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This music destroys me. I'm a huge fan of pretty much everything Gavin Bryar's has recorded, but this one probably beats out all else. It's a tough call between this and 'Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet', but I think this one wins out. 'Titanic' is some of the most beautiful, haunting music that I've ever heard. I've heard it called good ambient music, good music to play in the background. I couldn't disagree more. This is music that -demands- every iota of your attention. Put it on, lie down, turn out the lights and just listen to the whole thing. It is a truly overpowering experience. Bryar's has a way of doing this.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meditative, February 5, 2001

By	Douglas T Martin (Alpharetta, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wonder how many people bought this recording thinking it had something to do with the "Titanic" movie? And if so, how many kept the recording? Their loss. This is a great work, well performed and recorded. Repetitious without being monotonous, it's the aural equivalent of watching light move across the water as seen from beneath the surface. Recommended to fans of Eno, Philip Glass, and their contemporaries.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unobtrusively ambient, December 3, 2004

By	Hingehead (Cairnsberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

Like Phil Glass this piece relies on repeating relatively simple patterns in layers that slowly change the overall colour of the sound without any obvious melodic or key changes. Unlike Phil Glass rhythm has virtually no place in this piece. It moves like a light mist over the valley of your listening ear.

Predominantly strings, pensive but not unhappy in mood, it would be a fitting to have it playing in the submersible's cd player while you scouted around the wreck of the Titanic when it was on the bottom of the ocean, wondering about the what-ifs of the lives lost, who last drank out of that coral encrusted champagne glass, who's pocket that coin fell from...

Also good to go to sleep to if, like me, you love to drift off to music.