Release Date: 07/08/2008
Run Time: 71:23

Craig Armstrong is a Scottish composer and onetime jazz pianist whose mainly made his mark in film, contributing scores to films by directors Baz Luhrmann, including Moulin Rouge, Simon West, and to television fare such as Six Feet Under; he has also made arrangements for Massive Attack, Madonna, and U2. Since about 2002, Armstrong has sought to broaden into the concert sphere. Virgin Classics' Memory Take My Hand is Armstrong's first album of orchestral, essentially non-cinematic music, and while it is not perfect, it is ambitious and takes a step in what seems like the right direction for Armstrong.
Immer (2007) is a violin concerto written for soloist Clio Gould and performed here by its dedicatee with the support of the BBC Symphony under Garry Walker. It is in a single movement and evolves from a continuous thread of argument. It is attractive, though one would have to be wholly unfamiliar with contemporary British music not to notice some correspondence between this work and the approach of Gavin Bryars. One Minute (2005) consists of 15 orchestral pieces that last a minute, a little more or a little less. Armstrong's handling of these numerous miniatures, which altogether play out in less than 18 minutes, results in an interesting hybrid between film cues, which are by their nature generally short, and the equally short kinds of orchestral compositions found in expressionist works such as Anton Webern's Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10. One of these pieces could pass for being a pocket version of Schoenberg's Das obligate Rezitativ if that's possible; it's an object lesson in making something really short out of another work that's short to begin with. The title work, Memory Takes My Hand (2006), is made up of 12 movements averaging three minutes apiece scored for soprano solo, chorus, and orchestra, though seldom are all three heard at the same time. The work is good, but it seems a little more diffuse in its focus than the others, and the chorus at times seems unsure about its intonation; the voices are predominantly female and scored in long note values in high ranges. Although it has the best title of the three works and gives the album its name, Memory Takes My Hand seems the weakest of these three.
Virgin's recording is impractically quiet; you really have to goose the juice to hear this disc at a comfortable level. Walker and the BBC Symphony are reasonably dedicated to this music, which is attractive and well made, though never out and out thrilling or wholly transparent. Nevertheless, Memory Takes My Hand is provocative and a job well done and engenders interest in what might be around the corner for Craig Armstrong. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

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Release Date: 07/08/2008
Run Time: 71:23