Lumsdaine’s poetic collage was recorded on location at the Durham Miners’ Gala, 1971 – a large annual gathering associated with the coal mining heritage of the region, and known as The Big Meeting. This remarkable work assembles snatches of brass bands, choirs, speech and song alongside the sounds of a historic occasion.
AUDIO
REVIEWS
'Big Meeting is remarkable not only as a technical feat ... I can't think of a electronic work that gives a more vivid sense of movement within a particular geography ... but also as a haunting evocation of a lost world. If the sound of the miners' hymn in Durham Cathedral doesn't bring a tear to your eye, you must be one of the Koch brothers' Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise
'Emotionally affecting' Wire
"It leaves an impression beyond the merely documentary ... Expertly re-mastered and presented to NMC's customers standards, it makes for highly affecting listening." International Record Review
'Big Meeting is an ambitious curiosity, a lengthy radiophonic journey in which the sounds of swelling crowds, church bells and marching bands are mixed with electronic hymns and technological tweaks. The effect is like a strange, unsettling dream - alternatively nostalgic and disturbing.; Limelight Reviews
'It has the lively slice-of-life atmosphere of Charles Ives ... It seems like a time capsule of a vanished world.' The Times
RECORDING CREDITS
Big Meeting was recorded in July 1971 on location in Durham, and mixed in Durham University Electronic Music Studio.
Sound recording DAVID LUMSDAINE, RALPH ALLWOOD, CHRISTOPHER BARNES, RICHARD COOKE
Mixing DAVID LUMSDAINE, PETER MANNING, RON BERRY
Mastering DAVID LUMSDAINE, CRAIG VEAR