In D

After their extraordinary recording of Terry Riley's In C in 2017, the eclectic New York-based collective known as BRM follow with a new piece written as a homage to the 85-year-old composer. Composed by sitar player Abhik Mukherjee and BRM artistic director David Ellenbogen, In D is based on the same concept as Riley's work with a series of phrases or musical ‘cells’ that can be moved around at will, but is presented in three movements, each rooted in the mood of a particular Indian raga. Recorded during the pandemic by 24 masked musicians performing six feet apart, the sheer pleasure of making music together after lockdown is evident in the brio of their heavily improvised playing.

In addition to three sitar players, the ensemble includes a six-piece string section, kora, oud, trumpet, electric guitar (played by Riley's son Gyan) and the mandolin and clarinet of klezmer and bluegrass virtuoso Andy Statman. It might have ended up as a tasteless world music brown soup but the triple raga framework gives the work a remarkable coherence, moving from light to darkness before emerging with hope for a better tomorrow: an emotional journey that could be said to reflect the trajectory of the pandemic in which it was recorded.