Christopher Hobbs / John Adams / Gavin Bryars - Ensemble Pieces

Between 1975 and 1978, Brian Eno’s Obscure imprint produced ten LPs to document the work of virtually unknown composers at the time. These records continue to inspire both practitioners and fans of experimental, ambient and modern classical music. Ensemble Pieces, Obscure No. 2, is the second LP to feature composer Gavin Bryars—the first being his magnum opus The Sinking of the Titanic. Bryars would play a big role in finding projects for Obscure and helping to realize them in the studio with Eno. Christopher Hobbs was an early member of Cornelius Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra and performed with anarchic free improv titans AMM. Ensemble Pieces presents two Hobbs compositions, his debut recordings. On “Aran”, the composer is accompanied by Bryars and John White—utilizing various percussion, reed organs and toy piano to construct an otherworldly gamelan music, while the Scottish bagpipe-inspired “McCrimmon Will Never Return,” featuring Hobbs and Bryars on reed organs, evokes the slow-motion