Patdeep Studies
11th March 2022
Films PsapphaWatch Psappha performing Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade’s Patdeep Studies, written for sitarist Jasdeep Singh Degun.
Patdeep Studies is just one of seven works featured on Psappha's upcoming album Commissions, which celebrates 30 years of the ensemble. The release features works by Mark-Anthony Turnage, John Casken, Tom Coult and more, showing the breadth of the group’s repertoire, the scope of its ambition and the esteem in which it is held by just seven of the hundreds of composers with whom it has worked since it was founded in 1991.
The piece is a fascinating exploration of the traditional Hindustānī rāg Patdeep. The set opens with a study in ālāp, which is the slow unveiling of the rāg ‘pathway’. A ‘pathway’ is best understood as a special way of moving through the notes in the rāg scale. It is through this unique route that the performer reveals the identity of the rāg to their audience. This process of unveiling is the main function of ālāp sections in traditional rāg performances.
Psappha Commissions is released 25 March and is available to preorder now.
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