or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Available to Download Now
 
Buy the MP3 album for £7.49
  
 
 
 
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Share your own customer images

Gavin Bryars: A Man in a Room, Gambling

Gavin Bryars | Format: Audio CD
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
Price: £14.50 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 1 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want it Friday, 21 June? Choose Express delivery at checkout. Details
Buy the MP3 album for £7.49 at the Amazon MP3 Downloads store.

Amazon's Gavin Bryars Store

›
Visit Amazon's Gavin Bryars Store
for all the music, discussions, and more.

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Product details

  • Audio CD (19 Dec 2008)
  • SPARS Code: DDD
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: GB Records
  • ASIN: B00009NOOH
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 204,441 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song TitleArtist Time Price
Listen  1. Programme One ("Bottom Dealing")Gavin Bryars, Juan Munoz, The Balanescu Quartet 5:09£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  2. Programme Two ("Three Card Trick")Gavin Bryars, Juan Munoz, The Balanescu Quartet 5:10£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  3. Programme Three ("Cutting")Gavin Bryars, Juan Munoz, The Balanescu Quartet 5:08£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  4. Programme Four ("Shifting upper pack to bottom")Gavin Bryars, Juan Munoz, The Balanescu Quartet 5:08£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  5. Programme Five ("Sorting 3 cards in a pack")Gavin Bryars, Juan Munoz, The Balanescu Quartet 5:10£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  6. Programme Six ("Taking cards from the bottom")Gavin Bryars, Juan Munoz, The Balanescu Quartet 5:09£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  7. Programme Seven ("Sorting 2 cards in a pack")Gavin Bryars, Juan Munoz, The Balanescu Quartet 5:09£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  8. Programme Eight ("Getting rid of extra cards")Gavin Bryars, Juan Munoz, The Balanescu Quartet 5:10£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  9. Programme Nine ("Three Card Trick - the Mexican Row")Gavin Bryars, Juan Munoz, The Balanescu Quartet 5:09£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen10. Programme Ten (reprise "Dealing from the bottom")Gavin Bryars, Juan Munoz, The Balanescu Quartet 5:06£0.89  Buy MP3 

Product Description

Product Description

These enigmatic and engaging pieces come from a collaboration between Gavin Bryars and the Spanish sculptor and artist Juan Muñoz. The project they developed was for a sound piece designed for radio, dealing with the description of actions which themselves involve visual illusion and trickery, and placing them in some kind of broadcasting framework.

For 'A Man in a Room, Gambling', Muñoz wrote 10 texts, each one describing the manipulation of playing cards. Each lasts exactly 5 minutes and would ideally be placed before the last radio news of the evening so that the programme would be encountered, in Britain at least, like an encounter with the Shipping Forecast. Each is accompanied by a string quartet, playing at exactly the same tempo for each piece, giving an overall unifying texture to each five-minute piece and to the sequence of ten programmes.

Five of the pieces were released on Point in 1997, in different orchestrations (now deleted) but the company was too timid to release all ten! This is the first recording of the way in which Gavin Bryars and Juan Muñoz intended them to be heard.

Juan Muñoz died in August 2001, aged 49, shortly after his enormously successful installation at Tate Modern. He and Gavin Bryars had planned to resume their collaborations after their respective summers away - for this album and for a projected chamber opera.

Personnel:
Juan Muñoz (speaking voice), Yukio Fujishima (additional speaking voice), The Balanescu Quartet: Alexander Balanescu, Claire Connors (violins), Bill Hawkes (viola), Caroline Dale, Pal Banda (cello)

Customer Reviews

5 star
1
4 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
5.0 out of 5 stars
1 review
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerising 28 July 2003
By Dobester
Format:Audio CD
This work is another example of the mesmerising compositional skills of Gavin Bryars. He juxtaposes classical chamber music with utterly unexpected and incongruous elements from the "real" world, in the same spirit as his "Jesus Blood" or "Titanic" pieces. Here, it is the voice of the presenter of a series of short radio programmes about how to cheat at cards. The deadpan narrator instructs the audience in various ways of dealing from the bottom of the deck, doing three card tricks and so on.

The voice is melodious and vibrant, made more attractive by the Spanish accent and intonations of the narrator, the sculptor Juan Munoz. The narration complements and competes with the Balanescu Quartet's beautiful playing, and while the cd has ten separate "tracks" which can all stand as individual pieces, the work is most definitely a whole. The effect is astonishing, both melancholy and humorous, modern and classical, relaxing and stimulating. A weird magic.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.5 out of 5 stars  4 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Journey into Strange Places 4 July 2008
By Amélie - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
Voice and strings always make a fascinating combination; spoken voice no less than singing. I first heard track #9 on CBC Radio and was blown away by how well the voice, speaking in an Argentine accent on a completely unfamiliar subject, blends with the strings. Bryars selected the actor very well; this voice is seductive, very masculine, cultured, and the accent is charming.

Listening to the whole album is not for the faint-hearted. It is hard to hold attention throughout all the lectures, and although I never found the voice intrusive (like the other reviewer reports) it gets to be a bit soporific and repetitive. Perhaps this is the intended effect. But it can be an effort to keep one's attention sharp.

Because of the spoken component it doesn't work as car music (can't make out words) or background music. It really does demand one's full attention. I do recommend it for those who like to make the effort.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars unique work 1 April 2011
By K. Philpott - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
it's not the best music or spoken voice ever, but the combination in this instance creates something unlike any other music i've heard. it's entrancing more than anything i suppose. sometimes i like to try to focus solely on either the music or the words, and, inevitably, i get lost.
5.0 out of 5 stars Core Material 13 May 2013
By Danylo Lytovchenko - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This includes all spoken material, some of which can be found on the usual and known edition of "A Man in a Room, Gambling" from 2003. I loved what I heard then and was very glad to hear the whole piece uninterrupted. Beautiful music mixed with handy advice on how to play poker. What's not to like? But my reaction may be somewhat not objective, since I've long been a huge fan of Bryar's music.
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

    Your Shopping Basket is empty.

    Give it purpose -- fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    There's a problem previewing your shopping basket at the moment.

    Check your Internet connection and go to your cart, or try again.

    View Shopping Basket (0 items)

      Customer Discussions

      This product's forum
      Discussion Replies Latest Post
      No discussions yet

      Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
      Start a new discussion
      Topic:
      First post:
      Prompts for sign-in
       


      Active discussions in related forums
      Search Customer Discussions
      Search all Amazon discussions
         
      Related forums

      What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

      › Explore similar items

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback


      Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges