Session Report: Good as new

1-H1AG3528

The second album from the United Strings of Europe features original arrangements of existing works by artistic director Julian Azkoul – but more than this, the works are thematically linked by transformation and loss, as he tells Toby Deller

When the United Strings of Europe (USE) came to a residential part of north London in March 2021, it was to record their second album, Renewal. But they may have regretted the choice of title when the noisy reality of urban redevelopment suddenly intruded on the process.

‘We started recording and we were interrupted after about 45 minutes by some incredibly loud drilling,’ recalls Julian Azkoul, USE’s leader and artistic director, ‘or at least loud enough that it was disturbing the recording. This is the challenge of recording in the city, even at St Silas, a very nice church in Kentish Town where we also recorded our first album. It’s quite built-up around there. We had to put everything on hold while the engineer and producer went to talk to the guys who were working – they seemed to be cutting through the thickest piece of concrete anyone had ever come across.’

Fortunately, the negotiations were successful. After a few stressful hours of uncertainty, the group were able to resume work on Mendelssohn’s last quartet, as arranged for string orchestra by Azkoul himself, and complete it the following day, as planned…

Already subscribed? Please sign in

Subscribe to continue reading…

We’re delighted that you are enjoying our website. For a limited period, you can try an online subscription to The Strad completely free of charge.

  • Free 7-day trial

    Not sure about subscribing? Sign up now to read this article in full and you’ll also receive unlimited access to premium online content, including the digital edition and online archive for 7 days.

    No strings attached – we won’t ask for your card details

  • Subscribe 

    No more paywalls. To enjoy the best in-depth features and analysis from The Strad’s latest and past issues, upgrade to a subscription now. You’ll also enjoy regular issues and special supplements* and access to an online archive of issues back to 2010.

 

* Issues and supplements are available as both print and digital editions. Online subscribers will only receive access to the digital versions.