The Great Learning Orchestra
Selected Recordings from “Grapefruit”
GERMANY KARL RECORDS KR100 Double C.D. (2025)
Claiming a 1964 vintage and informed by Fluxus membership and conceptual artistry, Yoko Ono’s “Grapefruit” was initially a limited and self-published set of instructions on how to create art. Well over two-hundred in number, these could be undertaken by any Joe or Josephine out there, at any time and indeed, at any place; painting, music, poetry, dance etc, all coming under her thorough gaze. Several pieces from “Grapefruit” eventually become regular choices at her concerts /performances throughout the mid-sixties. But strangely enough, very few of these and interpretations by other artists, were ever committed to vinyl. Sonic Youth’s re-reading of her “Voice Piece for Soprano” (found on the “Goodbye 20th Century” double set) being a rare exception to the rule. Check out Thurston Moore’s “Sonic Life” autobiography for more info…
“Selected Recordings…” then, by the Stockholm-based Great Learning Orchestra (b. 2001), comes as a long overdue release unlocking secrets from the many sections of the book – some nebulous, some more straightforward and less demanding. This floating pool of musicians (with collaborations involving Terry Riley, Gavin Bryars, Arnold Dreyblatt a.o.), approach the material in a number of different ways; which include studio-based interpretations that are interspersed with a set of environmental and field recordings. The former’s standouts being “Overtone Piece” which could easily be a lost AMM or SME recording and the massed whispering throng at the heart and larynx of “A Piece for Orchestra (Count all the Stars…)”. The latter’s roving microphones hit the target on “Wood Piece” in which a group of mischievous elves break into Harry Partch’s room of percussion while “City Piece” details the steady trundle of an empty baby carriage journeying through an anonymous cityscape.
The G.L.O. also acquire more silver in the boardroom for successfully celebrating a veritable legend of avant garde thought. The release of this two-disc set should also hopefully (?) lessen the number of online brickbats that Yoko still encounters as the supposed wrecking ball that crashed through the Beatles’ house of worship.