Compact disc, Bridge 9103, 2000; available
from Bridge Records, Inc., 200 Clinton Avenue, New Rochelle, New York 10801,
USA; electronic mail bridgerec@bridgerecords.com; World Wide Web www.BridgeRecords.com
Reviewed by Jon Appleton
White River Junction, Vermont, USA Idle Chatter Junior
(1999)
Subtly shifting harmonic motion by a sometimes string-like pad underlies
the vocal hocket of speech fragments by men, women, and children. Synthetic,
tonal, percussive elements double the fragments. I consulted a specialist
who could make out no coherent utterance. She advised me to just relax
and enjoy the ride. Halfway into the work a slightly threatening and
mildly creepy feeling came over me. But I continued to listen because,
after all, this is Paul Lansky's fifth offering in the idle chatter
genre—one he created and which is much admired. About two minutes
before the end, the piece becomes gentler and more intimate. Reassured,
I held on as the texture thinned to a coda of soft voices which stops
when the message is complete. This work is a lot fun and there isn't
much fun in computer music.
Ride (2000)
The title work of this disc is magnificent. Imagine turning the visual
experience of racing down the New Jersey Turnpike at night into a dreamy
sonic experience. Some will find this idea "new age," but I
think it has drama where "new age" music anesthetizes. Ride's
predecessor, Night Traffic, composed ten years earlier, shows the value
of further developing a musical idea in the same way that the idle
chatter series does. I was disappointed when at about seven minutes into Ride there suddenly appears voices and rapid percussive sounds which seem
borrowed from one of the idle chatter pieces. Enough already. But after
about three minutes the landscape returns (this part should have been
issued as the score for A.I.—it might have saved the motion picture).
When the voice/percussive motive returned again I gave up hoping for
a sustained aesthetic direction. I guess I am a purist. Without the running
percussive voices this work is capable of transporting the listener to
spaces no instrument can go. This is one of the goals of electroacoustic
music.
Looking Back (1996)
This nostalgic bauble, based on Mr. Lansky's high-school song, should
encourage young composers to try their hand at short etudes based on
famous classical themes. The composer writes that "we all knew the
tune, as you will…" but I am afraid most musicians working
with computers don't know or care much about Brahms.
Heavy Set (1998)
Describing this work Mr. Lansky writes, "I designed a computer model
of the right hand of an imaginary (and very large), improvising pianist.
The model attempts to think as a pianist as he moves around the keyboard,
listening to concurrent lines, deciding when to add non-harmonic tones,
play chords, go up, go down, play loud, soft, lyrically, firmly, and
so on." Certainly the structure described is here but the intelligence
is not (not that all improvising pianists are intelligent). On occasion
we are reminded of Keith Jarrett's giant solo improvisations of the 1970s.
The string pads become a bit of a distraction and the incessant "jazzy" passages
often seem like compositional algorithms beyond the reach of the musical
mind. It's clever but without tunes it verges on monotony. In his notes
the composer declares, "I look forward to the day when nobody will
care whether or not a computer was used in the process of making a piece." I
share his wish and suspect that most people who listen to music do not
care. I wonder, if I did care that a computer was used to choose the
pitches and rhythms of Heavy Set, would I have found the work more intellectually
challenging?
Dancetracks: Remix (1997)
Tempting as it is to reveal the compositional history of this work—you
will find it in the liner notes if you are wise enough to purchase the
CD—the music itself is extraordinary. There are many references
to memories, musical and otherwise, in this collection of Mr. Lansky's
works, but Dancetracks: Remix does it best by giving a kind of summary
of electric guitar riffs as loosely remembered over time. Just as Mario
Davidovsky and others opened the door to tape and instrument collaborations,
Mr. Lansky demonstrates in this piece what might be done with other repertoires
of other solo instruments. I am inspired to try working with the melodic
and timbral character of the violin as they appear in the encores of
Fritz Kriesler, Jascha Heifetz, and Kyung Wha Chung. What is also wonderful
about Dancetracks: Remix is its international flavor. I can imagine this
work being popular in such diverse cultures as India, Japan, and Europe.
Even more gratifying to me is the American feeling of the piece. It is
a work I would play if somebody asked me for a music that embodied contemporary
American art music. Paul Lansky
is a prolific composer whose works set a standard for all composers
of electroacoustic music. This is due not merely to his musicality
but to the philosophy that underlies his work. He writes, "I remain
convinced that what we hear as 'music' has everything to do with the
voice of the utterance—what is being said—and less to do
with the machinery it uses to speak."
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