4’33”
0’00” editions provisoires, 2008
This mini CD is a short and elegantly packaged special edition release of John Cage’s 4'33" (1952) and 0'00" (1962).
Originally
released on Cramps discs in 1974 and performed by Gianni-Emilio
Simonetti, Matthieu Saladin expresses the concept of this re-release on
the inside booklet flap: “Maximum amplification of the first release of
4’33” by John Cage…”. The listening instructions suggest one écouter à
haute volume. I like my hearing just fine so I ignored this instruction
at first. But then my curiousity got the better of me and I was rewarded
with a profoundly intense state of otic euphoria after 4 minutes and 38
seconds. As the sound stopped my ears had that fuzzy sounding feeling
that occurs after rock concerts in large stadiums. But wait a minute!
This CD is 4’38” not 4’33”?! I can only assume that the duration is
slightly off because of the simultaneaous performance of 0’00”. Or did
the performer take liberties with the composer’s score? Did John Cage
prepare a special version for the premiere recording? Did the engineer
forget to shut off the record button?
Be that as it may
it is still a beautiful if slightly deranged concept to present this
work in a recording of the first release on Cramps at maximum
amplification. What results is an astonishingly aggressive noise piece
with few variants in its dense and gritty texture. Of special note are
moments at 2’57” and 4’33”. Who would have thought someone would turn
Cage’s so-called ‘silence’ piece into an Italian futurist-esque tape
noise composition? It might be conceptually similar to when Eugene
Chadbourne covered J.S. Bach’s cello suites on the banjo. This cover
version of 4’33” may not be popular but it’s definitely a keeper. ***
(thirty-) three stars.
- I review CDs for Musicworks Magazine, and on this blog.
Jan 10, 2013
Pierre Bastien, Visions of Doing (western vinyl: WEST053):
With
this latest release from Pierre Bastien, I can safely say that every
recording Bastien releases I like – a lot. Most impressive is his
ability to put elementary musical materials and found sounds together
into an enjoyable and extraordinary listening experience. Like songs you
may have forgotten, each piece can sound familiar but inevitably takes
you where you don’t expect. Pierre Bastien’s music includes homemade
sound making machines that create series’ of drones and rhythmical
patterns. His ‘toy orchestra’ is made up of many mechanical parts (from
the toy set Meccano) and other found objects that create layers of sound
like several beds of rustling leaves. Over this Bastien sometimes
solos, sometimes plays his own wobbly ostinatos on acoustically altered
trumpet or small guitar and occasionally on older electronic keyboards
of the sort you don’t hear much anymore. The drones and patterns are
unique to Bastien as are the physicality of the instruments and their
ability to make sounds. All of the invented asymmetries are taken into
account in any given composition of Bastien’s where rhythmical
peculiarities and odd gestures abound. His musically meandering solos
also have a wonderful low-tech ambiance. Such as the enchanting electric
piano solo in South African Lady that moves from atonal chords to modal
riffs to rhythmically uneven clusters as though the pianist has lost
his way indefinitely – and then suddenly the precarious line of a slow
moving musical saw will float in and out like a ghost on its own train.
At
times there is a feeling of nostalgia in Bastien’s tunes, a nostalgia
that might resemble being in a smoky laid-back nightclub listening to
Duke Ellington and his band play a super slow yet swinging rendition of
Mood Indigo for the fortieth time. Such is the tone of The Thermodynamic
Orchestra. Or the trippy lips-buzzing-singing-into-a-bowl-of-water solo
that beats the hell out of any kazoo I’ve ever heard in The Girl from
Surinam.
Visions of Doing is different from other
Bastien records in that it marks his collaboration in sound/film with
audiovisual artist Karel Doing. “Now twenty years after our first
encounter I am paying homage to Karel Doing’s images…more than just the
soundtracks to his films, these pieces are the result of years of
collaboration…” writes Bastien. Several of Karel Doing’s sounds have
been incorporated into the fabric of Bastien’s musical selections. And
Bastien’s music inspired Doing’s development of several of his ‘Optical
Toys.’ The main difference I hear from previous releases is a more
processed sound attributed to the types of musical materials used. Here
Bastien deftly layers the acoustic with the electronic while letting the
sounds ‘behave as themselves’ as though they were simply found on the
beach before being thrown into the composition. Although there are
definitive Bastien ideas in these selections, there are also elements of
the unknown.
And the one thing that brings Bastien and
Doing together is not to be left off of this disc: as an added bonus
there is an excerpt from the film collaboration, Four Eyes. Here the
listener views the visual imagery of this duo’s collective mindset.
But
even without seeing the film I had a very definite visual experience of
the music after listening. The images – rightly or wrongly - can be
created in the fiction of one’s mind and I like that very much about
this recording. Even upon hearing sonic references the overall effect is
not one of a particular narrative, but more like a non-existent fiction
- the kind that is not written, only imagined.
If you
haven’t heard the music of Pierre Bastien nor seen his collaborations
with filmmaker Karel Doing I highly recommend seeking them out. But this
work is not easy to find in stores or catalogues. Online it can be
found from www.pierrebastien.com and www.westernvinyl.com.
Jan, 2010
An Announcement about Reposts
8 years ago
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