| $27.86
new to stock as of
february 7th, 2009
threads:
modern-composition
minimalism-drones
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| | | shiiin (france) #shiiin 3 cd eliane radigue / charles curtis “naldjorlak” compact disc | december 2008 release ; stunning recording of this 2005 piece for solo cello written by eliane radigue for charles curtis ...
as something of a first in radigue’s canon, the piece and its machinations are purely acoustic ; there are no electronic sources nor augmentations, simply a focused study on the resonant frequencies (or wolf tones) of curtis’ particular instrument ...
sitting in a gallery in union square, somerville back in april 2007 as this music unfolded (in front of possibly the quietest audience i’ve ever witnessed) , i couldn’t help but notice how much of eliane’s compositional character is retained here despite the instrumentation ; the subtle gradient shifts caused by ever-so-slight changes in bow-pressure could have just as easily sprung from her arp 2500, yet hearing them bounce around the walls there & catacombs here (this recording is excellent, btw, captured direct to analogue tape by daniel deshays in the chapell notre-dame-de-bon-secours back in september 2006) is a much richer experience, the inner-ear affects caused by such closely beating tones as curtis explores the cello from nut to bridge (including some rich, hissy col legno playing) are much more varied than any purely electronic realization could have been ...
beautifully executed edition ; comes as a standard cd jewel case (with a fold-out poster booklet, detailed below) inside a full-color slip sleeve (ala the 23five discs) ... easily one of the best discs of 2009 thusfar, perfectly bridging the gap between eliane’s classic mode of detail-rich stasis and the sort of extended-technique writing perfected by helmut lachenmann ... highly recommended !!! |
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éliane radigue "naldjorlak" (for charles curtis)
naldjorlak is structured around a tuning of the cello which seeks to consolidate, as nearly as possible, all of the resonating parts of the instrument. the reference for the tuning is found in the instrument itself: the so- called wolf tone. this refers to a particular note which stands out from all others as a jagged or excessively- resonant frequency; most string instruments have one such note. it results from a piling-up of wood and string frequencies relative to tautness, and is generally considered a blemish on an instrument's sound. for naldjorlak i proposed focusing on the wolf tone because of its instability and extraordinary spectral complexity.
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the diffusion of sound is to my mind one of eliane radigue's great subjects. a sound's primary source is only a very small part of its phenomenal reality. overtones, combination tones, resonance, sympathetic resonance, all make up the infinite array of resultant, or secondary, phenomena, which ultimately define sound as we experience it. radigue's music achieves an extraordinary degree of clarity in this range of sound experience.
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i presented eliane with a range of sounds and techniques - both recorded and in person - when i visited her in paris in may of 2005. she made her selections quickly, which she called her "shopping". the sounds and techniques i proposed i prepared based on their qualities of diffuseness. i concentrated on sounds which reveal secondary components at least as prominent as their fundamentals; my unified tuning of the cello enhances this relationship further.
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our work was detailed and exacting. we discussed at length the ordering of the techniques and sound- states, and the ways in which the characteristic instabilities of a sound-state would shape its own gradual transformation. i practiced extremely quiet transitions and ways of connecting the sections through fingerings and string adjacencies.
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tuning to the wolf tone inverts the conventional function of tuning, which is to link an individual instrument to a social norm - concert pitch, what in german is called kammerton. instead, the cello is tuned to a value found within itself. from an outwardly directed act, tuning is turned inward, seeking an audible structure of interiority. the resting point is not exactly unison, but rather the gap of a semitone. the cello, tuned with extraordinary effort, yields a specific differential that appears irreducible. the search for self-sameness reveals a unit of distance we would not have discovered without having attempted to bridge it. we cannot bridge it, because it is inside. the object sought is contained in the subject; tuning to it is the painstaking calibration of the difference that is the self.
[...]
working with eliane is learning to hear as she hears. the discipline which she brings to her involvement with sound is legendary. she is persistent, critical, alert, and full of self doubt. to interpret her work is to take on these attributes. in her apartment she is in a world of her own, surrounded by curiosities, habits, memories, plants, audio equipment, art objects. she passes in and out of the kitchen through a curtain of hanging philodendron; her sphinx-like cat observes silently. in her world, sound is never altogether the same and never altogether different, as she says, paraphrasing verlaine. to interpret her music is to enter a world not quite like any other, yet still our own, lived world; and to act in it, consciously and responsibly.
- charles curtis |
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