René van Peer
Juliet Palmer. Four Rooms. Field recordings are generally made outside, in the (more or less) great wide open, and only rarely inside a building, such as a house. On Four Rooms, Toronto-based composer Juliet Palmer brings the two modes together, moving back and forth between them, sometimes blending them into[...] Read more
Cassandra Miller. Traveller Song / Thanksong. The Canadian-born composer Cassandra Miller often uses existing music as the starting point for her own work. In the case of Warblework, written for Quatuor Bozzini, she incorporated the songs of four North American thrushes. She does something similar in the two pieces on Traveller Song /[...] Read more
Éliane Radigue. 11 Dec 1980. Quatuor Bozzini. Éliane Radigue: Occam Delta XV. In approaching the work of French composer Éliane Radigue, one is recommended to let go of any preconceptions of what music should sound like. The music moves outside the realm of rhythm patterns, melody, and fixed pitch, with slow and subtle changes in sound and in the layering of[...] Read more
Sonic Acts Festival 2019: Hereafter—An Exhibition in Three Acts. In Promised Lands, an installation by British artist Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa, alluring landscape emerges through foliage in the distance. Vegetation, lush and green, stretches all the way to hills on the horizon. Watching it makes you wish to enter that scenery, to wander around in it, to[...] Read more
Eve Egoyan. Maria De Alvear: De Puro Amor & En Amor Duro. Fluid music. That is the first notion that comes to mind while listening to Maria De Alvear’s De Puro Amor & En Amor Duro, played by the Toronto-based pianist Eve Egoyan. Listening to this double album feels like swimming in the middle of a benign sea. Waves are constantly moving[...] Read more
Éliane Radigue. Occam Ocean 1 The French composer Éliane Radigue has moved through various stages in her career. After working as an assistant to electronic-music pioneer Pierre Henry, she started using controlled feedback to create pieces. She worked with synthesizers for a considerable time, then decided to have[...] Read more
Ka Baird. Sapropelic Pycnic. Nothing will ever remain the same. There is no such thing as firm ground that will give stability and security. Ka Baird’s solo album Sapropelic Pycnic revolves around the theme of transformation, in various senses. She processes the sounds of her flute, of her voice—multiplying[...] Read more
Eyvind Kang / Jessika Kenney. Reverse Tree. Singer Jessika Kenney and viola player Eyvind Kang have released albums of a decidedly austere beauty. Their music has tinges of early medieval ritualistic song and of classical repertoire from the Middle East. Its calm pace turns its gaze inward, hovering over a dusky stillness, over[...] Read more
Dario Calderone. James Tenney Bass Works. In 1983, composer James Tenney posed the question: Why is a compound tone consisting of many harmonic partials perceived as a single tone? He apparently didn’t find a satisfactory answer, and surmised that the solution must reside in the listeners themselves. That is where the music is[...] Read more
Bob Gilmore. Claude Vivier: A Composer’s Life. Both the music and the life of Canadian composer Claude Vivier, who was murdered in Paris in 1983, are fraught with mystery. Mystery surrounds his birth and death. He never knew his biological parents, and was raised in a foster family. After his violent death, a score was[...] Read more
Harry Partch’s Delusion of the Fury. A resonant boom rippling through your body—that is the impact of the Marimba Eroica, arguably the lowest-pitched percussion instrument in existence. Four thick slabs of wood up to eight feet long—each placed over a sizable resonator—make you feel rather than hear its[...] Read more
Bart Plantenga. Yodel in Hi-Fi, From Kitsch Folk to Contemporary Electronica. Yodelling is one of those “always wanted to know but were afraid to ask” topics. While deejaying at the independent New Jersey radio station WFMU, music writer Bart Plantenga stumbled upon a staggering variety of people engaging in yodelling. He discovered that the technique had[...] Read more