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4.0étoiles sur 5
Music beyond Ives, Nov. 27 2003
Henry Brant is probably most famous for his explorations of music involving spatially separated orchestras and ensembles. Indeed, many of his innovations in this direction preceded European avant-garde rivals--as the rather strident inlay note points out. This disc showcases another aspect of the composer as well, his unabashed eclecticism.Kingdom Come, for two orchestras and organ, is an astonishing collage-like creation. The work pits a more conventional orchestra against one with masses of bizarre percussion instruments and a screaming soprano. (The composer compares it to a circus band.) The two orchestras play in largely separate idioms: the conventional orchestra's music generally circling around an idiom somewhat reminiscent of Berg, Messiaen, Ruggles and even late Lutoslawski, while the circus orchestra evokes light music and regularly launches into bizarre percussive episodes, with buzzers, sirens, whistles and other such instruments. In the central section of the work the organ plays a violently dissonant improvisation while the other orchestras go on apparently unaware of the organ's entry. This is music that's as subtle as a blow to the head from a baseball bat, but it's also highly entertaining, even exhilarating, and also more serious than it appears on the surface. The performance (by two Oakland orchestras) brings across the spirit of the work very well, and has a splendid energetic feel to it. Machinations is a multi-tracked controlled improvisation for timpani, chimes, xylophone, glockenspiel, organ, flutes, ocarina, flageolet and harp, all played by the composer, with electronic modification. Unfortunately, the electronic work mostly consists of varying tape speed, and sounds extremely dated. This is a shame, as some sections of the work are very interesting, and the music has a radically different surface profile compared to Kingdom Come. Kingdom Come can be thoroughly recommended to those who are fans of Ives and more recent collage works by Schnittke, Berio, Bolcom and others. Once the surface effect has worn off, the work has more staying power than might be expected. Machinations, though, is less recommendable.
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