a r t i s t : John Luther Adams
t i t l e : Strange and Sacred Noise
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : Mode 153
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : Sep/2006
t r a c k s : 09
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 102,9 MB
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...dust into dust... (9:15)
for 2 snare drums & 2 field drums
solitary and time-breaking waves (10:44)
After James Tenney, for 4 tam-tams
velocities crossing in phase-space (9:40)
After Conlon Nancarrow and Peter Garland, for 8 tom-toms and 2
bass drums
triadic iteration lattices (8:22)
To Edgar VarΘse and Alvin Lucier, for 4 air-raid sirens
clusters on a quadrilateral grid 1 (8:39)
To Morton Feldman, for 4 marimbas
clusters on a quadrilateral grid 2 (4:36)
for 4 vibraphones
clusters on a quadrilateral grid 3 (4:31)
for 4 sets of crotales and orchestra bells
clusters on a quadrilateral grid 4 (8:35)
for 4 marimbas
...and dust rising... (8:43)
for 2 snare drums & 2 field drums
Performed by Percussion Group Cincinnati
John Luther Adams is an Alaskan composer. For Adams, Alaska is
not a catalogue of ideas and sounds, instead, Alaska is a
provocation. For all of its enormity, Alaska leans inward
towards essential qualities and purified forces, and in Adams'
music we find this same sense of space and the same tendency
inward towards the purified. His is an intimate and focused
music that reverberates in a large place.
ON CD & DVD
Strange and Sacred Noise is a monumental work for percussion
quartet in 9 movements.
The spatially separated percussionists make this an ideal work
for surround-sound, as waves of percussion criss-cross around
the room often to a hallucinatory effect.
Its dynamics range from the threshold of audibility to the
threshold of pain. It embraces unsettling timbres and
virtually the entire audible spectrum of sound. Much of this
music is loud. It buzzes the eardrums, rattles the rib cage,
and immerses the listener in an overwhelming physical presence
of sound. Some of that presence arises spontaneously in the
air, through the dynamic interplay of complex, high-energy
sounds - thundering drums, roaring tam-tams, hammered bells,
wailing sirens - the acoustics of the performance space, and
the psycho-acoustics of our own hearing.
The instrumentation is at once unique and spare. Each movement
is dedicated to the sonic exploration of a quartet of similar
instruments - two snare drums and two field drums provide
plaintive melodies in ...dust into dust... as well as ...and
dust rising..., and the thundering velocities crossing in
phase-space is scored for multiple tom-toms and bass drums.
Other movements are scored for sets of tam-tams, mallets, and
unique explorations of quartets of triangles and devastating
air-raid sirens.
Expert performances by Percussion Group Cincinnati, who
commissioned and premiered the piece.
Liner notes by Steve Schick and the composer.
REVIEWS:
John Luther Adams
Strange and Sacred Noise
Mode 153 (CD or DVD)
At a time when many classical composers are wondering, "whatÆs
next," Alaskan composer John Luther Adams has come into his
own. AdamsÆ remote surroundings may seem like too great a
sacrifice to make to those hopelessly committed to living in
the concrete megalopolises that are home to most Americans.
Nevertheless, Alaska is home to him, and AdamsÆ music reflects
its purity and a great sense of wonder of the natural world.
In AdamsÆ multi-movement percussion piece Strange and Sacred
Noise, non-pitched instruments combine in basic gestures to
communicate some of the immediacy and inscrutability of his
icy, frozen environment. All of the music is pared down to the
essentials, and nothing in AdamsÆ 73-minute composition is
extraneous. Different movements are characterized by the
combination of instruments involved û snares, tam tams, tom-
toms and bass drums, mallet percussion and bells. Although
some of the various movements are dedicated to different
composers that Adams admires, Strange and Sacred Noise is at
times reminiscent of George AntheilÆs Ballet mΘcanique minus
all of its complexity and confusion; as though single textures
from within it are taken out and given a closer examination.
Though this may not have been AdamsÆ intention, Strange and
Sacred Noise returns us to the very flashpoint of American
percussion music for a fresh perspective, to "the scene of the
crime," if one will.
Strange and Sacred Noise features the awesome talent of
Percussion Group Cincinnati, an ensemble regarded as one of
the worldÆs premier interpreters of percussion music for the
past quarter-century that, for some reason, have spent much of
that time without an outlet for their recordings. Word has it
that this Mode release will not be the last we hear from them
on compact disc, excellent news for fans of percussion music.
The playing here is seamless and disciplined û percussion
players will be astounded by the drill-like precision of their
snare and field drum patterns in the movement entitled
"...dust into dust..." and the completely unified work on
mallet instruments, producing a low rolling sound that one
would never know is coming from marimbas. ModeÆs recording
quality is top of the line û producers of "hi-fi" records back
in the 1950s would have gladly "killed" to be able to issue a
recording like this.
---David N. Lewis, All Music Guide, Copyright 2005
(http://www.moderecords.com/catalog/153adams.html)
_______________________________________________________________________
01-...dust into dust... [09:16]
02-solitary and time-breaking waves [10:44]
03-velocities crossing in phase-space [09:41]
04-triadic iteration lattices [08:22]
05-clusters on a quadrilateral grid 1 [08:39]
06-clusters on a quadrilateral grid 2 [04:37]
07-clusters on a quadrilateral grid 3 [04:32]
08-clusters on a quadrilateral grid 4 [08:36]
09-...and dust rising... [08:44]
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73:11 min