Electric Cello Music for any solo instrument and electronics is a difficult combination for which to write. So often the physical presence of the live performer and the sound emanating from loudspeakers fail to connect. Recording then produces further problems: what happens to those pieces which are written for concert performance and make a feature of the differences between the embodied and disembodied sounds? If the piece is for instrument and backing CD, what does it mean to transfer the resulting sound entirely to disc? Carl Vine’s Inner World is for cello and sampled cello. According to his note, Vine offers a composition in which the cellist revels in a panoply of sounds, some electronically altered, some ‘live’. Pereira has an extensive array of sounds within his armoury, some of which are used effectively. The main problem with this piece is that it too readily seeks a tonal position. Vine suggests the image of a hall of mirrors in which ‘reality and artifice collide’ but the music is not sufficiently fractured (nor is the difference between the live cello and the altered samples small enough) to confuse the listener. Many of the sounds are clichéd, but none compare to the ending which is trite and which is too long to be considered tongue‑in‑cheek parody. Echo II by Roger Smalley is much more satisfying. Although not my favourite of his compositions, it is cleverly written. Two delays are used to repeat everything the cellist plays, after 2.5 second and after 5 seconds. Managing to maintain interest for 10 minutes with such a regimental procedure is a significant achievement. Pereira performs this well: his tempi are secure, necessary for the cannons to work; and his sound is full and forceful. Like all the tracks on this CD the recording quality is excellent. If Smalley’s piece is the most procedurally focused on the disc, then Wesley‑Smith’s is the least. To the difficulties of cello and electronics, Wesley‑Smith adds overt politics. Welcome to the Hotel Turismo concerns the destruction wrought on East Timor by Indonesian troops. Periera takes on the persona of a waiter in the Dili hotel who has a liking for playing cello accompanied by honky‑tonk piano. What makes this piece work is Wesley‑Smith’s facility with electronic manipulation, and the humour with which the chorus is imbued. The space between the live player and the backing CD, like the distance between our waiter and the surrounding gunfire is something to be celebrated. Not to say that this piece isn’t without its poignant moments; the Bach‑like lament is effective. The ridiculousness of the cock’s crow (which is heard throughout) carries associations with a wake‑up-call (and perhaps betrayal), an apt image to associate with the waiter’s jazzy cello playing and, of course, an analogy to the political situation in which Australia is involved. Whilst some compositions don’t work as well as others, Pereira’s playing is uniformly exceptional and make the disc a worthwhile purchase. © 2005 Michael Hooper
|
||
|
michael at hoopermusic dot com |