It's an issue, of
course, that arises all the time but for myself a little more so in the
past few weeks while I was dealing with the Capece DVDs--the necessary
inaccuracy of a given capture of a performance that acknowledges the
space within which it occurs. In that, I suppose, the majority of
recorded eai discs are essentially live performances and generally of a
subtle nature, this problem can be especially thorny. So it was a nice
happenstance that I received this set the other day which contains
three recordings from different vantage points within the concert
space, using different equipment, of an event created by Rowe and
Wright in Derby, 2002.
The music itself is pretty fine, Rowe in
kind of post-Weather Sky mode. I'm much less familiar with Wright's
history but here, he seems to travel between blown and
percussive/rubbed sounds on his alto. It would take many more
comparative listens to determine what's missing in one version, what's
heard in another and, in all honesty, I doubt I'll get to that level of
interrogation. There are salient "events" easily picked out of the sea
of abstraction and I guess one could isolate them, play them back to
back, note the variations, but someone else, not me.
What I
can do, however, and am indeed doing as I type this, is play all three
simultaneously. It so happens I have three CD-playing devices in my
room: the stereo, the PC and the XBox and while the latter two aren't
by any means ideal, it's worth a go. I noticed the total time varied
somewhat so precise syncing seemed a fool's errand and, besides, I'm
not so much interested in that as in constructing a "blurred"
performance, so I just began them within 15 or so seconds of each other
and am sitting back and enjoying the result. Since my stereo speakers
are to the rear and the other two in front of me, I automatically get a
spatial effect I don't in routine listening. Plus, it seems the events
of the concert are enough out of sync that there's no real echo effect,
rather gaps of 30-40 seconds between recognizable episodes. Sounds
great, actually! Hard to imagine, now, listening to it otherwise.
(Coincidentally, I played Terry Riley's "You're No Good" at Record Club
this past week, so I have that quasi-similar experiment kicking around
in the noodle as well. I was also reminded of the set Mattin did with
Malfatti at Tonic a couple years back where he recorded audience sound,
playing it back some minutes later, enough time having elapsed that
one's recollection of a given cough or chair squeak was slightly
uncertain). Just now, some 23 minutes in, Wright lets loose with four
relatively clear honks; they made it from XBox to PC to stereo in about
a minute, the way the discs are staggered and did, in fact, sound
remarkably different in tone, richness, etc. (allowing, to be sure, for
the relative deficiencies of my own playback equipment) When Wright
begins (I'm assuming) jangling metal objects against his horn or within
its bell, the immersive, shimmering effect is quite ticklish!
In that it's on w.m.o/r, you can readily try this yourself (or not),
via free here.
I highly recommend doing so and, if you have the means, experiencing
the three discs more or less at once. Very rewarding and refreshing.Brian Olewnick
David Reid, Chris Trent, Jeff Cloke