La Belleza Del Sllencio by Orlando Jacinto Garcia (review)

poser in performance. A diagram shows a performance setup composed of electronic music devices, four speakers, a laser for three-dimensional images and a computer-graphics display system. There is no indication that the illustration relates to any piece on the disc, but it does give a hint of the kind of environment that Uehara is interested in. The first two pieces on the disc are linked; they were recorded in the Soviet Union in 1988. They begin with a female voice reading a text in Portuguese , while the electronic textures and vocals merge and evolve slowly in layers . "Katarai I" is a very articulate piece, in which all the various modes of playing the koto, a traditional Japanese zither, are displayed, demonstrating its wide register and the flexibility of its language. With trills, arpeggios and vibrato , the koto in this piece is never far from tradition and yet is surprisingly modern, free from its usual context. I found the solo passage at the beginning quite elegant. It is followed by the entrance of electronic layers that gradually occupy the whole sound space. "Katarai II," for clarinet and computer, offers quite a contrasting landscape: the instrument is constantly blended with the electronic layers. The piece is clearly divided into stylistic sections that hold together well; silent pauses are interspersed between voluptuous electronic and vocal fabrics. In quite a different vein, "COSMOS I" borders on New-Age style, with ethereal voices and seagulls drowned in seraphic reverberation. The piece pays attention to the balance oflayers in a musical space and is quite appealing. Linked to this work, a short piece, "Objets Sonores," concludes the compilation in a meditative manner. Kazuo Uehara may be involved in transcultural approaches and visual arts, but he nevertheless remains firmly in control of his musical compositions . I found his pieces delicate, articulate , strong and lyrical. Uehara is careful of sound textures and is never self-indulgent. LA BEI.I.EZA DEL SILENCIO by OrlandoJacinto Garcia, 0.0. Discs, Bridgeport, CT, U.S.A., 1991. Compact disc 6. Reviewed by Robert Coburn, Conservatory of Music, University ofthe Pacific, Stockton, CA, U.S.A. E-mail: . Few composers in the second half of the twentieth century have created as personal a musical expression as has Morton Feldman. His slow, focused works place great demands on listeners and performers alike and reward them with a musical experience unlike any other. La Belleza del Sikncio presents four works by the Cuban-born composer OrlandoJacinto Garcia, whose compositions pay homage to the music of Feldman both specifically and aesthetically . Spanning the years 1989 to 1991, Garcia's works clearly demonstrate his aesthetic concern with "exploring the relationships and counterpoint which exist between aspects of density, timbre, registration, instrumentation , and pacing in music," as he characterizes it in the CD notes. Through this focus on aspects of musical detail, he creates compositions that invite the listener to (again from the notes) "transcend the temporal experience normally associated with Western Art Music." This is not music that can be listened to casually. It requires attention and, like the music of Feldman, rewards the careful listener with a uniquely personal experience. In "On the Eve of the Second Year Anniversary of Morton's Death," for a cappella chorus, one encounters the beauty of silence. Of all the pieces on the recording, this comes closest to embodying the aesthetic and experiential concerns expressed by the composer. The entire text is one simple phrase: "the beauty of silence is my inspiration ." It is spoken, sung, intoned, and whispered in short waves of sound, always followed by moments of silence. This alternation between vocal sound and silence creates a balance of equality between these two elements. The silence takes on body and form, and its beauty radiates throughout the work. This alternation also focuses the listener's attention on the aspects of pace and breath in this vocal composition . In doing so, it slows the temporal sense of the work and serenely alters the listener's experience of time. The experiential structure of this composition is sensitively shaped by the evolution of pitch clusters, register, timbre, and dynamics. The slightest thread leads the listener through this delicate...