Various: Presence II (review)

Various: Presence II. Compact discs (2) PeP 002, 2000; available from Canadian Electroacoustic Community, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke West, RF-310, Montreal, Quebec H4B 1R6, Canada; electronic mail cec@vax2.concordia.ca; World Wide Web cec.concordia.ca

Presence II is an appropriate title for the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC)/Productions Electro Productions (PeP) latest two compact disc set of electroacoustic compositions. By definition, "presence" is the state of being present (such as the listener's physical presence) or a person or thing that is present (as there is a presence in the listening room when hearing this music). Presence II is an international collection of works from 13 countries: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and USA. It is the second self-funded CD project of CEC/PeP and features a total of 34 compositions by 32 composers. The first noticeable characteristic of this collection is the variety: works that deal with text and voice, the use and creation of new electronic sounds, rhythmic variations and soundscapes, and a single acoustic source exploration. Works on Presence II range in duration anywhere from 0:37 to 12:36.

La beauté indiscrète d'une note violette (1995) by Brazilian composer Jorge Antunes is the opening track of the first disc. The entire composition is an electroacoustic exploration and transformation of a single pitch, E. The fascinating timbral changes of octave material with the juxtaposition of a sung vocal sound on "no" make for an interesting work. Mr. Antunes bases this composition on his theory of Chromophonique, in which octaves of this particular pitch correspond to the color violet. Other works of the collection that were created from a single sound-source exploration include Gordon Fitzell's Zipper Music II (1998) and Jørgen Teller's H a e i o u y æ ø å pt. 2 (ex.). Mr. Teller's excerpt is also a composition based on a single idea, in this case human laughter. He uses a more rhythmic approach through the juxtaposition of sound loops to accomplish his single-source exploration.

There is something for every listener's musical tastes on Presence II. While compositions that are relatively short in duration but definitely not in content make up the majority of the works, a few of them are excerpts from larger electroacoustic compositions. These include Hans Tutschku's densely processed soundscape, extrémités lointaines (ex.) (1998), Dugal McKinnon's sporadic electronic conversation of sounds, Horizont im Ohr (ex.) (1998), Martin Gotfrit's timbral exploration of filtration, A Palaver with Procrustes (ex.) (1998), and Adrian Moore's fast paced, vocally playful Soundbodies: Bodypart (1998). According to Mr. Moore, his featured excerpt is representative of a 55-min composition/installation/collaboration for two singers, dancers, video, and electronic sounds entitled Soundbodies. Although Canadian composer Yves Gigon's Éphémère (1997) is not an excerpt, it was created from a larger sound sculpture. This is a colorful composition both in the sonic material presented and the effective spatialization used to draw the sounds into a three-dimensional realm. Jef Chippewa's DUO (1997-1998) uses the acoustic sounds of a saxophone in playful communication with a synthesizer. The sonic illusions and transformations of original material along with impressive aural sound placement make for a very effective composition.

If your time is limited, there are even shorter works, such as Ian Chuprun's word play, Reading Allowed (PA 11) (1998) and Jean Routhier's pop-based Stereotyped Latter-Day Opinion (1999). The briefest composition on Presence II is Chris Wind's to be led (1993), a 37-sec whimsical version of a waltz. Mr. Chuprun's composition was written for the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST) Web site. It uses spoken phrases playfully processed to sound as if created with early computer music techniques. In keeping with the theme--electroacoustic works that employ the use of text and voice--British composer Alastair Bannerman's manipulation and treatment of a young voice in his work, In th'air or...