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Home » Full Catalogue » DUNN, DAVID: Music. Language and Environment

DUNN, DAVID: Music. Language and Environment
DUNN, DAVID: Music. Language and Environment
Important works in still rarefied field; the three pieces here involve complex procedures that are rooted in recordings initiated in very specific locations (the Grand Canyon, Azalea glen in Cuyamaca state park, Little Blair valley, Balboa Park and the Anzo-Borrga desert) with very specific goals in mind. It would take too long to describe these pieces in detail but nothing is simple. These are compositions, not come-as-you-are field recordings. Each embodies different but fascinating experimental procedures. All the initial materials are recorded on site - it may be with trumpets, voices, violins in 21-tone just intonation, a mixed ensemble of voices and wind instruments – which all explore and respond to the natural spaces in which the recordings are made - as well as to the many incidental sounds (birds, planes, the wind, animals) naturally occurring. Several generations of process follow; the violins, for instance, after being recorded in the desert, where they respond to the events around them – for some three and a half hours – are then transferred to cassettes and replayed simultaneously back in the desert. In other pieces, performers may constantly have to move around while playing. In Mimus Polyglottus, electronically generated sounds duet in real time with mocking birds (after a lot of research to see what they responded to and how. This is a classic). However arrived at, the results are fascinating, multi-layered, engrossing and never boring. There’s a lot going on. The sound is wide, spatial, very stereophonic - and very atmospheric. It’s a rare body of work, and pretty much out there on its own. L

Code: INNOVA508
Price: £14.50