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Customer Reviews of Bright Air / Brilliant Fire: Electro Acoustic

Serious contemporary works for mixed forces
American composer Diane Thome is frequently credited with being the first woman to write computer-synthesised music. And whilst there are those who would refute this claim, there can be no disputing that Ms Thome is a highly respected and accomplished composer, producing any amount of excellent music, be it for acoustic or computer-realised forces, over the last quarter century or so. Odd then, that this recent (2001) release from Centaur records should be only her second major monographic disc, as far as I am aware (the other being Centaur's earlier "Palaces of Memory").

The opening work, dating from 1997, "Bright Air/Brilliant Fire" provides the title for the CD as a whole. This is an 11-minute soliloquy for flute, with an accompanying backdrop of computer-generated sound, which, as the work's title suggests could be either rushing wind ('Bright Air') or else at other times, the roaring of flames ('Brilliant Fire'). The steady pacing of the flute line, coupled with the gentle and hypnotic whispering and lilting tape component, at first disguises the virtuosity required of the soloist - Sarah Bassingthwaighte on this recording - and it is almost with surprise, therefore, that one suddenly notices just what the flute line is getting up to as it sings its way to the work's conclusion.

The same can also be said of the 1999 work, "Like a Seated Swan", for viola and computer-realised sound. Both works are, in fact, modelled on Witold Lutoslawski's great "Funeral Music", with the later piece also drawing upon other music by this late Polish composer, having a tape component consisting of electronically processed material from his "String Quartet". An introspective and elegiac work of great beauty, "Like a Seated Swan" builds over some 16 minutes from quite austere beginnings to a taut and emotional climax, before subsiding to a sudden but peaceful close.

Between these two works for instrument and tape, a tape-only work, "UnfoldEntwine" from 1998, begins as a single stream of computer-generated sound that, as it progresses, gradually devolves into a series of threaded strands of musical material which grow and evolve with an almost organic, life-like quality. Voices suggesting traditional acoustic instruments occasionally emerge from the work's sonic continuum - sometimes singly, at other times singing in chorus - only to be quickly engulfed once more by the flow, itself at times granular, and at other moments more like rushing water. Each re-emergence of the separate threads finds them subtly altered and transformed into yet other threads, constantly "...unfolding, disclosing, interleaving and entwining", as the composer puts it.

The final work on the disc happens also to be the oldest. "Unseen Buds" dates from 1996 and is scored for mixed choir with a tape part of computer-realised sound. The work is a setting of the poem of the same name by Walt Whitman. Like the rest of the music on this disc, this essentially choral work unfolds gently and proceeds at a measured pace. The tape part acts much as an organist might, underpinning the choral writing, rather than being allowed to dominate the sonic palette in any way. It brings the disc to a gentle and peaceful conclusion.

The paucity of commercial releases of Diane Thome's work means that any such featuring her music are to be savoured. This disc is no exception and is recommended for anyone interested in contemporary serious music.