"There's no substitute for listening"-Michael Pisaro
This disc offers three recordings of Pisaro's pieces made in England Last year: "Fields Have Ears 1" for piano and tape, "Fade" for piano, and "Fields Have Ears 4" for 4 or more players.
The first time I listened to 'Fields Have Ears 1', the first piece on this disc, I became convinced that there was a cricket in the room whose chirping was interfering with my ability to pay attention to the recording. Upon investigation I discovered that the sound was indeed coming from my speakers, but this occurrence pointed out the problem I have trying to listen to the piece. In a quiet room, the field recording — of a natural setting, perhaps indeed a field — and the piano seemed to me to pull against each other, disrupting each other as it were. My attention kept shifting each time the piano sounded. Listening again now however, with the CD playing quietly in the next room, the field recording tends to blend in with the general sound-field of our house; muffled traffic and occasional appliance sounds along with the ever-present barking dogs. I find myself thinking of how human music is, in a way, a layering over or even an intrusion into the sounds of everyday life. Ultimately I come to the conclusion that music is just another sound among many, and that what separates it from the background sound is our attention to it.
"Fade" presents a series of notes and/or chords on the piano, each repeated with diminishing volume. It is as if the sound was falling away from the listener, until too far away to be heard. I suspect that the repeats are mechanical rather than electronic because a piano actually playing repetitions of notes in real time sounds different from notes caught and repeated by electronic means. It's fascinating to notice how the notes change in the process.
"Fields Have Ears 4", played here by an ensemble of 14 players, seems altogether a more interesting and enjoyable listen. The longest piece on offer at almost 28 minutes, it seems oddly too short. The piano sequences here are enveloped by clouds (or fields?) of sounds from the other players, as if each event arrives as a smeared conglomerate. The effect is quiet and quite beautiful, and I'm wondering now if the contrast between the two versions of this piece — the one artificial against the "natural" ensemble playing — isn't some sort of statement in itself. In an interview Pisaro relates how, in live performance, he wanted the sounds of this piece to be separated in space from each other, placing the players in such a way that the sounds would come not just from left and right, but from fore and aft as well. Obviously this doesn't really work within the flat aural space of a stereo CD, but the present recording has it's own merits, providing an interesting listen as well as a prelude, should one get the opportunity to hear the piece live.
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