Paul Dresher, Fender stratocaster guitar; Dresher and Paul Tydelski, tape processing system; Double Edge (Edmund Niemann and Nurit Tilles, piano duo); Gene Reffkin, drums.
The works on this CD are all from what Dresher considers to be his first phase of composition in his own musical voice, ranging from 1976 through 1985. They focus entirely on the three instruments he knew best and has worked with since childhood: the guitar, the piano and the tape recorder.
Liquid and Stellar Music began as an idea for a sonic world while working with Terry Riley at Mills College and was working exclusively with the electric guitar. Through the use of a four-channel tape machine with three playback heads located at various points in the path of a closed loop of variable speed, system, it is possible for the performer to build up complex textural, harmonic or rhythmic structures through what is essentially a process of live multi-track recording (and playback, erasing and mixing).
Destiny draws its surface unabashedly from the idiom of rock and roll yet it is contrapuntally and polyrhythmically organized via processes normally associated with other domains. At this time, Dresher was "grappling with the diverse and contrary influences of both rock î roll, world music and contemporary 'art' music. This work was a direct attempt to reconcile these differences and incorporate the qualities of each which I find inspirational."
In Water Dreams the sounds of water in many contexts (rain, ocean waves, lakes, rivers, streams and drips) form the basic sonic palette. The composition is a hybrid of these acoustic sounds (manipulated only with equalization and tape speed alterations), synthesized sounds (Yamaha DX-7) and sampled acoustic sounds.
This Same Temple was premiered by the East Bay New Music Ensemble in the Fall of 1976 with Rae Imamura and Phil Aaberg at the pianos. Dresher says, "The work clearly owes a debt to Steve Reich, with whose ensemble I played briefly in the summer of 1974. It was through Steve that I met Nurit Tilles to whom I turned when I wanted to record the work."
Track Listing:
1. Liquid and Stellar Music (1981) (20:11)
2. Destiny (1983) (6:02)
3. Water Dreams (1985) (13:11)
4. This Same Temple (1976-77) (23:33)
CD 2011
7-4529-52011-2-0
List Price: $16.99
Lovely Price: $15.00