September 18, 2019

  • Remixing in Circles

    Then Elephant Speaks
    Elena Talarico, piano. Lucia Foti, harp.
    Stefano Grasso, vibes. Francesco Zago, electric guitars/electronics.
    Bill Whitley, piano.
    Ravello Records 8016
    Total Time:  29:06
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Oregon composer Bill Whitley’s music is featured on this collection.  The album’s title is a work for piano, harps, vibes, and guitars.  It is featured in two different versions.  Two versions of another work are also featured here allowing for different mixes of the original recorded material.

    Then Elephant Speaks opens with beautiful, mesmerizing circles on harp and piano.  I melancholy melodic idea begins to appear in this fairly reflective start.  One might imagine the music as the backdrop for an independent film with its simple, minimalist patterns providing forward motion as lyrical lines add an emotional layer to this musical story.  A more insistent second section picks up the tempo and adds electric guitar to the blend.  Vibes also add a rather ethereal quality.  The music gains an almost episodic quality as it makes sudden shifts harmonically.  A remix then brings different sonic changes and electronic sounds that make this part of the ambient, almost New Age-like, music.

    The Circles, 2017 is another of these rather minimalist mesmerizing explorations of sound with subtle electronics against the repeated piano idea.  The second version “remix” brings up the electronic elements more moving it into the realm of more ambient musical expression.   The album closes with The Circles, 2010 performed by the composer.  It is an early recording of the work just for piano giving listeners a chance to hear this as a more contemporary minimalist work.

    Though brief, the digital only release does allow listeners a chance to hear how changes in how lines are mixed in different ways can change the music in subtle or more overt ways.  Overall, the album is a somewhat reflective release.