A sound-mirror held to the world. It's easy to wax exultant about Robert Carl's Roundabout—and not simply because Carl's work represents an all-too-rare confluence of Modernist rigor with Postmodernist vigor. Nor is it because (once again norm-defyingly) he excels at incorporating vernaculars ranging from flamenco to jazz without putting so much as a single note anywhere in the general vicinity of cliché's way. It's not even because, as writer and composer Kyle Gann first observed, Roundabout abounds with life—human and non. Musical brujo that he is, Carl conjures the spirits of everything from whales (or are they planets?) to the bacteria who promulgated Lorca's decay and the sound of midday traffic. After he has oriented these spirits, and only after, he forces them, molecule by molecule to manifest sonically through the surfaces of various and sundry percussion instruments, the voices of tenors, reciters and sopranos, the bells of saxophones, of contrabasses—even, as on the incomparable "Lesgedowdaheah," an entire eleven-piece funk band.
In fact, what makes Roundabout such a pleasure pump is all of the above, combined with Carl's talent for harnessing the energies of his own unique spirit. Carl's command of formal approaches, combined with his love of musical vernaculars and understanding of sound—as well as silence, which he deploys like an orchestra unto itself—enable him to break whatever rule he pleases with elegance, grace, and, above all, the ability to amaze. Consider the aforementioned "Lesgedowdaheah." Initially, Carl leads us to believe that he's putting some sort of atonal hoodoo on the funk band. In fact, he is, but in a manner that's positively Dionysian, if not downright orgiastic. In the end, he creates a new world, systematically turning our expectations—all of them—upside-down in the process. That, friends, is reason enough for exultation in itself. Robert Carl teaches at the Hartt School, Connecticut
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Phosphor Magazine
Robert Carl studied composition with the likes of Iannis Xenakis and Ralph
Shapey. His music is performed throughout the US and Europe and he has written
for soloists Evelyn Glennie, percussion, Robert Black, contrabass, Kathleen
Supove, piano and John Bruce Yeh, clarinet, among others. He is also
co-director of the Extension Works new music ensemble in Boston.
Roundabout played by renowned double bass player Robert Black delivers a dark
foreboding atmosphere with hauntingly beautiful melodies weaving in and out on
the double bass. Reminiscent of Barry Guys ethereal compositions from his CD
Ceremony. This work, which reflects on the sound and techniques of Indian
sarang playing brings across a more ethnic world music feel. The electronics
synthesized on a Synclavier II keyboard blend in nicely with the timbre of the
double bass acting on drone principles.
One of the most stunning pieces on the
CD although the end of the piece takes one by surprise!
Other pieces on the CD reflect various other influences from jazz to
Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the bumblebee. Each piece offers an exciting and
different theme. The second piece El Canto de los Asesinados encorporates
electronically altered dog barks and simple Do-Re-Mi melodies and is written
for tenor, shaman, soprano saxophone and Hartt contemporary players and is a
chaotic mix of various styles mixed into one. Quite theatrical in feeling.
The wide range of styles and that Robert Carl covers in the compositions on
this CD reflects his diversity as a composer. Tracks 4 to 13 are a set of
Haiku poems chosen from their sonic imagery and each on wrapped in appropriate
electronic interpretations of the verse. Carl himself plays a short
improvisation on the Shakuhachi (Japanese flute) in between two of the poems.
Lesgedowdaheah is an exciting and often aggressive improvisation by the Hartt
Comtemporary players, which leads into Die Berliner Hornisse, which is an
up-date on Rimsky-Kosakovs Flight of the bumblebee in 20 century terms played
on the saxophone (acting as the Hornet), piano and voice. An interesting
interpretation develops with various contemporary techniques used by the
players to develop the piece such as sax multiphonics and the pianist playing
on the insides of the piano.
Last but not least in this epic journey is a piece called Nell Miller Op.1
which is an interview with Carl's grandmother where she talks about the
musical conditions in rural Alabama. The music provides a type of silent
movie-type soundtrack to the speech. This piece perhaps gives us an incite in
to where Carl's background and influences may have sprung from.
(JR)
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