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| Title |
Composer(s) |
Performer(s) |
Length |
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| Slammed |
James Paul Sain
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Susan Fancher
|
7:23 |
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| Aeterna |
John Anthony Lennon
|
Susan Fancher
|
6:11 |
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| In Two Worlds |
Morton Subotnick
|
Susan Fancher
|
18:41 |
|
| Jovian Images |
Reginald Bain
|
Susan Fancher
|
9:20 |
|
| SaxMax |
Mark Engebretson
|
Susan Fancher
|
9:10 |
|
| Corail |
Edmund Campion
|
Susan Fancher
|
9:06 |
|
| Penelope's Song |
Judith Shatin
|
Susan Fancher
|
9:07 |
|
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Susan Fancher knows her way around a saxophone. Her current mission is to bring it into new musical relationships with the world through technology. We have come a long way from acoustic instrument + analog tape days; Some of the seven pieces on this album use intelligent computer programs that interact with the human performer and affect the direction of the piece as it goes along.
Pioneering electronic composer Morton Subotnick wrote the title track, In Two Worlds, back in 1987 but the software to perform it ("Interactor") is already obsolete. A new version using Max/MSP had to be created to make this recording possible.
Other pieces on the album are inspired by data collected by space probes, ecological niches, a tribute to Cannonball Adderly, and recognition of the twenty years of weaving that Penelope (Odysseus's wife) got up to while he was away. Composers include: Morton Subotnick, Reginald Bain, Mark Engebretson, Edmun Campion, Judith Shatin, James Paul Sain, and John Anthony Lennon.
Fancher teaches at Duke University and has performed a vast collection of electroacoustic music over the last decade with her trademark lyricism and conviction. Here is some of the best: it breathes the energy, joy, reflection and passion that fill our contemporary ears, hearts and minds.
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Sequenza 21
This recording addresses the issue of historic preservation and performance practice of electronic music. The technology originally used to create In Two Worlds is no longer viable and available. Thanks to the interest of Susan Fancher and the programming chops of Jeff Heisler and Mark Bunce, the work gains new life. I love it when a work of this nature is embraced by such talents that are unwilling to let technological adversaries overcome the access to the music.
...A fun ride.
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by Jay Batzner
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Gramophone
It opens with Morton Subotnick's seminal in Two Worlds, an early classic first recorded in 1988 but lost due to software issues. Fancher's silvery timbre floats in almost Gymnopedie fashion above the interactive accompaniment in the opening and then dances with it compellingly at the end. Worth the disc alone to hear this history given new life. In all, a recording with performing artistry to match the compositional daring.
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by Andy Druckenbrod
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ICON
Yet more proof of a happier life through television, er, I mean, modern
classical music! That's what this disc is, all right - Susan Fancher plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones and electronic whatsis to bring to vibrant life pieces by seven composers that yet walk among us.
...Some of this set is to get lost within, some will give the cerebral machinery a bit of a workout.
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by Mark Keresman
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New Music Connoisseur - Volume 18 Issue 1
One thing is clear: if you have any interest whatsoever in music for saxophone and electronics, then you need this disc...
...Susan Fancher plays wonderfully here, and setting aside the merits of the pieces for a moment, her control and fluency on all three saxophones is worth the price of admission...
... Precise when required, expansive when appropriate, at all times sensitive, Fancher's playing shows that she has thought carefully about every phrase...
...Even if you have no current interest in music for saxophone and electronics, get this disc and you will develop a craving for more.
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by Rodney Waschka II
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