Richard Glover — Logical Harmonies
The almost mechanical insistency of the sound is at first relaxing, but eventually becomes powerfully transporting and warping on the mind; almost maddening. "Logical Harmonies 2", which begins the album, is a stair-stepping sequence of chords, evenly spaced apart, starting in familiar territory with major triads, and shifting ever upwards in ear pleasingly even intervals and inversions. The strangeness begins to occur when dissonance is methodically introduced, and the sequence progresses bit by bit into sheer ugliness, somehow never losing the careful, coordinated pattern of change it had in the beginning. Each chord is played with the same inflection.
The gradient shapes on the cover and in the liner notes are fitting images, as this track could be described as a musical representation of a color wheel, or a dictionary of possible chords. Yet, many chords have been omitted, and so ultimately this selection is Glover's. There is a dreamy, impressionistic quality to his choices that reminds me of Messiaen's music, particularly "L'ascension", a similarly eerie and sluggish procession of strange chordal harmonies.
The following pieces stray further from recognizable emotion or melodicism. The next track is "Beatings in a Linear Process", a powerfully effecting exercise in impressively controlled intonation. The same note is sustained by 3 instruments (cello, violin and clarinet) at once, droning together until one intentionally begins to drift just enough to cause hideous and uncomfortable beating frequencies, at which point the other instruments will 'drag' to the same pitch, making the chord whole again. It contains an impressive amount of tension and release for a single pitch, and goes to show that the sort of psyche disrupting drones found on Coil's "Time Machines" are possible to create through purely acoustic means. This is the most 'psychedelic' classical recording I've heard.
"Contracting Triads in Temperaments from 12-24", which comes next, is much like "Logical Harmonies 2", except it clearly strays beyond the ordinary 12 tone tuning system into realms of what most Western ears could only hear as detuned cacophany. The potential harshness of this is softened by the fact that this is a solo piece, sounding much like a dusty harp on the album, but credited as 'keyboard' in the liner notes. There is a strange beauty to the clearly dissonant pitches, a structure the mind can't follow or memorize. By this point the album has pulled the listener far into nowhereland.
"Cello with Clarinet and Piano" is the emptiest piece on the album, reaching toward Morton Feldman levels of minimalism. The titular instruments sound a unison pitch together, hold it for a few seconds, and drop off into silence, only to choose a different, seemingly unrelated pitch a few seconds later. It seems to meander, and lacks the ability to engage my attention. I'm glad most of the album has more cohesive, fast-paced activity than this one.
"Imperfect Harmony" is another sequence of chords, this time in a bass register. This song feels serene and warm, and has a lethargy like sinking down into a comfy chair, or the moments just before sleep comes at night. After a few more alienating pieces, it's nice to have the meditative, domestic beauty of this track, which at times recalls Stars of the Lid with its use of strings. True to its title, the chords become gradually detuned, causing the pitches to rattle against each other dryly, in a ghostly unease. Most music on the album has this bizarre feeling of continuously stair-stepping, at even speed, towards an unknown destination, for unknown reasons.
The remaining two pieces, "Gradual Music" and closer "Logical Harmonies 1", are complimentary derivations of the same kinds of organizations found on the rest of the album. I don't think there would be much further point trying to explain their specific and strange patterns of movement without knowing the processes Glover used to create these arrangements. Unlike many similar albums, he has not chosen to include lengthy paragraphs explaining his methods in the album packaging.
The album is beautifully recorded and mixed, allowing these potentially austere ideas to be experienced in a way that is inherently pleasant. Rounded and listenable tones are put forth by each of the players in the ensemble, their intonation perfectly controlled and blended.
I would highly recommend this album to any open minded fan of modern classical music that can stand process music. One could criticize this album for lacking the element of human emotion, but in my estimation, it more than makes up for it with its unusual and insistent structure, and the powerful effect on the mind which this creates. This is the most clever and musical study of harmony I've heard in recent memory; listen, and feel your mind elevating from mundane material concerns.