Modulator

What makes musicking whole?

     

Modulator raises the bar on the question: what qualities make a musical offering whole? The basic form, with our Mr Gunn writing to Mr Minnemann's drum solo, provides a kind of underlying coherence. There is a recognizable quality -- a single voice -- the voice of the drum -- running throughout the piece(s) that provides a certain kind of "hanging together". Into this TG weaves some very engaging musical ideas. The timbral palette is broad, yet deep, but for this listener, the most satisfying aspect is the the choices of timbre for certain lines are surprising. The ear is refreshed. The harmonic sensibility is a robust and satisfying presence. Instead of proceeding linearly from cause to effect, the transition from Spray I to Switch is full of timbrally and harmonically engaging, wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey stuff! The musicianship in this offering is so phenomenal that it does what real musicianship should do -- become nearly invisible, nearly transparent -- so that the music itself can be heard through it. There is clearly a dialogue between TG and MM and some other force. For all that, in the second half of the work, say by the time it got to Spray II, i found myself wanting the form to "return home" more than it did. This may say much more about the quality of my attention than the piece itself, but for me long forms, orchestral works that work, for example, have this way of providing stones in just the right places in the torrential waters that the listener can just feel where they are and make their way across the river -- without ever feeling too much in danger of falling in. There's something about these points of certainty throughout the journey that brings about another level of wholeness. As i listened to the tracks, i found myself asking "how would Bach approach a passage like this?" or "how would Stravinsky come at this?" or even "how would Gerald Fried do it?" At no point did it seem unnatural to consider this offering in that sort of musical company. Suffice it to say, that precisely because it delivers in so many ways, Modulator raises the bar on the question: what qualities make a musical offering whole?