Composed in 1985, Maritime Rites was conceived as a series of radio works for NPR. Collected here as a two-CD set, they form a captivating cycle, one of Curran's strongest achievements. Two main ideas gave the work its shape. The first consisted of documenting and salvaging the sonic particularities of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. As technology was deeply transforming the nature and features of maritime activities, Curran went on a pilgrimage from New Brunswick (Canada) to Chesapeake Bay (U.S.A.), recording foghorns, buoys, ...
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Composed in 1985, Maritime Rites was conceived as a series of radio works for NPR. Collected here as a two-CD set, they form a captivating cycle, one of Curran's strongest achievements. Two main ideas gave the work its shape. The first consisted of documenting and salvaging the sonic particularities of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. As technology was deeply transforming the nature and features of maritime activities, Curran went on a pilgrimage from New Brunswick (Canada) to Chesapeake Bay (U.S.A.), recording foghorns, buoys, wildlife, and wind and water, and interviewing seamen and lighthouse keepers along the way. The second idea consisted of using unrelated solo pieces by experimental composers and/or improvisers as the narrative for these recordings. The result is a rich, evocative, highly sensory cycle. The sea has not been a strong source of inspiration for avant-garde composers, usually more focused on urban settings. There are a few examples of "on location" music written for harbors -- some works even including parts for foghorns (Claude Schryer's "Symphonie Portuaire" comes to mind) -- and musique concrète pieces based on maritime sound sources (Christian Calon and Chantal Dumas' Radio Roadmovies being the freshest example by the time this album came out). But Curran's take on the subject is different and forays much deeper into the interrelations between composition, improvisation, and sound art. Maritime Rites consists of ten individual pieces, each approximately 11 minutes long, except for the final work, twice that long. Each piece features a work or improvisation performed by its composer, edited and recomposed by Curran to blend into and articulate a richly orchestrated tape part of maritime sounds, fragments of conversations, and even an occasional traditional tune or sea shanty. The pieces range from gentle tone poems, like "Soft Shoulder," featuring saxophonist Jon Gibson, to more complex (architecturally and dynamically) works, like "Improvisation" featuring trombonist George Lewis or "World Music" with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The other instrumentalists featured are Pauline Oliveros, Steve Lacy, Joseph Celli, and Malcolm Goldstein. Readings by John Cage and Clark Coolidge are the heart of two other pieces. The last artist featured is Curran himself, heard chanting softly, multi-tracked, on the 24-minute title piece. Despite the beauties revealed by the first nine pieces, this ultimate one supersedes them in every way. The culmination of Curran's work as a field recordist, it draws in front of the listener's eyes and ears a moving composite landscape of the whole East Coast, extremely vibrant. Curran's "om" chanting answers the foghorns and the sound of traffic over the Brooklyn Bridge, while a sea shanty courtesy of Bill Bunyon brings the whole cycle home in a finale that gives it all its meaning: discovery and remembrance. This is music in its own category. ~ François Couture, Rovi
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