Search - Selfhaters :: Abysmal Richness of Infinite Proximity of Same

Abysmal. Richness. Infinite. Proximity.

ptitchitza | Leiden, Netherlands | 02/24/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"After John Cage's Finnegans Wake piece was premiered in Iceland, Cage asked some of those who attended the performance if they liked it. 'We didn't understand it', they replied. 'Do you understand your dreams?' Cage asked. 'No.' 'But, you like your dreams nevertheless, true?' And they agreed that one doesn't necessarily need to understand something in order to like it.I wonder how far will anyone's understanding of this record go. There's hardly any melody or rhythm; it's not quite dissonant either, but never too far from it. And yet the sounds produced are not disagreeable. There's a certain feeling of alienation and eeriness, throughout the record. And when you least expect it, a beautiful chord or a fragment of a melody will appear from "nowhere" and just for a moment or two give you a hint of beauty. Beauty that seems to be hidden within and, almost, left forgotten.The CD consists of the two long pieces separated by 'His Masquerade', a composition for solo piano and voice, my favorite. Contemplative and intimate and beautifully recorded, with a rich sound of piano, inside and out. The Selfhaters Orchestra: Anthony Coleman (p, org, tb, v), Michaël Attias (as, bs), Fred Lonberg-Holm (clo), Jim Pugliese (perc, t) and Doug Wieselman (e-flat cl, bass hca)."