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Listening report: Alvin Lucier

Since the mid-1960s, Lucier has produced a range of important compositions that have influenced the culture of experimental music and the sonic arts, such as: Music for Solo Performer (1965), Vespers (1968), I am sitting in a room (1970), and Bird and Person Dyning (1975). He was an „influential experimental composer whose works focused less on traditional musical elements like melody and harmony than on the scientific underpinnings of sound and of listeners’ perceptions“ (Kozinn). Consequently, he „seemed to approach his works as experiments that might yield unpredictable soundscapes“.

 

 

Luciers work Nothing is real (2003) starts slowly with choppy low tones which alternate with high notes. This has the effect that it gives me a reassuring feeling and makes me think. The sounds become more melodic in time but still quite choppy. The alternating melodies do not really fit so well together in my opinion. The work consists of fragments of the Beatles song Strawberry Fields Forever. When the high tones are played on the piano I was expecting that the work would continue with these tones. Since minute 1:40 Lucier stops casually for some seconds which makes me wonder which melody will be subsequent. With the help of the piano Lucier generates a vibration, it is clearly heard during the deep tones. In fact Brandon LaBelle states: „Lucier guides us into listening deep, to seeing sound as a vibrant matter of daily life with fiery consequences.“ Starting at minute 5:47 in the video uploaded on google drive by Mr. Herzogenrath something mysterious happens, a teapot is put on top of the piano. In this second part of the piece, the previous recording of the first part is played back from a small loudspeaker hidden inside the teapot. Following, the lid of the teapot is put in different positions which has an effect on the recording. It's crazy to me how an artist comes up with such an idea to play a piano piece from a teapot. I have never seen something like this before and I will never forget to have heard this masterpiece of Alvin Lucier.

 

 

Sources:

 

1.Kozinn, Allan. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/arts/music/alvin-lucier-dead.html

2.LaBelle, Brandon. https://www.documenta14.de/en/artists/5877/alvin-lucier

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