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Listening report – Alvin Lucier

 

Prof. Dr. Herzogenrath

The Future of Avantgarde-Music

Blaha, Malte C.

Matrikelnummer 7509502

 

Listening report – Alvin Lucier

Lucier’s music sounds like a journey into the unknown, a so said sonic exploration that invites the listener to enter a world of pure sound. His composition Nothing is Real actually plays with the original idea of what we as humans conceive as music. Firstly, Lucier plays the piano in a melodic and rhythmical way. The listener does not know whether the device that is used next to the piano is some sort of loop-station or a synthesizer. After the pulling out of a teapot, it becomes obvious that it must have been a loop-station. Lucier starts to mimic the soundwaves and the actual sound of the piano by closing and opening up the teapot. And then, it is comprehensible. Nothing in this piece is real. There is the conception that everything can be the starting point of a sound, but the sound itself never comes from the very instrument that seems to be played. It is an illusion.

The music of Lucier is not only an exploration of sound, but also a reflection on the nature of perception itself. Through the innovative use of technology – in form of a loop-station- and very unconventional instruments (like the teapot), he challenges our assumptions about what music is and where it comes from. His work appears to invite us to question our preconceived notions about the relationship between sound and reality. In an increasingly blurred world between the real and the virtual, Lucier’s music offers a powerful reminder of the transformative power of sound, and the creativity that lies within each of us.

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