Listening Report- Lucier’s “Nothing is real project”

 

Alvin Lucier is not only a composer, but also a sort of scientist of sounds: almost all of his works have been influenced by science, in fact he loves to explore the physical properties of sound itself like resonance of spaces, phase interference between closely tuned pitches, and the transmission of sound through physical media. Unlike the other artists analyzed, who focus more on the nature of sounds and their artistic capabilities, Lucier plays with the sound, trying to understand which properties it has and what it can potentially and tangibly do.

His most famous experiment is without any doubt I am sitting in my room (1969), in which Lucier records himself narrating a text, and then plays the recording back into the room, re-recording it: the effect is that certain frequencies are gradually emphasized as they resonate in the room, until eventually the words become unintelligible, replaced by the pure resonant harmonies and tones of the room itself. Despite this, I found the experiment Nothing is real (1990) very interesting too, because it encapsulates the nature of performance in front of an audience, that cannot believe what is happening on stage.

At the beginning Lucier plays fragments of the famous Strawberry Fields Forever of the Beatles, which is contemporarily recorded. In the second part of the piece, the recording is played back from a small loudspeaker hidden inside a teapot. The sound of the playback is altered by different positions of the lid (e.g., open, closed, partially closed, partially open...) or by lifting the closed teapot off the piano. From time to time even “melodic lines” – as indicated in the score – are created by changing the distance of the lid to the teapot.

Lucier hides the technical details, and for the listener, the sounds coming from the teapot are somewhat ghostlike. Maybe because of this, the whole situation reminds us of the fairytale “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp”. I find Lucier’s work very interesting and It’s always amazing to listen to some good piano!