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William Basinski report Anna Trubnikova

One thing I haven’t straight away captured in class while listening to Basinski is that the concept of his style of music is very similar to my view to the repetition of words and sound in “I am sitting in a room” of Alvin Lucier’s. Or, it is better to say, it creates the same kind of impression for the listener and facilitates the understanding of what the composer intended to put into his piece.

Addressing “Disintegration Loops” and “Watermusic” in particular in this report, I may say both cause a calming, almost meditational effect while telling different stories. Taking into account the story behind creating Disintegration Loops, it is surprising to find out that the piece is quite peaceful in sound. It revolves around reflections on the eternal, fragility of existence. It brings the listener back to the moment when Basinski was watching what was left from once mighty big beautiful glass facades of the skyscrapers. The loop of the notes communicates the disbelief, mourning, apathy and indifference of the universe in face of such events. This apathy is painful, horrible yet it manages to add significant flavour to what can be heard in this piece. The decay of the time, of this particular piece, of the mood, of the situation, of the cruelty into crusty waves of black clouds of fume over the towers in the picture. It is important to observe Basinski’s pieces along with the visual part, whether he performs or it is just a picture associated with a certain piece.

Watermusic again for some reason seems to be somehow connected with the art of Alvin Lucier. It is also similar to Disintegration Loops but the general mood of the piece is more cheerful. Right after hearing the first seconds of it you feel it welcoming you to explore world of sound and deep listening. You hear the wonderful melody of nature and feel connected to the universal common knowledge. The name suggests listening to the nature of water, but I personally hear sparkling snowflakes in the fairy-tale world of winter, cold windy mornings and crispy air among the trees. There are rivers covered with snow and that is the sound of the frozen surface of the water still full of life under the blocks of ice. I hear different shapes of water in this piece. It represents moments of life and various periods of ups and downs naturally merging together into a melody.

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