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Stattube

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  1. In 1957 Vladimir Ussachevsky from the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center convinced RCA that orchestras would soon be obsolete, and that they should help Columbia build an electronic synthesizer for his center so it could eventually replace all of those expensive orchestras.<br /> <br /> While the RCA Mk 2 synthesizer never did put any musicians out of work, I think the goal of replicating the sound of an orchestra faithfully has finally been accomplished with this recording. But unlike with RCA, Chesky's motivation for doing it this way was not financially driven. He's used real living orchestras plenty of times in the past, but it was the complexity and dense nature of the music that necessitated this approach. To get even close to this level of precision playing without weeks of rehearsal would be almost impossible, so assembling it piece by piece was the only way.<br /> <br /> Sonically, the dynamics are startling at times, and the bass energy impact will quickly pick out any weaknesses in your system. The strings and electric guitar (the only instrument actually played in real time) sound great, but it is the percussion that is really the star of the show. During some of the loudest passages the sound can become a bit relentless and congested, but that's probably more down to having a system that can sort out music that's so tightly woven together. It's not all loud and bombastic however, for example, the second movement of Urbanicity is based around tranquil themes played on what sounds like a Gamelan.<br /> <br /> While other comments talk about having problems connecting with the music, I think it's unfair to call it difficult. This isn't Schnittke or Varese. It's more like the fifth movement of Messiaen's Turangalîla on acid.<br /> <br /> Recommended.
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