Polansky: World's Longest Melody

POLANSKY: World's Longest Melody; Ensembles of Note; Tooaytood; For Jim, Ben, & Lou; Preamble; Resting Place; Getting Rid of the Glue; Ivtoo; Ontslan; Toovviivfor; 34 chords

Larry Polansky, Toon Callier, Matthias Koole, Johannes Westendorp, Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, g; Jutta Troch, hn; Jeronen Stevens, perc; W Victor, voice; Bertel Schollaert, Eva Vermeiren, Thomas van Gelder, Maarten Jan Huysmans, sax; Mattijs Vanderleen, drums; Stephan Prins, electronics

New World 80700--71 minutes

For this issue I was sent three recordings of electric guitar, with other instruments (see CHATHAM and PRITSKER). There is no reason not to use an electric guitar in contemporary composition; I suppose the wonder is that an instrument with so many timbral possibilities hasn't been used more often. Since the performers are so often tied to rock or other pop traditions, composers are reluctant; but when one has access to professional players of skill, then the music will often flow.

The Zwerm Quartet is a Belgian group that includes the four guitarists listed above apart from the composer. Their playing is consistently imaginative and expressive. So many electric guitarists content themselves with a limited range of tone, but not these players. The other musicians are just as expert.

Polansky's music is part minimalist, part aleatoric, and nearly always interesting. Somehow, even when generating musical materials through a computerized algorithm, he always seems aware of the sounds produced. If the algorithm produced something aesthetically incoherent, would he throw it out and start over? I'd love to ask him that. Actually, I had no idea composers were still doing such things. That computer-generated piece, 'The World's Longest Melody', is the title for the recording, and is realized in two tracks, each completely different from the other.

He has a puckish sense of humor, and that also makes his music effective. The opening work, 'Ensembles of Note' uses a repeated ostinato rhythm on claves, with other instruments interjecting cries, notes, and squeals, which builds to a suitably active conclusion. In his Tooaytoods, he out-Weberns Webern in miniaturizing. Some of the pieces run all of four seconds, and the longest of the eight is only 24 seconds.

For Jim, Ben, and Lou, for guitar, harp, and percussion, is a tribute to three of Polansky's mentors: James Tenney, Ben Johnston, and Lou Harrison. The music is affecting, especially the second movement, where a Yiddish text is sung in folk style, remembering the New York Triangle Shirtwaist Factory incident in 1911. In this tragic fire, nearly 150 women died because the company had locked the exits to prevent workers from taking breaks during long shifts.

Ivtoo (pronounced '42' ... is this a nod to Douglas Adams's answer to the Big Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?) is based on primal materials: the overtone series and canonic form. It builds inexorably to a shattering climax--the high point of the recording.

Ontslaan (toontood) is based on a hymn tune from The Missouri Harmony, an early shaped-note collection of music that has German immigrant roots. It is here set for five guitars, with the entries of the melody sometimes coordinated, sometimes separated. But the effect is never random, and the stately music is genuinely affecting.

The closing work, 34 Chords (Christian Wolff in Hanover and Royalton) is a gift to Polansky's friend and colleague, a beautiful and calm piece that is reproduced in the notes (even though in print so tiny it would be impossible to read accurately). Those notes, by Bob Gilmore, are excellent--enlightening without the usual quota of hooey.