Like the Wende Bartley CD also reviewed, this one [Westerkamp’s] is diverse enough that it seems like a compilation disc. On the whole, it is also no less wonderful a release than that of Bartley, though there is not the vocal theme. Westerkamp’s trademark seems to be the use of location recordings… or does this only seem to be so? The effect of being transported is everpresent whether the piece be one involving first person narration, beat poetry collage, or a Fantasie for Horns II. This disc culls works from the late 1970’s to the early 1990’s. Fans of old-definition “ambient” like Ferrari’s Presque rien should be dazzled.

Three pieces constitute this CD — all work from the mid-to-late 80’s. All very electronic and similar in character. Very listenable stretches of texture landscapes separated by short, swishy intervals of tape effects. Compositions evolve in ways that are appreciable even on a “passive listening” level. Reminiscent of Christian Zanési’s GRM LP, or Christian Clozier’s Quasars CD.

“I’ve discovered that my work as a composer has much in common with this branch of civil engineering (stone cutting) — exploring and evaluating the behavior of material on the verge of splitting apart.” (from liner notes). This CD features work from 1985 to 1993. Much of the work is a roller coaster for the ears: dynamic shifts, sounds bouncing and then quickly turning double-takes in mid-air. There is an intensity here and a shaping of the material to the breaking point which is both inspiring and exhaustive. Impressive and recommended.

One of my favorites, if only because of the Veils piece. Most of the music on these two disks is a stylistically heterogenous jumble of orchestral, jazz, and choral arrangements—all meticulously assembled from thousands of pre-recorded tracks. Such a grandiose production of acoustic instrument track layering has surely never come before this. Sometimes the instruments are so densely layered they become a storm of harmonics that approaches white noise. The whole compositional temperament—impatient, violent, and spastically bursting and whirling relentlessly—makes me wonder who has the mental energy to listen attentively to the whole length of it, much less labor to compose it. Possibly, it’s brilliant (I should mention that a composer friend of mine thinks these tracks are the most original new music he’s heard in years), but I found it oppressively cluttery. At the tail end of the second CD is the piece titled Veils; another study in multi-tracking which is stylistically the flipside of the coin. Veils is an ambient masterpiece where, atypical of ambient music, genuine compositional events are as important as the arrangement at any given time. No electronic effects were used, but extensive multitracking between 180 to 280 tracks of acoustic instruments is responsible for a consistency and flow of this phenomenal work. Very artfully done.

A bit more patient and slowly evolving than your average electroacoustic work. This gives a lot of emphasis to stimulating, grainy textures and raw imagery, without constantly interrupting you with that sterile “electronics-in-a-void” sound that can make me blase about electroacoustic work sometimes. Satisfies the same tastes that enjoy John Watermann’s “Calcutta Gas Chamber” or David Dunn’s “Chaos and the Emergent Mind of the Pond.” Pretty potent stuff, especially at high volume levels.

A lot of great music is packed into this slender, discount-format CD, one of the best on this label. Rodrigue’s electroacoustic pieces have a fluid style that is refreshingly different from the jarringly erratic nature of most tape-music. Like a roller coaster ride through a spectacle of stereophonic fireworks. Not merely entertaining either: compositionally, the pieces are compelling, and they are no less artful for all their seeming concern with impressive technical tricks. It took some talented hands to shape these little tracks. Rodrigue is my top recommendation to insomniacs who listen with headphones.