East Meets West – “Extensions 2” – FRANCIS MIROGLIO: Extensions 2; ALAIN LOUVIER: Shima; Candrakala; GEORGES APERGHIS: Krptogramma

by | May 17, 2005 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | 0 comments

East Meets West – “Extensions 2” – FRANCIS MIROGLIO: Extensions 2;
ALAIN LOUVIER: Shima; Candrakala; GEORGES APERGHIS: Krptogramma – Les
Percussions de Strasbourg – Pentatone 4.0 channel SACD, RQR Series, PTC
5186 156, 80:05 **:

Another of the
recordings made by Philips in the early 70s with plans originally to
release on quadraphonic disc, but then it was realized the available
formats were not really viable and the tapes stayed shelved until today
when Pentatone is resurrecting them, retaining their 4-channel setup,
and issuing on surround SACD. I don’t if the six-man Strasbourg
percussion ensemble still exists, but in l972 they toured extensively
and had more than 400 different percussion instruments at their
disposal, plus had made 21 recordings so far. They premiere many
compositions in the growing repertory of percussion-only, and that
includes Krptogramma heard on this disc.

This is pretty specialized music that could not be said to have general
appeal, but if you’re into percussion there are some fascinating sounds
here, and the surround option aids in separating out the sometimes
subtle variety of sounds. The two Louvier works are based on Hindu
rhyhms; only metal perecussion instruments are used. Kryptogramma was
inspired by cryptograms which hide information behind a text or number
sequence. It is constructed from rhythms taken from classical
masterpieces and then codified to render them indecipherable. Still
with me? Well, you get the idea. If you don’t have a sub woofer or
really full-range speakers this one will fall flat.

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