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San Francisco,
and the New
NY Times
April 13, 2011
by Allan Kozinn
The new work in Alarm Will Sound’s set was Ken Ueno’s “(X)igagai,” a gripping, visceral soundscape inspired by the Pirahã people of the Amazon basin, a fascinating tribe whose language apparently has no words for colors or numbers. (The title refers to spirits that only the Pirahã people are able to see.)
The charm and power of Mr. Ueno’s score are in its unpredictability. The players vocalize and make amplified, whooshing wind noises. Sudden bursts of percussion explode within calmer textures. Instruments in unconventional tuning systems (microtonal, even temperament) play alongside others in conventional tunings, creating unusually rich, unconventional harmonic textures, and sounds continually morph: a series of piano and percussion exchanges, for example, ends with a brass crescendo that sounds as if it has emerged from the keyboard.
The charm and power of Mr. Ueno’s score are in its unpredictability. The players vocalize and make amplified, whooshing wind noises. Sudden bursts of percussion explode within calmer textures. Instruments in unconventional tuning systems (microtonal, even temperament) play alongside others in conventional tunings, creating unusually rich, unconventional harmonic textures, and sounds continually morph: a series of piano and percussion exchanges, for example, ends with a brass crescendo that sounds as if it has emerged from the keyboard.