New World's earlier release Vespers & Other Early Works brought us up to speed with Alvin Lucier's "classic" electro-acoustic music of the 1960s and '70s. Wind Shadows is devoted to Lucier's work of more recent vintage, with the selection here dating from 1984-2003. The electronic components throughout are only minimally applied, and two of the pieces, Letters and Bar Lazy J, are written for conventional instruments with no electronics employed. It is through force of habit that it is customary to view the American ...
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New World's earlier release Vespers & Other Early Works brought us up to speed with Alvin Lucier's "classic" electro-acoustic music of the 1960s and '70s. Wind Shadows is devoted to Lucier's work of more recent vintage, with the selection here dating from 1984-2003. The electronic components throughout are only minimally applied, and two of the pieces, Letters and Bar Lazy J, are written for conventional instruments with no electronics employed. It is through force of habit that it is customary to view the American electronic composers of Lucier's generation, such as Robert Ashley, Gordon Mumma, and Pauline Oliveros, as being within the realm of "enfants terribles." Nevertheless, "enfants" they are not, all of them now having reached the age of 70. If still active in the field, this would qualify such an artist worthy for status as an "institution," but this music is anything but institutional in nature. While neither "fresh" nor taken down a well-trodden path, Lucier's later music demonstrates a...
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