The composer uses the full universe of sound, from instrumental to synthesized, from the voice to the sounds of our environment, and has invented digital techniques to transform one into the other. As he says in the introduction:
Within the voice we find the power of the soundscape, and within environmental sounds we find ancient voices. What stands in the midst of this complementary motion is the individual, whether the soloist of East Wind or the transcendent figure of the Winged Victory in The Wings of Nike. Faced with mass consumer culture on a worldwide level, we are all in need of finding our authentic and individual musical voices.
From the serenity and sensuality of Arras and the Fog movement of Pacific, through the haunting melodies of East Wind, to the thrilling Chinese Dragon Dance of the last cut of the CD, Truax unleashes a feast for the ears and the imagination.
A pioneer and internationally recognized expert in the field of computer music synthesis and composition, Barry Truax is the most recent recipient of the prestigious Magisterium award (the senior category for composers of more than 20 years experience) in the 1991 International Competition of Electroacoustic Music in Bourges, France, for his ground-breaking work Riverrun, published on Cambridge Street Records, Wergo, and Unesco's Cultures Electroniques.
Pacific Rim introduces listeners to the sonic wonders of the real-time granulation of sampled environmental sound that allows sound to be stretched to any duration without a change in pitch. Like magnification, this stretching allows the listener to literally hear the "inside" of the sound as microscopic detail becomes enlarged. It is here that the timeless voices of his major work Pacific are to be found.
Pacific Rim (CSR-CD 9101) is available for
a postpaid mail order price.
