Intellectual Property is a mischievous album by a mischievous composer. Each track brings its load of surprises, the album as a whole portraying
Mark Applebaum's many interests:
sound sculpture, electronics, acoustic instrumentation, and "composer humor," so to speak. This very diversity can be seen as the disc's flaw, but it actually makes for a more enjoyable listen than the more single-minded
Mousetrap Music or
Janus Remixes.
"Intellectual Property I" is a dry choice for a beginning. A piece for two improvising pianists, one recorded and one playing live, both on the same Disklavier, it combines conflicting nonidiomatic (but actually
contemporary classical-oriented) and
jazz passages in a rather predictable way.
"Plundergraphic" is much more substantial. The piece calls for eight-channel tape (consisting of two stereo acoustic quartets and their digitally processed counterparts) mixed live with a live acoustic quartet and its processed counterpart. Rich and dizzying, the piece provides the first highlight of the set.
"Ferneyhough Remix" is a very interesting, virtuoso (and short) percussion duet with tape. But the main opus of the album is
"Mouseketier Praxis," a 26-minute, four-part improvisation on
Applebaum's homemade contraptions. The Mouseketier is the evolution of the Mousetrap, featured on an earlier CD. Similar in concept to
Hugh Davies' sculptures, it consists of a wild assortment of springs, rods, and combs mounted on
electroacoustic soundboards.
Applebaum displays a commanding level of creativity on the beast.
"Scipio Wakes Up" features six smaller versions of the Mouseketier, the Micro Mice, in an ensemble setting (
the Paul Dresher Ensemble) and the results are convincing. The album concludes with
"Pre-Composition," a funny and marvelously pointless eight-channel tape piece featuring the inner voices of the composer arguing on what should be the proposed eight-channel piece -- arcane humor for
electroacoustic buffs. ~ Francois Couture
