Larry Polansky: Four-Voice Canons

by Larry Polansky

Overview

This CD, released in December 2002, culls the fruits of 25 years of experimentation with the mensuration canon. Each piece features four voices entering in canon form, each voice going through its line faster than the previous so that all four voices finish at the same time. To this centuries-old principle of time compression, Larry Polansky adds an extra rule where each voice goes through a permutational cycle of a small number of musical elements. Four-Voice Canons presents 16 of these works. The oldest ("No. 4"), was written in 1978-1979; the freshest ("Nos. 14," "16," "17," and "18") were completed in the summer of 2002 for this album. Variations in instruments (or sound sources in some cases) and the instrumentalists' dynamics, ranges, tones, and textures ensure that each piece has its own identity. Yet by the tenth track, the listener "gets the picture." It's time to hit the stop button and come back later. Some of these pieces have seen the light of day elsewhere ("No. 10: Four Boys Mannin'" on the Frog Peak Collaborations Project, "No. 8: Nerve Canon" on Transforms: The Nerve Events Project), but it was a good idea to put them all together. Highlights include William Winant's delicate marimba in "No. 4," Polansky's own fretless guitar playing in the intimate "No. 17: Guitar Canon," the self-explanatory "No. 14: Kid Canon," and the three different realizations of the composer's open score for "No. 13: DIY Canon" by Daniel Goode, Nick Didkovsky, and Nathan Davis. This album makes a slightly dry listen when taken in one gulp, but each piece has its fascinating quirks. ~ Francois Couture

Product Details

Release Date:	11/05/2002
Label:	Cold Blue
UPC:	0800413001126
Rank:	213876

Tracks

1. Four-Voice Canon No. 4 for marimba
2. Four-Voice Canon No. 7 for gamelan
3. Four-Voice Canon No. 17 for fretless electric guitar ("Guitar Canon")
4. Four-Voice Canon No. 9b (6:7:8:9) ("Anna Canon")
5. Four-Voice Canon No. 14 ("Kid Canon")
6. Four-Voice Canon No. 16 for computer ("Canon in One Octave for Arthur Farwell")
7. Four-Voice Canon No. 12, for chorus ("Doggerel") (from Three New Hampshire Songs)
8. Four-Voice Canon No. 10 ("Four Boys Mannin")
9. Java 2 (Realization of Larry Polansky's Four-Voice Canon No. 13 "DIY Canon")
10. Four-Voice Canon No. 5 for percussion
11. Four-Voice Canon No. 6 for computer
12. Four-Voice Canon No. 8 for computer ("Nerve Canon")
13. Headphone Canon for Ross Hendler (Realization of Larry Polansky's Four-Voice Canon No. 13 "DIY Canon")
14. On Skin, Wood, Metal, and Stone, for percussion (Realization of Larry Polansky's Four-Voice Canon No. 13 "DIY Canon")
15. Four-Voice Canon No. 18 for electric guitar, cello & percussion ("Trio Canon for Christian Wolff")

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Larry Polansky   Primary Artist,Guitar,Computers
William Brooks   Director,Vocals
Meghan Gallagher   Vocals
Anna Diamond Polansky   Vocals
Ha-Yang Kim   Cello
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong   Vocals
Stephen Johnson   Vocals
Hester Godfrey   Vocals
York Vocal Index   Ensemble
Eliza Polli   Vocals
Saskia Nislow   Vocals
Katie Lenhart   Vocals
Daniel Goode   Tape
John Potter   Vocals,Director
Chris Mann   Vocals,Voices
Nick Didkovsky   Computers
Jody Diamond   Rebab,Gamelan
Anthony Braxton   Sax (Baritone)
William Winant   Marimba,Percussion
Nathan Davis   Percussion

Technical Credits

Miriam Kolar   Mixing,Editing,Engineer,Producer,Remixing,Realization
John Williams & the Tick Tocks   Mixing,Editing,Engineer
Kevin Gray   Mastering
John Wiliams   Mixing,Editing,Engineer
Nathan Davis   Mixing,Editing,Composer,Engineer,Realization
Daniel Goode   Mixing,Editing,Composer,Engineer,Realization
Ray Guillette   Composer,Realization,Computer Analysis
Chris Mann   Text,Composer
Nick Didkovsky   Composer,Realization,Sound Source
Larry Polansky   Mixing,Editing,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Photography,Realization,Vocal Editing
Jody Diamond   Percussion Assistant,Production Assistant
Jim Fox   Producer,Cover Design
Kevin L. Gray   Mastering
Tom Erbe   Mixing,Editing,Engineer,Digital Remastering
Richard Povall   Mixing,Editing,Engineer