Gradually we are hypnotised as Palestine adds more notes in to the proceedings, increasing the thickness of the sonic mist that gathers beneath the hammering hands. The tempo increases gradually and you're caught in the frantic playing, the untethered yet very controlled trance-like energy of it all, and at the same time soothed by the waves of sound that ooze from the overlaps and sustain. Slowly built crescendoes appear like a sunrises, hands moving down the keyboard, the sound less icy, richer and roaring.
And all this for 50 or so minutes. It's little wonder that Palestine, counted among the vanguard of minimalist music, preferred the title maximalist: while the approach may seem minimalist compared to a Bach fugue, for example, or Ravel's 'Gaspard de la nuit', the maximalism is in the dynamic of the music. There is no minimalism in the magnitude of those interweaving frequencies, stacking note and chord upon note and chord to produce whirring waves of powerful sound. (But, to be fair, the maximalist properties are truly grounded in minimalism: it all begins simply, with a rapid alternation between E and B).
Charlemagne Palestine composed 'Strumming Music' as a commission for avant-garde French label Shandar
'Strumming Music' is left in the earth like valuable shining carbon, until now, half a century or so later, the weight of time and earthly forces, but mainly of composer and musician Erik Hall, have condensed the piece, crystallising it into a 14-minute diamond. Hall's interpretations of minimalist music have captured attention; in 2020 his painstaking work on reinterpreting Music For 18 Musicians compelled its composer (Steve Reich) to personally congratulate him in writing. His rendition of 'Strumming Music' may earn him similar praise.
Hall preserves the foundation and intent of the original, repeating notes and chords, the sustain creating a heady all-encompassing flood of harmonious frequencies. However, with felted piano and the addition of guitars, which in a nod to the title are literally strummed, his version is a warmer and more intricately textured piece. Gone are the glassy, hammered notes of the original, its woody, thundering resonance, the cold clanging ferocity of Palestine's piano.
Instead, Hall gives us a different, more measured intensity in his flowing performance, with a more intimate, organic flavour to the recording as a whole compared to expansive feel of the original. A lot of this has to do with the recording and production process; Hall's layering of piano and guitar, among other things, immediately sets it apart from Palestine's 50-minute behemoth, for which he used a concert-ready Imperial Bösendorfer — a far cry from the Yamaha spinet (among other things) used by Hall.
Cosy rather than cosmic, cocooned thus in a gentler aesthetic and contained in a more digestible 14-minute, Erik Hall's 'Strumming Music' is a hot take on the original, an inspired update for our modern times that speaks of a collective nesting era, us behind windows and wood panels insulated from without.
- 🔔 Erik Hall's very hot take of 'Strumming Music' by Charlemagne Palestine is taken from his latest release Solo Three. Released by Western Vinyl, it also features interpretations of guitarist-composer Glenn Branca's 'The Temple of Venus Pt. 1', 'A Folk Study' by composer of electronic music Laurie Spiegel and another piece by Steve Reich, 'Music for a Large Ensemble'. You may purchase Solo Three in vinyl form or indeed CD form, if you so wish; both are available on Bandcamp.
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