The Pilotram Ensemble adopts a rule based system on this aural document, Organized Pitches Occurring In Time. Pitch classes, playing methods, and technique restrictions are established in advance, existing as an inert datum, conventional and arbitrary, with and against which the ensemble – consisting of some nine players who veer from pump organ, to cello, violin, alto saxophone, and bass clarinet – improvise, filling in spaces, making incisions, expanding on or reorganizing certain base elements to form a complex whole which thickens and simmers as it ages.
For one, the approach discloses the necessity of contingency. As blocks of feral orchestration shift like tectonic plates, note cells from cello and bass clarinet tumble, spiral, and dissolve, adding supple complexities to the long ecstatic microtonal drones. These details are decidedly off the peg, and particular to each piece, thus, in a sense, denoting some manner of freedom or individuality. Yet, these elements, though distinct, are largely fostered by the skeletal structure itself, that closed palpitation of pump organ that finds pleasure in endlessly repeating itself to no avail.
There are no real openings in these multifaceted works, then, as pieces develop in a highly regulated and spontaneous manner. The second composition, in particular, has an exactness and control, but is clearly invested with a steady inner pulse. As electronic tones float serenely above while bass clarinet somber lines, despite all its seriousness, the recording, perched artfully between simplicity and complexity, is also highly accessible and affecting.
Max Schaefer
*
