Inspired by not just the legendary Pauline Oliveros, but by her smile, and the smiles that her music inspired in the audience, Italian experimental composer Claudio Parodi has created an extended piece of music utilisng two Turkish clarinets and tapes. Parodi is not adverse to articulating his respect for musicians he admires, his last extreme album was a homage to Alvin Lucier’s ‘I am sitting in a room,’ which met with the masters approval. A Ritual Which Is Incomprehensible uses incredibly limited instrumentation, there are two tracks of droning Turkish clarinets, which occasionally work together, yet seem to end abruptly, offering an uncomfortable silence before beginning again. Then intermittently Parodi begins his tape experiments, which he garnered from Tizano Milani, and then edited an re orded, yet whilst offering relief from the single instrumentation doesn’t feel like it fuses. The clarinets are incredibly hypnotic, yet there seems to be little development, perhaps that’s the point. They appear stark, without any form of treatment, unrelenting, yet somehow exposed. Later with the tape material however Parodi exploits and explores the stereo image, fusing it with clarinets via increasing reverb. It’s at this point we can relax, fusion, or integration, which seemed so difficult earlier on has occurred and the ritual has begun to make sense.
Bob Baker Fish
