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David Rothenberg: Whale Music
ByHe does a commendable job complementing and reinterpreting the whales' songs on his clarinet, duetting primarily with humpbacks and belugas and balancing between imitating their sounds and retaining his own instrumental voice. He wisely does not make this an ambient, new age album, but instead accentuates the musical qualities of the underwater cries, adding occasional guitar, violin or keyboard to make human collaborations. The duets come off as joint improvisationsand in fact some of them are, recorded with microphones and speakers both above and below water so that the whalesintentionally participating or notcould hear and potentially react to the music being made. Others are studio creations, nicely setting the whales into a group construct.
Central to what makes Whale Music work is the fact that Rothenberg approaches each of the 12 tracks as a composer. The pieces vary considerably and, with one exception, work quite well. The disc ends with "The World's Last Whale," an ill-advised spoken piece with a wispy Dylan cadence which is the only thing here that borders on the one-world spirituality the whole project threatens. But it is easily forgiven in the context of an otherwise original and largely successful album.
Track Listing
Valentine's Day 1992; Never Satisfied; The Far Field; Whiteness of the Beast; Duo Orcananda; The Killer; Moby Click; And She Married a Whale; Beluga No Believe in Tears; Koholaa!; The World's Last Whale.
Personnel
David Rothenberg
clarinet, bassDavid Rothenberg: reeds, vocals, keyboards; Robert Jurgendal: guitar; Nils Okland: violin; John Wieczorek: percussion; Michelle Malarsli: violin.
Album information
Title: Whale Music | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: Terra Nova
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About David Rothenberg
Instrument: Clarinet, bass
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