| AMM is an ensemble of British sonic improvisers who draw upon various aspects of classical, jazz, and ethnic musics (as well as nonmusical philosophical and artistic sources) for their long, gradually evolving, organic and highly origInal manner of music-making. (You may recall that last year's release, Laminal, a three-CD set of performances from 1969, 'R2, and '94, made my Want List.) They've been togesher in one incamation or another since the mid I 960s, at different times including the late Stockhausen-disciple-tumed-MarxistJpoPulist-composer Comelius Cardew and Rohan de Saram, cellist of the Arditti Quartet; current pianist John Tilbury is a well-respected solo interpreter of Cage, Feldman, and Cardew (with a particularly important CD of the latter's early music for piano, also on Matchless). Before driving ..... was recorded at a 1996 live concert in Houston and, though it may not quite sustain the levels of intensity as the concerts collected in Laminal , is nevertheless a strong, Surprising, representative documentation of what they do.
When I used the word 'organic' above, it was to describe AMM's approach to spontaneous composition, which I believe in this case differs from "free improvisation" by means of method and intent. While they do improvise freshly the specific details of each performance, primarily a combination of intense microscopic views of sound production (as pitch, timbre, texture, color, and resonance) and dramatic, interactive gestures (either simple or complex), these are set into a context that they have arrived at over time-a manner of listening and responding spontaneously with events that sculpt a musical shape. There are certainly elements of indeterminacy in AMM's approach-especially in Keith Rowe's occasional incorporation of random radio broadcasts; but they go to great pains to assure that their music develops a personal compositional design re(;ognizable for its consistency and coherency. Thus the group's long-term commitment to these goals, and a relatively stable personnel (they've been together in this trio configuration for over 15 years, allowing in only the occasional empathetic guest such as saxophonist Evan Parker or composer/instrumentalist Christian Wolff), are crucial factors in their success.
One effect that the AMM approach to spontaneous composition has on the listener is to shift attention away from music as a singular object and toward the musical experience as a process. Over the course of the music heard on this disc, there are moments of greater or lesser significance, passages of familiar relationships between the instruments and those that confuse such relationships with unorthodox techniques, ambiguous sonorities, or noise. To my mind, the musicians seem to manipulate the sounds as sensual yet palpable material, as a sculptor might. Some listeners may relate to sections of AMM music-especially those of particular delicacy or extremely gradual development-as they might to the later Scores of Morton Feldman. In any case, the AMM experience is unique and offers a new sense of musical awareness."
Art Lange |