A Sweet Quasimodo

Charlemagne Palestine is a historically important early minimalist, a contemporary of Philip Glass, Steve Reich, LaMonte Young, and Tony Conrad. The past five years have seen a great resurgence of interest in Palestine’s music. This CD documents a rare West Coast performance of expatriate Palestine at the famed Maybeck Recital hall in Berkeley, CA. A Sweet Quasimodo is a long piece for two pianos played simultaneously in a tremolo style that Palestine calls “strumming,” a technique that has defi ned his piano music since the late sixties. This live recording from the noted recital hall also contains Palestine’s short comments about his life in California in the seventies and, accompanied by a rubbed brandy snifter, his singing of a few very short “ritual” songs in his unique falsetto vocal style.

“Palestine’s work offers sonic sculptures to be thoroughly inspected and savored at every moment.” — Wired

“Palestine has a way of choosing notes so as to tremendously affect the thickness of the sound and create panoramic variety (and even microtonal anomalies) among the overtone masses he is creating.” — Village Voice