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Eno: Discreet Music / Contact

Eno / Contact
Release Date: 11/13/2015 
Label:  Cantaloupe   Catalog #: 21114   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  Brian Eno
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Contact
Number of Discs: 1 
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Notes and Editorial Reviews

On the 40th anniversary of the release of Brian Eno’s electronic ambient masterpiece Discreet Music, Toronto’s classical Contact ensemble, led by artistic director and percussionist Jerry Pergolesi, weighs in with a modern arrangement that harks back to the adventurous experimentalism of the original.

In Contact’s version, acoustic and electric instruments (cello, violin, soprano saxophone, guitar, double bass, vibraphone, piano, flute and gongs) take the place of Eno’s EMS synthesizer, channeling the underlying melodies of the piece until the ensemble itself becomes a kind of “looping apparatus,” as Pergolesi describes it. “My hope is that this recording pays homage to an influential piece of music and fulfills its own Read more purpose as, in Eno’s words, "not something intrinsic to certain arrangements of things – to [a] certain way of organizing sounds – but actually a process of apprehending that we, as listeners, could choose to conduct. Music is something your mind does." - Cantaloupe Music Read less

Works on This Recording

1.
Discreet Music by Brian Eno
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Contact

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review:  ( 1 Customer Review )
 Cantaloupe has done it again! December 2, 2016 By M. Platt (San Francisco, CA) See All My Reviews "Though this is not the 'second in a series' it is the second time that Cantaloupe has released a live interpretation of a seminal work of Brian Eno [the first being Bang On A Can All-stars' recording of "music for airports"]. This is a different take on the theme - and one that has rendered a new take that is evocative of the original, yet explores the themes anew. If you are familiar with the original, you will feel at home- the fundamental themes are rendered well with excellent musicianship and and a wonderful sense of attention/engagement. Eno's original experiment was more focused on creating an 'automatic' music that could be paid attention or merely heard in the background (there has been much written and discussed as to his success of this venture and its point which is beyond the point of this review). Contact - the interpretations assigned title successfully recreates that dichotomy of being able to be drawn into the performance / and suitable background; however leans far more heavily towards grabbing your attention. The choice of instruments, the phrasing, the interplay all serve to remind you that this is NOT 'automatic' music. This is indeed a recording of live musicians interpreting a classical synthetic musical composition, and "that has made all the difference" - to quote Robert Frost. Highly recommended." Report Abuse
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