Alvin Curran/Domenico Sciajno - Our Ur

Alvin Curran/Domenico Sciajno
Our Ur
Rossbin
015

On the face of it, the teaming of Curran and Sciajno is quite enticing. Curran, the MEV veteran, has done some beautiful work over the decades although, for my taste, much of it (like the compositions “For Cornelius” and “Era Ora”) was in an avant-romantic vein parallel to that mined by Rzewski. Still, some of his more purely electronic and experimental works have been intriguing and the idea of a collaboration with the fine Sicilian electronicist (and, in the past, bassist) Domenico Sciajno, recently represented in fine light on the duo with Giuseppe Ielasi on Erstwhile as well as a wonderful solo bass album on Fringes, portended some excitement.

Expectations are only partially met, however. My suspicion is that, however diligently Mr. Curran has attempted to keep up with trends in contemporary electro-acoustic improvisation, his core lies elsewhere, no longer in a line directly from the experimentation of MEV but more in a melding of culturally nostalgic phenomena (particularly those of the Jewish tradition) with certain aspects of free improvisation as it was practiced in the 60s and 70s. Sciajno attempts to accommodate but, to the extent pieces on this disc succeed, they tend to work far better the more Sciajno comes to the fore and asserts his own conception.

The album opens with “Someone to Watch Over What”, the already aggravating title alluding, obviously, to the old standard which is interpolated throughout in brief phrases on sampled violin or piano, popping up amidst fairly harsh electronics. There’s something of a collage effect, heavy on the samples, and on the whole the piece reminds me of Curran’s off-and-on successful collaboration with ROVA from a decade or so back. The problem with the piece, the weakest here, is both the kitschy use of the theme (intentional though that may be) and the lack of commitment to really push in that direction if that’s what you want. We’re left with something that may have been fine were it to appear in the Tzadik catalog where this sort of referencing is almost the norm but is less satisfying here. Sciajno’s “Outer Cities” (utilizing samples of Curran playing his own composition, “Inner Cities”) works far, far better, a rich soundscape that grips from its opening pulsations, widens its view toward the distant vistas implied by its title and never lets the listener’s interest flag. Curran, on his own, has a tendency toward baroque levels of overkill but here he’s kept nicely in check and the piece absolutely glides from point to point, nudged instead of pushed, implications favored over declarations.

“Anatolia Centrale”, also by Sciajno, begins with layered electronic bleats, apparently involving vocal samples, migrates to a chaotic welter of strings (sounding as though one is inside a vast, metallic cello) and proceeds across diverse panoramas, balancing nimbly between arbitrariness and subtle intent. At times, the introduction of a given section seems spurious and overdone as it’s initially heard though often, in retrospect, it seems oddly apt. One suspects that Curran supplies the allusions to intoned vocals and, again, they’re a bit bothersome, feeling far more forced and spiritually hokey than one would like. As the track wends its way, attractive moments arise, but it scurries down pathways of lesser interest a bit too often. The final piece is a joint collaboration, again largely sample-based and packed to the gills with them. Here, the abundance of material, if only because its sheer density, works just fine over its much briefer stretch, an appropriately rich bit of dessert, perhaps. Overall, I can’t shake the feeling that Curran doesn’t quite fit in with Sciajno’s approach. To be fair, it could just as easily be the reverse save for the fact that the one brilliant work here is credited to the younger musician. “Our Ur” is worth it for that track alone and, of course, other listeners may be more in tune with Curran’s heady and hazy referencing. Maybe further joint ventures between the two will yield deeper, meatier explorations.

~ Brian Olewnick