Paul Paccione is an American composer who was born in 1952 and subsequently studied with many different composition teachers, including Kenneth Gaburo and Pauline Oliveros. His work is informed by many 20th century composers and is known for its compelling nature and innate lyricism. The compositions collected here were mostly written during the period that Paccione was studying at the University of Iowa, and so are linked together in time and technique. Played by members of Apartment House, these pieces are gathered together here for the first time.
"Exit Music" is performed by a string trio (violin, viola and cello) and is constructed of long held notes which change in staggered succession. The chords so built have a sort of reedy quality, reminding me of a sho or harmonica, which I find uncanny. These tones gradually thicken and a melody seems to arise from the sum of its parts, and then sink back from whence it came. At one point the three players create a drone by all bowing at different times, filling in the gaps of changing stroke direction. Check out the change of timbres toward the end.
"Gridwork" is for a quintet of clarinet, bass clarinet, violin, cello and piano, and from the get-go there's more tension involved. The piano strikes heavy chords while the remaining instruments build around them. Gestures explode at times, and we can see the warp and weft of the title laid over the proceedings. The silent holes in between the crossed lines. You won't notice when the next piece starts.
"Violin" is for four of them, and it comes out of the previous piece as if a continuation. Paccione himself has stated that these pieces function as one long composition, so easily do they dovetail together. Their placement here on this disc would seem to be the intended order of play as well. All of these pieces are on the longish side, giving one ample time to really get wrapped up in the sounds. This four violins ensemble creates a large cloud of shifting note, timbre and harmonics. After a brief pause in the center, they regroup and up the ante, eventually dissolving into bow scrape and pearly hiss.
The title track is for a quintet of two clarinets, violin, viola and cello, and again seems to belong. A sort of see-saw motif from the strings gradually thins out then turns into a thick drone of dissonant notes with lots of tone-beating. The grain of the bow can be heard to great effect here. Eruptions of slow chords give us more of that reedy sound and the feeling that this could continue indefinitely, and we wouldn't mind at all.
The final piece here is a whole different animal. "Still Life" for two flutes is constructed of short melodic bits, and seems quite a bit apart from the other pieces in its sound as well as its modus. Perhaps a capper then. The dessert after a very enjoyable meal.
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