Alvin Lucier -- A Review

I attended a concert of music by composer Alvin Lucier last night. Due to employment engagements, I was only able to listen to the first piece. The concert was well attended; there were not enough seats for all. In the few minutes before the first selection, an air of nervous anticipation was palpable in the room.

The piece that I heard was Crossings (1982), written for small orchestra and slow sweep pure wave oscillator. Dave O’Fallon generously warned the audience that the sounds may be exceedingly discordant and perhaps a bit jarring, so he encouraged them to feel free to cover their ears or leave the concert as necessary.

Crossings, which is now 30 years old, is experimental in nature. Listening to this piece took the audience to the intersection of psychoacoustic perception and imagination. The music ascends through the seven-octave range of the orchestra. The work begins with a gradually ascending tone from the oscillator. The lowest instruments join the oscillator first. Each instrument enters on their notated pitch before the oscillator has reached that same frequency. As the instrumentalists sustain their pitch, the oscillator frequency gradually rises. Periodically, the oscillator matches the pitch of the instrumentalists, creating a sensation of no beats. As the oscillator creeps up in pitch, the beats become faster. This process continues as new instruments join the commotion in layered entrances, moving up the orchestra.

What makes this piece interesting is the variable speed of beats, which sometimes disappear. Piercing dissonances transform into calm unisons, and then they return to dissonances. These changes promote an uncomfortable and harsh atmosphere. The periodic disappearance of beats and the changes in the speed of beats make this steady ascent more of a psychological roller coaster.

The performance was intense – one that I will remember for quite some time. This kind of music is incredibly interesting and worthwhile. I hope that performances like these become more abundant at UK. I thank Dave and Jason for their efforts in planning, promoting, and producing this terrific performance. I only wish I could stay for the remainder of the concert!