This is the second, recent release for Schoolmap, one of the earliest pieces by Eliane Radigue. Coincidentally, there is a great interview with Other Minds composer Charles Amirkhanian here on the Internet Archive where she discusses her work and does the first ever performance of the piece during the broadcast.
The piece is designed for four loudspeakers and two sources. This way the two parts of the piece can be played together and somewhat chaotically so that each time the piece is played it can conjure new variations, potentially. I haven't had the pleasure of being able to experience the piece fully at home,having only one stereo, but I can reflect on what I have heard of the two disc set.
Anyone familiar with Radigue's output on the Lovely Music, Table of the Elements, or Fringes labels will notice quickly that this piece is a little more raw sounding. Radigue's sound curating is still on point, but the source material is noticeably less warm and enveloping on immediate exposure. Altogether, this is not a bad thing. It is interesting to hear Radigue working with a slightly different sound palette and yet working towards the same purpose.
Granted, this is a dense edition to digest. In addition to the already complex work spread across two different discs yet meant to be played simultaneously, there are two new realizations: one from Radigue in 2001, the other from Ielasi in 2006. Each on separate discs as well and seemingly they too can be played either alone or in conjunction with the other realization, and this raises a whole different set of questions…
I may have to follow up on this in a month or so with some more concrete thoughts.
Cover art by the phenomenal Paul Jenkins.
