Paul Dresher - Casa Vecchia (1995)

Another Dresher collection, to follow on from his Dark Blue Circumstance disc a little while ago.  This one released by the Starkland label flips the focus of Circumstance, featuring just one work for string instruments; the three that precede it are all gorgeous, shimmering ambient drones.

Opening the album is Underground, a dance commission from 1982.  All the sounds are produced on an early Casio keyboard, fed into an equaliser and tape loop system.  The only downside of this beautiful piece is that it's only 8 minutes long - I'd quite happily listen to half an hour of it.  Other Fire (1984) that follows is a Fourth World-esque synthesis of field recordings made by Dresher in various travels across South/South East Asia a few years prior.  For this radiophonic commission, Dresher mixed his tapes using a harmonzier, EQ and the same tape loop system as Underground to great effect.

The tracks get progressively longer as the album goes on, giving Dresher's engrossing sound worlds more room to breathe.  After 11 minutes of Other Fire comes 16 minutes of Mirrors (1988-91), commissioned by bassist Robert Black.  Black performs it on double bass, electric upright bass and bass guitar, with electronic processing.  The haunting ambient drift at its outset eventually becomes a rhythmic delay tour de force that fans of Pinhas/Göttsching will absolutely love.  The title track closes the album in a string quartet that Dresher originally wrote for Kronos Quartet in 1982; this arrangement for double-quartet was the idea of Yuki Morimoto, whose Ensemble 9 group perform it here.  It's essential listening in the Adams/Reich vein, and the perfect ending to a hugely recommended collection.

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