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EM100

George Todd Green Ideas Furiously Asleep It's all George Todd's music, composed with the Middlebury College (Vermont, USA) Synclavier in the pioneering days of digital synthesizers. There's a wide range of sounds and approaches on this CD, from the rhythms of 'Creati' (1985), to the lush romantic harmonies of 'Romance' (1986), to the transformations of "green ideas furiously asleep" (reminiscient of a phrase that Noam Chomsky used to illustrate that grammar and meaning are not necessarily the same) in the text-sound pieces 'Glacier' (1991) and 'Wordscapes' (1991). Fascinated by the malleability of digitally recorded sounds, Todd molds and recasts the sounds of spoken words as if they are audio clay. In Todd's words: "When composing I see as much as I hear. 'Green Ideas Furiously Asleep' is an arrangement of sound objects ... objects which have visual and tactile qualities, objects which have a behavior. They take up space like water or mist or rock, cotton, ice, grass. They move with effortless speed, or they slouch, crawl, bounce, jump, appear and disappear instantly or fade in and out like the smile of the Cheshire cat. They are wet and dry, large, small, opaque, transparent, hard-edged, viscous. I try to infuse them with life and wit." The compositions in this CD, which demonstrate the range of sounds possible with the Synclavier, include: 'Creati' (1995), 'Glacier' (1991), 'Romance' (1987), 'Sound Sculptures' (1983), 'Penny's Dream' (1992), 'Wordscapes' (1991), and 'Satan's Sermon'. In Jon Appleton's words, this CD is "a thrilling experience for those of us who have long admired his work. From the now classic 'Satan's Sermon' (1980), previously on CRI, to the text sound pieces, Todd's disc is a joy..." Buy it!

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