Alvin Lucier - Illuminated by the Moon

Alvin Lucier is among America’s most important composers - a towering pilar intellect, creativity, and beauty realised through sound. In celebration of his 85th birthday, the Zurich based imprint Züricher Hochschule der Kunste offers one of the most stunning releases of the year, Illuminated by the Moon, a epic 4 LP + 1x CD Box set with an extensive 120 pages lavish book plenty of previously unseen images, dedicated to the composer and theorist’s work.  Safe to say that this one’s aimed at the Lucier aficionados, but it’s a real eye-opener for anyone into the far reaches of experimental music and the sonic art. Given the cost and scale of the project it's unlikely these will ever get a re-press. Only 500 individually numbered copies have been made...so if you want one of these, it's now or never.

Alvin Lucier Illuminated by The Moon (4 LP box, Book, Cd) Within the histories of avant-garde practice, there are two primary forms through which revolutions take hold - radical, paradigm breaking confrontations, exemplified by figures like John Cage, Ornette Coleman, Pierre Henry, and Cornelius Cardew, etc, and quieter, more intricate, discrete gestures, which, while arguably yielding greater effect and change, often find their initial passage into the world relatively unnoticed. Alvin Lucier is among the later, a composer whose efforts are steeped in such a profound and inward intelligence, and are so singular, that they have entirely reformed the terms through which we approach the possibilities presented within the sonic arts. He is among America’s most important composers - a towering pilar intellect, creativity, and beauty realised through sound. In celebration of his 85th birthday, the Zurich based imprint Züricher Hochschule der Kunste offers one of the most stunning releases of the year, Illuminated by the Moon, a 4 x LP + 1x CD box set, dedicated to the composer and theorist’s work.  Alvin Lucier is unlike any other figure within the history, as well as the contemporary landscape, of American experimental music. The change he unleashed is, in all probability, far greater, and will yield more impact and legacy, than those whose fame exceeds his own - a slow burn. Lucier belongs to a generation of composers who emerged during the early 1960’s, inheriting, but not beholden to a landscape in constant creative and conceptual flux, contending with the challenges put forth by predecessors like John Cage, while radical expanding the field. With David Behrman, Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley, he founded the legendary collective the Sonic Arts Union in 1966, all the while sculpting a singular and unparalleled body of work, focused around acoustic phenomena and auditory perception, which included, among many others, the groundbreaking works Bird And Person Dyning, Music On A Long Thin Wire, and I Am Sitting In A Room, each quietly shifting the understanding of what music could be. Illuminated by the Moon,  ZHdK Records’ incredible collection, was recorded in October of 2016 at the Alvin Lucier 85th Birthday Festival at the Zurich University of the Arts. It gathers a remarkable range of of performances of works from Lucier’s life in music, from the iconic to the lesser known. It begins with wonderful stagings of I Am In A Sitting Room and Music For Solo Performer by the composer, before presenting the work Charles Curtis performed by the cellist for whom it was composed, and Double Rainbow, a recent work, performed by the incredible Joan La Barbara. Over the course of the set’s many discs, we encounter works ranging from Nothing Is Real (Strawberry Fields Forever), Braid, Two Circles, to Hanover, Step, Slide And Sustain, and One Arm Bandits, performed by Oren Ambarchi, Stephen O'Malley, and Gary Schmalzl, with further contributions by Charles Curtis and many others, including University students and faculty members involved in the celebrations of Lucier’s life and work. The collection, by offering an expanse of material otherwise unavailable in the composer’s discography, opens a rare window into the breadth and range of territory which he has approached, as well as into the unique humour which has quietly bubbled through his entire career. It is a singular recording event, the likes of which are unlikely to be repeated soon. A worthy tribute to one of the last century’s most important composers, offering insight, recognition, and critical investigation, long overdue. ZHdK Records has done an astounding job, with the entire set lovingly produced. Including an extensive 120 pages lavish book, with numerous unseen images, while arguably aimed at Lucier aficionados, Illuminated by the Moon should be on everyone’s list. Filled with revelation, this limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies, unlikely to ever be repressed, is unquestionably one of the most beautiful and important releases of the year. Grab it fast before it disappears for good.