CD Reviews

Pedal | Pedal

Staubgold (2008)

By DEVIN KING | October 15, 2008

3.0 Stars

Pedal are an improvisational piano duo who synthesize the languid and slightly dissident chords of Morton Feldman with the more familiar repetitive drones of early minimalism. The surface of the music isn’t particularly intriguing; any undergrad who has a few Satie discs in his or her collection — for studying and making out! — would find the same passive ambiance on this album. What is remarkable about the record is the patient investigation of the happened-upon melodies of improvisation. On the second track, “The Afterwards,” the pair begin with pointillist tone clusters and eventually push the music out of ambiance toward a repeated descending melody. As this melody falls away, the tone clusters return with renewed harmonic purpose — having grown used to the melody, you apprehend more readily the tension between the duo’s flickering chords and the composition’s inherent musical “space.” In a moment, the descending melody reappears, and the players now reinvestigate it through modulations in different keys. This unfolds over 17 minutes (!) — a unity of structure combined with improvisational foresight that typifies the disc.

Topics: CD Reviews , Erik Satie, Morton Feldman, Devin King, More

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