| Artist: Richard Lainhart Album: The Line of the Horizon Released: 2009 |   |
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Richard Lainhart occupies an interesting corner of the vast genre of Electronic Music - he is the one making Electronic Music. What with the ever evolving advancements in producing this music, and the constant expansion of styles and influences, it is easy to forget that Electronic Music is essentially about sound innovation and the manipulation of timbre. Lainhart's work exemplifies this concept. His CD The Line of the Horizon (66'12") includes eight realizations, all recorded live without overdubs, that explore tone color through the sophisticated and artistic shaping of sound waves. This minimal music originates from a seemingly minimal set up, at the core of which are the Buchla 200e synthesizer and a Haken Continuum. On this album Lainhart creates an interesting range of music and moods. His atmospheric pieces are elegant and beautiful tone poems and can be compared to similar forms in the contemporaneous works of Steve Roach and Michael Stearns. These tracks include consonant harmonies and sustaining tones to emanate a kind of sonic perfume throughout the listening space. Other movements on The Line of the Horizon explore other areas of sonance. From rounded howls and atonal bleeps to metallic twangs and an odd percolating rhythm, here Lainhart may seem to challenge his audience while reaching for the limits of his instrument. The music concludes with a composition by Olivier Messiaen. Characterized by its gliding melody and trembling chords this "mellow and plaintive" early electronic piece reminds us that our most modern of synthetic instruments originate from a time when Electronic Music was regarded as a high art - meant to extend the palette of sounds along with the composer's vision.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 17 March 2011 | |
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