Our Swimmer / Germany / 2021
"the works - one of the most famous pieces by brilliant american composer alvin curran - was not created by will and direct purpose but, as the composer himself states, as a "providential accident" which is to say quite organically. combining piano and voice with found sound and a custom-built serge modular synthesizer, "the works" is a slowly developing piece where space and ambient tape are eventually overtaken by raga-esque chanting and frenetic piano playing, where synthesizer washes become full-on workouts all leading to a coda where the listener is "finally carried off on the wheels of the berlin u-bahn." though "the works" has been performed in many incarnations over the years, it's this performance - captured on february 24, 1980, and originally released that same year by the short-lived italian avant-garde label fore - that is the definitive version, and one of the finest recordings ever made by the celebrated composer." (label info)