Alvin Lucier's Strawberry Tea-Time

 Strawberry Tea-Time

 

“Nothing is Real” by composer and Alvin Lucier (1931-2021) is a refined interpretation of the 1967 Beatles composition Strawberry Fields Forever (SFF).  If you are a lover of the exuberantly orchestrated upbeat psychedelic, drug-induced, find yourself, superimposed original Beatles version, then one may want to meditate when listening to Lucier’s minimalist ”Nothing is Real”.  In real, this work is a composition for piano, amplified teapot, tape recorder and miniature sound system. For my introduction to this work, I was given a 2015 video recording at La Sala Rossa Rossa, in Montreal performed by Daniel Ànez. The elongated piano sounds are familiar but very ambiguous at the beginning. As the rhythm swells and continues to alter itself, the notes come into being and your consciousness can assess in the 2^nd or 3^rd phrase, the work as Strawberry Fields Forever.  This is of course if you are of the generation or musical family that knows the Beatles song.

 

For about 4 minutes one listens to the intensity of revised melody, in different octaves and diverse methods and impressions---playful in the high notes, harmonic in the mid-tones and a sense of ruggedness or even danger in the lower scale. And then that phase of mischief begins, and for which Lucier is known. The fact that a teapot is involved is real, but the work is called “Nothing is Real.  It is my belief that by using one of the most common symbols of the British culture, the teapot, that Lucier presents his live audience with the question: who is revolutionary here? The original song from the Beatles was in any case chastened by many as something quite extraordinary for rock n roll, and it opened the gates for more of what would be known as psychedelic rock.  SFF was revolutionary in that it contained unusual implementations for R&R like the enchanting sounds of an Indian swarmandal, loops, and reverse recorded instrumentalization. But twenty plus years later it is Alvin Lucier who turns a household icon into a space to perform. The sound system of the playback of the original piano piece, is supposedly placed in the hot drink holder and is directed by the pianist--who performs the first part—in the second part as he manipulates the playback by opening and closing the pot. This vessel reverberates with the sound and gives new sound alternatively according to the movement of its lid. The pianist plays and then expands upon his own recording, like a DJ spins, stops, scratches, abstracts the sound of others. Again here the piece “Nothing is Real” in one way quotes a bit of the Strawberry Fields Forever, in that another completely electromechanical sound becomes part of the re-finishing of the whole surreal and live performance like the reverse recorded instrumentalization in 1967 was.

 

Milk before or milk after you pour your tea?

 

Because the recording from 2015 in Montreal had lots of ambient sound, I checked out other versions. One from Phyllis Chen, which was good to hear online without visuals. The score is clear, although a bit metallic at times and by the end we know that it too was live. I thought her version of the teapot concert house was more vibrant, almost pulsating and more articulate.  Obviously, it depends upon what the recorder can do and what the microphone of the performance can do.  Alvin Lucier Projekt 7/6 himself at an avantgarde music festival in the Netherlands, in 2010* which was recorded by Johan van der Maelen, was exciting to watch the composer play, hear and watch his more jazzy playing than the other performers Ànez and Chen.  One also acquires a better understanding of how performative the live performance is for its creator: he, unlike Anez, used sheet music upon his previously open, but during tea-time, closed piano lid.  

Celina-01-2022