Pauline Oliveros - Lear

     In 1988, Pauline Oliveros, along with trombonist Stuart Dempster and vocalist Panaiotis, created the group "Deep Listening", within which she was engaged in recording musical works in spaces with increased resonance. The first recording of the band's improvisations was made in a huge cistern 14 feet underground. The concept of "Deep Listening" implied thoughtful listening not only to the main components of a piece of music - rhythm, melody, harmonies, intonation - but also the sound of the acoustic space, and side noises.

     Deep Listening is a form of meditation. Attention is directed to the ratio of sound and silence, or to the duration of sound and silence. The concept of sound includes not only music or speech, but also any perceived vibrations (sound formations). The practice is designed to expand the listener's attention to the entire space-time continuum of sound and silence. Deep Listening is a process that allows the listener to capture the entire continuum, or to instantly focus on a single sound (focusing on details) or on a sequence of sound and silence.

     In "Lear" the underground cistern with a very mysterious acoustics, combined with the use of drones and trombone, create a hallucinogenic effect of immersion into the present. I feel like the cistern itself symbolizes our world, something endless and enchanting. During her performances, Oliveros uses an accordion tuned to two different scale systems and equipped with electronics to change the sound of the accordion depending on the individual characteristics of the space. Overall, I was positively impressed and genuinely enjoyed "Lear".