Rating:
Genre:
Classical
Release Date: 05/22/2001
A reissue of
Mother Mallard's second LP on their independent
Earthquack Records, this CD presents music from the latter stages of their work as a group, after they had been playing and rehearsing together for five or six years and shortly before
David Borden began devoting his full attention to his monumental 12-part
Continuing Story of Counterpoint series. During these sessions, the group was a trio (as they generally had been from the beginning), with
Borden and colleague
Steve Drews as the constants and
Judy Borsher replacing
Linda Fisher, who had been the third member on earlier recordings. Instrumentation varied somewhat within the group, but since members were actively collaborating with inventor
Robert Moog throughout most of the group's life, various sizes and styles of Moog synthesizers were always the primary instruments, supplemented by an electric piano, which was usually played by
Borsher (or
Fisher before her).
Borden had first envisioned
Mother Mallard as a performance group who would disseminate and interpret the musical gospel of
Glass,
Reich,
Riley, and other proponents of the new
minimalism, and also feature original compositions by himself and his colleague,
Steve Drews. Gradually, the original compositions took over, at least as indicated in the group's recorded work. However, the influence of the big-name
minimalists is relatively strong here, and the seven pieces on this CD all exhibit elements of the rhythmic-pattern
minimalism of
Glass and
Reich, with touches, also, of
Riley's softer, drone-based mysticism. Consequently, although
Mother Mallard is capable of the occasional funky ostinato riff, and notes are discreetly bent here and there, one will hear none of the variable pitch weirdness and timbral extremes which characterized
prog rock's early appropriation of Moogs, and which
Borden and company dabbled with a bit themselves during the early '70s. On this CD,
Drews receives composer credits on five pieces to
Borden's two, although one of
Borden's two pieces is the lengthy and ambitious
"C-A-G-E Part II," which clocks in at over 20 minutes. Somewhat surprisingly, there's really not much to chose between
Drews and
Borden as composers, and although
Borden went on to achieve the greater reputation, a piece such as
Drews'
"Oleo Strut" could be easily mistaken for one of
Borden's early
"Counterpoint" pieces.
Drews'
"Waterwheel" is also very appealing, with patterns of different lengths moving in and out of phase with each other, producing some interesting auditory disorientation.
Borden's feature piece is conceptually based, derived from the four musical notes which make up composer
John Cage's last name. The musicians play their parts for prearranged lengths of time, coming together only at the end of the piece. In spite of its logical premises,
"C-A-G-E Part II" is a serene, meditative, and even hypnotic musical experience, at times suggesting both
Riley's
"In C" and his
"Rainbow in Curved Air." Borden's sophisticated knowledge of
Baroque counterpoint is also evident in this piece, and he would use such elements to an even greater advantage a few years later in the
Continuing Story of Counterpoint series.
~Bill Tilland, All Music Guide
;)
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