I've been following the work of composer Robert Rich for years now. He is one of the finest American ambient musicians, constantly creative yet retaining an unmistakable individual style. Readers of this Weblog may look back to my early entry about Rich and other ambient creators, which will tell you briefly about Rich's music. But what I didn't realize until just last year was that Rich was not only a synthesizer and wind player, but a pianist.

Robert Rich has a "signature" style which carries over to most of his albums, whether he is solo or with a collaborator. It is a very slow, often eerie atmosphere of synthesizer drones and spooky flute notes, tied together with the sustained wailing of a lap steel guitar. He uses microtones rather than conventional harmonies, and specializes in the alternative tuning known as "just intonation." So when I learned that Rich was releasing a piano album, I figured that the piano would be re-tuned to just intonation, as had been done by other avant-garde composers such as Terry Riley. (Danger: wacky psychedelic site!) But Rich chose instead to play a conventionally tuned piano, his own antique baby grand, in his own studio. "Open Window" is the selected result of hours of Rich's improvisations, which he used to play before his concerts as well as for himself alone. You can read about the process of composition at his "Open Window" notes page." It is not quite spontaneous, since it is edited, but it isn't pre-written either (at least for this recording.)

Listsening to these solo piano pieces, it is easy to pick out Rich's influences, noted by many other reviewers: Alan Hovhaness especially, Thomas de Hartmann arranging Gurdjieff, Erik Satie, as well as other more modern types such as the aforementioned Riley or Philip Glass or Keith Jarrett. But to my ears there are also influences on Rich from nineteenth-century Late Romantic Europe: the Russian Scriabin and especially the French Impressionist, Claude Debussy. His chords and his use of fifths are very much Debussean. Even more French are his "Westernized" use of Eastern scales derived from Indonesian gamelan or Iranian santur or Indian ragas, all of which Rich has studied. There is even an occasional hint of blues. It is a very erudite set of pieces he plays. And even though it's recent, it's already one of my all-time favorite piano albums.

Influences don't really tell the story of this music. Listening to Robert Rich's music puts me into a contemplative, quiet world away from the frantic shrieking of the public soundtracks. It's more than "meditation music." It's a powerful countercultural statement: acoustic music, played not to invoke heated emotion, or sticky sentiment, or fast-cutting violence or bitter irony or even clever self-conscious quote-weaving. Rich's window opens not onto the exhausting city, but into a fragrant inner garden cloister, where Persian fountains ripple in the quiet and poetry rises into the clear sky.

There is a sad afternote to this review I must report. Early last year, Robert Rich severely injured his right hand in an accident. Despite months of therapy, he has not regained complete use of it, so he no longer is able to play piano with both hands. I hope that either he is able to recover completely, or that somehow he will be able to keep this music going by writing it for another performer. He is already working on new music, on other instruments adapted for his use.

Posted at 2:34 am | link