TRISTAN PERICH & JAMES MCVINNIE – Infinity Gradient – 2LP – Translucent Vinyl [JAN 23]

2LP – Limited Edition TranslucentVinyl.

From Bach to Brahms, Mahler to Messiaen, any composer worth their salt has written for the pipe organ. And so when James McVinnie put the idea to Tristan Perich to write for the king of instruments, it was perhaps not a surprise that the New York contemporary-classical composer had already considered the possibilities of marrying his signature 1-bit electronic music with an instrument that has reverberated down the centuries.

Infinity Gradient is an hour-long symphony in seven movements for organ and 100 speakers in 1-bit audio, recorded for this album at Londons Royal Festival Hall at Southbank Centre, where McVinnie was artist-in-residence throughout 2024. The 100 speakers are set across the stage a recurring element in Perichs work for over two decades, this time featuring four giant subwoofers, 24 medium-sized speakers, and 72 small speakers against the backdrop of RFHs imposing organ; the piece is as visually striking to look at as it is to listen to.

A remarkable work with few precedents, Infinity Gradient is a duet between two musical instruments, millennia apart in conception. Shot through with dynamism, it is a work of colour and contrasts which coalesce into a unique, transcendent whole.

The kernel of an idea for the project first came to McVinnie when he heard Vicky Chow perform Perichs Surface Image an earlier, hour long work for piano and 40 speakers in Latvia in 2016. A celebrated organist who has collaborated with everyone from Philip Glass to Squarepusher, McVinnie was bowled over by Surface Image and immediately saw the potential for a similar work for organ, with its direct correlation to the philosophy behind Perichs 1-bit electronics. When you press down a key on a pipe organ, it lets air into the pipe, which creates sound. Each pipe is either in a state of making sound or being silent. There is no decay, nor any obvious change to the sound until the key is released. The same is true of Perichs 1-bit electronics, which use binary pulses of electricity to set a speaker cone into motion and create sound. McVinnie continues, This shared on-off binary element offers a kind of beautiful honesty to the work, which links with the emotional core of its musical form and narrative. Despite all of its complex technology for me the experience of Infinity Gradient is a supremely human one.

Growing up, Perichs primary instrument was the piano, though he also took a few lessons on pipe organ in elementary school and then, when he was at high school, he suddenly had access to one.As impressive as that instrument might have been, theres little doubt it would not be able to compete with the 7,866 pipes of the organ in the Royal Festival Hall. Designed by Ralph Downes and installed by Harrison & Harrison between 1950 and 1954, McVinnie describes it as a kind of mid-century dreamhouse. He adds: Downes was not part of the church music establishment, and thus was not wedded to a status quo about how organs should sound and what their function should be. Above all, he felt the organ should be a vehicle for its solo repertoire of a golden era of composition from the 18th century, rather than as an accompanying instrument for English choral music and church liturgy. The Royal Festival Hall organ was a kind of real maverick experiment in what it would be like to go back to the organ design principles of the 17th and 18th centuries. It has a striking liveness and fire to its sound, making it an ideal partner for Perichs 1-bit electronics.

Naturally, the composer remains tight-lipped about what it all ultimately means, though his objective has largely remained the same these past 20 years or so. Perichs modus operandi combining the aesthetic simplicity of maths, physics and code with Steve Reich-like layers needs to connect on some emotional level with human beings if it is to fulfil its purpose:

My music is only successful when there’s an emotional component, he says. And I think that emotion can come from very, very simple things, like understanding the laws of gravity, being able to comprehend why something falls, whether its an apple or a ball or a leaf falling from a tree, which can be a really beautiful moment in itself. And, in fact, the leaf is perhaps even more beautiful because it interacts with air on its way down. And air is something you don’t see but we know exists because of our scientific understanding of the physical world. It’s in this interesting kind of phenomenon that we can find beauty purely on its own.

Tracklist:

Side A
1. Infinity Gradient: Opening
2. Infinity Gradient: Section 1
3. Infinity Gradient: Section 2

Side B
1. Infinity Gradient: Section 3
2. Infinity Gradient: Section 4

Side C
1. Infinity Gradient: Section 5
2. Infinity Gradient: Section 6
3. Infinity Gradient: Section 7