Mutaciones

Mexican-born 21st century composer Ernesto Martínez was a friend and protégé of Conlon Nancarrow, and it clearly shows in this music, performed in various combinations by Martínez himself and the two other members of his Micro Rítmia trio, and featuring acoustic pianos, guitars, and marimbas. While easily as technically challenging as Nancarrow's manic player-piano roll pieces, this music is played by living musicians, and is as demanding as any contemporary music you might hear. Martínez employs extended textural ideas and rhythmic techniques inspired by Balinese/Indonesian gamelan, Mexican folk forms, and contemporary 20th century minimalism, quite advanced even from what for most would be progressive nomenclature. What this means is that Mutaciónes is a recording that deserves and needs your complete and undivided attention in order to fully appreciate it. As a performer, Martínez plays two overdubbed counterpointed, energetic, quirky pianos on "Tolantongo Son (Mutación)," and similarly produced dual guitars for the 6/8-metered "Adiciones." The drive, intensity, and phase shifts are very similar to the early minimalist tape loop experiments of Steve Reich. A very drawn-out 54-measure theme with pianos and the two Micro Rítmia marimba players on "Ya Te Vi Lupe, Ya Te Vi" sounds like muted buzzing mosquitoes or honey bees; "Mutaciónes Basadas en el Cano de Pachelbel" for two pianos is exactly as it sounds, a mutation of Pachelbel's Canon, very deliberate and eventually going into Reich's Music for 18 Musicians territory. There are also four similar brief "microrhythmic" studies for four overdubbed guitars, phased differently, the last piece approaching flamenco, and the finale, "Duometrica," for the two marimbas and two guitars, uses a more chattery call-and-response mixed with solo segments, sounding basically scalar at times. This is astonishing music made by human beings, with Nancarrow's vision of technologically aided perfection tracing the performance of a forward-thinking compositional concept. It's heady, complex, and intricate music that bears repeated listening and reaps equally rewarding surprises and nuances. If you enjoy the music of Nancarrow, Reich, Terry Riley, or Lou Harrison, the music of Martínez should be of great interest. ~ Michael G. Nastos, Rovi