Some people are capable of remembering an incredible amount of information (numbers, physical details, sports statistics, facts). They use a technique that consists of picturing memory as a building, each room having its own furniture, each object representing a specific bit of information -- the idea being that if you can remember the "plan" of the building, you'll be able to remember where you've left the information.
Tullius Rooms is a piece for piano, electronics, and ambient recordings whose architecture mimics this mnemonic trick. The 126 musical cells are each different, ranging in style from Baroque to contemporary and electro-acoustic, and are meant to form a coherent whole -- an architecture -- despite their diverse, sometimes antagonistic features. Performed here by Josh Dillon at the piano and the composer
Marko Ciciliani on electronics and "inside piano" (piano frame), the piece fails to make its concept appear convincing and to transcend its process. The clashes of styles bring little to the table. Some motifs are pleasant, but their fragmentary nature prevents the listener from being swept away. The occasional use of electronics and prerecorded soundscapes never goes beyond the artificial add-on, except in the last section where a dialogue is engaged between piano and electronics. On the other hand, the physical use of the pianist, who is asked to whistle a note or grunt in specific places and occasionally hit the piano frame, is well integrated to the work.
Tullius Rooms exerts a certain curiosity, but the listener gets tired of the grand tour long before its 78 minutes are over. ~ François Couture