English composer and pianist
John Palmer maintains a wide range of interests outside of music; he writes poetry, criticism, is a world traveler, and is deeply involved in the study of philosophy and history. Sargasso's waka... consists of two of
Palmer's works as performed by the German contemporary music group
Ensemble Omega and ...as it flies... (2001), a piece composed directly onto tape by
Palmer himself. The use of electronics is a very important component of
Palmer's music. Even the live ensemble piece Nowhere (1993, rev. 2005) bears subtle traces of added electronic elements, including remixing the sound of live instruments in the recording. waka...(1996, rev. 2003) employs the Japanese poetic form of the tanka as an organizing principle, and the tape piece ...as it flies... is intended as an homage to the late Italian electro-acoustic composer
Luc Ferrari.
Some impressive hype has been circulated on
Palmer's behalf; the Journal of Contemporary Arts in Tokyo opined that
Palmer is "undoubtedly the most visionary composer of his generation" and elsewhere it is written that
Palmer is "one of the few serious spiritual composers of our time." If so, either of these attributes would be hard to hear here -- Nowhere is an immoderately spatial piece with reverberated clarinet, single notes from the piano, distant electronic sounds, and little else. It is so sparsely populated that it never seems to get off the ground and would require immense patience to absorb. Of these pieces, ...as it flies... is the most interesting of the three, though it strongly resembles the texture of
John Cage's Fontana Mix with more empty space added and not nearly as much variety in terms of sounds employed. When
Palmer asks, in reference to waka, "Can music be perceived as poetry?" one is tempted to answer, "Perhaps not this way."
The one thing that is clear from waka is that
Palmer is a very thoughtful composer who puts a lot of effort into what he is doing; one is uncertain, though, how closely he is listening to the results. One willing to join
Palmer's adventure in Sargasso's wakahad better come prepared with loads of patience and well prepared for the eventuality that, for a large part of the album, there is no "there" there.