Review Home & Love

GERBER Symphony No. 11 for the Virtual Orchestra. Home & Love. Body Politics. Hymn to the Divine Kira Fondse (voc); Cathy Colman (nar) OTTAVA 21-015 (41:32)

Home and Love In A Disordered World presents four works by American composer Jerry Gerber. All of the featured music is represented by computer generated sound files, designed to recreate the sonorities of various orchestral instruments, as well as the human voice. The author of the liner notes traces the development of digital technology as an alternative to ensembles of human performers (in this case, an orchestra). Over the years, in my capacity as a program annotator, numerous composers have sent me computer mock-ups of their works to be premiered by the orchestra I worked for. I can attest that the improvement in the technology has been quite impressive. That said, I still believe it best to listen to recordings of virtual instrument ensembles not as a substitute for traditional orchestras, but as an independent, valid, and quite often valuable method of music performance. All that said, I found Gerber’s Home and Love to be a most engaging and enjoyable disc. Gerber composes in a highly accessible and melodic style. His virtual orchestrations are rich and varied in instrumental colors, and the scoring is unfailingly transparent. The opening Symphony No. 11 for Virtual Orchestra presents an appropriate and engaging contrast throughout the four movements, as well as within each. The finale includes a chorus (again computer generated), an element that, as the liner notes remind us, Gerber frequently incorporates into his works. Three brief compositions follow the Symphony. Home & Love is a song with lyrics by Robert William Service, music by Gerber, and sung (to virtual accompaniment) by Kira Fondse. The song, its performance, and production are all quite lovely. Body Politics is a poem by Cathy Colman, who also serves as the narrator. The stream of consciousness narrative contains lots of plays on words, as well as reflections upon our contemporary society. Gerber provides lively and pithy instrumental commentary. The disc concludes with an uplifting choral work, Hymn to the Divine, with both text and music by the composer. The booklet includes full texts for the final three works. An appealing disc, one that showcases Gerber’s admirable talents both as a composer and computer-aided producer of his works. Recommended.

Ken Meltzer

4 Stars: Jerry Gerber’s engaging, computer-generated Home & Love