Philip Glass and Steve Reich - Images 4 Music (Region 1 Import DVD)

The urge towards the optic is arguably being felt increasingly in all media; music is no exception, as "Images 4 Music" demonstrates. Whether the results are spontaneous, derivative, algorithmic, abstract, poetic or simply arbitrary, visual artists and computer geeks have been joining together with noise creators in a cooperative spirit, achieving greater results than any individual could solo. Such is the case with this experimental production by an interdisciplinary range of collaborators. "Images 4 Music," performed live at Ars Electronica 2004 and studio-mixed to perfection here, articulates different interpretations of two works, one by each of these vanguard composers. Philip Glass' "Les Enfants Terribles" and Steve Reich's "Piano Phase" are reworked by Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa on two pianos. Added to this are layered multiple visual components, from Casey Reas' indefinite flux of rounded and out-of-focus forms to Norbert Pfaffenbichler and Lotte Schreiber's kinetic, grey, two-channel video. Dietmar Offenhuber orchestrates scenes of commuters moving among urban architecture, the Poetry Loom adds a wash of concrete poetry and Martin Wattemberg provides a film of liquid kaleidoscopic distortions. Altogether, this unpredictable melange of new media artists and musicians definitively breaks with the traditional focus on the musical performer. Here that focus shifts away from the singular virtuoso to the relationship that exists between a team of diversely talented practitioners who together push the potential of a contemporary hybrid audio/visual language.