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Borut Krzisnik — Dancing Machine
(Claudio Records CC6048, 2020, CD)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2021-04-30

Dancing Machine Cover art

Borut Krzisnik is a Slovenian composer of contemporary neoclassical music. Krizsnik has written numerous works for film, contemporary dance, theater, television, and video, releasing eight albums since 1991, with Dancing Machine being the latest. Borut’s unique way of composing integrates live musicians and software-generated music that breaks free from the confines of classical composition. Up until now, computer generated or assisted music, due to its extreme accuracy, has tended to sound mechanical, hard, and sterile. What makes music lively and engaging is the human element with its constant variations and deviations from that uniformity and accuracy. Music, and by extension art, is not about perfection, it's the little quirks and mistakes we all make that is at the core of the enjoyable listening experience. So how does Krzisnik inject the human aspect into his compositions and virtual orchestra? Enter AI and machine learning that analyze live performances that define us as human and then bridge the gap between live and programmed music, creating a symbiosis between man and machine. Is Krizsnik now Kraftwerk 2.0? With his state-of-the-art approach, Krizsnik expands our musical horizons and composes music that is impossible via a live performance only. Now, what does Dancing Machine sound like? Given his AI approach, one might think that Krizsnik’s nine neoclassical compositions might be avant-garde academic music. No so. What I detect are elements of Harry Partch’s organic percussion, a strong Stravinsky influence (most notably The Rite of Spring), Leonard Bernstein (think of the instrumental parts of West Side Story), and even a bit of Ligeti. Dancing Machine is truly new music and not at all what I expected — aprroachable and enjoyable avantgarde music.

Filed under: New releases, 2020 releases

Related artist(s): Borut Krzisnik

More info
http://borutkrzisnik.bandcamp.com/album/dancing-machine

 

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