Customer Ratings & Reviews

I generally avoid remix projects, which tend to be reductive, ego-driven exercises that fail to respect and/or illuminate the spirit of the original pieces. A happy exception is “In C Remixed,” which has been perpetrated by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble in a spirit of true creative exploration. This talented aggregation of young musicians has teamed with several contemporary composers, DJs, and electronica innovators to play with, deconstruct and subvert Riley’s 1964 masterpiece in all manner of bewitching ways. The composer himself is on record as being amazed at some of the alternate versions conjured on this two-disc collection. While retaining much of the trancelike intensity of Riley’s epochal work, the remixers explore a variety of moods as they steer the piece into the realms of ambient, rock, electronics, breakbeat, even funk. And while “In C” is typically played on keyboard instruments, it is brought to life here through a broad instrumental palette, including piano, xylophone, guitar, saxophone, trumpet, flute, cello, violin, bassoon and accordion. The very structure of the work, with its repeated intermeshing phrases and steady pulse, has always been open to fresh interpretations; the GVSU ensemble has simply taken this dynamic to another level. The arrangements are all (with one exception) successfully realized. On first listen, I was most intrigued by Mikael Karlsson and Rob Stephenson, who break “In C” down into icy abstract sound snippets while somehow maintaining a sparsely melodic cohesion; David Lang, whose take is full of brooding drama; and Michael Lowenstern, who adds a surprising Middle-Eastern-flavored funk to the mix. But these are just several of the many interpretive jewels in this collection, one that invites and demands repeated visitations.