Toronto-based violinist Leslie Ting is a multi-disciplinary artist whose productions make use of performance and theater. What’s more, her works are often immersive. No surprise, then, to find here a disc that offers a stereo mix of the pieces, and another that offers the same program, but in a binaural version. Binaural recording, which seeks to reproduce human perception of sound as accurately as possible, has been gaining in popularity, dare I say it, since the turn of the century. There are more and more examples, including the inevitable Goldberg Variations by Glenn Gould – the 1955 version, whose performance was recreated in 2006 using Zenph software on a Disklavier and recorded binaurally. It’s like having Gould in your living room….
Binaural recording can be listened to through headphones, and lends the music a depth that gives it far more presence than “simple” stereophony. The stereo version of these pieces (violin and percussion, or violin and electronics), if listened to first, is very well realized and is, in itself, an excellent production, but when compared with the binaural recording, it quickly becomes bland, as if flattened. Of course, it’s made to be listened to over loudspeakers, as the binaural magic doesn’t work in this configuration. In short, if you prefer headphones, this technology will certainly please you.
The program opens with two of the 15 movements of Linda Catlin Smith’s Dirt Road (2006). The violin becomes haunting, holding the same note for three minutes in the opening movement. The next piece is improvised by Ting and percussionist Germaine Liu, and is highly dynamic. In Sandplay, the latter manipulates a box filled with sand, which is amplified and the signal processed live by sound engineer Matt Smith (also responsible for the album’s mixes). The next two pieces, for solo violin and electronics, are by Rose Bolton and Julia Mermelstein, who each officiate “at the machines” in their respective rooms. Bolton uses a wide variety of sounds, up to and including ASMR whispers, and this solo violin could well at times be in the middle of a small instrumental ensemble. Instead, Mermelstein places electronic layers behind the violin, supporting it harmonically and carrying it along like waves.
“What Brings You In?” is the all-purpose phrase of a doctor in search of a diagnosis, and the concept of ‘therapy’ is at the heart of this debut opus for Leslie Ting. Beautifully produced.
