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CD
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XI 112CD
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1995 release. Allison Cameron's compositions can be characterized as rigorous forms within which specific sound worlds are explored. She experiments with the physicality of sound on various instruments, using pithy material to exploit instrumental colors. Most of her works to date have been written for a variety of chamber ensembles encompassing both traditional and unusual groups of instruments. "Cameron takes her ideas and plunges them into darkness. There is nothing objective in this approach. Cameron's music has something to hide. By highlighting only a few musical features while restricting all others, Cameron puts a tiny corner of the musical world into very fine focus. It is like illuminating the universe with a pen-light. Compare this to the barely contained brutality of 'A Blank Sheet of Metal.' This piece is never quiet -- its soft moments are full of the tension of loud, powerful, angry arguments being forcibly held back. The restraint is deafening: those moments when the tension erupts or the loopy melody at the end can't clear the ominous air. It is a dark and unclean ritual, a terrifying vision of the world. Allison Cameron's great strength is that she has lifted that lid -- slightly, not enough to let the terrifying mixture spill out, but just enough to give a sense of the darkness, the dirt, and the raw, crude power of real life." --David Lang
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