Jean Claude Risset - Elementa: Aqua (1998)
Elementa (1998), creates a soundscape so intoxicating and permutable, so enraptured with its own sounds and textures, with its overblown harmonic crackles and dripping sedimentary layers, that the listener wants to burrow into every sample and settle there. Mr. Risset’s homage to the elements has an almost pagan sensuality encompassing the infinite and mundane simultaneously. Elementa is formally, sonically, and emotionally convincing. The four movements sound well individually, but together they showcase a composer completely in command of his own voice. Video created with Sonic Visualizer and vokoscreen on Kubuntu 14.04 (Linux).