Customer Reviews

Immersion (DVD-Audio)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

This amazing DVD-Audio release explores surround sound more extensively than any other DVD-Audio that I've heard (or know of). I've never experienced anything like it. All the content here is new, and was put together especially for surround sound, unlike most other DVD-Audio recordings which tend to be re-releases of older pop/rock stuff. There are 13 different, short pieces here. In the first piece Live/Work, the performer (Pamela Z) provides a verbal, circular tour of her studio (a good way to see how consistent your surround setup is). In Tank (by Bruce Odland), you hear a trumpet playing inside a water tank with a long echo, along with some percussion. This is one of the most realistic depictions of a three-dimensional space I've ever heard. White Turbulence 2000 (by Maggi Payne) slowly changes with some complex sound processing. Luong Hai Ky Mi Gia (Carl Stone) moves really fast, with fragments of somewhat recognizable sound zooming all around you. The Housatonic at Henry Street (by Phil Kline) is a moving, haunting piece that uses multiple boomboxes and street sounds to evoke a street corner in New York City. A piece by Ellen Fullman uses layers of recordings of an instrument she invented that has strings about 100 feet long. Propeller Island (Lukas Ligeti) has different kinds of colorful percussion instruments tapping out different rhythms. Steel is attractive and is performed on the Quadrachord, an instrument invented by the composer Paul Dresher. Sayonara Sirenade 20/21 (by Pauline Oliveros) uses older electronic music sounds in a surround sound setting. Twilight's Dance (by Paul Dolden) has driving rhythms that lead to a big, exciting ending. 2000 presents intense "noise" music that apparently is typical of the composer Merzbow. Sighs and Murmurs, A Sea Song (by Ingram Marshal) is a lanquid, calm piece. The recording ends with Eclipse Variations, a lovely work by Meredith Monk that has layers of sustained voices that float in and out, creating an other-worldly ambiance. Visually, each piece has several slides that change as the piece progresses. (This is actually more advanced than some of the other rock DVD-Audio releases I've encountered.) There is also a full booklet that gives thorough info about all these composers and their pieces. The sound quality is superb - better than CD, better than regular (video) DVDs. I hope it's clear this is leading-edge music; it's not mainstream pop. Also, if you don't have a DVD-Audio player, the same content will play via a regular DVD-Video player. Overall, Immersion is an extraordinary recording, and perhaps is the most advanced and sophisticated DVD-Audio recording yet released. It certainly helps support the idea, put forth by some, that DVD-Audio will replace CDs. Stereo sounds pretty flat and boring after you've heard good surround. I think anyone who cares about surround sound should hear Immersion. Let's hope there is more like this.

I've owned this adventurous DVD for some time now. Today, while at Amazon, I thought I'd cruise by and see what others had to say. Boy, was I surprised.

First, I was surprised that some people did not find this groundbreaking music to be as fascinating as I do. Well, tastes vary. But still, I was shocked at how inaccurate some of the comments are here. For example, someone says there is almost no rhythm here, overlooking the fact that some of these pieces (such as Ligeti, Dolden) are primarily ABOUT rhythm, and others (such as Odland, Dresher, Marshall) clearly have pulse/rhythm. And some say the sounds are all random, which is absurd. Even if listening doesn't show you the composers carefully worked on these pieces, the notes clearly reveal how the composers carefully thought about and put together these works. (The notes even show exceprts of 2 music scores - hardly random!)

I could go on, but you get the idea. I think what has happened here is that some listeners only know a limited range of ways that sounds can be expressive, and when they hear something really different they react by calling it random noise. In terms of basic information, this is completely inaccurate, and does a disservice to the conscientious composers on this recording, as well as others reading here.

If you're confused by the wide variety of comments here, for some objectivity I suggest checking out the Editorial/magazine comments that Amazon has posted here. I think you'll find they share my enthusiasm for this surround DVD.

Just buy that fancy new DVD-A system and looking for something to show off the great sound? This disk will come in handy for that once or twice.

Looking for great music to play periodically for your listening enjoyment? Look somewhere else because this "music" was designed to show off the strenghths of the surround sound medium - not to entertain people.

Most of the tracks show off the amazing capabilities of a good surround sound system but I found myself hitting fast forward after a couple minutes of each track. That was the first time through the DVD! I tried to listen to it a 2nd time a few weeks ago to see if maybe I missed something the first time but no, it just isn't something that is enjoyable to listen to.

Find some music you like - don't waster your cash on this DVD. In fact - I'll send you this one, you can listen to it once, then pass it on to the next person for their one use, etc.

I discovered this experimental DVD several months ago after reading a great review. I just happened to notice some people here describe this music as demo, special effects, etc. I think that is really misleading and inaccurate. These are some of the coolest and most important composers around! And what they create is music! (Meredith Monk is a national treasure, she's won a MacArthur Genius Grant, for goodness sake...) You can check out these composers elsewhere on the Internet. As for the music itself, unless you have very, very narrow tastes, it's hard to imagine anyone would not find the Housatonic piece emotional and haunting, or Twilight Dance to have energetic, intense rhythms, or the Stone piece to have stimulating, frantic quality, or the muultiple voices in Monk's piece to be eerie and beautiful, etc. etc. I really wonder if some of the other people here actually listened to the entire DVD a few times, because they really seemed to have missed some interesting music. In terms of surround sound, the content here is sure more interesting than reissues of old pop records, and its definitely more then sound effects.

I first want to respond to something that "JB Christy" wrote. Christy assumes that composers always compose based on "inner feelings" rather than for a specific situation. He must have missed the history of classical music. Bach each week wrote pieces for Sunday services. Mozart's symphonies were usually written under commission (and the pieces evolved based on the strengths of the specific orchestra), as were many of Beethoven's works. Even Stravinsky's amazing Rite of Spring was written to accompany a dance (with a plot line and time constraints already built in). I would guess that nearly all music composed by today's major contemporary composers is written because of a commission for a specific situation (a string quartet, the opening of a new concert hall, etc.). That's how they earn income.

So in this case, the composers were asked to write for a certain electronic space - surround sound. That's actually pretty open-ended, which explains why so many different approaches show up here. Good composers, like the ones here, draw on their feelings and expertise to come up with meaningful music. I say all this because much of the music here is emotionally moving to me, not just some type of technical exercise. I find all the music interesting, and I really enjoy the very innovative use of surround space. I think it's great that, as Christy puts it, that "some guy said Hey, more and more people have more than two speakers and we've got great new recording/playback technology to drive them all -- can you compose with that in mind?" Sounds like a good idea to me!

BE ADVISED that there are some really bizarre, misleading comments here. It should be obvious that the inventive music on this leading-edge recording comes from serious, talented composers, who create "classical" (not New Age!) music. Check out these composers elsewhere on the Web - you'll find they have substantial followings, give concerts worldwide, and are widely praised. It was this notable grouping of composers that led me to get this DVD, especially since I now have DVD surround playback. It's quite stimulating what these composers do here. If you are confused about the vareity of individual comments here, be sure to check out the "Editorial Reviews" Amazon has assembled here. When major publications like Billboard, Sound & Vision, etc. really like a recording, that means something.

This is an extraordinary release. It seems this label asked a variety of today's composers to compose music especially for surround sound. It's not surprising that the music here is very bold in the way it uses surround sound, and it's great to also report that this "experimental" music is refined, carefully crafted, with moods varying from languorous to frenzied, from flowing calm to vigorously exhilarating.

Let's be clear: this is a DVD-AUDIO release. If you want the highest quality, you should listen on a DVD-AUDIO player. Describing this as a Dolby Digital DVD and pointing out that Dolby (and DTS as well) is inferior to CD misses the point. The sound of this DVD-Audio recording is excellent and was mastered by one of the industry's best.

And even though I'm a pro sound engineer, I know enough about new music to point out that the content here is clearly carefully shaped music, much more than "sound effects."

People who don't understand DVD-Audio and who are clueless about what's happening in new music shouldn't send in erroneous comments that distort what is heard on this exceptional DVD-Audio.

I also have read the excellent review in Sound & Vision about this amazing DVD, and I agree with their very positive assessment. All the music on Immersion comes from talented, experimental composers, and it's all quite interesting. There are some major new music composers here (like Meredith Monk, Ingram Marshall, Carl Stone, Paul Dresher, Phil Kline, etc.), so you know that the music will be skillfully done. The use of surround sound is varied, rich, innovative, and much more involving than stereo. I would recommend this release to anyone who is interested in surround sound and whose musical interests are not extremely narrow.

First, I should mention that while I know one of these composers, I don't simply love all new music I hear. In fact, some is poorly done and uninteresting. But when I recently put together a surround sound setup, one of the first things I did was to look for some new music that uses surround. There's not much. There's something from Philip Glass, and there's a reissue of some old, wonderful Subotnick works. But the most advanced recording I've found so far is this Immersion release. These are some of the most vital new music composers active today, and they actually created all these works specifically for this release in surround sound. I really did feel, well, "immersed" in these pieces, which use surround in different ways and are all generally effective. It really opens up many possibilities of what composers can do in this new format, and I find this an exciting, mind-stretching release.