Ilhan Mimaroglu - Agitation (CD)

All Music Guide

This reissue of two albums originally released on the Folkways label brings together three extended tape compositions by Ilhan Mimaroglu composed between 1968 and 1974 in Paris and Princeton. "Tract" is described by the composer as "agitprop music", but that could apply equally well to "To Kill A Sunrise". Both pieces derive much of their power from their textual content; "Tract" features extracts from the writings of Brecht, Marx and Mao Tse Tung (amongst others), and Che Guevara is the central protagonist of "To Kill A Sunrise". Behind the spoken and sung words Mimaroglu collages fragments of radio broadcasts, snippets of Boulezlike piano, expressionistic surges of Bartók strings and all manner of synthesizer squiggles, bleeps and blasts to create powerful, even oppressive (though not exactly subtle) tableaux. The boxy recordings of cello, piano and harpsichord used as source material on 1968's "La Ruche" sound somewhat dated, but Mimaroglu's fragmented tortured expressionism Lucian...o Berio comes to mind still packs a punch. - Dan Warburton, All Music Guide Read more Less