“A consummation devoutly to be wished”

My audio trips and probes via Bertoia continue….

He not only invented and created his sound sculptures of various shapes, sizes, and types of metal, he explored, organized, and purposely edited his individual works, which illustrate the odd private worlds he lived in and explored in great depth.

And he wisely committed his different audial recordings to vinyl LPs originally in the 1970s. Creative genius and artist that he was visually, he was also much about, if not moreso, about the possibilities of sounds and the medium of metal to communicate previously unknown dimensions, regions, and ranges to minds, feelings, and souls.

Bertoia is the most eloquent exponent of pure sound via his uniquely created audial pieces. His sculptures became serious instruments that have led to powerful listening experiences and a strange new music and poetry connecting people with matter and essence, hitherto unexpressed and unknown.

We are quite fortunate today that his original albums have been transferred to CDs that can be experienced and enjoyed forever.

Personally, I cannot say enough about how eloquent and positive his collected works are. My personal exposure has likely been optimal–listened to after 3 a.m. in bed, alone with headphones, lying flat on my back, allowing the pieces to ‘have their way with me’. For comparisons, I can only point to other works like those of Gyorg Ligeti’s music in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Peter Weir’s Fearless with its plane crash music (Henryk Gorecki’s “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”),  though there is far less edginess, fear, and angst about Bertoia’s work.

His affects are more ambient, reassuring, even relaxing, and not alienating if the listener is open and receptive. The pieces are also discrete from one another and one feels they are journeys, probes, or trips that the artist first went on himself prior to recording them after 20 years of developing, processing, and, ultimately, editing.

Personally, I can only vouch for the palpable inner peace, calmness, contentment, and pleasure that his work has brought to my life at this rather late listening phase. I feel myself in good guiding hands, enjoying powerful, unexpected bliss and vibes I’ve not previously encountered in such sustained, predictable depth.

And I am not surprised, too, that a totally unconventional artistic medium and non-traditional musical instruments have been the means for fashioning sublime audial experiences and connections for listeners.

“Sonambient”, the boxset title, is the perfect title to describe Bertoia’s collected works on CD. That one word really says it, finally, memorably, and decisively.

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