|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A
trained electronic composer who became a major video artist, Weidenaar
brings to the new medium
a technical sophistication rare among his colleagues. His video, more
than most, depends upon kinetic visual synthesis and optimal picture
processing to realize imagery unique to the medium and yet painterly
(as he is the son of a noted Michigan painter of the same name). He
also composes his soundtracks, producing audio videotapes that are best
seen on projection and heard through hi-fi stereo audio systems. It
is not for nothing that Weidenaars very best work, Love of
Line, of Light and Shadow (1982), which won an international prize,
scarcely resembles the video art most prominently exhibited in the 1980s.
--Richard
Kostelanetz, Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes, a capella books,
1993, p. 233.
|
|
|
|
Reynold
Weidenaar has distinguished himself as one of todays
leading practitioners of image-processing. As an accomplished composer
and former recording and audio engineer, Weidenaar brings to his video
productions a unique perspective which blends a working knowledge of
electronic technology with an intense desire to give his musical compositions
a dynamic visual dimension. ...he has produced a series of complex and
elegantly controlled videotapes with the unique concept of making each
work available in two versions. One version is designed for concert
performances... The second version of each work is intended for gallery
and broadcast screenings and is a composite production in which the
entire musical score is recorded on videocassette.
Although
Weidenaars image-processed work has
many of the same basic concerns as the early sound-image experiments
of Fischinger, McLaren, and the Whitneys, its unique fluid structure
is for the most part created with real-time computer-aided technology
rather than with frame-by-frame animation photography. The technique
of image processing, then, has provided Weidenaar with a powerful new
tool to expand the meaning of visual
music and to open up an awesome universe
of electronic possibilities that are as compelling to the eye as they
are to the ear.
--Robert
Russett and Cecile Starr, Experimental Animation, Revised Edition,
Da Capo Press, 1988, pages 29-30.
|
|
|
|
Unlike
others who play with music and graphic patterns on video, Weidenaar
conceptually and technically integrates music and visual images. His
elegant, controlled works have a remarkable sensuality,
as one critic noted, and they also suggest precisely choreographed hallucinations.
--Arthur
J. Sabatini, Philadelphia Inquirer, August 18, 1984, page 13-I.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyone
at all interested in [the history of electronic music] will find this
video, which chronicles the development and marketing of the very first
music synthesizer, engrossing and thoroughly informative. ... Weidenaar
has a way of presenting his story with as much sincere concern for its
importance -- indeed, sweeping importance -- as the Burnses Ken and
Rick reveal in their similarly styled film documentaries dealing with
big chapters in American history.
...it
is so carefully put together and so fascinating to view that we cannot
help but recommend it to anyone with a working interest in the subject.
No doubt Weidenaar is targeting professional markets. We can only hope
it becomes available at the video and/or music sections of public and
institutional libraries. If Mr. Weidenaar can successfully market it
to a cable station or to PBS for airing, we would advise any viewer
not to miss it.
--Barry
L. Cohen, New Music Connoisseur, Spring 2000, page 25.
|
|
|
|
Its
a fascinating time for music listeners as they experience cutting-edge
music of the day. Magic Music from the Telharmonium is an excellent
historical depiction of the first synthesizer. The rich collection of
visuals and lively commentaries from the day are artistically woven
together with poignant musical selections to provide a vibrant, informative
documentary.
--Laura
Romberg, SEAMUS Newsletter, Spring 1999, page 2.
|
|
|
|
This
would be a wonderful video to show to an electronic music class. Perhaps
an even better use would be found in a musicology course. Enough insight
is given about the instrument, the economic considerations of the time,
and peoples initial reactions to
the instrument to foster hearty discussion of issues still relevant.
--Rusty
Banks, Living Music, Summer 1999, page 7.
|
|
|
|
Highly
recommended. Can something else be said after that? Just in case, we
will warn you that Weidenaar, one of the best acquainted with the history
of the Telharmonium..., has produced a video of an incredible worth
for the aficionado.
--Jorge
Munnshe, Amazing Sounds, February 28, 1999.
|
|
|
|
Magic
Music is a charming documentary, narrated by Brian Lehrer, featuring
the pseudo-Telharmoniums pleasantly
strange/surreal/ quaint renditions of Joplins
Palm Leaf Rag and Maple Leaf Rag, Handels
Largo from Xerxes, Mendelssohns...
[extended list]
--Philip
George, 20th-Century Music, July 1999, page 26.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
...full
of colorful descriptions of the instrument and its music from contemporaries
(including Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens and Edgard Varèse). Well-written
and extensively researched, Magic Music is an engaging read for
those interested in electronic-music history or early business models
in the entertainment field.
--Gino
Robair, Mix, May 2000, page 113.
|
|
|
|
This
is an important book for those of us interested in the history of electro-acoustic
music. The focus is on Cahill and the Telharmonium. But, the incidental
information tells us much about the social, political, and economic
activity that influenced the development of our current technology.
I hope that this book is in every college and university library. It
is must reading for the serious student of the electro-acoustic medium.
--Rodney
Oakes, Journal SEAMUS, November 1995, pages 9-10.
|
|
|
|
...his
telling works best as social history. Several factors come together
to make this an interesting story. One of those factors is business.
Much of Weidenaars text is devoted
to Cahills struggles to raise capital,
promote the product, and keep the company afloat. Business dealings
may be a dry topic, but the people and the dreams that fuel them are
not. ...even nonspecialists might enjoy the story of a dream, as improbable
and quirky as it was visionary, pursued doggedly and then, finally,
lost.
--Bart
Hopkin, Notes: The Music Library Association Journal, March 1996,
pages 821-822.
|
|
|
|
...contains
an extraordinary amount of information--biographical, musical, technical,
historical, and whimsical. The book weaves all these various strands
together, which means, for example, that a delightful essay on New York
restaurant orchestras is buried in the chapter called Preview
Concerts at Telharmonic Hall.
--Martha
Maas, Newsletter of the American Musical Instrument Society, October
1999, pages 16-17.
|
|
|
|
Reynold
Weidenaar ... [has] written a dissertation that really is an original
and significant contribution to knowledge... He is pointing to a new
trajectory, and for this we owe him... [He] has answered this question
with eloquence and rigor. ... Weidenaar spared no effort in documenting
this story. His research is voluminous and exhaustive. Its
hard to imagine a primary source that he has overlooked. ... A scholar
places events in their cultural milieu, and adds perspective to the
bare bones that sources provide. Weidenaar has done this. ... We get
a fascinating detailed tour of the sumptuous restaurants of the New
York of the early 1900s, and learn why the mix of gastronomic, sonic,
and conspicuous consumption seemed a surefire bet.
--Thomas
L. Rhea, Computer Music Journal, Fall 1988, pages 59-63 [review
of Ph.D. dissertation upon which the book was based].
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
...Swing
Bridge (1997), written for the centennial of the Brooklyn Bridge,
provided the most visually stimulating as well as the most progressive
moment in the entire Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium. ... The video consisted
of heavily effected shots from the festival celebrating the event formed
into a collage of Technicolor giddiness.
--Rusty
Banks, Living Music, Summer 1998, page 4.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This
is a wonderful piece that is self referencing on a number of levels.
There times when the video is of a TV monitor producing video images.
It is an electronic
piece about an electronic piece.
This is certainly one of the best pieces on the video.
--David
Bradfield, Journal SEAMUS, October 1997, pages 11-12.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The
light, transparent music and the sophisticated images created a quick
portrait of a national image.
--Daniel
Webster, Philadelphia Inquirer, November 1, 1994, page E1.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No
question about it, you have to see this piece to believe it.
--David
Neubert, International Society of Bassists, Winter 1989, page
23.
|
|
|
|
The
music was stuttering, jabbing. It explored harmonics in the basss
stratospheric upper end, and employed hand raps on the body of the instrument,
col
legno pops on the strings with unusual
woody timbres, some rich conventional double stops, and eerie harmonics
at the end that struck haunting resonances of Dowlands
Lachrymae.
Weidenaars
video creation was exceptionally effective and beautiful. It dealt almost
exclusively with the interaction of the bass bow and strings, in an
endlessly inventive and fascinating variety of close-ups, multiple images,
weird mutations of bow and strings, positive and negative black-and-white
shots, and warm color photography with an exquisite sense of complementary
tones. It was almost as though the viewer were being given a secret
tour through the soul of both bass and performer. Weidenaar could become
a major creative figure.
--Herman
Trotter, Buffalo News, March 18, 1988.
|
|
|
|
Weidenaar
... squeezes every ounce of virtuosity out of it with an impressive
arsenal of techniques. ... It works -- this pure amalgam of stimuli
that play on our senses with both intellectual and visceral persuasion.
--Barry
L. Cohen, New Music Connoisseur, Year-end 1997, pages 28, 30.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|