The Dream of the Infinite Rooms (1986)
Cello, orchestra, and tape
by Roger Reynolds
Other works on disc:
What the Monster Saw (1987) by Libby Larsen LON/dons (1989) by Salvatore Martirano London Serenade (1988) by Bernard Rands
Liner notes: by Bruce Millard, Christina Thoburn, and Jan C. Snow
Primary Artist(s): Cleveland Chamber Symphony; Edwin London, Music director; Howie Smith, Saxophone; Regina Mushabac, Cello
Label: GM Recordings, Inc. GM2039CD
Dates of recording: 1989-90
Recording: John A. Charillo
About: The Dream of the Infinite Rooms (1986), for solo cello, orchestra and computer-processed sound on tape, explores the metaphors of dreams – remote, inscrutable and unrecoverable in life, but, perhaps, capturable in music. The solo cellist (the dreamer) – in this recording Regina Mushabac – initiates the work with fragmentary proposals, seeding the dreams to follow. The orchestra enters with the first of several “rooms” within which the cellist’s materials elongate and flower. The innermost room (remote and fanciful) is manifested by the tape, and after this interlude of computer sound, the previous orchestral “rooms” return, varied and in reverse order. The cellist-dreamer takes a more expansive role after the deepest recesses of the dream, and the orchestra’s influence wanes. As the dreamed subjects fade, a more reflective and lyric mood ensues, though the orchestra interjects an occasional evocation of the earlier worlds of sleep.
