Terry Riley

Mehta and Kronos were so enthusiastic about Terry Riley coming to town at last year's 21C Festival, I signed up without really knowing what to expect, other than Riley was a 'musician's musician.'

Riley's photo is on the cover of the Dec/Jan edition of the Toronto magazine, Whole Note. They too, were excited he was coming to town. The feature article talked about how Riley has helped to shape the course of new music for the past 60 years and worked with rock composers such as Lou Reed and Peter Townsend.

Friday night's concert was billed 'Live at 85!' a bit tongue in cheek and a nod to the musician's long performance career. It was a very eclectic evening of music, as Terry played with his son Gyan and electric violinist Tracey Silverman.

There were pieces heavily influenced by Northern Indian musical scales, some by Western classical, and others by folk music. One song was played on an iPad using natural sounds (what sounded to me like cats, traffic and random gongs). Another was played on a melodica, (a pianica blow organ). The electric violin made use of loop technology, turning the solo string instrument into a full string orchestra.

Watching was definitely an important part of the experience, and seeing how the music was made increased the depth of appreciation for how the composer was shaping and layering the sounds.