Pat Metheny, Orchestrion at the Barbican, 10/02/2010

as a geek, this is a very exciting project. real instruments controlled by solenoids via MIDI. each with a light that shows when it’s being played. it is truly impressive and I can’t start thinking to all problems, especially latency and synchronisation. And I have no problem with the failure that happened at the end when the entire system had a massive problem and stopped working completely.

However as a jazz buff, after the initial excitement of the novelty, I started realising that the sounds where in fact different from the sounds I am used to with the PMG or other configuration. The drums, the bass, yes they were impressive considering the technical aspect but very disappointing from the musical point of view.

On one side I am grateful to Pat Metheny for pushing the envelope of music into a completely new era of automation and robotics; but on the other hand I am a bit upset because I want to hear Pat Metheny play with people, not MIDI controlled instruments.

As I watched and listened the concert, I was wondering if Pat Metheny could possibly feel alone on that stage with all that equipment but no real people; he should be used to rather crowded stages, having the PMG reached sometimes 6, 7 or perhaps even 8 people. Sure, computers are not new on PM and PMG stage, ever since the Synclavier was created, but this Orchestrion is not the same thing at all.