Strong Eye, The

Robert Scott Thompson composed and recorded The Strong Eye from April through July of 1991 while he was composer in residence and a research scholar at the Danish Institute of Electroacoustic Music as a Fulbright Scholar. All of the work was done in the digital domain. Thompson actually developed the synthesis of this set while working at the Computer Audio Research Laboratory (CARL) at the Center for Music Experiment (CME) at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) in 1988. The quiet ambience and pleasant dissonance of this album are as much a tribute to Thompson's attention to detail as to his musical integrity and virtuosity. The seeming lack of structure IS the structure. The experimental sounds are not experiments at all. Thompson researched each note carefully and thoroughly. At his computer workstation, he sequenced the flow of the sounds meticulously and painstakingly. Then he mixed the compositions pedantically and lovingly so that the CD flows as a continuous piece rather than as series of tracks. It is that last characteristic that places Dr. Thompson in his own league. He has degrees and awards up the proverbial wazoo. He earned each and every one through perseverance and hard work. He deserves all of the accolades and more. By infesting his music with his own feelings and spirituality, Thompson achieves more than most of his peers. That infestation evokes strong emotional and spiritual responses from careful listeners. This CD, while not his best and certainly not his most accessible, is one of Thompson's early successes in his artistic and acoustic experimentation and development. ~ Jim Brenholts|