Charles Dodge - Any Resemblance Is Purely Coincidental

Recorded on September 16, 1980 at the International Festival of Electronic Music, in Stockholm, Sweden, pianist Kerstin Åberg, performs Charles Dodge’s “Any Resemblance Is Purely Coincidental”, a work for tape and solo piano. According to the composer: «The tape part is based on computer restoration and re-synthesis of the 1907 recording of the legendary Enrico Caruso singing “Vesti la giubba“ from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “I Pagliacci“ (1892). In the course of the work the voice searches for an accompaniment and is heard at different times with the original band, with electronic sounds, with copies of itself, with the live piano, and with combinations of them all. There is a surrealistic, dreamlike aspect to these apparent dislocations. The initial efforts are humorous; as the work progresses other emotions come into play. The title of the work recalls the standard disclaimer from FBI television dramas of the 1950’s. I chose it when assured by RCA Records that I could use the computer renderings of the legendar