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Isao Tomita and the Plasma Symphony Orchestra
All Arranged by Isao Tomita Unless Otherwise Indicated
Conceptualized by Isao Tomita
Produced by Danny O'Donovan in Association with John Scher
Production Supervisor: Michael Ahern
Director: Kohei Katsura
Technical Director: Tetsuya Oguri
Presented by the Executive Committee for Casio Musical Production
In Cooperation with the City of New York, Edward I. Koch, Mayor, the Department of Parks and Recreation, Henry J. Stern, Commissioner and the Department of Ports, International Trade and Commerce, Michael P. Huerta, Commissioner
Sponsored by Casio
Co-Sponsored by All Nippon Airways
Co-Sponsored by All Nippon Airways
General Producer: Japan Satellite Broadcasting, Inc.
Suspended by crane in a pyramidal control room high over the water, Tomita conducted the audible forces consisting of a computer-controlled synthesized orchestra, a large chorus on a moving ferryboat and, in smaller boats, vocalists and solo performers on piano, Chinese lute, shakuhachi and violin, all boats floating from 300 to 1,000 feet from shore. Radio signals carrying all audible sounds transmitted to and from the boats were collected and synchronized by Tomita who then fed the combined sounds to mammoth speakers both on barges in the river and at the rear of Battery Park and to one suspended from a helicopter flying 1,800 feet above the barges. To the audience of 100,000, the combination of visual and audible stimuli created a sensation of sonic and spatial weightlessness.
This massive sonic explosion is called by Tomita "Sound Cloud" and was first
employed in 1984 at his concert in Linz, Austria. Spectacular polyphonic effects
are achieved by alternately feeding signals to the various clusters of speakers.
Plans are currently under way for him to give "Sound Cloud" concerts over the
Nagara River in Hiroshima, Japan; in Sydney, Australia, and in Montreux,
Switzerland.
The Concert
Tomita characterizes his interplay of sound, lights and water as "a musical
celebration of the cosmos and the earth" and builds his program from the
creation of the universe, the formation of the earth and its creatures, to the
near future when mankind leaves the earth in search of a more desirable habitat.
After centuries of travel, a beautiful planet lures the spaceships to it. With
surprise and joy, mankind realizes it is the planet earth and that there is no
more suitable home.
The musical selections are intended to evoke images of all these occurences leading to the space travelers returning to earth in this concert on the water near the Statue of Liberty, where they join in the exultant singing of Goin' Home.
Although this album presents the live event, it does not reproduce the entire
concert. The sequence has been changed to enhance musical interest in view of
the deleted sections. Musical titles here that have occurred on previous Tomita
albums were re-mixed or, in some cases, resynthesized for the concert.