by Thom JurekThis CD reissue of "Archery" marks a significant looking back in the wake of the compositional and band-leading techniques of John Zorn. Zorn became infamous in the 1980s for his game pieces, resulting finally in the classic work "Cobra." "Archery," first entitled "Cycling," was the first of the large-scale works based on games -- which are played like games. "Archery" is for 12 players, all of whom play in combinations of duos and trios. Zorn originally included quartets as part of the strategy but decided, after trying to figure out all the various permutations of instruments and players that this was too ambitious -- or too much a pain in the ass to worry about in the time he had to work in (the man was on deadline). After much in the way of trial and error, Zorn came upon three stages to realize the best integration of players and possibilities of expression: clock events, solo events, duo-trio offerings, and 12 divisis. There are many systems at work here. One of which was the score itself marking 208 combinations of duo and trio improvising, and there are the divisis. These are literally changes in directions that can be called out by any player at any time and move the groupings through the various internal grouping changes until a solo happens or another divisi is called. Gradually, not only are all 208 combinations played through in overlapping grandeur, but also the various players that challenge even what they thought possible extract solos coming from them. Those solos come from taped sounds as well as played instruments, from human voices stretched into absurd tonal palettes, and musical instruments being nearly dismantled in the process of being actually "played." ... Read More...