"Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin, but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life."
Bewilderment similar to that of Alice in Wonderland will be expressed by anyone attempting to concisely describe the CD-ROM bearing the subtitle 'Chamber Music' by Kiyoshi Furukawa, Masaki Fujihata and Wolfgang Muench.
The normal arrangement foresees musicians, instruments, and a score that records a composer's musical intentions. With a view to making chamber music, four string instrument players might meet up, unpack their instruments, place sheet music on the stands, and proceed to play a string quartet. Whereas Small Fish players slide the silver disk into their computer and immediately discover a topsy-turvy world.
The music is not coaxed from the instruments but performed upon a score which was specially designed by Fujihata and varies according to the music produced. And while composer Furukawa has specified merely timbres and their potential combination, the player is expected to compose the music – and the latter turns out differently every time.
© 2000 Heike Staff (http://hosting.zkm.de/wmuench/small_fish)