Heartening a/rhythmia From Alarm Without Sound

Within three or four measures, the riot is in full swing. It’s as though Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti embrace under acid rain madness, while Frank Zappa and Bruce Springstein come sloshing through in quick-step fashion. You may not know just what’s happening here, but you sure as hell want to dive in to find out.

Welcome to a/rhythmia, the sometimes alarming, sometimes droll new Nonesuch CD from New York’s 20-piece new music “band,” Alarm Will Sound.

With six composer-musicians among its members, it’s no surprise that the CD’s lineup of recent and extremely old compositions includes one by Bang on a Can former rock musician Michael Gordon. That 11:23 minute work, Yo Shakespeare, is the longest on the program. Dating from 1992, it’s credited in the liner notes as Gordon’s breakthrough piece. Breakthrough into what, you may ask? As different rhythms play over and through each other, you can well imagine the Bard’s wig flying off, and Mistress Kate flying off the handle.

Also from 1992, five fabulous, fantastically titled 90-second excerpts from Animals and the Origins of Dance by Britain’s Benedect Mason unify the joy ride with hilarious discord. In the middle of all this, Ligeti senior’s wild “Movimento preciso e meccanico” from Chamber Concerto seems right at home. So does the most recently composed work, Dessert Search for Techno Baklava (2002) by David Wong (Mochipet), which seems to cross klezmer and Balkan rock with God knows what. Only Priscilla, Queen of the Desert knows for sure.

The extra surprises amidst an album of surprises are the quirky rhythms of two works from the late 14th and late 15th centuries, composed respectively by Johannes Ciconia and Josquin des Prez. Des Prez emerges respected if not unscathed. While they are in one sense from another time and place, where is that?, the CD seems to ask. Is the answer in the two arrangements of studies for Player Piano by Conlon Nancarrow, the music of Harrison Birtwhistle, or Cfern by the English do Autechre? Do we need an answer for music that is so visceral that it’s hard to sit still?

This is totally engaging stuff. Wild, unpredictable, and filled with life and color, it's got acoustic instruments; electric keyboard, guitar, and bass; voice; and a truckload of percussion. Lots of winds — even panpipes. Tons of fun, but agitating to little puppies like 5-month-old Daisy, who barked at the barkingest passage until I gave her shelter under my chair.

Turn off the car alarm, then crank up the volume. On a scale of 1 to 10, this stuff is off the charts. The meek must definitely apply.