Everything That Rises is an elegant, haunting, and devilishly difficult string quartet. The composer writes: “Everything That Rises, my fourth quartet, grew out of Sila: The Breath of the World—a
concert-length choral/orchestral work composed on a rising series of
sixteen harmonic clouds. This music traverses that same territory, but
in a much more melodic way. Each musician is a soloist, playing
throughout. Time floats and the lines spin out, always rising, in
acoustically perfect intervals that grow progressively smaller as they
spiral upward…until the music dissolves into the soft noise of the bows,
sighing.
”Performed by the incredible, illustrious Jack Quartet
The composer writes: “Everything That Rises, my fourth string quartet, grew out of Sila: The Breath of the World—a
concert-length choral/orchestral work I composed on a rising series of
16 harmonic clouds. This music traverses that same territory, but in a
much more melodic way. Each musician is a soloist, playing throughout.
Time floats and the lines spin out, always rising, in acoustically
perfect intervals that grow progressively smaller as they spiral
upward…until the music dissolves into the soft noise of the bows,
sighing.”
The intense individuality of Morton Feldman's (1926 - 1987)
art and its "painterly" aspect have tended to push his rich output of
works into a zone all of their own, surrounded by a moat of stillness.
This recording attempts the reverse process - to bring his choral works
(the previously unrecorded Chorus and Instruments, Voices and Instruments 1, Voices and Instruments 2, The Swallows of Salangan)
into a "gallery" of other choir compositions of his times. Through the
interaction with works of other characters and aspirations, mutual
illumination might become a new Feldman experience.
Two of the
five other works confront Feldman's textless choral singing with words.
These, however, carry their own special musical intent. Three early
twelve-tone gems [Three Statements] of Will Ogdon (1921 -
2013) move with Walt Whitman "into the wordless . . . away from books,
away from art," and reluctantly away from human desire, as embodied in
the central poem by Thomas Campion. Robert Carl's (b. 1954) The City brings
a transcendentalist layered sound to the mystical reflections of the
architect Louis Sullivan, contemplating the natural and the built-human
in the lake and city of Chicago.
The notion of wordless chorus
fans out in varied directions in the other three works. As one of
Feldman's closest associates in the New York School, Earle Brown (1926 - 2002) intrigues us as much for the stark differences from Feldman shown by his abstract choral mobiles (Small Pieces for Large Chorus). The Sound Patterns of Pauline Oliveros (1932
- 2016) are less abstract than their title might imply - moving in and
out of singing itself into extended vocality, and towards
newly-suggested verbal exclamations of a non-semantic kind. Warren Burt (b. 1949), a former student of both Oliveros and Ogdon at the University of California, San Diego, contributes with his Elegy the
most recent piece, also the closest to Feldman's simple successions of
chorale-like chords. His harmonies, however, acquire their elegiac
qualities from chromatic memories and their contradictions, moving along
unfamiliar paths
Colin Currie Group releases its debut recording on 9 March: Steve Reich’s Drumming on Colin Currie Records. Order the album here or listen on Spotify. Drumming has been a speciality of the Group’s, even since the Group’s inception in 2006 for a performance of the work to mark Reich’s 70th birthday, so it makes a fitting first release for the newly launched Colin Currie Records. The release coincides with the Group’s concert on 10 March at Saffron Hall in Saffron Walden, UK, where they’ll perform Clapping Music, Mallet Quartet and Drumming. Ahead of the performance, the Group will be doing a Facebook live session. Make sure you’re a fan on Facebook to keep up to date with the details
Funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, Steve Reich endorsed the project saying “it will be, I am sure, the best recording of Drumming ever made”.
- My Two cents: Drumming is a piece that takes a very high level of skills, focus and concentration. Colin Currie Group is mastering them all to perfection.
Borup-Jørgensen's
music exists on the margins of silence, punctuated with searing
dramatic eruptions, all of which can be heard in his orchestral
masterpiece Marin (1970). Borup-Jørgensen massive 'sea symphony' exists
in its own unique world of sound - sometimes in as many as 55 separate
voices - as is one of the most challenging and meticulously
detailed orchestral textures every set to paper.
Such visceral music demands visual expression and as part of this very
special DVD/SACD release, Lückow Film, and an international team of
animators directed by Morten Bartholdy bring Borup-Jørgensen's musical
world to life.
Also included is the new film AXEL - a portrait of both the composer,
and of mid-century Danish modernism featuring interviews with other
composers, colleagues and friends, as well as excerpts from recent live
performances of the music by Axel Borup-Jørgensen.
Born in Denmark and raised in Sweden, he was largely self-taught as a
composer, emerging on the international spotlight in 1965 when his
Nordic Summer Pastoral won first prize in the competition for a short
orchestral work held by Denmarks Radio. While the avant-garde of the
sixties exerted a strong influence on Borup-Jørgensen's sound world, he
always followed his own intuition and obeyed his extraordinary sense of
organizing sound combined with a passionate, almost mystical regard for
nature.
As Borup-Jørgensen himself once said: 'To compose is not to do what one
can; if anything good is to come out of it, one must surpass oneself' –
all of the contributors to this special DVD/SACD release of Marin have
surpassed every expectation and limitation!
"MIGRATIONS presents a number of my chamber works written for
contemporary dance performances, ranging from the nervous energy of
minimalism to the rich chromaticism of expressionism. Each piece is
structured with clarity and intimacy, drawing the listener in, taking us
on an exhilarating journey or offering moments of contemplation."
"Cellist Clarice Jensen says the music on her debut solo album solicits "meditation and disorientation" — two words that, while not mutually exclusive, seem to suggest both a remedy for, and the reality of, a complicated world."
Clarise Jensen - For This From That Will Be Filled
Composers: Jóhann Jóhannsson, Michael Harrison and Clarise Jensen
For this from that will be filled is the debut album by Clarice Jensen, artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). The album explores the variable differences between acoustic and electronic sound as well as depiction of the simulated and the unconscious. It was originally conceived as a collaboration between Jensen and the artist Jonathan Turner as an audio-visual work, but is here presented in it´s pure audible form. Building on a long and romantic tradition of solo cello repertoire, Jensen expands and confuses the familiar sound of the cello through the use of effects pedals, multi-tracking, and tape loops recorded at variable speeds, presented in works she has written for herself as well as a piece she conceived together with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Also featured is Michael Harrison’s Cello Constellations for multi-tracked cello and sine tones, written for Jensen, which meditates on long, sustaining tones. With For this from that will be filled, Jensen has made an incredibly strong first album that feels like a surreal and futuristic journey through an alternate timeline.
- is the artistic director of ACME, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble. A graduate of The Juilliard School, she studied with Joel Krosnick, Harvey Shapiro and has taken master classes with many composers such as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter and Roger Reynolds. Recording artists she has collaborated with include Jóhann Jóhannsson, Stars of the Lid, Owen Pallett, Max Richter, Tyondai Braxton and numerous others. Her most recent performances include concerts at The Kings Theatre, Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Disney Hall, Benaroya Hall, The Sydney Opera House, Big Ears Festival, Duke Performances, BAM, (le) Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and the Isamu Noguchi Museum. Recording collaborations have been released on Deutsche Grammophone, Kranky, Warp, Matador, Brassland, Domino, Merge, Jagjaguwar, Domino, New World, 4AD and many others.
On this album, two of Denmark’s most exciting young ensembles, Ekkozone
and Alpha, join forces in exhilarating performances of the Danish
composer Peter Navaroo-Alonso’s original response to two Vivaldi
masterpieces, the iconic Four Seasons and the Concerto in Si minore,
just one of the many virtuosic violin concertos from the great Baroque
master’s hand. Both works are influenced by Navarro-Alonso’s great
interest in classic electroacoustic effects such as delay, loop,
acceleration and deceleration. In Si minore he directly uses tape and
loop pedal in three of the movements; in Quattro Stagioni he imitates
the effects acoustically. Alpha is a unique Danish ensemble, founded by
Bolette Roed, Peter Navarro-Alonso, and David Hildebrandt. As early as
2003, they were the first group to explore the interesting instrument
combination of recorder, saxophone, and percussion, attracted by its
many possibilities. Ekkozone was formed in 2013 and quickly became a
household name at Copenhagen Jazz-house. Ekkozone stands for classical
avant-garde, minimalism, and cross-over, consisting of Scandinavian and
British musicians in various formations, led by percussionist and
conductor Mathias Reumert.
- saxofophonist, organist and composer, trained at
Real Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Madrid and at the Soloist Class
at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Navarro-Alonso was four times
nominated for a “Danish Music Award” for his CD recordings and has also
been nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize with his trio, ALPHA.
His most comprehensive composition to date, Le Quattro Stagioni –
Concerto Grosso for Alpha and Strings, was awarded by the Danish Arts
Council. In addtion, Navarro- Peter Navarro-Alonso teaches classical
saxophone at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.
"Over the course of a decade, Bang on a Can founding composer Michael Gordon has collaborated with the world-renowned Kronos Quartet on a series of provocative works that have sought to stretch, bend and otherwise reshape the boundaries of modern classical music. Clouded Yellow assembles these works for the first time, perfectly encapsulating the breadth and complexity of this long-standing creative partnership. Clouded Yellow features four pieces written for Kronos by Gordon: the title track (composed in 2010), Exalted (2010), The Sad Park (2006) and Potassium (2000). The title of the first refers to the clouded yellow butterfly, which is known in England for its mass migrations; the word 'clouded' is also meant to describe the blurred harmonies and melodies of the piece. 'Potassium' is for amplified string quartet and electronics, with a fuzz box used throughout to lend a mysterious distortion to the sound. 'The Sad Park' is accompanied by recordings of children ages 3 to 4 and their responses to the tragic events of 9/11. 'Exalted', which also features the Young People's Chorus of New York City conducted by Francisco J. Núñez, sets the opening of the Jewish Kaddish in Aramaic, connecting the choral voices of mourning to those of the children in 'The Sad Park'."
The Privacy of Domestic Life explores thresholds between temporal
stability and instability, human and electronically produced sounds, and
popular and contemporary musical idioms. There is something here for
listeners of all persuasions: Adam Basanta exploits the interaction
between human and machine performers, Taylor Brook alchemizes a
kaleidoscope of metallic sounds, Beavan Flanagan finds sonic harmony
between drummers playing at different speeds, and Duncan Schouten
juxtaposes quasi improvisatory soundscapes and hyper-rhythmic metal
drumming.
- is a Montreal-based quartet specializing in the
performance of experimental, minimalist, multi-disciplinary, crossover,
and electroacoustic chamber music. Founded in early 2012, the quartet
has quickly established itself as a dynamic force in Canada’s vibrant
new music community; equally comfortable in performing classic
repertoire and exploring new terrain through commissions and premieres.
Architek’s diverse regular repertoire is at once engaging and
challenging for audiences, and is presented in a manner inspired by the
quartet’s belief that given proper context, no audience member should
feel alienated by the nature of a performance of contemporary art music.
Places & Times is a collection of sonorous landmarks and magical moments; percussion ensemble works that are as compelling as they are mysterious. It is also a record of some of the ways in which life and art might share a journey. Composer and percussionist Baljinder Sekhon, with a doctorate from Eastman and currently teaching at the University of South Florida, has brought together three fine percussion ensembles to present his exhilarating vision: Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, McCormick Percussion Group, and Line Upon Line Percussion.
Three of the works on the album feature solo instruments with ensemble: steel pan (Dave Gerhart), guitar (Dieter Hennings), and piano (Eunmi Ko). The combinations afford a wide range of possibilities, from the aggressive noise of a cymbal on piano strings, and peaceful meditations created by finger cymbals gently buzzing on a vibraphone, to the curious thump of a person falling onto a bass drum.
Death Is an Adviseris one of a series of works modeled after the shamanistic philosophies described by anthropologist Carlos Castaneda in his writings about being an apprentice to the sorcerer Don Juan Matus in the 1960s.
Sekhon writes:
“I have been heavily influenced by the teachings of Don Juan, specifically those found in the book Journey to Ixtlan. “Death Is an Adviser” is a chapter from the book that deals with the awareness of death and how such awareness advises our decision-making in life. The movement titles each have double meanings, which reflect both the philosophy that inspired the piece and the compositional process. I am interested in finding ways for my creative work as a composer and other life activities to intersect and become the same. For this piece, in an effort to work and spend time with my family at once, my daughters and wife drew numbers from a hat to determine pitch orderings, durations, and contour. After selecting numbers for pitch and duration, and combining them, we’d run to the piano to play it and hear how it turned out – we made a game out of it.”
Performers: P. Lucy McVeigh, Lavena Johanson, David Russell,
Isabelle O’Connell, Jenny Tang, Eliko Akahori, Lisa Liu, Nicholas Knouf,
Jenny Olivia Johnson
“Each
of these four songs — interspersed with three interludes recorded from
my sound installation Glass Heart: Bells for Sylvia Plath — is inspired
by a city or town in which Sylvia had a significant life event take
place: New York City, Boston, Devonshire, and Wellesley. In this elegiac
collection, I attempt to weave my own stories about and relationships
to each of these places with those of Sylvia’s, resulting in a
kaleidoscopic tapestry of fragmented feelings, images, and fantasies.” . . . .
. . . . .“Sylvia Songs” is both an offering and an archive, a memorial and a
reverie. It is a meditation on the nostalgia of place, and an
exploration of the complexities of mental health and loss.
“Dream” is a musical journey through the sound of the electric
guitar in American concert music, based on sonic research and on the
simplicity and beauty of the electric guitar timbre and colors.
Sorrentino’s transcription of Dream by John Cage
opens the program. This version demonstrates the pure beauty of the
electric guitar’s clean sound with only the addition of light reverb.
This is the first CD release for the lost electric guitar composition by
Morton Feldman, The Possibility of a New Work for Electric Guitar. Originally composed for Christian Wolff, it was reconstructed by guitarist Seth Josel.
"I'm glad to announce that it will be released soon my
new album on the important american label Mode Records (many important
musicians have recorded for this label, among others, John Cage, Steve
Lacy, Arditti Quartet, and important directors like Martin Scorsese
chose Mode music for their movies).
My CD is called
"Dream" - American Music for Electric Guitar (Mode 301). The album
contains works for electric guitar by John Cage (my adaptation of
"Dream"), David Lang, Jack Vees, Elliott Sharp, Alvin Curran, Morton
Feldman (world premiere recording on physical CD of "The Possibility of a
New Work for Electric Guitar"), Christian Wolff (complete works for
solo electric guitar and the premiere of "Going West"), Larry Polansky,
Van Stiefel."
Well, thanks for posting the Bandcamp page for Behind The Window (Electric Guitar Improvisations About The Rain) on the listening thread. I knew after a short sample of the first 3 tracks it would be something I'd be interested in hearing and since it was such a good deal I went to Emusic and selected Dream as well. I'm always keen to add interesting guitar players so thanks again. Now off to explore that 8 string guitar that @Germanprof posted. Like In C, one can never have too many guitar players in one's library. I don't think I'll be able to wait for the S's to come around again so I'll need to find another connection. Music is so much fun!!
Hugely productive, Kalevi Aho (b. 1949) has composed close to 30 concertos to date. These include works for traditional solo instruments – piano, violin, cello … – but also more unusual ones, such as the theremin or accordion. One project of Aho's is to write concertos for all of the instruments of the symphony orchestra, from the flute to the contrabassoon, and in 2015 the turn came to the timpani. The work was commissioned by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra for its timpanist Ari-Pekka Mäenpää, and Mäenpää and Aho worked closely together during the writing process. The result is a concerto that explores the instrument's full potential, from the melody opening the concerto, which lasts more than thirty bars, to the rhythmically compelling third movement
Composed almost 30 years earlier, Piano Concerto No. 1 reflects the composer's interest at the time in numerology, and specifically in so-called cyclic numbers. The colourful and exciting work is however anything but cerebral. Soloist is Sonja Fräki, who chose Aho's music for piano as the subject of her doctoral studies, and whose recording of the solo works (BIS-2106) was released to great acclaim in 2015. With the two works on this disc, no less than 16 concertos by Aho are available from BIS, in recordings that have been praised by reviewers worldwide, and received distinctions including the prestigious ECHO Klassik Award
Unique ensemble loadbang (baritone Jeff Gavett, trumpeter Andy Kozar, trombonist Will Lang, clarinetist Carlos Cordeiro) releases their second full length recording on New Focus, continuing to chronicle their work commissioning composers to write for their instrumentation. "old fires catch old buildings" features new works by Scott Wollschleger, Paula Matthusen, Angélica Negrón, Reiko Fueting, Taylor Brook, and loadbang members William Lang and Jeff Gavett.
Bedroom Community is proud to release Daníel Bjarnason's soundtrack to the 2017 film 'Under The Tree' on May 18th. 'Under The Tree' was selected as the Icelandic entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards. The soundtrack won the Best Original Soundtrack of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards 2017.
The album also features three remixes by Alex Somers, JFDR, and Paul Corley. (Released as singles on Emu) - Emusic
"If you tossed an electric blues band and a contemporary music ensemble
into the blender and turned it to high, you might end up with
something like NakedEye..."
Composers: Jonathan Russel, Zack Browning, Richard Belcastro, Rusty Banks.
NakedEye Ensemble, whose concerts are “ear and mind opening experiences” (Lancaster Newspaper),
commissions and performs new work by cross-over and cutting-edge
composers. This eclectic eight-member electro-acoustic group with
classical, rock, and jazz DNA presents music of the imagination. Based
in Lancaster, PA, NakedEye Ensemble is led by pianist Ju-Ping Song.
NakedEye’s repertoire reflects the group’s
mission to innovate and explore musical expression outside of
convention. In addition to the composers on this CD, they have
performed music by: Louis Andriessen, Luciano Berio, Martin Bresnick,
John Cage, George Crumb, Donnacha Dennehy, Nick Didkovsky, Moritz
Eggert, Florent Ghys, Phil Kline, Helmut Lachenmann, David Lang, John
Mackey, Missy Mazzoli, Arvo Pärt, Caroline Shaw, Julia Wolfe, and Frank
Zappa.
David Taddie,
a native of Cleveland, Ohio, spent his teenage and young adult years
playing in rock bands, serving as a church organist, arranging and
performing on radio and TV commercials, finally beginning his formal
studies in music theory and composition at Cleveland State University at
the age of 20. He received his BA and MM from CSU, where he studied
composition with Bain Murray, Rudolph Bubalo, and Edwin London. From
1985-1992, he served as pianist with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. He
also composed for, and performed with, the New Music Associates in
Cleveland, performed as a duo-piano team with his wife, Karen, and was
active as a theory and piano teacher. After a decade of working as a
freelance composer, performer, and music teacher, he moved to Boston in
1992 to attend Harvard University where he received his Ph.D., studying
composition with Donald Martino, Bernard Rands, and Mario Davidovsky . . .
Scott Barton, contemporary composer and Assistant
Professor of Music at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, engages in a
rather unusual hobby: He designs and builds musical robots. Hardly
unexpected then, that Barton's first Ravello Records release STYLISTIC
ALCHEMIES is an electroacoustic box of surprises.
Balancing diverse musical elements with the
virtuosity of a skilled playwright, Barton takes the listener on a
journey that pushes the boundaries of established genre definitions. The
opening track, Breeding in Pieces, starts out with a deceptively
familiar early 2000's indie rock (!) sound – only to lead, like a
will-o'-the-wisp, into the alluring sound of Eroding Mountains, in which
a suave 1960's-style radio presenter voice juxtaposed with dissonant
plucked strings creates an atmosphere of tangible unease.
For those who prefer their serving of destiny to
be accompanied by a side dish of jocular existential absurdity, Opus
Palladianum ticks all the boxes, offering a well-structured, soothing
respite soon taken over by synthesizers and rhythmic experimentation. In
many ways, STYLISTIC ALCHEMIES is a work of contrasts and the
reconciliation of opposites: for Steps that Grow When Climbed is equally
bleak and colorful, interrupted only by the occasional glimpse of
harmonic resolution, impressively building up to a harrowing climax in
which rhythm and melody eventually triumph over the chaos.
Carried by Currents could well be the soundtrack
to an intriguing dream, its themes appearing and dissolving in logical
successions but retaining an atmosphere of wavering physicality, at
times walking a tightrope which seemingly spans an almost classicist
aesthetic. The aptly titled Effusion, on the other hand, may hold
interest with a recurring theme (quite the rarity on an album as diverse
as this), but the instrumentation and compelling rhythm convey a mood
more reminiscent of a psychedelic night out.
Scott Barton's work indubitably succeeds in
transcending the limits of contemporary composition: STYLISTIC ALCHEMIES
wants to be, and is, more than electroacoustic chamber music – it is a
journey through the possibilities of artistic expression.
Composers: Esther Lamneck, Cort Lippe, Mara Helmuth
Paola Lopreiato, Sergio Kafejian, Jorge Sosa, Alfonso Belfiore
Rural tradition meets hi tech in this pairing of extremes by master improvisor, Esther Lamneck.
Both provocative and mesmerizing, her agility on this underappreciated
folk instrument is without equal. When interfaced with live electronic
processing, furthermore, she surely reaches sonic territories where no
one has gone before. Six electroacoustic composers, from Italy to
Brazil, and her home base in New York, have collaborated with Lamneck on
this journey.
The tárogató is a single reed woodwind instrument with a
hauntingly beautiful sound. It is originally a folk instrument from the
regions of Hungary and Romania whose music has been handed down aurally;
references to folk art and gypsy melodies are woven throughout this
album. The instrument provides a rich sound, full of harmonics, and
Lamneck has managed to extend the range by an octave. Because it does
not have the extensive key mechanism of a clarinet or saxophone, there
are many glissandos and otherwise impossible techniques available.
Lamneck explains, “In this album, Tárogató Constructions,
each composer has designed a musical world which reacts to what I play
by triggering electronic sounds which then influence the direction of my
improvisational composition. All of these musical environments have
propelled me to use the extreme sonic possibilities of the tárogató.”
Well, thanks for posting the Bandcamp page for Behind The Window (Electric Guitar Improvisations About The Rain) on the listening thread. I knew after a short sample of the first 3 tracks it would be something I'd be interested in hearing and since it was such a good deal I went to Emusic and selected Dream as well. I'm always keen to add interesting guitar players so thanks again. Now off to explore that 8 string guitar that @Germanprof posted. Like In C, one can never have too many guitar players in one's library. I don't think I'll be able to wait for the S's to come around again so I'll need to find another connection. Music is so much fun!!
The
five composers behind these world premiere recordings, written for
Jakob Bangsø, all share a keen interest in the field of electro-acoustic
music. Through live electronics, sound-transforming algorithms and
interactive systems, CONNECT
explores captivating soundscapes in the borderlands between the acoustic
and the digital, the raw and the processed, the heard and the reheard – guitar and electronics are equal partners.
On the latest Seattle Symphony Media release featuring works by Berio,
Boulez and Ravel, Music Director Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony
present exhilarating performances of works by composers that mirror the
innovative and vibrant spirit of the orchestra. The July 20 release of
the “unforgettable, kaleidoscopic performance” (Seattle Times) of
Berio’s Sinfonia featuring Grammy Award-winning ensemble Roomful of
Teeth coupled with Boulez’s Notations I–IV for Orchestra and Ravel’s La
valse create a sonic spectrum unlike any other.
Recorded Live at KPFA, Berkeley, CA on November 6, 1980 Jerry Hunt – electronics, percussion, piano, vocalizations Released July 27, 2018
Jerry Hunt is a unique and often misunderstood figure in New Music. His MH release from ‘Ground’ captures an excerpt from a performance of his avant-garde operatic piece Ground at KPFA’s studios in Berkeley, CA. In this unique expression of ritualistic music, the composer uses his voice and body to trigger electronic samples. Included are detailed liner notes by David Menestres. - Special thanks to Rod Stasick (aka. @rostasi ) and Michael Schell for their support and guidance
Other Minds’ Modern Hits (MH) collection continues with a new installment of four releases. Modern Hits is a series of digital-only releases focused on unearthing archival works by the unsung pioneers of electronic music from the Bay Area and beyond. Previous editions have included work by John Bischoff, Ramón Sender, Sheila Booth, and others. This latest edition features works by Tom Djll {pronounced Dill}, Jerry Hunt, Philip Bimstein, and Alden Jenks.
Further:
Philip Bimstein is a composer and politician based in a small town in rural Utah. His work often engages with the every day lives of those in the community around him. Angels, Cats & Shackles collects three vastly different works. Cats in the Kitchen is a piece for woodwind duo (expertly performed by Michele Fiala and Heidi Pinter) and an electronic accompaniment made from samples of everyday kitchen objects. Lockdown! is a haunting and moving piece made from recorded interviews with young men confined in Washington County Youth Crisis Center in St. George, Utah.
I’m very excited and honored that Other Minds (the San Francisco organization devoted to innovative music by composers from all over the world) has just released Angels, Cats & Shackles, a digital album of three of my alternative classical works, on their Modern Hits label.
"Cats in the Kitchen"—performed by Michele Fiala and Heidi Pintner—for flute, oboe, meows, purrs, cracked eggs, sliced onions, buttered toast, sizzling skillets, spoons, knives, pepper grinder, toaster oven, pots, pans, draining dishwater, and pretty much everything else in the kitchen "sync." The sound score also features feline duets and trios, cat food crunches, waterdrums, and my partner Charlotte Bell speaking to her beloved cat, Fiona McGee.
“Angels in the Cracks"—a soundscape composed from the mysterious beckoning sounds hidden within everyday things.
"Lockdown!"—composed from the voices of youths (expressing their feelings, fears, regrets, hopes and love for their mothers) who were confined in a youth crisis center, and the sounds of their jailed environment (such as slamming cell doors, locks, alarms, metal detectors, handcuffs and shackles). I composed this piece after three years of mentoring the youths on creativity and collaborative citizenship.
I hope you find delight in my music!
From Philip to me about everyone at Emusers:
Thank you very much for letting me know about Emusers; it's fascinating and it's so good to know there's such a vibrant community of new music listeners sharing their selections and opinions.
- And finally track 5 from the album:
A techno tone poem on the voices and sounds of youth in detention
Handcuffs, metal detectors and slamming cell doors become unusual musical instruments, and incarcerated teenagers become a streetwise chorus in composer Phillip Bimstein's three-movement musical work based on his volunteer work with youths confined in the Washington County Youth Crisis Center.
Bimstein was awarded the three-year New Residencies grant from Meet the Composer to write music about communities near his home in southern Utah. As an outgrowth of his arts residency Bimstein made weekly visits to the Washington County Youth Crisis Center, where he mentored the young inmates on creativity, leadership and collaborative citizenship (Bimstein also served two terms as the mayor of Springdale).
Bimstein was deeply affected by his work with the confined teenagers and felt their stories deserved be to be heard. During his visits Bimstein taped interviews in which the youths expressed their fears, regrets about past crimes, and hopes for the future. Later he transferred these recordings to his computer. With an ear to their pitches and rhythmic patterns he then wove their voices into a musical and narrative fabric.
He also recorded a wide range of sounds in the detention center: slamming cell doors, electronic locks, ratcheting handcuffs, metal detectors, alarms, and the guards’ walkie talkies. Bimstein digitally processed these sounds on his computer, exploring and mining their musical potential to create a full palette of tone and percussion. He then composed Lockdown! with funding from the Utah Arts Council’s Artist Grant program.
Bimstein’s “alternative classical” music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Abravanel Hall and London’s Royal Opera House. His works often explore social issues and tell stories in the subjects’ own voices. As a songwriter, records by his Chicago new wave rock band, Phil ‘n’ the Blanks, were college radio and MTV hits in the early 1980’s. Currently he writes songs for the chamber folk ensembles blue haiku and Red Rock Rondo. He combines these influences in Lockdown!
Robyn Schulkowsky, New Music's high
priestess of percussion, and Joey Baron, one of the liveliest and most
creative drummers in New York's Downtown scene, come from very different
avant-garde traditions. Yet in meshing their talents when they play,
categories blur – or rather dissolve. What they bring with them is a
kind of oceanic experience.
Joey Baron is at home in contemporary jazz. He is one of John
Zorn's favorite drummers and can often be heard alongside Bill Frisell;
he played with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Jim Hall and Carmen McRae;
and has also spanned the Atlantic in his recent work with Jakob Bro as
well as made a CD in duet with Irène Schweizer on Intakt Records. Robyn
Schulkowsky moved from the USA to Europe, where she collaborated on and
brought to life the works of New Music's greats. There is hardly a
high-ranking avant-garde composer missing from the list: she has worked
with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mauricio Kagel, John Cage, Morton Feldman,
Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio, Christian Wolff. From the very beginning
she was a sound innovator.
Now You Hear Me. Invocative, making the presence of a condition
felt, appropriating and relinquishing – everyday reality and ritual.
Now.
Comments
”Performed by the incredible, illustrious Jack Quartet
- Cold Blue Music.
“Everything That Rises, my fourth string quartet, grew out of Sila: The Breath of the World—a concert-length choral/orchestral work I composed on a rising series of 16 harmonic clouds. This music traverses that same territory, but in a much more melodic way. Each musician is a soloist, playing throughout. Time floats and the lines spin out, always rising, in acoustically perfect intervals that grow progressively smaller as they spiral upward…until the music dissolves into the soft noise of the bows, sighing.”
Two of the five other works confront Feldman's textless choral singing with words. These, however, carry their own special musical intent. Three early twelve-tone gems [Three Statements] of Will Ogdon (1921 - 2013) move with Walt Whitman "into the wordless . . . away from books, away from art," and reluctantly away from human desire, as embodied in the central poem by Thomas Campion. Robert Carl's (b. 1954) The City brings a transcendentalist layered sound to the mystical reflections of the architect Louis Sullivan, contemplating the natural and the built-human in the lake and city of Chicago.
The notion of wordless chorus fans out in varied directions in the other three works. As one of Feldman's closest associates in the New York School, Earle Brown (1926 - 2002) intrigues us as much for the stark differences from Feldman shown by his abstract choral mobiles (Small Pieces for Large Chorus). The Sound Patterns of Pauline Oliveros (1932 - 2016) are less abstract than their title might imply - moving in and out of singing itself into extended vocality, and towards newly-suggested verbal exclamations of a non-semantic kind. Warren Burt (b. 1949), a former student of both Oliveros and Ogdon at the University of California, San Diego, contributes with his Elegy the most recent piece, also the closest to Feldman's simple successions of chorale-like chords. His harmonies, however, acquire their elegiac qualities from chromatic memories and their contradictions, moving along unfamiliar paths- New World Records
The Astra Choir
Drumming has been a speciality of the Group’s, even since the Group’s inception in 2006 for a performance of the work to mark Reich’s 70th birthday, so it makes a fitting first release for the newly launched Colin Currie Records.
The release coincides with the Group’s concert on 10 March at Saffron Hall in Saffron Walden, UK, where they’ll perform Clapping Music, Mallet Quartet and Drumming. Ahead of the performance, the Group will be doing a Facebook live session. Make sure you’re a fan on Facebook to keep up to date with the details
Funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, Steve Reich endorsed the project saying “it will be, I am sure, the best recording of Drumming ever made”.
Synergy Vocals
- My Two cents:Drumming is a piece that takes a very high level of skills, focus and concentration. Colin Currie Group is mastering them all to perfection.
detailed orchestral textures every set to paper.
Such visceral music demands visual expression and as part of this very special DVD/SACD release, Lückow Film, and an international team of animators directed by Morten Bartholdy bring Borup-Jørgensen's musical world to life.
Also included is the new film AXEL - a portrait of both the composer, and of mid-century Danish modernism featuring interviews with other composers, colleagues and friends, as well as excerpts from recent live performances of the music by Axel Borup-Jørgensen.
Born in Denmark and raised in Sweden, he was largely self-taught as a composer, emerging on the international spotlight in 1965 when his Nordic Summer Pastoral won first prize in the competition for a short orchestral work held by Denmarks Radio. While the avant-garde of the sixties exerted a strong influence on Borup-Jørgensen's sound world, he always followed his own intuition and obeyed his extraordinary sense of organizing sound combined with a passionate, almost mystical regard for nature.
As Borup-Jørgensen himself once said: 'To compose is not to do what one can; if anything good is to come out of it, one must surpass oneself' – all of the contributors to this special DVD/SACD release of Marin have surpassed every expectation and limitation!
Axel Borup Jørgensen (1924 - 2012)
Szymon Brzóska: Migrations
From Szymon's website:"MIGRATIONS presents a number of my chamber works written for contemporary dance performances, ranging from the nervous energy of minimalism to the rich chromaticism of expressionism. Each piece is structured with clarity and intimacy, drawing the listener in, taking us on an exhilarating journey or offering moments of contemplation."
Olga Wojciechowska - I Violin
Emanuel Salvador - II Violin
Emilia Goch Salvador - Viola
Tomasz Szczęsny - Cello
Barbara Drążkowska - Piano
ETA: Maybe there's 2 Olga's ? . . . ETA2: No, not likely . . .
- Wonderful track . . . Thanks !
For three retuned, computer-driven pianos
The Lessing Is Miracle
This is one of those tracks that qualifies this album as a candidate to album of the year 2018
Clarise Jensen - For This From That Will Be Filled
Building on a long and romantic tradition of solo cello repertoire, Jensen expands and confuses the familiar sound of the cello through the use of effects pedals, multi-tracking, and tape loops recorded at variable speeds, presented in works she has written for herself as well as a piece she conceived together with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Also featured is Michael Harrison’s Cello Constellations for multi-tracked cello and sine tones, written for Jensen, which meditates on long, sustaining tones.
With For this from that will be filled, Jensen has made an incredibly strong first album that feels like a surreal and futuristic journey through an alternate timeline.
ACME at Emusers
"Over the course of a decade, Bang on a Can founding composer Michael Gordon has collaborated with the world-renowned Kronos Quartet on a series of provocative works that have sought to stretch, bend and otherwise reshape the boundaries of modern classical music. Clouded Yellow assembles these works for the first time, perfectly encapsulating the breadth and complexity of this long-standing creative partnership. Clouded Yellow features four pieces written for Kronos by Gordon: the title track (composed in 2010), Exalted (2010), The Sad Park (2006) and Potassium (2000). The title of the first refers to the clouded yellow butterfly, which is known in England for its mass migrations; the word 'clouded' is also meant to describe the blurred harmonies and melodies of the piece. 'Potassium' is for amplified string quartet and electronics, with a fuzz box used throughout to lend a mysterious distortion to the sound. 'The Sad Park' is accompanied by recordings of children ages 3 to 4 and their responses to the tragic events of 9/11. 'Exalted', which also features the Young People's Chorus of New York City conducted by Francisco J. Núñez, sets the opening of the Jewish Kaddish in Aramaic, connecting the choral voices of mourning to those of the children in 'The Sad Park'."
Composers: Adam Basanta, Beavan Flanagan, Taylor Brook
Duncan Schouten
Three of the works on the album feature solo instruments with ensemble: steel pan (Dave Gerhart), guitar (Dieter Hennings), and piano (Eunmi Ko). The combinations afford a wide range of possibilities, from the aggressive noise of a cymbal on piano strings, and peaceful meditations created by finger cymbals gently buzzing on a vibraphone, to the curious thump of a person falling onto a bass drum.
Death Is an Adviser is one of a series of works modeled after the shamanistic philosophies described by anthropologist Carlos Castaneda in his writings about being an apprentice to the sorcerer Don Juan Matus in the 1960s.
Sekhon writes:
“I have been heavily influenced by the teachings of Don Juan, specifically those found in the book Journey to Ixtlan. “Death Is an Adviser” is a chapter from the book that deals with the awareness of death and how such awareness advises our decision-making in life. The movement titles each have double meanings, which reflect both the philosophy that inspired the piece and the compositional process. I am interested in finding ways for my creative work as a composer and other life activities to intersect and become the same. For this piece, in an effort to work and spend time with my family at once, my daughters and wife drew numbers from a hat to determine pitch orderings, durations, and contour. After selecting numbers for pitch and duration, and combining them, we’d run to the piano to play it and hear how it turned out – we made a game out of it.”
- Innova Recordings
Baljinder Sekhon
. . . . .“Sylvia Songs” is both an offering and an archive, a memorial and a reverie. It is a meditation on the nostalgia of place, and an exploration of the complexities of mental health and loss.
“Dream” is a musical journey through the sound of the electric guitar in American concert music, based on sonic research and on the simplicity and beauty of the electric guitar timbre and colors.
Sorrentino’s transcription of Dream by John Cage opens the program. This version demonstrates the pure beauty of the electric guitar’s clean sound with only the addition of light reverb. This is the first CD release for the lost electric guitar composition by Morton Feldman, The Possibility of a New Work for Electric Guitar. Originally composed for Christian Wolff, it was reconstructed by guitarist Seth Josel.
"I'm glad to announce that it will be released soon my new album on the important american label Mode Records (many important musicians have recorded for this label, among others, John Cage, Steve Lacy, Arditti Quartet, and important directors like Martin Scorsese chose Mode music for their movies).
My CD is called "Dream" - American Music for Electric Guitar (Mode 301). The album contains works for electric guitar by John Cage (my adaptation of "Dream"), David Lang, Jack Vees, Elliott Sharp, Alvin Curran, Morton Feldman (world premiere recording on physical CD of "The Possibility of a New Work for Electric Guitar"), Christian Wolff (complete works for solo electric guitar and the premiere of "Going West"), Larry Polansky, Van Stiefel."Music is so much fun!!
A BIS release, for a change:
Composed almost 30 years earlier, Piano Concerto No. 1 reflects the composer's interest at the time in numerology, and specifically in so-called cyclic numbers. The colourful and exciting work is however anything but cerebral. Soloist is Sonja Fräki, who chose Aho's music for piano as the subject of her doctoral studies, and whose recording of the solo works (BIS-2106) was released to great acclaim in 2015. With the two works on this disc, no less than 16 concertos by Aho are available from BIS, in recordings that have been praised by reviewers worldwide, and received distinctions including the prestigious ECHO Klassik Award
Kalevi Aho
'Under The Tree' was selected as the Icelandic entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards. The soundtrack won the Best Original Soundtrack of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards 2017.
- Emusic
THE INSIDE STORY: David Taddie and FANCY COLORS
- Ravello Records
Balancing diverse musical elements with the virtuosity of a skilled playwright, Barton takes the listener on a journey that pushes the boundaries of established genre definitions. The opening track, Breeding in Pieces, starts out with a deceptively familiar early 2000's indie rock (!) sound – only to lead, like a will-o'-the-wisp, into the alluring sound of Eroding Mountains, in which a suave 1960's-style radio presenter voice juxtaposed with dissonant plucked strings creates an atmosphere of tangible unease.
For those who prefer their serving of destiny to be accompanied by a side dish of jocular existential absurdity, Opus Palladianum ticks all the boxes, offering a well-structured, soothing respite soon taken over by synthesizers and rhythmic experimentation. In many ways, STYLISTIC ALCHEMIES is a work of contrasts and the reconciliation of opposites: for Steps that Grow When Climbed is equally bleak and colorful, interrupted only by the occasional glimpse of harmonic resolution, impressively building up to a harrowing climax in which rhythm and melody eventually triumph over the chaos.
Carried by Currents could well be the soundtrack to an intriguing dream, its themes appearing and dissolving in logical successions but retaining an atmosphere of wavering physicality, at times walking a tightrope which seemingly spans an almost classicist aesthetic. The aptly titled Effusion, on the other hand, may hold interest with a recurring theme (quite the rarity on an album as diverse as this), but the instrumentation and compelling rhythm convey a mood more reminiscent of a psychedelic night out.
Scott Barton's work indubitably succeeds in transcending the limits of contemporary composition: STYLISTIC ALCHEMIES wants to be, and is, more than electroacoustic chamber music – it is a journey through the possibilities of artistic expression.
- Ravello Records.
Scott Barton
Rural tradition meets hi tech in this pairing of extremes by master improvisor, Esther Lamneck. Both provocative and mesmerizing, her agility on this underappreciated folk instrument is without equal. When interfaced with live electronic processing, furthermore, she surely reaches sonic territories where no one has gone before. Six electroacoustic composers, from Italy to Brazil, and her home base in New York, have collaborated with Lamneck on this journey.
The tárogató is a single reed woodwind instrument with a hauntingly beautiful sound. It is originally a folk instrument from the regions of Hungary and Romania whose music has been handed down aurally; references to folk art and gypsy melodies are woven throughout this album. The instrument provides a rich sound, full of harmonics, and Lamneck has managed to extend the range by an octave. Because it does not have the extensive key mechanism of a clarinet or saxophone, there are many glissandos and otherwise impossible techniques available.
Lamneck explains, “In this album, Tárogató Constructions, each composer has designed a musical world which reacts to what I play by triggering electronic sounds which then influence the direction of my improvisational composition. All of these musical environments have propelled me to use the extreme sonic possibilities of the tárogató.”
- Innova Recordings
Recorded Live at KPFA, Berkeley, CA on November 6, 1980
Jerry Hunt – electronics, percussion, piano, vocalizations
Released July 27, 2018
- Special thanks to Rod Stasick (aka. @rostasi ) and Michael Schell for their support and guidance
Modern Hit Series 2018
I’m very excited and honored that Other Minds (the San Francisco organization devoted to innovative music by composers from all over the world) has just released Angels, Cats & Shackles, a digital album of three of my alternative classical works, on their Modern Hits label.
You can listen to and/or download the tracks here:
othermindsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ang…-shackles
You can also hear the album on Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music.
The album includes these three works:
"Cats in the Kitchen"—performed by Michele Fiala and Heidi Pintner—for flute, oboe, meows, purrs, cracked eggs, sliced onions, buttered toast, sizzling skillets, spoons, knives, pepper grinder, toaster oven, pots, pans, draining dishwater, and pretty much everything else in the kitchen "sync." The sound score also features feline duets and trios, cat food crunches, waterdrums, and my partner Charlotte Bell speaking to her beloved cat, Fiona McGee.
“Angels in the Cracks"—a soundscape composed from the mysterious beckoning sounds hidden within everyday things.
"Lockdown!"—composed from the voices of youths (expressing their feelings, fears, regrets, hopes and love for their mothers) who were confined in a youth crisis center, and the sounds of their jailed environment (such as slamming cell doors, locks, alarms, metal detectors, handcuffs and shackles). I composed this piece after three years of mentoring the youths on creativity and collaborative citizenship.
I hope you find delight in my music!
Handcuffs, metal detectors and slamming cell doors become unusual musical instruments, and incarcerated teenagers become a streetwise chorus in composer Phillip Bimstein's three-movement musical work based on his volunteer work with youths confined in the Washington County Youth Crisis Center.
Bimstein was awarded the three-year New Residencies grant from Meet the Composer to write music about communities near his home in southern Utah. As an outgrowth of his arts residency Bimstein made weekly visits to the Washington County Youth Crisis Center, where he mentored the young inmates on creativity, leadership and collaborative citizenship (Bimstein also served two terms as the mayor of Springdale).
Bimstein was deeply affected by his work with the confined teenagers and felt their stories deserved be to be heard. During his visits Bimstein taped interviews in which the youths expressed their fears, regrets about past crimes, and hopes for the future. Later he transferred these recordings to his computer. With an ear to their pitches and rhythmic patterns he then wove their voices into a musical and narrative fabric.
He also recorded a wide range of sounds in the detention center: slamming cell doors, electronic locks, ratcheting handcuffs, metal detectors, alarms, and the guards’ walkie talkies. Bimstein digitally processed these sounds on his computer, exploring and mining their musical potential to create a full palette of tone and percussion. He then composed Lockdown! with funding from the Utah Arts Council’s Artist Grant program.
Bimstein’s “alternative classical” music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Abravanel Hall and London’s Royal Opera House. His works often explore social issues and tell stories in the subjects’ own voices. As a songwriter, records by his Chicago new wave rock band, Phil ‘n’ the Blanks, were college radio and MTV hits in the early 1980’s. Currently he writes songs for the chamber folk ensembles blue haiku and Red Rock Rondo. He combines these influences in Lockdown!
Joey Baron is at home in contemporary jazz. He is one of John Zorn's favorite drummers and can often be heard alongside Bill Frisell; he played with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Jim Hall and Carmen McRae; and has also spanned the Atlantic in his recent work with Jakob Bro as well as made a CD in duet with Irène Schweizer on Intakt Records. Robyn Schulkowsky moved from the USA to Europe, where she collaborated on and brought to life the works of New Music's greats. There is hardly a high-ranking avant-garde composer missing from the list: she has worked with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mauricio Kagel, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio, Christian Wolff. From the very beginning she was a sound innovator.
Now You Hear Me. Invocative, making the presence of a condition felt, appropriating and relinquishing – everyday reality and ritual. Now.