- "Following the very successful and critically acclaimed Dusk and Dark, comes Julia Rovinsky's third solo harp album - Dawn. The album features her versions to pieces by John Cage, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Gavin Bryars and Uri Brener. None of these pieces was originally written for a harp.
The album was produced by Lior Suliman and Tal Weiss, engineered by Yoram Vazan and mastered by the legendary Greg Calbi." http://ent-t.com - Bandcamp
Julia Rovinsky - "Born in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), Julia graduated from the Rimski-Korsakov Academy of Music and in 1988 she won the national harp competition in Moscow. She was harpist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Leningrad and appeared as a soloist throughout Russia. Since moving to Israel, Julia has become a central figure on Israel's concert scene and appears regularly as soloist and in many chamber music ensembles. Since 2003 she is the Principal Harpist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Julia's debut single, Six Wings Of Bliss, is part of the acclaimed singles series Allergy To Consciousness. Based on Geoff Smith's composition to Emily Brontë's words, it features two versions - one of them is with soprano singer Hila Baggio.
Julia's first solo album, Dusk, featured eight "Close up" versions of pieces by Philip Glass, J. S. Bach, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Nicolas Flagello, Sergey Prokofiev, Harold Budd & Brian Eno. The album received enthusiastic reactions from both media and listeners in many countries.
Her second solo album, Dark, features pieces by Harold Budd, Philip Glass, Munir Bashir, Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich. The album was also released to rave reviews.
- "Composer Nick Brookes sweeping and epic Border Towns exists at its own kind of border: a place where chance meets meaning, where the detritus of popular culture meets the compositional process, where a chorus of seven voices meets chunks and fragments of familiar music, in the process becoming strange and revelatory. Border Towns is an encyclopedic mash-up of Americana, a collision of recordings from the geographical and psychological edges. Yodels, anthems, ambient sounds & fringe broadcasts are layered in perfect lockstep with singers, who meld their voices with a sampled collage of sound effects, songs, and musical ephemera.
Brookes suite (originally performed live as a stage version at HERE in New York) was inspired by the border blasters of the 1950s: giant radio transmitters placed just over the border in Mexico, beyond U.S. jurisdiction, with the intention of blasting culture directly into American homes. Far more powerful than U.S. stations, they often overwhelmed local stations as far north as Minnesota and New York City.
As the New York Times observed, [Brooke] intricately mashes up a dense collection of familiar and obscure musical quotations along with commonplace noises to make a fascinating score. Intertwined with a chorus of seven singers, the work moves in fits and starts in places before rising to towering crescendo then crashing into silence again. Each piece may be a fragment, but the whole is something altogether different, at once familiar and alien, and an intriguing exploration of musical Americana from the 1940s to the present." Innova Recordings - Soundcloud - Soundcloud 2 - http://www.nbrooke.com/
- "Border Towns began as an encyclopedic mash-up of musical Americana. I was intrigued by
those people who were chosen, willingly or not, to map America: Copland, Dylan, Robeson,
Springsteen, Montana, Anderson, Foster, yet whose song meanings had been bent to new ends
in the popular ear. I started with the question what is listened to here? In every town, that
question gets answered differently, depending on whether you are scanning the airwaves, at a
school, or visiting a historical society. More often than not, whats offered up as local are
representations: Gene Autry is sold in one town; mariachi, now silent in some ways, becomes
a borderlands icon.
Musical locality could have vanished long before the internet or MP3 in the age of the border
blaster; those 100+kW transmitters, placed just over the border in Mexico, that were designed
to be heard as far as Minnesota and New York. They beamed country and R & B in the 50s and
60s, songs sometimes rarely heard on U.S. airwaves. Some singers such as Patsy Montana had
a second career, just over the border, on these X-stations.
Border Towns began with a collection of musical samples and physical gestures, collected on
visits to 11 towns at the literal fringes of the U.S. Interviews, radio station monitoring,
historical society visits, sound walks, and statistical research all contributed to this
collection. Im not interested in portraying any border towns, but instead in creating an
alternate musical universe that reinvents Americana, and that questions how we hear and see
location in music. Turning documentarians such as Lomax on their heads, Ive gone out,
collected recordings that were presented to me as local, and reassembled them into
traditions of my own making."
- Nick Brooke from the linernotes.
On New Amsterdam: - "There is no Bach on Baroque; no Handel, Telemann or Vivaldi. This is the music of the 21st Century, not the 17th, and the composers are violist Nadia Sirotas friendswho just happen to include some of the most respected musicians of our own moment.
The six pieces on Baroque were written with Sirotas distinctive sound in mind and recorded (by her longtime collaborators at Bedroom Community) to exaggerate the idiosyncracies of her tone. Fellow labelmates Nico Muhly, Daníel Bjarnason and Paul Corley provide three pieces, while composers Judd Greenstein, Shara Worden and Missy Mazzoli provide the other three.
Baroque , as the title of the album, references a number of things; the concerto form - balancing a soloist against ensemble accompaniment - is an invention of the Baroque era, so while there are concerti here, of a sort, theyre concerti of a decidedly more portable variety. Both Judd Greensteins In Teaching Others We Teach Ourselves, whose intimate ensemble accompaniment opens the album with a different paradigm of solo versus tutti than more famous efforts in the form, and the self-aware symphonics of Daníel Bjarnasons
Sleep Variations, which closes the disc, build Sirotas virtual backup band from the overdubbed sound of her own playing. Theres also something very Baroque about the style of pieces like From the Invisible to the Visible, by Shara Worden (Clogs, My Brightest Diamond), and Tooth and Nail by Missy Mazzoli, two radically different pieces that are both about the elaborate ornamentation of slowly moving harmonies.
Sirotas approach to the instrument owes something to recent trends in Baroque playing. She can keep her bow-hand light and her left hand still, for a gin-dry sound. Its a sound prized by, among others, Nico Muhly who thinks of Sirota as his most trusted interpreteranother reason being the sort of rhythmic precision his Étude 3 demands, with an almost wicked glee. Paul Corley creates a piece to which timbre is so central that the voice of Sirotas instrument seems as much a part of the composition as the notes she plays. His Tristan da Cunhadark, extreme, and alarmingly detailedis Baroque in the sense of Brueghel-esque.
Which leads us to the one thing all of these pieces have in common: that level of detail. Words like complex, applied to music, too often suggest a level of intricacy designed to confound, whereas each of the works Sirota brings together here offers an audible clarity of purpose. So lets instead say that these worksto whatever extent they may recall the Baroqueare instead exquisitely baroque, each concerto, miniature or soundscape realized with extravagant intricacy."
- Bedroom Community @ Bandcamp.
- "Hailed by the New York Times as a bold new-music interpreter and the violist of choice among downtown ensembles these days, violist Nadia Sirota has been praised for her command and eloquence, (Boston Globe) and for being one of New Yorks brightest, busiest players (Time Out New York). She is best known for her unique interpretations of new scores and for commissioning and premiering works by some of the most talented composers of her generation, including Marcos Balter, Caleb Burhans, Judd Greenstein, Missy Mazzoli, and Nico Muhly.
Her debut album, First Things First (New Amsterdam Records), a collection of vital, imaginative recent scores (NYTimes) was a New York Times 2009 record of the year.
A regular guest with such groups as The Meredith Monk Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound and Continuum, she is a founding member of ACME (the American Contemporary Music Ensemble), yMusic, and the Wordless Music Orchestra.
In addition to performing classical concert music, Nadia has performed with such songwriters and bands as Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Stars of the Lid, The Swell Season, Sam Amidon, Doveman, Bryce Dessner, Gabriel Kahane, Ben Frost, and Valgeir Sigurðsson, and can be heard on new and recent albums by Grizzly Bear, Jónsi, The National, Ratatat, Doveman, My Brightest Diamond, and Arcade Fires Grammy-winning album The Suburbs.
She received her undergraduate and Masters degrees from the Juilliard School, where she performed as co-founder of the AXIOM ensemble, initiated the Castleman/Amory/Huang studios New Music Project, and created the Juilliard Plays Juilliard program for student composers and performers. After winning the top prize in Juilliards 2005 concerto competition, Nadia performed Hindemiths Der Schwanendreher with conductor Marin Alsop and the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall. As a chamber musician, Nadia has collaborated with such artists as Joseph Kalichstein, Itzhak Perlman, and the Silk Road Ensemble, as well as with members of Kronos Quaret, the Chiara Quartet, and the Peabody Trio. In the fall of 2007, Nadia joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music for its new Masters Program in Contemporary Music Performance.
In addition to her work as a performer and educator, Nadia hosts Nadia Sirota on Q2, a weekday show devoted to contemporary music on WQXRs internet radio stream Q2. Winner of the 2010 ASCAP Deems Taylor award in radio and internet broadcasting, Nadias show was described by Alex Ross (The Rest is Noise, The New Yorker) as radio we can believe in. http://www.nadiasirota.com - New Amsterdam - First Things First @ Bandcamp
More Bedroom Community, The debut album from Paul Corley (composer of track 5 on the previously posted Nadia Sirota album) All songs written and produced by Paul Corley Mix - Valgeir Sigurðsson, Paul Corley, and Paul Evans Mastering - Valgeir Sigurðsson Additional Engineering - Paul Evans Guitar on 2, 3, 4. Programming on 1, 3 - Ben Frost Contrabass on 1, 3, 4 - Borgar Magnasson Guitar & Programming on 2 - Matthew Collings
- "Disquiet is the debut album of American composer, sound recordist and engineer Paul Corley.
Disquiet is music that never settles. Music that makes the listener fiercely attentive to the present, to the very idea of listening. It takes some doing, and some patience, to produce an atmosphere so unearthly and yet so radiant, to organise fragmented - sometimes found - sounds into such sparse, sustained and spiritual coherence. As we listen to Corley listening to himself listen and seek a fixed genre point for this music, we perhaps rub together glitch, drone, sound art, post rock and alt-classical, and an as yet unspecified genre called ‘hazard a guess’, and then employ our own discretion.
Although Disquiet is Paul Corley’s first album on Bedroom Community, he is no stranger to the label. Having collaborated extensively with the Bedroom Community collective since 2007, the label is proud to add Corley to the intimate roster that now comprises of seven highly original artists. Disquiet is a welcome addition to the catalogue; at the same time an album of delicate, primal (prepared) piano variations, a sequence of exquisitely reflective slow songs, and a metaphysical field recording where resonances are set off by real and imaginary geographical features. The album seems to be the recording of a dream, not necessarily Corley’s own, as if he slipped into the mind of someone asleep and calmly set up his equipment. Disquiet suggests a walk through an icy wasteland under a darkening sky, with unspecified creatures lurking at the edge of vision, a drifting walk that ends in the shadows of a vaguely familiar deserted city. Some might discern in the distance the footsteps of Morton Feldman who has once passed nearby or is about to, or might spot some wires discarded by Chris Watson and a question or two written into the sand by Anton Webern.
When asked whether this is music representing something coming into being - a growing in confidence or something dissolving into deep, equivocal quiet beyond which there is only space - the answer is simple, yet complex. “Both at the same time,” Corley replies - somewhere between hazarding a guess, and knowing for sure." - Bedroom Community @ Bandcamp - http://paulcorley.bandcamp.com/ - Soundcloud
Totally brilliant and free for an email on Bandcamp: - "The Pomegranate Cycle is the debut album from Textile Audio a solo project by composer, mezzo soprano and sound engineer Eve Klein. It is a space for wild, romantic experiments in ambient electronica and post-classical forms.
The Pomegranate Cycle is woven from song, sound textures and fragmented orchestration a fragile, ebbing work, part sonic and part myth. The Pomegranate Cycle uses poetry and abstract language to convey a felt sense of narrative. It traces opera and the ghosts of women whose lives have been touched by violence. Elements of the Persephone story are strewn through symphonic timbres and ruptured with grain and glitch. A girl collecting flowers is stolen, transfigured, a mother seeks her lost child, and wreaks vengeance.
This is a new kind of opera. It deals with the genres inability to reconcile its institutions and outmoded vision of romance with contemporary audiences. It rejects the gendered violence of opera, perpetuated in the tropes of dying sopranos. The Pomegranate Cycle embodies a new kind operatic heroine, who lives, reflects and heals. She is the spark for a womens centered opera, a highly configurable and living tradition where the singer is the composer and producer simultaneously. . . ." Wood & Wire - FMA
- "Eve Klein has been a renegade romantic since childhood. Eves solo project, Textile Audio, is the fruition of a lifetime of daydreams, opera and wanderings in the Australian wilderness. Textile Audio weaves together orchestral scores, field recordings, opera and pop vocals to take the listener on a rich melodic and emotional journey.
Eve has been working as a professional operatic mezzo soprano, electronic musician and absent-minded academic since 2002. In 2012 Eve toured with Opera Australias Oz Opera performing nearly 300 shows as Hansel, Mother, Sand Fairy and Witch in Humperdinks opera Hansel and Gretel. Textile Audio compositions have been featured on radio around Australia, included on movie soundtracks, and released through Feral Media, Mess+Noise, Cyclic Defrost, New Weird Australia and Wood & Wire." http://www.textileaudio.com
David T. Little - Soldier Songs
Performers:
Newspeak, David Adam Moore & Todd Reynolds.
- "David T. Littles Soldier Songs is an evening-length opera-theatre work exploring the perceptions versus the realities of war through the eyes of an abstract character, the soldier. Based on interviews with veterans of five wars conducted by the composer, Soldier Songs traces the path of the soldier through three phases of lifeYouth (playing war games) Warrior (time served in the military) and Elder (aged, wise, reflective). It is an unflinching statement, exploring the loss and exploitation of innocence, and the difficulty of ever truly expressing or representing the truth of war.
Produced by Lawson White and featuring frequent collaborators David Adam Moore, Todd Reynolds and Littles crack ensemble Newspeak, Soldier Songs asks tough questions and tells tough stories through its driving music and its poignant libretto. Approached as album, rather than a document of live performance, Soldier Songs is a moving and personal experience that leaves no one untouched.
Soldier Songs was commissioned by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, who premiered the original version of the work in 2006 conducted by Brett Mitchell and directed by Kevin Noe. The version of the work presented on this recording was completed for the Beth Morrison Projects production, and premiered at the 2011 International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, conducted by Todd Reynolds and directed by Yuval Sharon. The fully-staged New York City premiere of the work took place at the PROTOTYPE Festival in January, 2013."
DAVID T. LITTLEs potently dramatic music draws upon his experience as a rock drummer, and fuses classical and popular idioms to powerful effect. Often undertaking existential themes, his music has been described by The New York Times as dramatically wild...rustling, raunchy and eclectic, showing real imagination. New Yorker critic Alex Ross declared himself completely gripped, noting that "every bad-ass new-music ensemble in the city will want to play him. Littles first full-length opera, Dog Days, premiered this fall to rave reviews: "This gripping two-hour opera...wastes no time: A taut libretto and varied, original music deliver its grim story like a punch in the stomach" (Heidi Waleson, Wall Street Journal). Upcoming projects include new works for the London Sinfonietta, Kronos Quartet, Maya Beiser, Nadia Sirota, and others. His music has been performed internationally, heard at the Tanglewood, Aspen, and Cabrillo Festivals, and the Bang on a Can Marathon. Advocates include eighth blackbird, the London Sinfonietta, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Alarm Will Sound, and Marin Alsop, with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He recently received his doctorate from Princeton University, and is a member of the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP). His music is published by Project Schott New York." Innova Recordings - Soundcloud - ICIYL Spring "mixtape" - Soundcloud 2
Mohammad - Som Sakrifis - "Following on from their previous releases (the highly regarded 'Roto Vildblomma' CD and the 'Spiriti' 3LP box, both on Antifrost) 'Som Sakrifis' follows the trio through three tracks of deep space experimentation where the acoustic and electronic blend together as a monumental whole. Listening to 'Som Sakrifis' takes the listener on an expansive journey through the netherworld of the low range whilst retaining distinct traces of musicality. The time and space in these works have a logic more akin to that of Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr than any contemporary music references. Monumental monochromatic movement is the order of the day. Sit back, strap in and let these fine explorers take you way out into the nether world."
- http://www.pan-act.com/ - Touching Extremes review
MOHAMMAD - " is a chamber music trio consisting of Coti K (contrabass), ILIOS (oscillators) and Nikos Veliotis (cello). Based in Greece, Mohammad make long form work drone works that explore the lower end of the frequency spectrum whilst retaining an intense emotional capacity. The results are monumental slow moving physical blocks of sound, both daunting and musical. The sheer weight of these recordings is impressive, the interplay of the musicians and instruments staggering, this end result being an album rich with immense harmonious abstraction which highlights years of dedication to their unique path. Soundcloud - http://www.mohammad.gr
This one from BMOP (Boston Modern Orchestra Project) is free for download (160 kbps) on the Soundcloud link below (at least for the time being) . . . - "This BMOP/sound release spotlights the only mature orchestral compositions written by the award-winning, American neo-classical composer Martin Boykan. Symphony for Orchestra evokes a day in the life with the four movements representing the dawn, daylight hours, dusk and night. In the coda which features Grammy and Emmy Award-winning baritone Sanford Sylvan singing a setting of Keatss sonnet To Sleep, the music turns back to its beginning in order to suggest an end to the darkness and the birth of a new dawn, explains Boykan. As the Boston Globe described its an engrossing, evolving thicket of vaulting lines; even at its sparsest, theres always some bit of angular counterpoint shadowing events. Written 14 years after the Symphony, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra received its premiere in 2009 by BMOP and features one of todays most versatile violinists Curtis Macomber serving as the voice around which the argument of the music is constantly turning.
- Soundcloud
- "Martin Boykan studied composition with Walter Piston, Aaron Copland, and Paul Hindemith, and piano with Eduard Steuermann. He received a BA from Harvard University, 1951, and an MM from Yale University, 1953. In 1953-55 he was in Vienna on a Fulbright Fellowship, and upon his return founded the Brandeis Chamber Ensemble whose other members included Robert Koff (Juilliard Quartet), Nancy Cirillo (Wellesley), Eugene Lehner (Kolisch Quartet), and Madeline Foley (Marlboro Festival). This ensemble performed widely with a repertory divided equally between contemporary music and the tradition. At the same time Boykan appeared regularly as a pianist with soloists such as Joseph Silverstein and Jan de Gaetani. In 1964-65, he was the pianist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Boykan has written for a wide variety of instrumental combinations including four string quartets, a concerto for large ensemble, many trios, duos and solo works, song cycles for voice and piano as well as voice and other instruments, and choral music. His symphony for orchestra and baritone solo was premiered by the Utah Symphony in 1993. His work is widely performed and has been presented by almost all of the current new music ensembles including the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the New York New Music Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, the League-ISCM, Earplay, Musica Viva and Collage New Music.
He received the Jeunesse musicales award for his String Quartet No. 1 in 1967, and the League-ISCM award for Elegy in 1982. Other awards include a Rockefeller grant, NEA award, Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fulbrights, as well as a recording award and the Walter Hinrichsen Publication Award from the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1994 he was awarded a Senior Fulbright to Israel. He has received numerous commissions from chamber ensembles as well as commissions from the Koussevitsky Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Fromm Foundation.
At present Boykan is the Irving G. Fine Professor of Music at Brandeis University. He has been Composer-in-Residence at the Composer's Conference in Wellesley and a Visiting Professor at Columbia University, New York University and Bar-Ilan University (Israel). He has served on many panels, including the Rome Prize, the Fromm Commission, the New York Council for the Arts (CAPS) and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Over the years he has taught many hundreds of students including such well-known composers as Steve Mackey, Peter Lieberson, Ross Bauer and Marjorie Merryman. Boykan was invited to lecture at the Jerusalem Academy and the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, during Dec. 2004 - Jan. 2005.
Recent publications include a volume of essays on music entitled Silence and Slow Time, and Usurpations for piano solo. Three artist books produced in collaboration with his wife, the artist Susan Schwalb, were recently purchased by the Music Division of the Library of Congress: City of Gold (flute solo), Flume (clarinet), and Nocturne (viola da gamba). BMOP - http://www.martinboykan.com - 5 Questions to Martin Boykan @ ICIYL
Another new album from BMOP (Boston Modern Orchestra Project), free for download (160 kbps), exept track 11 on the Soundcloud link below (at least for the time being) . . . - "One of the cornerstones of BMOP has been its exploration of the influence of non-Western cultures on contemporary orchestral music. In Toward That Endless Plain, composer Reza Vali aka the Iranian Béla Bartók, converges Persian folk and Western art music throughout his orchestrations. BMOP's association with Reza goes back to its first recording session, explains Gil Rose, Artistic Director of BMOP. It's always a pleasure to perform and record a piece of Reza's because of his inventiveness, conviction, and passion for his music and the music of his native Iran." The album opens with two re-imaginings of Persian folk songs for the rapturous mezzo-soprano Janna Baty: 1) Folk Songs, Set No. 8 featuring 12 pitched crystal glasses and influenced by the late romantic music of Wagner and Mahler; and 2) Folk Songs, Set No. 14 influenced by Debussy.
Unlike the Folk Songs, the eponymous Toward That Endless Plain highlights the opposition between Persian and Western musical elements by pitting a ney (one of the oldest pitched instruments and prominent in Middle Eastern music) against an orchestra. Utilizing the unique and difficult Persian technique, Style of Isfahan, is Persian ney master Khosrow Soltani. The pieces title and content were both inspired by a poem by the 20th-century Persian mystic poet Sohrab Sepehri." Soundcloud Album Booklet in PDF @ BMOP
- "Reza Vali was born in Ghazvin, Persia (Iran) in 1952. He began his music studies at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran. In 1972 he went to Austria and studied music education and composition at the Academy of Music in Vienna. After graduating from the Academy of Music, he moved to the United States and continued his studies at the University of Pittsburgh, receiving his Ph.D. in music theory and composition in 1985. Mr. Vali has been a faculty member of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University since 1988.
He has received numerous honors and commissions, including the honor prize of the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Sciences, two Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships, commissions from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, the Seattle Chamber Players, and the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, as well as grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pittsburgh Board of Public Education. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust as the Outstanding Emerging Artist for which he received the Creative Achievement Award. Vali's orchestral compositions have been performed in the United States by the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Baltimore Symphony, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra 2001. His chamber works have received performances by Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, the Seattle Chamber Players, and the Da Capo Chamber Players. His music has been performed in Europe, Chile, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Australia and is recorded on the Naxos, New Albion, MMC, Ambassador, Albany, and ABC Classics labels." http://www.rezavali.com
- "Sound-magic and continuous transformation are key elements in the music of Danish composer Niels Rosing-Schow (b. 1954). This world premiere recording by the leading French ensemble TM+ presents five of Rosing-Schow’s most profound compositions, all exploring the concept of time: time as motion, as process, as imprints or mapping – and time as space."
- "A lyrical, questing composer, distinctive among the younger composers for his Francophile orientation. His music lies between the two poles: an intellectual, rather ascetic discipline on the one hand and an urge towards the exuberant and improvisational on the other. With a direct quotation from the composer, it is "a music which is composed so that the felt and the known cannot be separated". Rosing-Schow's works are often exquisitely treated with delicately prepared instrumentation, clarity and a sensuous use of colour. He is therefore an obvious composer for the sinfonietta ensemble, and several of his sophisticated pieces for this configuration are today standard works in Danish music. With the same French-oriented elegance he writes for choir and larger orchestral ensembles. Two of his major works are the operas Brand (Fire) and Dommen (The Judgement).
Niels Rosing-Schow began his composing career in the early 1970s within the framework of the ‘Group for Alternative Music’. This loose association of Danish composers wanted to create an alternative, aesthetically and organizationally, to the more established contemporary music environment. The work Kinderlieder to texts by Bertold Brecht (1977) for female choir and an unconventional ensemble of seven instruments, with its tonal and polyrhythmic layering, its simple treatment of the texts and its bright atmosphere, is a typical expression of these tendencies.
At the beginning of the 1980s Rosing-Schow tended towards a more lyrically concentrated idiom in works like Trio per flauto, viola ed arpa (1983) and a number of vocal works. The works from the end of the eighties, including Double (1987) and the chamber opera Brand (1989) exhibit a growing interest in the outward-looking, gestural and dramatic aspects of music.
In the subsequent period, which began with the works Ritus I and Ritus II (1990), this was combined with formal processual thinking that also left its mark on Voix interieures (1991). In the course of the nineties the composer also assimilated elements of French-inspired ‘spectral’ harmony. This inspiration is most clearly expressed in the sinfonietta work ...sous les râles du vent d’Est (1992), in the work Archipel des solitudes for mezzo-soprano, choir and orchestra (1995) and in the violin concerto Trees (2000/01)."
] - "Since its first concert, which took place in 1986 at Radio-France under the baton of Laurent Cuniot, TM+ has made a name for itself as one of the first French ensembles dedicated to contemporary and classical repertoires. With a nucleus of twenty musicians, all remarkably versatile, and around fifteen musicians who join them every so often, TM+ tackles 18th-century chamber music as well as 20th-century classics and the most recent works. Since 1996, TM+ has been in residence at the Maison de la Musique de Nanterre, where it offers a concert season in addition to various cultural activities all over the city, such as concert encounters, concert lectures or commented rehearsals. Through its original programmes, its relationship with the public, and its emphasis on living composers, TM+ has created a developing musical structure in synch with the times, both refreshing the way we listen to works of the past and fostering the discovery of contemporary works. TM+ is supported by the French Ministry of Culture/DRAC Île-de-France, by the City of Nanterre, the Île-de-France Region and the Hauts-de-Seine Department. It also receives support from SACEM, SPEDIDAM, the French Music Export Offices and CultureFrance. MECENAT MUSICAL SOCIETE GENERALE is the main sponsor of TM+." Dacapo Records - http://www.tmplus.org
Free @ Soundcloud (320 kbps): About Euclid Quartet - "The Euclid Quartet is a stunning American quartet comprised of a multinational mix of members: violinist Jameson Cooper (UK), violinist Jacob Murphy (US), violist Luis Enrique Vargas (Venezuela), and cellist Si-Yan Darren Li (China). Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, Euclid has become one of the most well-regarded chamber ensembles of its generation whose performances are filled with passion, virtuosity, and sensitivity. Taking its name from Clevelands Euclid Avenue, this award-winning group holds the prestigious residency at the South Bend campus of Indiana University. Among the groups stops on tour have been Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Aspen Music Festival, and Osaka, Japan. Euclid was awarded an American Masterpieces grant from the NEA for its innovative educational programming." http://www.euclidquartet.com - Emusic
Fairly new (oct. 2012) by a totally mindblowing Vocal Ensemble:
Each work on the album highlights the group's virtuosity and polystylistic approach in a singular and mesmerizing manner, all set to pristine production courtesy of Grammy-nominated producer Jesse Lewis. From neo-alpine yodel on Rinde Eckerts Cescas View to Caleb Burhanss stirring post-minimalist take on bel canto singing in No, the album breathes fresh life into the a cappella landscape. One of this generations most dynamic vocal talents, Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, contri butes two electrifying compositions that explore a range of world-inspired grooves. African pygmy yodels, Inuit rhythmic pulsing, Appalachian hymn tunes, and bracing Eastern European belting all filter through her powerful compositional voice. Composer-to-watch Caroline Shaw uses her insider vantage as a Roomful vocalist to create four sonically exquisite and emotionally charged journeys through the Roomful soundworld. New Amsterdam co-directors William Brittelle, Judd Greenstein, and Sarah Kirkland Snider contribute as well: Brittelle's daring "Amid the Minotaurs" pushes and pulls before circling around a jaw-dropping soprano solo; Snider's otherworldly "The Orchard" intertwines haunting vocals with the text of poet Nathaniel Bellows; and Greenstein's three pieces explore the group's polyphony at its most lively, then later tender and affecting. Altogether, the album is a 13-piece showcase of the staggering range of this adve nturous ensemble, each work designed to let Roomful's blazingly unique skill set shine for an entirely unforgettable listening experience."
- "Roomful of Teeth is a vocal octet dedicated to re-imagining singing in the 21st century. Through study with vocal masters from non-classical from non-classical traditions the world over, Roomful of Teeth continually expands their vocabulary of singing techniques and, through an on-going commissioning project, invites todays brightest composers to create a repertoire without borders. Winners of the 2010 American Prize, two-time TimeOut New York Critics Pick and featured ensemble in the 2011 Merkin Hall Ecstatic Music Festival, the group brings audiences to their feet with vibrant performances of all-new music.
Founded in 2009 by Brad Wells, Roomful of Teeth consists of eight classically trained vocalists. At their annual residency at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA), the ensemble has studied Tuvan throat singing, belting and pop techniques, yodeling, Inuit throat singing and, in their summer 2012 residency, the group will coach with master singers from Sardinia and Korea. Commissioned composers include Rinde Eckert, Judd Greenstein, Caleb Burhans, Merrill Garbus (of tUnE-yArDs), William Brittelle and Sarah Kirkland Snider. Their first recording will be released on New Amsterdam Records in 2012.
A Roomful of Teeth concert feels less like a classical new music performance and more like an world music rock concert high wire act. Or perhaps just something completely different. A student at a recent college performance raved: It was no doubt one of the best concerts Ive ever been too; I was blown away by the singers and felt like I learned something new with every piece." New Amsterdam Records - Emusic
The first is from 1995 on a new label on Emusic called Hungaroton:
Amadinda Percussion Group - "was formed 1984 in Budapest, Hungary by four musicians who had just graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. Right from the start, besides performing significant pieces from the classical percussion repertoire, Amadinda has made it a point to inspire composers to create new works. Included among those who have dedicated a new piece for them, are three of the greatest names of the second half of the XXth century: John Cage, György Ligeti and Steve Reich.
These initial goals were soon extended by three new elements: research of traditional percussion cultures, composition of new music by the members of the ensemble and transcriptions of some great pieces from the history of classical music.
As a result, Amadinda has created a unique repertoire that has been enchanting audiences for 28 years, in 33 countries, on 4 continents, at venues including such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Wiener Konzerthaus (Vienna), Royal Albert Hall (London), National Concert Hall (Taipei), Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas) and Carnegie Hall (New York).
A truly outstanding achievement of Amadindas work is the complete recordings of the percussion works of John Cage on a series of 6 CDs, completed in 2011.
Amadinda has collaborated actively in the past 28 years with renowned artists like Peter Eötvös, Paul Hillier, Zoltán Kocsis, András Schiff, Éva Marton, György Kurtág, András Keller and James Wood. Nowadays Amadinda is regarded as one of the most original and versatile percussion groups in the world." http://www.amadinda.com
- The next one is from 2005: - "Signum Classics are proud to release the Smith Quartet's debut disc on Signum Records - Different Trains. The disc contains three of Steve Reich's most inspiring works: Triple Quartet for three string quartets, Reichs personal dedication to the late Yehudi Menuhin, Duet, and the haunting Different Trains for string quartet and electronic tape." Signum Records
IAN HUMPHRIES VIOLIN
RICK KOSTER VIOLIN
NIC PENDLEBURY VIOLA
DEIRDRE COOPER CELLO - "For over 20 years The Smith Quartet have been at the forefront of the worlds contemporary music scene.
They have developed a repertoire by some of the worlds most exciting composers and have established an international reputation for their dynamic style and original approach to contemporary music. . . ." http://www.smithquartet.com/
- "The radio opera "Day 54" has its origins in Georges Perecs last unfinished novel. Based primarily on the books of the author, the libretto for the opera reflects the complexity and power of the thought of Perec and wants to honor him.
The music, which draws its material in the classical instruments and electronic sounds is constructed in close relation with the literary world : it uses a lot of refernces, a complex editing, proliferation gestures aswell as minimal states.
The form of the work is conceived as a labyrinth, varying between understatement, palindromes and anagrams on one side, between free jazz, symphony orchestra and slam on the other...
Three actors take turn in three different languages, in what appears to be a "detective story" and slips into a vast universe which mixed echoes of history, mental speculation, jubilation of words and dizziness of numbers."
- "Pierre JODLOWSKI is a composer, performer and multimedia artist. His music, often marked by a high density, is at the crossroads of acoustic and electric sound and is characterized by dramatic and political anchor. His work as a composer led him to perform in France and abroad in most places dedicated to contemporary music aswell as others artistic fields, dance, theater, visual arts, electronic music. His work unfolds today in many areas : films, interactive installations, staging. He is defining his music as an "active process" on the physicall level [musical gestures, energy and space] and on the psychological level [relation to memory, and visual dimension of sound]. In parallel to his compositions, it also occurs for performance, solo or with other artists.
Since 1998 he is co-artistic director of éOle (studio and production center based in Odyssud - Cultural center in Blagnac) and Novelum festival in Toulouse." http://www.pierrejodlowski.com
Extremely powerful album from New Amsterdam Records, wholeheartedly recommended for people like Kargatron, Confused and likeminded . . .
Album of the year ? - could be.
Is this really classical ? - yes, and much more
Daniel Wohl - Corps Exquis - "Brooklyn-based electroacoustic composer/performer Daniel Wohl, praised as one of his generations imaginative and skillful creators (The New York Times), will release his debut album Corps Exquis June 25 on New Amsterdam Records. Wohls music is performed by acclaimed new music quintet TRANSIT on the disc, and features guest performances by Aaron Roche, Julia Holter and So Percussion. Wohl and TRANSIT will celebrate the album with a full-length multimedia performance on June 4 presented by Ear Heart Music at NYCs Roulette, which will feature video pieces inspired by each track and created by some of todays most accomplished visual artists.
Acclaimed as one of the young artists shaping our contemporary music scene and defining what it means to be a composer in the 21st century (NPR) and heralded for his ability to blur the line between electronic and acoustic instrumentation and seemingly melt both elements into a greater organic whole (WNYC), Paris-born Wohl creates a remarkable hybrid of music that is part-mechanical and part-organic on the aptly titled Corps Exquis a French term that translates in English as Exquisite Body. Instead of exploring the gap between his classical composition background and his collaborations within the ever-evolving electronic music scene (recently with Laurel Halo and Julia Holter at the Ecstatic Music Festival), Wohl strives to close it.
The albums striking electronic elements are derived directly from Wohls processing of the virtuosic ensembles acoustic instruments (piano, violin, cello, clarinet and percussion). On the track Ouverture, Wohl processes the resonance from a bell hit and extends it to form the underlying electronic texture; on Limbs, the original acoustic piano plays in perfect unison with an electrified and transformed version of itself. The result is an utterly dynamic and emotionally-charged work in which the acoustic and electronic sounds seamlessly intertwine to the point of becoming one.
On the albums opener, Neighborhood, an isolated-feeling soundscape pulses with electronic and acoustic percussion, at times swollen with lush strings and technicolor euphoria with help from So Percussion. Cello and distorted organs vibrate in unison on 323? as jangly percussion, found sounds, and vocals (Aaron Roche) bound, and on Plus ou Moins, gentle piano is met with twists and turns of countermelody. Easy, poignant vocals (Julia Holter) blend with a melancholic strings, percussion, piano and bass clarinet on Corpus, bringing the album to a wistful close.
TRANSIT is: Evelyn Farny (cello); Andie Springer (violin); David Friend (piano, toy piano, melodica, percussion); Joe Bergen: (mallets, percussion, melodica); Sara Budde (clarinet, bass clarinet). In addition to composing the album, Daniel Wohl is featured on electronics, organ and vocals on 323?.Aaron Roche provided additional percussion on Cantus and on Neighborhood.
The album was recorded by Andrew McKenna Lee at Still Sound Studios and Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio. The album was engineered and mixed by Andrew McKenna Lee and mastered by Joe Lambert."
- "Paris born composer DANIEL WOHL draws on his background in electronic music to create works that intimately merge electronic and acoustic elements. His distinctive hybrid format has earned him praise as one of his generations imaginative and skillful creators (New York Times) shaping our contemporary music scene (NPR) . His music has been commissioned and/or performed by cutting-edge ensembles and performers such as Eighth Blackbird, So Percussion, Present Music, Bang on a Can All-Stars Lisa Moore, Ashley Bathgate and Vicky Chow, Talujon, Da Capo, California E.A.R Unit, Dither, Mantra Percussion, Iktus percussion and Calder Quartet, as well as the more classically-oriented American Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Ossia Symphony Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia, New York Youth Symphony, and St Lukes Chamber Ensemble. His work has been heard at Carnegie Hall, Webster Hall, the MATA Festival, the Bang on a Can Marathon, the Ecstatic Music Festival, NordKlang (Switzerland), Mass MoCA, Dia Beacon, River to River, Gaudeamus (Amsterdam), and over media outlets such as NPR, PBS, WQXR, CANAL +, TFI and FRANCE 2. . . . ." New Amsterdam Records - http://www.danielwohlmusic.com/ - http://danielwohl.bandcamp.com/
Composers:
Christos Hatzis
Timothy Brady
Micheline Roi
Alice Ping Yee Ho
David Occhipinti
- "The works on WOMAN RUNS WITH WOLVES represent, in some form, the dichotomy in life between chaos and order, destruction and creation, nature and civilization. From the edgy dubstep style of the young composer Laura Silberberg's Up and Down Dubstep to the representation of a spirited woman in Alice Ho's dramatic musical journey based on Clarissa Pinkola Este's tale of "La Loba". Christos Hatzis' Arctic Dreams lustfully captures the sound of the Inuit throat singers (in a slightly jazzy, new age style) musically reflecting the expansive northern landscape of Canada's territory, Nunavut. In the Fire of Conflict is a plea from a desperate young man trying to recapture a sense of hope in life amidst extreme physical and psychological turmoil.Tim Brady's intense work Rant! deals with humans' natural ability to complain! Tim has used Rick Mercer's rant entitled "Who Polls the Pollsters" for this unrelenting work for piano and percussion. Micheline Roi's poignant work Grieving the Doubts of Angels deals with a sense of struggle that both performer and composer often experience during the creative process. And at last we reach the summit of our lives, where we cherish the simple expressiveness of the sound of the marimba aptly captured in David Occhipinti's melodic piece Summit." Canadian Music Centre - Soundcloud
"Unlike the other CDs I have recorded, "Woman Runs with Wolves" represents a kaleidoscope of eclectic styles both compositionally and in performance. I have tried to make use of the recording process by adding overdubs. I have made use of not only a large array of percussion instruments (including various drums, gongs, cymbals, marimba, vibraphone and crotales) but also the use of my voice both speaking and singing. This has certainly been a most rewarding and cathartic experience for me!"
- Bev Johnston
- http://www.beverleyjohnston.com/
Thomas Carteron & Nicolas Charbonnier - Six Pieces for Acousmonium
- "2007-2010, two students composers from music school academy both produce a piece by year. Since, notebooks filled with parts, diagrams and sketches had been lost and statements mislaid. Nursed by the permanent evocation of celebrated composers, those exhumed pieces are now returned to a blank state, as self-denial forms without gestures nor memories. Music as a found object, a lacking story.
Originally designed to be played in an acousmonium, those pieces are now reduced to stereo. The listening space shrinks and foreshortens perspectives. It offers to the cohabiting sounds new links and resonances into an artificial intimacy.
All those pieces, or better said fragments, are about the fragility and the lost of meaning. Subtraction of spaces and words due to memory inconsistencies and lapses ; subtraction and oversights as creative processes : substrates of white noises and residues of reverberations echoing into forgotten places." Tsuko Boshi Records - Soundcloud
- "The Acousmonium is the sound diffusion system designed in 1974 by Francois Bayle and used originally by the Groupe de Recherches Musicales at the Maison de Radio France. It consists of 80 loudspeakers of differing size and shape, and was designed for tape playback. As Bayle wrote in a CD sleeve note in 1993, it was
Another utopia, devoted to pure "listening" as a penetrable "projection area", arranged with a view to immersion in sound, to spatialised polyphony, which is articulated and directed.
The Acousmonium is still in use today it was used for a series of concerts of electroacoustic music held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in May, 2006." Wikipedia
The albums from the Hungarian label Hungaroton is literally pouring in on Emusic these days.
This one from 2003 is also with Amadinda performing Steve Reich:
"The performance is so astoundingly good and played with such amazing energy, that one is simply swept along.
You fulfilled my dream"
- Steve Reich.
- "This live recording of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians comes with lavish praise from the composer himself, a man who has made no secret of his low regard for both live recordings in general and live recordings of his own music by European musicians in particular. This performance was recorded in concert at the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest. The Amadinda percussion ensemble, normally a quartet, added the requisite 14 additional players in order to meet the demands of the score and learned the parts by interpreting Reich's original version of the printed music rather than the official published score from the late 1990s. With Music for 18 Musicians, Reich made it clear that he was not a "minimalist" in the sense that his contemporaries Philip Glass and Terry Riley were minimalist; while the piece is characterized by repeated figures and relatively slow harmonic movement, there is a tremendous intricacy to the structure that underlies this composition, and it covers a large amount of conceptual and sonic ground over the course of its one-hour length. Amadinda and the rest of the ensemble play and sing with an irresistible energy and verve; Reich is entirely right when he says, in the notes, that "one is simply swept along" by the power of their performance. Very highly recommended." Allmusic
Amadinda Percussion Group - "was formed 1984 in Budapest, Hungary by four musicians who had just graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. Right from the start, besides performing significant pieces from the classical percussion repertoire, Amadinda has made it a point to inspire composers to create new works. Included among those who have dedicated a new piece for them, are three of the greatest names of the second half of the XXth century: John Cage, György Ligeti and Steve Reich.
These initial goals were soon extended by three new elements: research of traditional percussion cultures, composition of new music by the members of the ensemble and transcriptions of some great pieces from the history of classical music.
As a result, Amadinda has created a unique repertoire that has been enchanting audiences for 28 years, in 33 countries, on 4 continents, at venues including such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Wiener Konzerthaus (Vienna), Royal Albert Hall (London), National Concert Hall (Taipei), Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas) and Carnegie Hall (New York).
A truly outstanding achievement of Amadindas work is the complete recordings of the percussion works of John Cage on a series of 6 CDs, completed in 2011.
Amadinda has collaborated actively in the past 28 years with renowned artists like Peter Eötvös, Paul Hillier, Zoltán Kocsis, András Schiff, Éva Marton, György Kurtág, András Keller and James Wood. Nowadays Amadinda is regarded as one of the most original and versatile percussion groups in the world." http://www.amadinda.com
- "On this CD electronic music performer Frank Bretschneider and electro-acoustic composer Ejnar Kanding create new interconnections between Berlin and Copenhagen with three works from the past five years. The Contemporánea ensemble plays the two sound-creators’ versions of each other’s works, creating completely new, minimalist sound compositions in the fi eld of tension between driving force and stasis and between acoustic and electronic music." Dacapo Records
- "There are plenty of interesting connections between Berlin-based Frank Bretschneider and the Dane Ejnar Kanding. At a very basic level, the two composers have linked their artistic methods and distinctive characteristics by allowing each other to create new pieces out of existing compositions of their own. In two works on the CD, it is Kanding who creates new electro-acoustic pieces out of Bretschneider’s electronic music – i.e. music for acoustic classical instruments with electronic effects. In the third instance, it is Bretschneider who remixes one of Kanding’s old orchestral works.
This produces some quite surprising works with an exhilarating mix of stasis and pulse – of open enquiry and simple driving force – one that extremely precisely points to the respective backgrounds of the two contemporary musicians. The lives of Bretschneider and Kanding, ever since they appeared on the scene in the late 1980s, have been characterised by curiosity and openness as well as an urge to explore new territory along with people unlike themselves.
The three works on this CD are the result of a cooperation between Bretschneider and Kanding over the past five years. One between Kanding, with his enquiring artistic nature that has often produced a highly expressive, dense music that has been inspired by, for example, such existential poetry at that of Rainer Maria Rilke, and Bretschneider, with his straightforward, pulsating nature that often balances between something one absolutely has to sit down and listen to in order to get best out of, and fluid rhythms that one could even dance the light fantastic to. In principle, at any rate." http://frankbretschneider.de
Composer Ejnar Kanding is internationally known for his unique colourful sound, where the electronic and acoustic are united in complex textures, physical energy and delicate simplicity. To him, music should not embellish, but be a realm of fantasy. A journey into the ambiguous - a hall of mirrors. Kanding originally got his degree in composition and musical theory at The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen in 1993, followed by studies at IRCAM in Paris and with Professor Lev Koblyakov in Jerusalem in 1994 and 95, but has since his debut concert in 1996 specialized himself in composing music for computer and instruments. This has led to an extensive use of the software MaxMSP in the development of his works and as an instrument in live performances.
Also Kanding's role as artistic leader of the ensemble Contemporánea has made it possible for audiences to experience his music at very diverse platforms such as the nightclub Nice T, Buenos Aires; an outdoor concert on the Andes Mountains, Bogotá; in David Lang's flat (NYC), that has a scene for intimate performances, jazz club Blå, Oslo; night club Rust, Copenhagen and in the raw cement construction of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation's new radio house, when only the building's supporting parts were finished. The physical frames of the music have been prioritised, just like the performances' content has been thought through holistically.
Kanding's music is also appreciated in the traditional new music context and has been selected for prominent festivals such as International Computer Music Conference (2001, 2004, 2010), International Society for Contemporary Music (2002, 2008), Festival Synthése, Nordic Music Days, Up North, and Interactive Arts Performances Series at New York University etc. Besides the Danish Arts Foundation's three-year stipend and numerous work grants, Kanding has received several commissions by a string of international ensembles such as Osiris Trio (NL), Harry Sparnaay Trio (NL), Crash ensemble (IR), Cikada ensemble (NO), ensemble Ars Nova (SE), ensemble Adapter (DE) and Transit ensemble (NYC), as well as the Danish ensembles Figura, Athelas, Alpha Trio, Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Messerkvartetten and so on." Dacapo Records - http://soundcloud.com/kanding
Ensemble Contemporánea - "Founded in 1997 by Ejnar Kanding and Fritz Gerhard Berthelsen, the Danish ensemble Contemporánea has specialized in performing music involving acoustic and electronic sound in various ways, from performing pieces with tape or simple effect processing of the instruments, to more elaborated sound processing and interaction between performer and computer. Besides extensive concert activities in Denmark, the ensemble has frequently been on tour and has played concerts in Switzerland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Cuba, China, Ireland, USA and five South American countries. The ensemble has performed at festivals such as the International Computer Music Conference, ULTIMA festival, Nordic Music Days, MAGMA, Up North and the Interactive Arts Performance Series at New York University. An important feature of the ensemble is the composer portray series, where an entire program is dedicated to a single composer, which gives the audience a rare opportunity to discover several aspects of the musical world of one composer. So far, composers Ejnar Kanding, Ivar Frounberg, Anders Brødsgaard, Jens Hørsving, Morten Skovgaard Danielsen, Mogens Christensen and Deqing Wen have been portrayed. http://www.contemporanea.dk
NEW SERIES FRAMEWORK
An extension of our CONCRETE ELECTRONICS NOISE, a brand new mix-up of unusual conceptions of sound material by young unknown composers, well known not-so-young composers and old but clever composers. - "Cristian Vogel is a composer, music producer and music theorist. His work is known worldwide through state-of-the-art DJ and Live performances to compositions for choreography and many studio productions.
Born in Chile 1972 and raised in the UK, he is now based in Berlin. Cristian Vogel has been a long-term innovator in the composition, mixing and performance of electronic sounds.
Over a 20 year career at the vanguard of European electronic music, his work has been highly acclaimed for its quality, vision and attention to detail. He has been acknowledged for blueprinting the "minimal" and "wonky" techno music styles back in the mid-nineties, as well as outstanding work in the field of avant-garde composition for contemporary dance, film and sound art. Considered by some as 'a producers producer'. He has been asked to remix Radiohead, Maximo Park, Thom Yorke and many more talented artists." Sub Rosa music
New on Aaron Siegel's Lockstep Records: - "This new release from New Haven bassist /composer Carl Testa offers a highly listenable take on the active interface of solo double bass and live electronics.
The four tracks heretotaling a too-brief 37 minutes or sowere recorded live in the studio, with Testa improvising on double bass routed through a sampling and granulating computer program of his own design. Overall, the pieces tend toward a kind of constructivism in which cascading complexities of sound are built up from simple starting elements such as a single tone from an open string, or percussive strikes. From these elements the sound ramifies in several directions, turns back in on itself, accumulates and reemerges transformed, though with the core still recognizable.
For example Early Bright, the opening track, begins with the accelerating pulse of the bow bouncing on the open G string; pitches divide, echo and accumulate into a shimmering foundation for a Lydian-flavored improvisation that evolves into the grinding sound of overpressured bowing and an emphatically rhythmic pizzicato. The initial taps and handstrikes of Diffracted build up into a rumbling subtext before moving to a rapid vibrato and an emergent theme constructed around a descending glissando, while And Engulfed closes the recording with a flowing melody that undergoes a labyrinthine process of metamorphosis.
In sum, a well-done excursion into electroacoustic improvisation that never subordinates musicality to experimentation." Avant Music News
I am a composer and instrumentalist based in New Haven, CT and New York City. I am originally from Chicago, Illinois. While in Chicago, I studied music with Donn DeSanto, at the U of C Lab School, as well as at the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) School of Music. There I studied and performed with Mwata Bowden, Ann Ward, Avreeyal Ra, Steve Berry, Ernest Dawkins, Aaron Getsug, Isaiah Spencer, Stephen Ptacek, Will Faber, Noah Meites, Kevin Nabors, Justin Dillard, and many others.
After Chicago, I moved to Middletown, CT to study music and sociology at Wesleyan University. There I studied with Anthony Braxton, Neely Bruce, Alvin Lucier, Ron Kuivila, Charles Lemert, and performed with Anthony Braxton, Aaron Siegel, Anne Rhodes, Angela Opell, Andrew Raffo Dewar, Gergely Kiss, Dave Ruder, Daniel Raimi, Dave Kadden, Philip Schulze, David Jensenius, and many others again!
I now live in New Haven, CT with my wife, vocalist Anne Rhodes and perform in New Haven and New York City. I lead my own groups that play my own compositions, I also perform in duo collaborations, as well as various side projects most notably with Anthony Braxton. See my Projects page for descriptions of all my projects.
I am currently working on a new extended piece for voices and chamber ensemble. I am also continuously working on new pieces for my clarinet trio and for my solo electronics project.
I organize a concert series called the Uncertainty Music Series on the second saturday of every month in New Haven, CT. This series is a chance for me to have an original music performance every month as well as feature musicians from the greater New Haven area or New York, etc. . . . ." http://carltesta.net - http://music.carltesta.net/ - music
Excellent news from New World Records: Elizabeth Brown, flute, shakuhachi, theremin; Newband; Momenta Quartet; Pro Musica Nipponia, Yasushi Inada, conductor; Ben Verdery, amplified classical guitar played with slide bar.
- "The music of Elizabeth Brown (b. 1953) revels in paradox, but of a subtle kind. The strangeness of the music sneaks up on you; its liquid, mellifluous quality masks a far more radical stance. Seemingly irreconcilable instrumental timbres coexist peaceably: shakuhachi with string quartet, theremin with guitar, Partch instruments with theremin. The music is blessed with an old-fashioned gift for clear and singable melody . . . except for the fact that the tune keeps bending and melting. There is a genuine romantic sensibility, yet it exists in a soundworld that can only be avant-garde. But the avant-gardisme is in turn presented within a sensibility that is tender, sweet, and toylike. In short it expresses a genuine innocence, something we encounter far too rarely in an era of postmodern irony. Browns musical world is one of dreamlike sounds, images, textures, colors, and harmonies. One sees the literature of the past, especially the Romantic era, transformed through its colored filter. One also glimpses a musical future that is fresh and imaginative, but never afraid of beauty, nor of humane warmth.
Brown is a gentle maverick. Though her music bespeaks an ironclad intelligence and steely will, and evidences ties to all sorts of American experimental traditions, it still desires to give pleasure to performer and listener alike. It is eclectic, but seamlessly so. Its many sources and influences blend into an organic whole that seems to have always been there, but which she fortuitously discovered. Above all, it is personal, the work of an unpretentious, deep, and questing spirit. New World Records - Experimedia Preview
- "Elizabeth Brown's music has been heard in Japan, the Soviet Union, Colombia, Australia and Vietnam as well as across Europe and the US. She has received grants, awards, and commissions from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Barlow Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council, the Cary Trust, the Greenwall Foundation, NYFA, Orpheus, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Newband, and the Japan/US Friendship Commission. She has been a fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in Italy and at the MacDowell Colony, and was Artist-in-Residence at the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music, in the Grand Canyon, in Maine's Acadia National Park, and in Isle Royale National Park, a U.S. Biosphere Reserve in the middle of Lake Superior. She has been composer-in-residence at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, the Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival, and the Bennington Chamber Music Conference and Composers' Forum of the East. A solo CD, "Blue Minor: Chamber Music by Elizabeth Brown" was released in 2003.
Brown is celebrated both here and in Japan for her compositions combining eastern and western sensibilities. This past season alone, 'Shinshoufuukei '(An Imagined Landscape) won Grand Prize in the Makino Yutaka Music Award Composition Competition for Japanese traditional instrument orchestra, and 'Mirage' was a prizewinner in the SGCM Shakuhachi Composition Competition 2010, with performances in Tokyo's Kioi Hall and Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Takemitsu Memorial. Music from Japan presented the Japanese premiere of 'Rubicon' in Fukushima prefecture, performed by members of Tokyo's celebrated Reigakusha gagaku orchestra. Music from Japan also commissioned 'fragments for the moon', for concerts featuring Brown with nohkan/shinobue artist Kohei Nishikawa in February 2011 in New York City and at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Finally, Brown was April Artist-in-Residence in the Grand Canyon, continuing work on a series of solo shakuhachi pieces inspired by particular places in nature. Brown has also given solo shakuhachi performances at the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum in NYC, in the sculpture quarry of the Lacoste School for the Arts in Provence, and as Artist-in-Residence inseveral National parks. Since she premiered 'Mirage', for shakuhachi and string quartet, with the Grainger Quartet at the World Shakuhachi Festival 2008 in Sydney, Australia, it has also been performed in Tokyo, Prague, and New York City. In 2008/2009, she lived in Japan on a Cultural Exchange Fellowship supported by the US/Japan Friendship Commission.
Spring 2012 will see the premiere of Brown's 4th collaboration with visual artist Lothar Osterburg. 'A Bookmobile for Dreamers', commissioned by the Electronic Music Foundation through Meet the Composer's Commissioning Music/USA program, is a multimedia chamber opera for theremin, recorded sound, and video, which celebrates the imagination as inspired by the printed word. Brown and Osterburg were in residence at the Liguria Study Center in Bogliasco, Italy, in spring 2011.
Brown, who holds a master's degree in Flute Performance from The Juilliard School, often performs as flutist in her own music, as well as with many NYC ensembles, including the New York City Ballet Orchestra, American Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, and Flute Force." American Composers Forum - http://www.elizabethbrowncomposer.com/
This was released in 1999 by Koch International and is now re released by Innova Recordings Performers: Lisa Karrer, Guy Klucevsek, Jerome Kitzke, Bradley Lubman, Essential Music, The Mad Coyote
- "Some things should never disappear. First released to great acclaim by Koch International Classics in 1999, composer Jerome Kitzkes wide-ranging and ceaselessly inventive The Character of American Sunlight went out of print in 2007 and innova Recordings is proud to bring it back into the world where it belongs. At once exuberant and carefully crafted, Kitzkes music on this release amply demonstrates he has the makings of an American original (Robert Carl, Fanfare). The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said his music crackles with rhythmic vitality, brims with big-hearted expression and astounds with daring sonic invention.
Presented with new artwork and liner notesincluding Kyle Ganns essay Jerome Kitzke: Bringing Energy Down from the Gods from the original release and a new intro by Sarah CahillThe Character of American Sunlight combines voices and instruments, words and notation, in liberating new ways. Drawing on traditions from Native American song to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg, Kitzke makes the new feel familiar while repositioning and repurposing the traditional to be made new again. The result is uniquelyand bracinglyAmerican." Innova Recordings
- "Avant-garde can mean so many things. To a composer like Jerome Kitzke it is a freeing notion. THE CHARACTER OF AMERICAN SUNLIGHT dances among the influences that comprise the American character. From Native American songs to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg, from New York saxophone to tribal drumming, Kitzke pursues the essence of the American. Melodic lines reminiscent of folk tales told around a campfire as well as the sounds of a burgeoning city play over a rich drumscape. Kitzke's compositions have more in common with contemporary jazz pieces than the works of 19th Century composers, but they are steeped in the traditions of each. The small ensembles responsible for each of these unique pieces give an exciting voicing to the unusual sounds. The all-digital recording gives an intimate clarity to the album." CD Universe
- "Jerome Kitzke lives in New York City but grew up along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, where he was born in 1955. Since his first work in 1970, he has thought himself to be as much a storyteller as he is a composer. Some of the stories are about life's personal roads, like The Redness of Blood and Sunflower Sutra which both express the composer's love for his blood family. Many, however, like Box Death Hollow and The Paha Sapa Give-Back are about the roads that go looking for what it means to be an American late in the 20th Century, especially as it relates to the connection between how we live on this land and the way we came to live on it. Kitzke's music celebrates American Vitality in its purest forms. It thrives on the spirit of driving jazz, Plains Indian song, and Beat Generation poetry, where freedom and ritual converge. It is direct, dramatic, and visceral always with an ear to the sacred ground.
Mr. Kitzke composes for and performs with his group The Mad Coyote. His music has been performed in North and South American, Europe, Asia and Australia by such organizations as the Milwaukee Symphony, the New Juilliard Ensemble, Essential Music (New York), Present Music (Milwaukee), Earplay (San Francisco), and Zeitgeist (Minneapolis-St. Paul), Trio AKKOBASSO (Germany) and such artists as Guy Klucevsek, Margaret Leng Tan, Kathleen Supové, Michael Lowenstern, Christine Schadeberg, Dora Ohrenstein, Wendy Chambers, Anthony de Mare, Lisa Karrer and Tom Linker.
Mr. Kitzke's CD The Character of American Sunlight is available from Koch International Classics (3-7456-2 H1). Current commissions include Present Music, the Kronos Quartet, Zeitgeist, and the percussionist Tom Kolor.
Jerome Kitzke founded the ensemble The Mad Coyote in 1992 to present concerts combining his notated pieces and free improvisation. The group consists of piano, accordion, violin, bass, flute/voice, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, trumpet, solo voice, two percussion, and conductor; though Kitzke often uses smaller ensembles drawn from the group. Each member can play with equal aplomb the most complex notated music and music that is totally improvised." Peermusic Soundcloud
Free on Soundcloud in AAC (238 Mb) Kenneth Radnofsky, alto saxophone
Angel Subero, bass trombone
Richard Svoboda, bassoon
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor
"As a follow-up to the composers first BMOP/sound album Michael Gandolfi: Y2K Compliant (2008), From the Institutes of Groove is the latest endeavor in a long-standing affair between Michael Gandolfi and BMOP. The recordings three concertos showcase Gandolfis multifarious compositional techniques such as post-minimalist textures and interlaced grooves as well as intellectual inspirations such as science and architecture. As evident throughout, he provides a stage for the soloists to reveal their single musical personalities and the varying facets of their respective instruments.
Two of the albums works were written exclusively for BMOP: the 20-minute, four-movement Fantasia for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra featuring saxophonist Kenneth Radnofsky; and the eponymous From the Institutes of Groove featuring Venezuelan bass trombonist Angel Subero. In Institutes, Gandolfi plays off Angels versatility as both a salsa and classical player. Soaked in rhythmic patterns, the first movement Too Jazz for Rock is inspired by big-band sounds while the second Rising on the Wing a minimalist-like groove. Rounding out the recording is Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra featuring Richard Svoboda, principal bassoonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra."
- "Michael James Gandolfi (born July 5, 1956 in Melrose, Massachusetts) is an American composer of contemporary classical music.
Initially a self-taught guitarist, Gandolfi entered the Berklee College of Music before transferring to the New England Conservatory of Music(NEC) after one year. He went on to receive both his bachelors and masters degrees from NEC, where he is now the chair of the composition department.[1] In 1986, he was a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center; while there, he studied with Leonard Bernstein and Oliver Knussen. He has served on the faculty of Harvard University, Indiana University, and the Phillips Academy at Andover; since 1997 he has been the coordinator for the Tanglewood Music Center's composition department. He was previously a composer in residence with the New England Philharmonic. He has been championed by conductor Robert Spano as one of the "Atlanta School" of American composers, a group that also includes colleagues Osvaldo Golijov, Jennifer Higdon, and Christopher Theofanidis.
Gandolfi's music often contains rock and jazz elements. He often looks to the sciences for his subject matter, resulting in pieces such as The Garden of Cosmic Speculation (inspired by Charles Jencks' garden in Scotland that incorporates modern physics into its design, and nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition at the 2009 Grammy Awards) and Trivia, written for the Weilerstein Trio, which counts Richard Wolfson's book Simply Einstein as a source. He has also written a significant amount of children's music, including a setting of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio story.
He has had significant performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The New World Symphony, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and many others.
- "Jace Clayton (also known as DJ /rupture) will release his new album, The Julius Eastman Memory Depot, on March 26 on New Amsterdam Records. On the album, Clayton again brings his sense of compassion, wide-eyed exploration, and razor-sharp intellect to the table, but instead of using a variety of sources for inspiration, for the first time, Clayton has chosen a single, if multivalent, subject for his artistic dissection: the lifeincluding musicof gay African-American composer Julius Eastman.
The Julius Eastman Memory Depot is an auditory repository for the sonic ideas explored in the live performance. On both, Clayton pulls acoustic and digital sounds toward each other by running the the music from each piano through a laptop, where he uses custom-built digital tools informed by his acclaimed Sufi Plug Ins projectone such tool uses the overall volume of the pianos to simultaneously adjust a drone being generated by their pitchesto create an electronic layer built entirely on the pianos sound.
Clayton chose to focus on two of Eastmans longest piano works for the album, Evil Nigger and Gay Guerrilla, to allow himself as much opportunity as possible to explore the sound and range of the piano, Eastmans rhythmic and muscular writing, and the internal dynamics of each piece. Recorded with virtuosic pianists David Friend and Emily Manzo at New York Citys world-class Merkin Concert Hall, the pianists impeccable instincts gave Clayton freedom to focus on his subtle (and in some cases, dramatic) electronic explorations of the pianos sonic possibilities. The result is two arresting, labyrinthine new songs created by the two pianos and their own electrified and transformed versions that extend Eastmans vision for multiple pianos into a truly original type of listening experience.
Claytons sole purely original composition on the album,Callback from the American Society of Eastman Supporters, acts as a bridge between the album and the live performance, and portrays how the precariousness of Eastmans work life echoes and resonates with the precariousness of jobs nowadays more than ever. Inspired by the way in which Eastmans song titles often used humor and confrontation to demonstrate that the world of classical music and the world-we-live-in are intermingled and inseparable, Sufi vocalist Arooj Aftab begins the coda in dry corporate-speak then expands the song with spiritual depth, adding intensity to the piano music while and simultaneously welcoming in the world.
The Julius Eastman Memory Depot proposes a celebration of music-in-motion, of the fragile and the strong and those who live in the outskirts, of that which for various reasons resists easy historicization but deserves to be remembered, reinvented, and set alight anew." New Amsterdam - music
From If, Bwana's label Pogus Productions: - "Pogus is very honored to be able to reissue this recording of works by the late Jerry Hunt (1943-1993), originally released on ¿What Next? Having long been fascinated by Hunts work, it is great to be able to have these last works of his available on CD once again."
To quote Blue Gene Tyranny: - In the 1970s electronic music practitioners constituted a rare and marginal population on the frontiers of interactive media and performance. Audio, with its modest bandwidth requirements, led video by at least a decade in every major discovery. Early artists were able to experiment, construct, interconnect and perform with electronic systems that were consciously digital, real-time and interactive long before those buzzwords were mentioned in other artistic contexts. Among the pioneers, Jerry Hunt was the rarest, most marginal explorer of a remote terrain. As his musical activities moved from the electronic sound pieces of the 1970s into the legendary performances of the 1980s, Hunt brought along with him a curiously rich and viable ecosystem of pieces, structuring principles, performing gestures, and theatrical personae.
The sounds on this recording, created in 1993, are completely different from the ones that constitute normal or academic electronic music. The three sections of this electronic work constitute the composer's last pieces. He regarded the recorded version of this work as a "document for rehearing." The overall sound is the densest and most intricate in this one of a kind artist's body of work. The three sections consist of "interlocking audio and video optical discs which provide the fundamental image, sound and program control strings ... action code pattern structures ... for a group of transactional mimetic gesture exercises ... inflection calls evoking ... melody streams" with simultaneous tracks of acoustic percussion. The sonic result is an entrancing, overwhelming, evocative shamanic performance of brilliantly designed electronic timbres. Pogus Productions - Soundcloud
- "Jerry Hunt (November 30, 1943 in Waco, Texas - November 27, 1993 in Canton, Texas) was an American composer who created works using live electronics partly controlled by his ritualistic performance techniques, influenced by his interest in the occult. He committed suicide in response to terminal cancer.
His collaborators included Karen Finley, Paul Panhuysen, and Philip Krumm. Hunt was also the founder of IRIDA Records, which released recordings with works by Larry Austin, James Fulkerson, Dary John Mizelle, Rodney Waschka II, and others, as well as recordings of his own music." Last.fm - http://www.jerryhunt.org/
<div><a href="http://www.emusic.com/album/phyllis-chen/little-things/14304577/"><img src="http://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000054046549-ubvtcz-crop.jpg?5ffe3cd" alt="image"> </a><br></div> - "Its pretty clear from the confident opening track of Phyllis Chens latest release that the composer/toy pianist has a point to prove. "Little Things" is an album that expands and contracts, from FabianSvennson's virtuostic and frantic Toy Toccata that begins the album to the more contemplative moments of repose in later works. Chens trick is that somewhere in the process, you forget about the novelty of the instrument and start to focus on its possibilities.
Take, for example, the titular track by Angélica Negrón. Written for toy piano and live electronics, its sparse and innocent opening seems to play on the connotations between the sound of the instrument and its connection to childhood. Yet as the work evolves, layers of percussive ambient noise begin to cloud the purity of the opening material. The piece crescendos into a cacophony of beeps and sputters before returning to its humble beginnings. Reaching the end of the piece, the question is less, Is this really a toy piano? and more Where do we go next?"
In fact, many of the contributing composers seem to relish in the opportunity to stretch the instrument. Karlheinz Essls Whatever Shall Be utilizes the toy pianos sound board to amplify noises made by a chop stick, a dreidel, and a small music box. Nathan Daviss meditative The Mechanics of Escapement juxtaposes the petite twang of the instrument against large clock chimes which, in performance, surround the audience. One of the more complicated offerings in terms of structure, Andrian Pertouts Pi (Obstruction) is a densely textured tribute to Conlon Nancarrow.
Takuji Kwais Okura and Dai Fujikuras Milliampere are the more introspective offerings, with similar less-is-more sensibilities letting reflective pauses and simple melodies make subtle but poignant statements.
What is most convincing about the album is the way in which each composer plays with expectation; sometimes emphasizing conventional associations with the sound of a toy piano, sometimes defying them all together. It is a testament to both the composers' respect for the instrument as well as the performers talent that the over-arching effect is to appreciate the album as simply an eclectic playlist of intriguing music." Q2 @ New Focus Recordings
- "Praised by the New York Times for her delightful quirkiness matched with interpretive sensitivity, Phyllis is a pianist,toy pianist and composer that performs original multimedia compositions and works by contemporary composers. The Oregonian states her captivating performance was animated by unbridled inventiveness, the kind of joyous creativity that playing with toys is meant to inspire. Phyllis artistic pursuits take her in numerous directions leading to her selection as a New Music/New Places Fellow at the 2007 Concert Artist Guild International Competition.
Playing an instrument that has no set boundaries or genre, Phyllis has been invited to perform at a large variety of festivals and concerts in the US and abroad.
Phyllis is one of the founding members of ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), a New York-based collective dedicated to the performance and promotion of new works. Phyllis was selected as one of the composer/artist for the inaugural ICElab Series, ICEs newest model for commissioning, developing and performing new music by nurturing the essential composer-performer collaboration. Her ICElab works will be performed this August at Lincoln Centers Mostly Mozart Festival. Phyllis was also the recipient of the 2012 Roulette/Jerome Commission and one of twelve composers-recipients of the 2012 Fromm Music Foundation. Recent commissions included a film score to Hans Richters silent film Everything Turns Everything Revolves, that was premiered at the LA County Museum of Art and a new work for toy piano and mandolin for Jen Curtis. . . . . ." http://www.phyllischen.net
Excellent news from Innova Recordings: Christopher Campbell & Grant Cutler - Schooldays Over - "Down at the roots, folk songs erase their authors. Even when they can be traced to their original writers, they connect even further back to something indigenous, chthonic. The Irish folk ballad Schooldays Over was written by Ewan MacColl as part of a larger work entitled The Big Hewer, which was broadcast by the BBC in 1961. In its frank depiction of a life that lead directly from the schoolhouse to backbreaking labor in the mines, it is very much of its time. But its plain, melancholy melody adheres to something more universal as well, and thats the thread that Chris Campbell and Grant Cutler pull out and build on for this new innova release.
It begins with the faintest wooden soundthe shift of a chair or the creak of a piano bench, perhaps. The music unfolds delicately in reverberations and echoes from piano, glockenspiel, strings and more laid on top of synthetic tones and beds of sound. When Cutlers delicate, birdsong-encircled vocals arrive, they sound like the ashes of MacColls song, burnt down then returned from a distant place, a residual haunting repeating itself inside the track. Stretched into a roughly 20-minute suite, the songs pressing, immediate concern with the toll of hard labor is effaced and supplanted by a meditation on times fleeting nature, on questions of duty, work and leisure.
Campbell and Cutler havent added to or fleshed out the original so much as zoomed in so close were practically inside the songs heart, watching the world from inside a sepia-tinted diorama. Their achievement here is not making the song their own, but excavating it, turning it into something for no one and everyone. That is, at the root, a folk songs job. . . . " Innova Recordings - Soundcloud More Grant Cutler @ Emusers
Free from BMOP/sound (album booklet here), posted by AMT Public Relations on Soundcloud in ACC audio format (264 mb.)
- "BMOP/sounds second release this summer is Jacob Druckman: Lamia a selection of five works that best represent Druckmans mature period of polystylistic composition. It exemplifies the composers talent for timbral possibilities and homogenous interplays. The album includes the numinous Lamia (meaning sorceress according to Greek mythology) featuring mezzo-soprano Lucy Shelton and the sprightly Nor Spell Nor Charm (1990) inspired by Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream, to name a few. A Pulitzer-prize winning composer, Druckman is best known for his vividly scored and viscerally dramatic orchestral works (New York Times)."
- "One of the most prominent of contemporary American composers, Jacob Druckman was born in Philadelphia in 1928. After early training in violin and piano, he enrolled in the Juilliard School in 1949, studying composition with Bernard Wagenaar, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood; later, he continued his studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris (1954-55).
Critic Mark Swed has written, "At the heart of the works of Jacob Druckman lies the bold, sure, and often arrestingly physical dramatic gesture....Yet Druckman's scores have always exhibited another characteristic as well: that of careful structure, built with meticulous attention to detail. The process of integrating these two sides of his character...has been a consistent factor throughout the composer's development."
Druckman produced a substantial list of works embracing orchestral, chamber, and vocal media, and did considerable work with electronic music. In 1972, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Windows, his first work for large orchestra. Among his other numerous grants and awards were a Fulbright Grant in 1954, a Thorne Foundation award in 1972, Guggenheim Grants in 1957 and 1968, and the Publication Award from the Society for the Publication of American Music in 1967. Organizations that commissioned his music included Radio France (Shog, 1991); the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Brangle, 1989); the New York Philharmonic (Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, 1978; Aureole, 1979); the Philadelphia Orchestra (Counterpoise, 1994); the Baltimore Symphony (Prism, 1980); the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (Mirage, 1976); the Juilliard Quartet (String Quartet No. 2, 1966); the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress (Windows, 1972); IRCAM (Animus IV, 1977); and numerous others. He also composed for theater, films, and dance.
Druckman taught at the Juilliard School, Bard College, and Tanglewood; in addition he was director of the Electronic Music Studio and Professor of Composition at Brooklyn College. He was also associated with the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City. In the spring of 1982, he was Resident-In-Music at the American Academy in Rome; in April of that year, he was appointed composer-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic, where he served two two-year terms and was Artistic Director of the HORIZONS music festival. In the last years of his life, Druckman was Professor of Composition at the School of Music at Yale University.
Many of Druckman's works have been recorded, by Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch, CRI, New World, and other labels. Recent recordings include Aureole (St. Louis Symphony/Slatkin on New World), Prism (New York Philharmonic/Mehta, New World); and Nor Spell Nor Charm (Orpheus chamber orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon)." Boosey & Hawkes
-KUNIKO's debut kuniko plays reich' was acclaimed by the media becoming Linn's bestselling album of 2011. Her follow up recording, 'cantus', features six pieces arranged for five octave marimba or vibraphone, each chosen to fully demonstrate the colours, depth and dynamics of the instrument. The arrangements and recording have been made with supervision by the original composers: Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich and Hywel Davies.
KUNIKO gave the world premiere performance of Reich's New York Counterpoint version for marimba in New York in 2012. KUNIKO won praise from the composer himself who stated: 'Kuniko Kato is a first rate percussionist.'
The simplicity and beauty of Arvo Pärt's music has won the composer many fans. In turn Pärt is a fan of KUNIKO's arrangements having approved the new versions premiered on this album. KUNIKO has arranged four of his best-loved pieces including Cantus, a fitting tribute to Benjamin Britten in 2013, his 100th anniversary year.
Purl Ground is an original piece written by British composer Hywel Davies, which KUNIKO premiered at the Cheltenham Festival in 2011 to critical acclaim. The piece is arranged for solo marimba and makes excellent use of both tremolo and pianissimo effects. . ." Linn Records - Soundcloud
"KUNIKO is a soloist who is recognised around the world as one of the most gifted and significant percussionists of her generation in today's contemporary & classical music scene. Her virtuosic technical style, exquisite musical insight and expressive, yet elegant performance style continues to attract not only audiences, but established maestros and composers too. She is renowned for her flawless technique when playing both keyboard and percussion instruments, which blends seamlessly with her profound musical intelligence. . . ."
Comments
- "Following the very successful and critically acclaimed Dusk and Dark, comes Julia Rovinsky's third solo harp album - Dawn. The album features her versions to pieces by John Cage, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Gavin Bryars and Uri Brener. None of these pieces was originally written for a harp.
The album was produced by Lior Suliman and Tal Weiss, engineered by Yoram Vazan and mastered by the legendary Greg Calbi."
http://ent-t.com - Bandcamp
Julia Rovinsky
- "Born in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), Julia graduated from the Rimski-Korsakov Academy of Music and in 1988 she won the national harp competition in Moscow. She was harpist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Leningrad and appeared as a soloist throughout Russia. Since moving to Israel, Julia has become a central figure on Israel's concert scene and appears regularly as soloist and in many chamber music ensembles. Since 2003 she is the Principal Harpist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Julia's debut single, Six Wings Of Bliss, is part of the acclaimed singles series Allergy To Consciousness. Based on Geoff Smith's composition to Emily Brontë's words, it features two versions - one of them is with soprano singer Hila Baggio.
Julia's first solo album, Dusk, featured eight "Close up" versions of pieces by Philip Glass, J. S. Bach, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Nicolas Flagello, Sergey Prokofiev, Harold Budd & Brian Eno. The album received enthusiastic reactions from both media and listeners in many countries.
Her second solo album, Dark, features pieces by Harold Budd, Philip Glass, Munir Bashir, Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich. The album was also released to rave reviews.
- "Composer Nick Brookes sweeping and epic Border Towns exists at its own kind of border: a place where chance meets meaning, where the detritus of popular culture meets the compositional process, where a chorus of seven voices meets chunks and fragments of familiar music, in the process becoming strange and revelatory. Border Towns is an encyclopedic mash-up of Americana, a collision of recordings from the geographical and psychological edges. Yodels, anthems, ambient sounds & fringe broadcasts are layered in perfect lockstep with singers, who meld their voices with a sampled collage of sound effects, songs, and musical ephemera.
Brookes suite (originally performed live as a stage version at HERE in New York) was inspired by the border blasters of the 1950s: giant radio transmitters placed just over the border in Mexico, beyond U.S. jurisdiction, with the intention of blasting culture directly into American homes. Far more powerful than U.S. stations, they often overwhelmed local stations as far north as Minnesota and New York City.
As the New York Times observed, [Brooke] intricately mashes up a dense collection of familiar and obscure musical quotations along with commonplace noises to make a fascinating score. Intertwined with a chorus of seven singers, the work moves in fits and starts in places before rising to towering crescendo then crashing into silence again. Each piece may be a fragment, but the whole is something altogether different, at once familiar and alien, and an intriguing exploration of musical Americana from the 1940s to the present."
Innova Recordings - Soundcloud - Soundcloud 2 - http://www.nbrooke.com/
- "Border Towns began as an encyclopedic mash-up of musical Americana. I was intrigued by
those people who were chosen, willingly or not, to map America: Copland, Dylan, Robeson,
Springsteen, Montana, Anderson, Foster, yet whose song meanings had been bent to new ends
in the popular ear. I started with the question what is listened to here? In every town, that
question gets answered differently, depending on whether you are scanning the airwaves, at a
school, or visiting a historical society. More often than not, whats offered up as local are
representations: Gene Autry is sold in one town; mariachi, now silent in some ways, becomes
a borderlands icon.
Musical locality could have vanished long before the internet or MP3 in the age of the border
blaster; those 100+kW transmitters, placed just over the border in Mexico, that were designed
to be heard as far as Minnesota and New York. They beamed country and R & B in the 50s and
60s, songs sometimes rarely heard on U.S. airwaves. Some singers such as Patsy Montana had
a second career, just over the border, on these X-stations.
Border Towns began with a collection of musical samples and physical gestures, collected on
visits to 11 towns at the literal fringes of the U.S. Interviews, radio station monitoring,
historical society visits, sound walks, and statistical research all contributed to this
collection. Im not interested in portraying any border towns, but instead in creating an
alternate musical universe that reinvents Americana, and that questions how we hear and see
location in music. Turning documentarians such as Lomax on their heads, Ive gone out,
collected recordings that were presented to me as local, and reassembled them into
traditions of my own making."
- Nick Brooke from the linernotes.
- "There is no Bach on Baroque; no Handel, Telemann or Vivaldi. This is the music of the 21st Century, not the 17th, and the composers are violist Nadia Sirotas friendswho just happen to include some of the most respected musicians of our own moment.
The six pieces on Baroque were written with Sirotas distinctive sound in mind and recorded (by her longtime collaborators at Bedroom Community) to exaggerate the idiosyncracies of her tone. Fellow labelmates Nico Muhly, Daníel Bjarnason and Paul Corley provide three pieces, while composers Judd Greenstein, Shara Worden and Missy Mazzoli provide the other three.
Baroque , as the title of the album, references a number of things; the concerto form - balancing a soloist against ensemble accompaniment - is an invention of the Baroque era, so while there are concerti here, of a sort, theyre concerti of a decidedly more portable variety. Both Judd Greensteins In Teaching Others We Teach Ourselves, whose intimate ensemble accompaniment opens the album with a different paradigm of solo versus tutti than more famous efforts in the form, and the self-aware symphonics of Daníel Bjarnasons
Sleep Variations, which closes the disc, build Sirotas virtual backup band from the overdubbed sound of her own playing. Theres also something very Baroque about the style of pieces like From the Invisible to the Visible, by Shara Worden (Clogs, My Brightest Diamond), and Tooth and Nail by Missy Mazzoli, two radically different pieces that are both about the elaborate ornamentation of slowly moving harmonies.
Sirotas approach to the instrument owes something to recent trends in Baroque playing. She can keep her bow-hand light and her left hand still, for a gin-dry sound. Its a sound prized by, among others, Nico Muhly who thinks of Sirota as his most trusted interpreteranother reason being the sort of rhythmic precision his Étude 3 demands, with an almost wicked glee. Paul Corley creates a piece to which timbre is so central that the voice of Sirotas instrument seems as much a part of the composition as the notes she plays. His Tristan da Cunhadark, extreme, and alarmingly detailedis Baroque in the sense of Brueghel-esque.
Which leads us to the one thing all of these pieces have in common: that level of detail. Words like complex, applied to music, too often suggest a level of intricacy designed to confound, whereas each of the works Sirota brings together here offers an audible clarity of purpose. So lets instead say that these worksto whatever extent they may recall the Baroqueare instead exquisitely baroque, each concerto, miniature or soundscape realized with extravagant intricacy."
- Bedroom Community @ Bandcamp.
Her debut album, First Things First (New Amsterdam Records), a collection of vital, imaginative recent scores (NYTimes) was a New York Times 2009 record of the year.
A regular guest with such groups as The Meredith Monk Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound and Continuum, she is a founding member of ACME (the American Contemporary Music Ensemble), yMusic, and the Wordless Music Orchestra.
In addition to performing classical concert music, Nadia has performed with such songwriters and bands as Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Stars of the Lid, The Swell Season, Sam Amidon, Doveman, Bryce Dessner, Gabriel Kahane, Ben Frost, and Valgeir Sigurðsson, and can be heard on new and recent albums by Grizzly Bear, Jónsi, The National, Ratatat, Doveman, My Brightest Diamond, and Arcade Fires Grammy-winning album The Suburbs.
She received her undergraduate and Masters degrees from the Juilliard School, where she performed as co-founder of the AXIOM ensemble, initiated the Castleman/Amory/Huang studios New Music Project, and created the Juilliard Plays Juilliard program for student composers and performers. After winning the top prize in Juilliards 2005 concerto competition, Nadia performed Hindemiths Der Schwanendreher with conductor Marin Alsop and the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall. As a chamber musician, Nadia has collaborated with such artists as Joseph Kalichstein, Itzhak Perlman, and the Silk Road Ensemble, as well as with members of Kronos Quaret, the Chiara Quartet, and the Peabody Trio. In the fall of 2007, Nadia joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music for its new Masters Program in Contemporary Music Performance.
In addition to her work as a performer and educator, Nadia hosts Nadia Sirota on Q2, a weekday show devoted to contemporary music on WQXRs internet radio stream Q2. Winner of the 2010 ASCAP Deems Taylor award in radio and internet broadcasting, Nadias show was described by Alex Ross (The Rest is Noise, The New Yorker) as radio we can believe in.
http://www.nadiasirota.com - New Amsterdam - First Things First @ Bandcamp
ETA march.24.2013: Full stream @ Soundcloud
All songs written and produced by Paul Corley
Mix - Valgeir Sigurðsson, Paul Corley, and Paul Evans
Mastering - Valgeir Sigurðsson
Additional Engineering - Paul Evans
Guitar on 2, 3, 4. Programming on 1, 3 - Ben Frost
Contrabass on 1, 3, 4 - Borgar Magnasson
Guitar & Programming on 2 - Matthew Collings
- "Disquiet is the debut album of American composer, sound recordist and engineer Paul Corley.
Disquiet is music that never settles. Music that makes the listener fiercely attentive to the present, to the very idea of listening. It takes some doing, and some patience, to produce an atmosphere so unearthly and yet so radiant, to organise fragmented - sometimes found - sounds into such sparse, sustained and spiritual coherence. As we listen to Corley listening to himself listen and seek a fixed genre point for this music, we perhaps rub together glitch, drone, sound art, post rock and alt-classical, and an as yet unspecified genre called ‘hazard a guess’, and then employ our own discretion.
Although Disquiet is Paul Corley’s first album on Bedroom Community, he is no stranger to the label. Having collaborated extensively with the Bedroom Community collective since 2007, the label is proud to add Corley to the intimate roster that now comprises of seven highly original artists. Disquiet is a welcome addition to the catalogue; at the same time an album of delicate, primal (prepared) piano variations, a sequence of exquisitely reflective slow songs, and a metaphysical field recording where resonances are set off by real and imaginary geographical features. The album seems to be the recording of a dream, not necessarily Corley’s own, as if he slipped into the mind of someone asleep and calmly set up his equipment. Disquiet suggests a walk through an icy wasteland under a darkening sky, with unspecified creatures lurking at the edge of vision, a drifting walk that ends in the shadows of a vaguely familiar deserted city. Some might discern in the distance the footsteps of Morton Feldman who has once passed nearby or is about to, or might spot some wires discarded by Chris Watson and a question or two written into the sand by Anton Webern.
When asked whether this is music representing something coming into being - a growing in confidence or something dissolving into deep, equivocal quiet beyond which there is only space - the answer is simple, yet complex. “Both at the same time,” Corley replies - somewhere between hazarding a guess, and knowing for sure."
- Bedroom Community @ Bandcamp - http://paulcorley.bandcamp.com/ - Soundcloud
- "The Pomegranate Cycle is the debut album from Textile Audio a solo project by composer, mezzo soprano and sound engineer Eve Klein. It is a space for wild, romantic experiments in ambient electronica and post-classical forms.
The Pomegranate Cycle is woven from song, sound textures and fragmented orchestration a fragile, ebbing work, part sonic and part myth. The Pomegranate Cycle uses poetry and abstract language to convey a felt sense of narrative. It traces opera and the ghosts of women whose lives have been touched by violence. Elements of the Persephone story are strewn through symphonic timbres and ruptured with grain and glitch. A girl collecting flowers is stolen, transfigured, a mother seeks her lost child, and wreaks vengeance.
This is a new kind of opera. It deals with the genres inability to reconcile its institutions and outmoded vision of romance with contemporary audiences. It rejects the gendered violence of opera, perpetuated in the tropes of dying sopranos. The Pomegranate Cycle embodies a new kind operatic heroine, who lives, reflects and heals. She is the spark for a womens centered opera, a highly configurable and living tradition where the singer is the composer and producer simultaneously. . . ."
Wood & Wire - FMA
- "Eve Klein has been a renegade romantic since childhood. Eves solo project, Textile Audio, is the fruition of a lifetime of daydreams, opera and wanderings in the Australian wilderness. Textile Audio weaves together orchestral scores, field recordings, opera and pop vocals to take the listener on a rich melodic and emotional journey.
Eve has been working as a professional operatic mezzo soprano, electronic musician and absent-minded academic since 2002. In 2012 Eve toured with Opera Australias Oz Opera performing nearly 300 shows as Hansel, Mother, Sand Fairy and Witch in Humperdinks opera Hansel and Gretel. Textile Audio compositions have been featured on radio around Australia, included on movie soundtracks, and released through Feral Media, Mess+Noise, Cyclic Defrost, New Weird Australia and Wood & Wire."
http://www.textileaudio.com
David T. Little - Soldier Songs
Performers:
Newspeak, David Adam Moore & Todd Reynolds.
- "David T. Littles Soldier Songs is an evening-length opera-theatre work exploring the perceptions versus the realities of war through the eyes of an abstract character, the soldier. Based on interviews with veterans of five wars conducted by the composer, Soldier Songs traces the path of the soldier through three phases of lifeYouth (playing war games) Warrior (time served in the military) and Elder (aged, wise, reflective). It is an unflinching statement, exploring the loss and exploitation of innocence, and the difficulty of ever truly expressing or representing the truth of war.
Produced by Lawson White and featuring frequent collaborators David Adam Moore, Todd Reynolds and Littles crack ensemble Newspeak, Soldier Songs asks tough questions and tells tough stories through its driving music and its poignant libretto. Approached as album, rather than a document of live performance, Soldier Songs is a moving and personal experience that leaves no one untouched.
Soldier Songs was commissioned by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, who premiered the original version of the work in 2006 conducted by Brett Mitchell and directed by Kevin Noe. The version of the work presented on this recording was completed for the Beth Morrison Projects production, and premiered at the 2011 International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, conducted by Todd Reynolds and directed by Yuval Sharon. The fully-staged New York City premiere of the work took place at the PROTOTYPE Festival in January, 2013."
Innova Recordings - Soundcloud - ICIYL Spring "mixtape" - Soundcloud 2
Mohammad - Som Sakrifis
- "Following on from their previous releases (the highly regarded 'Roto Vildblomma' CD and the 'Spiriti' 3LP box, both on Antifrost) 'Som Sakrifis' follows the trio through three tracks of deep space experimentation where the acoustic and electronic blend together as a monumental whole. Listening to 'Som Sakrifis' takes the listener on an expansive journey through the netherworld of the low range whilst retaining distinct traces of musicality. The time and space in these works have a logic more akin to that of Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr than any contemporary music references. Monumental monochromatic movement is the order of the day. Sit back, strap in and let these fine explorers take you way out into the nether world."
- http://www.pan-act.com/ - Touching Extremes review
MOHAMMAD
- " is a chamber music trio consisting of Coti K (contrabass), ILIOS (oscillators) and Nikos Veliotis (cello). Based in Greece, Mohammad make long form work drone works that explore the lower end of the frequency spectrum whilst retaining an intense emotional capacity. The results are monumental slow moving physical blocks of sound, both daunting and musical. The sheer weight of these recordings is impressive, the interplay of the musicians and instruments staggering, this end result being an album rich with immense harmonious abstraction which highlights years of dedication to their unique path.
Soundcloud - http://www.mohammad.gr
- "This BMOP/sound release spotlights the only mature orchestral compositions written by the award-winning, American neo-classical composer Martin Boykan. Symphony for Orchestra evokes a day in the life with the four movements representing the dawn, daylight hours, dusk and night. In the coda which features Grammy and Emmy Award-winning baritone Sanford Sylvan singing a setting of Keatss sonnet To Sleep, the music turns back to its beginning in order to suggest an end to the darkness and the birth of a new dawn, explains Boykan. As the Boston Globe described its an engrossing, evolving thicket of vaulting lines; even at its sparsest, theres always some bit of angular counterpoint shadowing events. Written 14 years after the Symphony, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra received its premiere in 2009 by BMOP and features one of todays most versatile violinists Curtis Macomber serving as the voice around which the argument of the music is constantly turning.
- Soundcloud
- "Martin Boykan studied composition with Walter Piston, Aaron Copland, and Paul Hindemith, and piano with Eduard Steuermann. He received a BA from Harvard University, 1951, and an MM from Yale University, 1953. In 1953-55 he was in Vienna on a Fulbright Fellowship, and upon his return founded the Brandeis Chamber Ensemble whose other members included Robert Koff (Juilliard Quartet), Nancy Cirillo (Wellesley), Eugene Lehner (Kolisch Quartet), and Madeline Foley (Marlboro Festival). This ensemble performed widely with a repertory divided equally between contemporary music and the tradition. At the same time Boykan appeared regularly as a pianist with soloists such as Joseph Silverstein and Jan de Gaetani. In 1964-65, he was the pianist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Boykan has written for a wide variety of instrumental combinations including four string quartets, a concerto for large ensemble, many trios, duos and solo works, song cycles for voice and piano as well as voice and other instruments, and choral music. His symphony for orchestra and baritone solo was premiered by the Utah Symphony in 1993. His work is widely performed and has been presented by almost all of the current new music ensembles including the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the New York New Music Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, the League-ISCM, Earplay, Musica Viva and Collage New Music.
He received the Jeunesse musicales award for his String Quartet No. 1 in 1967, and the League-ISCM award for Elegy in 1982. Other awards include a Rockefeller grant, NEA award, Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fulbrights, as well as a recording award and the Walter Hinrichsen Publication Award from the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1994 he was awarded a Senior Fulbright to Israel. He has received numerous commissions from chamber ensembles as well as commissions from the Koussevitsky Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Fromm Foundation.
At present Boykan is the Irving G. Fine Professor of Music at Brandeis University. He has been Composer-in-Residence at the Composer's Conference in Wellesley and a Visiting Professor at Columbia University, New York University and Bar-Ilan University (Israel). He has served on many panels, including the Rome Prize, the Fromm Commission, the New York Council for the Arts (CAPS) and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Over the years he has taught many hundreds of students including such well-known composers as Steve Mackey, Peter Lieberson, Ross Bauer and Marjorie Merryman. Boykan was invited to lecture at the Jerusalem Academy and the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, during Dec. 2004 - Jan. 2005.
Recent publications include a volume of essays on music entitled Silence and Slow Time, and Usurpations for piano solo. Three artist books produced in collaboration with his wife, the artist Susan Schwalb, were recently purchased by the Music Division of the Library of Congress: City of Gold (flute solo), Flume (clarinet), and Nocturne (viola da gamba).
BMOP - http://www.martinboykan.com - 5 Questions to Martin Boykan @ ICIYL
- "One of the cornerstones of BMOP has been its exploration of the influence of non-Western cultures on contemporary orchestral music. In Toward That Endless Plain, composer Reza Vali aka the Iranian Béla Bartók, converges Persian folk and Western art music throughout his orchestrations. BMOP's association with Reza goes back to its first recording session, explains Gil Rose, Artistic Director of BMOP. It's always a pleasure to perform and record a piece of Reza's because of his inventiveness, conviction, and passion for his music and the music of his native Iran." The album opens with two re-imaginings of Persian folk songs for the rapturous mezzo-soprano Janna Baty: 1) Folk Songs, Set No. 8 featuring 12 pitched crystal glasses and influenced by the late romantic music of Wagner and Mahler; and 2) Folk Songs, Set No. 14 influenced by Debussy.
Unlike the Folk Songs, the eponymous Toward That Endless Plain highlights the opposition between Persian and Western musical elements by pitting a ney (one of the oldest pitched instruments and prominent in Middle Eastern music) against an orchestra. Utilizing the unique and difficult Persian technique, Style of Isfahan, is Persian ney master Khosrow Soltani. The pieces title and content were both inspired by a poem by the 20th-century Persian mystic poet Sohrab Sepehri."
Soundcloud
Album Booklet in PDF @ BMOP
- "Reza Vali was born in Ghazvin, Persia (Iran) in 1952. He began his music studies at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran. In 1972 he went to Austria and studied music education and composition at the Academy of Music in Vienna. After graduating from the Academy of Music, he moved to the United States and continued his studies at the University of Pittsburgh, receiving his Ph.D. in music theory and composition in 1985. Mr. Vali has been a faculty member of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University since 1988.
He has received numerous honors and commissions, including the honor prize of the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Sciences, two Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships, commissions from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, the Seattle Chamber Players, and the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, as well as grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pittsburgh Board of Public Education. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust as the Outstanding Emerging Artist for which he received the Creative Achievement Award. Vali's orchestral compositions have been performed in the United States by the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Baltimore Symphony, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra 2001. His chamber works have received performances by Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, the Seattle Chamber Players, and the Da Capo Chamber Players. His music has been performed in Europe, Chile, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Australia and is recorded on the Naxos, New Albion, MMC, Ambassador, Albany, and ABC Classics labels."
http://www.rezavali.com
- "Sound-magic and continuous transformation are key elements in the music of Danish composer Niels Rosing-Schow (b. 1954). This world premiere recording by the leading French ensemble TM+ presents five of Rosing-Schow’s most profound compositions, all exploring the concept of time: time as motion, as process, as imprints or mapping – and time as space."
- "A lyrical, questing composer, distinctive among the younger composers for his Francophile orientation. His music lies between the two poles: an intellectual, rather ascetic discipline on the one hand and an urge towards the exuberant and improvisational on the other. With a direct quotation from the composer, it is "a music which is composed so that the felt and the known cannot be separated". Rosing-Schow's works are often exquisitely treated with delicately prepared instrumentation, clarity and a sensuous use of colour. He is therefore an obvious composer for the sinfonietta ensemble, and several of his sophisticated pieces for this configuration are today standard works in Danish music. With the same French-oriented elegance he writes for choir and larger orchestral ensembles. Two of his major works are the operas Brand (Fire) and Dommen (The Judgement).
Niels Rosing-Schow began his composing career in the early 1970s within the framework of the ‘Group for Alternative Music’. This loose association of Danish composers wanted to create an alternative, aesthetically and organizationally, to the more established contemporary music environment. The work Kinderlieder to texts by Bertold Brecht (1977) for female choir and an unconventional ensemble of seven instruments, with its tonal and polyrhythmic layering, its simple treatment of the texts and its bright atmosphere, is a typical expression of these tendencies.
At the beginning of the 1980s Rosing-Schow tended towards a more lyrically concentrated idiom in works like Trio per flauto, viola ed arpa (1983) and a number of vocal works. The works from the end of the eighties, including Double (1987) and the chamber opera Brand (1989) exhibit a growing interest in the outward-looking, gestural and dramatic aspects of music.
In the subsequent period, which began with the works Ritus I and Ritus II (1990), this was combined with formal processual thinking that also left its mark on Voix interieures (1991). In the course of the nineties the composer also assimilated elements of French-inspired ‘spectral’ harmony. This inspiration is most clearly expressed in the sinfonietta work ...sous les râles du vent d’Est (1992), in the work Archipel des solitudes for mezzo-soprano, choir and orchestra (1995) and in the violin concerto Trees (2000/01)."
- "Since its first concert, which took place in 1986 at Radio-France under the baton of Laurent Cuniot, TM+ has made a name for itself as one of the first French ensembles dedicated to contemporary and classical repertoires. With a nucleus of twenty musicians, all remarkably versatile, and around fifteen musicians who join them every so often, TM+ tackles 18th-century chamber music as well as 20th-century classics and the most recent works. Since 1996, TM+ has been in residence at the Maison de la Musique de Nanterre, where it offers a concert season in addition to various cultural activities all over the city, such as concert encounters, concert lectures or commented rehearsals. Through its original programmes, its relationship with the public, and its emphasis on living composers, TM+ has created a developing musical structure in synch with the times, both refreshing the way we listen to works of the past and fostering the discovery of contemporary works. TM+ is supported by the French Ministry of Culture/DRAC Île-de-France, by the City of Nanterre, the Île-de-France Region and the Hauts-de-Seine Department. It also receives support from SACEM, SPEDIDAM, the French Music Export Offices and CultureFrance. MECENAT MUSICAL SOCIETE GENERALE is the main sponsor of TM+."
Dacapo Records - http://www.tmplus.org
About Euclid Quartet
- "The Euclid Quartet is a stunning American quartet comprised of a multinational mix of members: violinist Jameson Cooper (UK), violinist Jacob Murphy (US), violist Luis Enrique Vargas (Venezuela), and cellist Si-Yan Darren Li (China). Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, Euclid has become one of the most well-regarded chamber ensembles of its generation whose performances are filled with passion, virtuosity, and sensitivity. Taking its name from Clevelands Euclid Avenue, this award-winning group holds the prestigious residency at the South Bend campus of Indiana University. Among the groups stops on tour have been Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Aspen Music Festival, and Osaka, Japan. Euclid was awarded an American Masterpieces grant from the NEA for its innovative educational programming."
http://www.euclidquartet.com - Emusic
Each work on the album highlights the group's virtuosity and polystylistic approach in a singular and mesmerizing manner, all set to pristine production courtesy of Grammy-nominated producer Jesse Lewis. From neo-alpine yodel on Rinde Eckerts Cescas View to Caleb Burhanss stirring post-minimalist take on bel canto singing in No, the album breathes fresh life into the a cappella landscape. One of this generations most dynamic vocal talents, Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, contri butes two electrifying compositions that explore a range of world-inspired grooves. African pygmy yodels, Inuit rhythmic pulsing, Appalachian hymn tunes, and bracing Eastern European belting all filter through her powerful compositional voice. Composer-to-watch Caroline Shaw uses her insider vantage as a Roomful vocalist to create four sonically exquisite and emotionally charged journeys through the Roomful soundworld. New Amsterdam co-directors William Brittelle, Judd Greenstein, and Sarah Kirkland Snider contribute as well: Brittelle's daring "Amid the Minotaurs" pushes and pulls before circling around a jaw-dropping soprano solo; Snider's otherworldly "The Orchard" intertwines haunting vocals with the text of poet Nathaniel Bellows; and Greenstein's three pieces explore the group's polyphony at its most lively, then later tender and affecting. Altogether, the album is a 13-piece showcase of the staggering range of this adve nturous ensemble, each work designed to let Roomful's blazingly unique skill set shine for an entirely unforgettable listening experience."
- "Roomful of Teeth is a vocal octet dedicated to re-imagining singing in the 21st century. Through study with vocal masters from non-classical from non-classical traditions the world over, Roomful of Teeth continually expands their vocabulary of singing techniques and, through an on-going commissioning project, invites todays brightest composers to create a repertoire without borders. Winners of the 2010 American Prize, two-time TimeOut New York Critics Pick and featured ensemble in the 2011 Merkin Hall Ecstatic Music Festival, the group brings audiences to their feet with vibrant performances of all-new music.
Founded in 2009 by Brad Wells, Roomful of Teeth consists of eight classically trained vocalists. At their annual residency at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA), the ensemble has studied Tuvan throat singing, belting and pop techniques, yodeling, Inuit throat singing and, in their summer 2012 residency, the group will coach with master singers from Sardinia and Korea. Commissioned composers include Rinde Eckert, Judd Greenstein, Caleb Burhans, Merrill Garbus (of tUnE-yArDs), William Brittelle and Sarah Kirkland Snider. Their first recording will be released on New Amsterdam Records in 2012.
A Roomful of Teeth concert feels less like a classical new music performance and more like an world music rock concert high wire act. Or perhaps just something completely different. A student at a recent college performance raved: It was no doubt one of the best concerts Ive ever been too; I was blown away by the singers and felt like I learned something new with every piece."
New Amsterdam Records - Emusic
The first is from 1995 on a new label on Emusic called Hungaroton:
Amadinda Percussion Group
- "was formed 1984 in Budapest, Hungary by four musicians who had just graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. Right from the start, besides performing significant pieces from the classical percussion repertoire, Amadinda has made it a point to inspire composers to create new works. Included among those who have dedicated a new piece for them, are three of the greatest names of the second half of the XXth century: John Cage, György Ligeti and Steve Reich.
These initial goals were soon extended by three new elements: research of traditional percussion cultures, composition of new music by the members of the ensemble and transcriptions of some great pieces from the history of classical music.
As a result, Amadinda has created a unique repertoire that has been enchanting audiences for 28 years, in 33 countries, on 4 continents, at venues including such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Wiener Konzerthaus (Vienna), Royal Albert Hall (London), National Concert Hall (Taipei), Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas) and Carnegie Hall (New York).
A truly outstanding achievement of Amadindas work is the complete recordings of the percussion works of John Cage on a series of 6 CDs, completed in 2011.
Amadinda has collaborated actively in the past 28 years with renowned artists like Peter Eötvös, Paul Hillier, Zoltán Kocsis, András Schiff, Éva Marton, György Kurtág, András Keller and James Wood. Nowadays Amadinda is regarded as one of the most original and versatile percussion groups in the world."
http://www.amadinda.com
- The next one is from 2005:
- "Signum Classics are proud to release the Smith Quartet's debut disc on Signum Records - Different Trains. The disc contains three of Steve Reich's most inspiring works: Triple Quartet for three string quartets, Reichs personal dedication to the late Yehudi Menuhin, Duet, and the haunting Different Trains for string quartet and electronic tape."
Signum Records
IAN HUMPHRIES VIOLIN
RICK KOSTER VIOLIN
NIC PENDLEBURY VIOLA
DEIRDRE COOPER CELLO
- "For over 20 years The Smith Quartet have been at the forefront of the worlds contemporary music scene.
They have developed a repertoire by some of the worlds most exciting composers and have established an international reputation for their dynamic style and original approach to contemporary music. . . ."
http://www.smithquartet.com/
- "The radio opera "Day 54" has its origins in Georges Perecs last unfinished novel. Based primarily on the books of the author, the libretto for the opera reflects the complexity and power of the thought of Perec and wants to honor him.
The music, which draws its material in the classical instruments and electronic sounds is constructed in close relation with the literary world : it uses a lot of refernces, a complex editing, proliferation gestures aswell as minimal states.
The form of the work is conceived as a labyrinth, varying between understatement, palindromes and anagrams on one side, between free jazz, symphony orchestra and slam on the other...
Three actors take turn in three different languages, in what appears to be a "detective story" and slips into a vast universe which mixed echoes of history, mental speculation, jubilation of words and dizziness of numbers."
- "Pierre JODLOWSKI is a composer, performer and multimedia artist. His music, often marked by a high density, is at the crossroads of acoustic and electric sound and is characterized by dramatic and political anchor. His work as a composer led him to perform in France and abroad in most places dedicated to contemporary music aswell as others artistic fields, dance, theater, visual arts, electronic music. His work unfolds today in many areas : films, interactive installations, staging. He is defining his music as an "active process" on the physicall level [musical gestures, energy and space] and on the psychological level [relation to memory, and visual dimension of sound]. In parallel to his compositions, it also occurs for performance, solo or with other artists.
Since 1998 he is co-artistic director of éOle (studio and production center based in Odyssud - Cultural center in Blagnac) and Novelum festival in Toulouse."
http://www.pierrejodlowski.com
Album of the year ? - could be.
Is this really classical ? - yes, and much more
Daniel Wohl - Corps Exquis
- "Brooklyn-based electroacoustic composer/performer Daniel Wohl, praised as one of his generations imaginative and skillful creators (The New York Times), will release his debut album Corps Exquis June 25 on New Amsterdam Records. Wohls music is performed by acclaimed new music quintet TRANSIT on the disc, and features guest performances by Aaron Roche, Julia Holter and So Percussion. Wohl and TRANSIT will celebrate the album with a full-length multimedia performance on June 4 presented by Ear Heart Music at NYCs Roulette, which will feature video pieces inspired by each track and created by some of todays most accomplished visual artists.
Acclaimed as one of the young artists shaping our contemporary music scene and defining what it means to be a composer in the 21st century (NPR) and heralded for his ability to blur the line between electronic and acoustic instrumentation and seemingly melt both elements into a greater organic whole (WNYC), Paris-born Wohl creates a remarkable hybrid of music that is part-mechanical and part-organic on the aptly titled Corps Exquis a French term that translates in English as Exquisite Body. Instead of exploring the gap between his classical composition background and his collaborations within the ever-evolving electronic music scene (recently with Laurel Halo and Julia Holter at the Ecstatic Music Festival), Wohl strives to close it.
The albums striking electronic elements are derived directly from Wohls processing of the virtuosic ensembles acoustic instruments (piano, violin, cello, clarinet and percussion). On the track Ouverture, Wohl processes the resonance from a bell hit and extends it to form the underlying electronic texture; on Limbs, the original acoustic piano plays in perfect unison with an electrified and transformed version of itself. The result is an utterly dynamic and emotionally-charged work in which the acoustic and electronic sounds seamlessly intertwine to the point of becoming one.
On the albums opener, Neighborhood, an isolated-feeling soundscape pulses with electronic and acoustic percussion, at times swollen with lush strings and technicolor euphoria with help from So Percussion. Cello and distorted organs vibrate in unison on 323? as jangly percussion, found sounds, and vocals (Aaron Roche) bound, and on Plus ou Moins, gentle piano is met with twists and turns of countermelody. Easy, poignant vocals (Julia Holter) blend with a melancholic strings, percussion, piano and bass clarinet on Corpus, bringing the album to a wistful close.
TRANSIT is: Evelyn Farny (cello); Andie Springer (violin); David Friend (piano, toy piano, melodica, percussion); Joe Bergen: (mallets, percussion, melodica); Sara Budde (clarinet, bass clarinet). In addition to composing the album, Daniel Wohl is featured on electronics, organ and vocals on 323?.Aaron Roche provided additional percussion on Cantus and on Neighborhood.
The album was recorded by Andrew McKenna Lee at Still Sound Studios and Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio. The album was engineered and mixed by Andrew McKenna Lee and mastered by Joe Lambert."
- "Paris born composer DANIEL WOHL draws on his background in electronic music to create works that intimately merge electronic and acoustic elements. His distinctive hybrid format has earned him praise as one of his generations imaginative and skillful creators (New York Times) shaping our contemporary music scene (NPR) . His music has been commissioned and/or performed by cutting-edge ensembles and performers such as Eighth Blackbird, So Percussion, Present Music, Bang on a Can All-Stars Lisa Moore, Ashley Bathgate and Vicky Chow, Talujon, Da Capo, California E.A.R Unit, Dither, Mantra Percussion, Iktus percussion and Calder Quartet, as well as the more classically-oriented American Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Ossia Symphony Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia, New York Youth Symphony, and St Lukes Chamber Ensemble. His work has been heard at Carnegie Hall, Webster Hall, the MATA Festival, the Bang on a Can Marathon, the Ecstatic Music Festival, NordKlang (Switzerland), Mass MoCA, Dia Beacon, River to River, Gaudeamus (Amsterdam), and over media outlets such as NPR, PBS, WQXR, CANAL +, TFI and FRANCE 2. . . . ."
New Amsterdam Records - http://www.danielwohlmusic.com/ - http://danielwohl.bandcamp.com/
Composers:
Christos Hatzis
Timothy Brady
Micheline Roi
Alice Ping Yee Ho
David Occhipinti
- "The works on WOMAN RUNS WITH WOLVES represent, in some form, the dichotomy in life between chaos and order, destruction and creation, nature and civilization. From the edgy dubstep style of the young composer Laura Silberberg's Up and Down Dubstep to the representation of a spirited woman in Alice Ho's dramatic musical journey based on Clarissa Pinkola Este's tale of "La Loba". Christos Hatzis' Arctic Dreams lustfully captures the sound of the Inuit throat singers (in a slightly jazzy, new age style) musically reflecting the expansive northern landscape of Canada's territory, Nunavut. In the Fire of Conflict is a plea from a desperate young man trying to recapture a sense of hope in life amidst extreme physical and psychological turmoil.Tim Brady's intense work Rant! deals with humans' natural ability to complain! Tim has used Rick Mercer's rant entitled "Who Polls the Pollsters" for this unrelenting work for piano and percussion. Micheline Roi's poignant work Grieving the Doubts of Angels deals with a sense of struggle that both performer and composer often experience during the creative process. And at last we reach the summit of our lives, where we cherish the simple expressiveness of the sound of the marimba aptly captured in David Occhipinti's melodic piece Summit."
Canadian Music Centre - Soundcloud
"Unlike the other CDs I have recorded, "Woman Runs with Wolves" represents a kaleidoscope of eclectic styles both compositionally and in performance. I have tried to make use of the recording process by adding overdubs. I have made use of not only a large array of percussion instruments (including various drums, gongs, cymbals, marimba, vibraphone and crotales) but also the use of my voice both speaking and singing. This has certainly been a most rewarding and cathartic experience for me!"
- Bev Johnston
- http://www.beverleyjohnston.com/
Thomas Carteron & Nicolas Charbonnier - Six Pieces for Acousmonium
- "2007-2010, two students composers from music school academy both produce a piece by year. Since, notebooks filled with parts, diagrams and sketches had been lost and statements mislaid. Nursed by the permanent evocation of celebrated composers, those exhumed pieces are now returned to a blank state, as self-denial forms without gestures nor memories. Music as a found object, a lacking story.
Originally designed to be played in an acousmonium, those pieces are now reduced to stereo. The listening space shrinks and foreshortens perspectives. It offers to the cohabiting sounds new links and resonances into an artificial intimacy.
All those pieces, or better said fragments, are about the fragility and the lost of meaning. Subtraction of spaces and words due to memory inconsistencies and lapses ; subtraction and oversights as creative processes : substrates of white noises and residues of reverberations echoing into forgotten places."
Tsuko Boshi Records - Soundcloud
- "The Acousmonium is the sound diffusion system designed in 1974 by Francois Bayle and used originally by the Groupe de Recherches Musicales at the Maison de Radio France. It consists of 80 loudspeakers of differing size and shape, and was designed for tape playback. As Bayle wrote in a CD sleeve note in 1993, it was
Another utopia, devoted to pure "listening" as a penetrable "projection area", arranged with a view to immersion in sound, to spatialised polyphony, which is articulated and directed.
The Acousmonium is still in use today it was used for a series of concerts of electroacoustic music held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in May, 2006."
Wikipedia
This one from 2003 is also with Amadinda performing Steve Reich:
- "This live recording of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians comes with lavish praise from the composer himself, a man who has made no secret of his low regard for both live recordings in general and live recordings of his own music by European musicians in particular. This performance was recorded in concert at the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest. The Amadinda percussion ensemble, normally a quartet, added the requisite 14 additional players in order to meet the demands of the score and learned the parts by interpreting Reich's original version of the printed music rather than the official published score from the late 1990s. With Music for 18 Musicians, Reich made it clear that he was not a "minimalist" in the sense that his contemporaries Philip Glass and Terry Riley were minimalist; while the piece is characterized by repeated figures and relatively slow harmonic movement, there is a tremendous intricacy to the structure that underlies this composition, and it covers a large amount of conceptual and sonic ground over the course of its one-hour length. Amadinda and the rest of the ensemble play and sing with an irresistible energy and verve; Reich is entirely right when he says, in the notes, that "one is simply swept along" by the power of their performance. Very highly recommended."
Allmusic
Amadinda Percussion Group
- "was formed 1984 in Budapest, Hungary by four musicians who had just graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. Right from the start, besides performing significant pieces from the classical percussion repertoire, Amadinda has made it a point to inspire composers to create new works. Included among those who have dedicated a new piece for them, are three of the greatest names of the second half of the XXth century: John Cage, György Ligeti and Steve Reich.
These initial goals were soon extended by three new elements: research of traditional percussion cultures, composition of new music by the members of the ensemble and transcriptions of some great pieces from the history of classical music.
As a result, Amadinda has created a unique repertoire that has been enchanting audiences for 28 years, in 33 countries, on 4 continents, at venues including such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Wiener Konzerthaus (Vienna), Royal Albert Hall (London), National Concert Hall (Taipei), Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas) and Carnegie Hall (New York).
A truly outstanding achievement of Amadindas work is the complete recordings of the percussion works of John Cage on a series of 6 CDs, completed in 2011.
Amadinda has collaborated actively in the past 28 years with renowned artists like Peter Eötvös, Paul Hillier, Zoltán Kocsis, András Schiff, Éva Marton, György Kurtág, András Keller and James Wood. Nowadays Amadinda is regarded as one of the most original and versatile percussion groups in the world."
http://www.amadinda.com
- "On this CD electronic music performer Frank Bretschneider and electro-acoustic composer Ejnar Kanding create new interconnections between Berlin and Copenhagen with three works from the past five years. The Contemporánea ensemble plays the two sound-creators’ versions of each other’s works, creating completely new, minimalist sound compositions in the fi eld of tension between driving force and stasis and between acoustic and electronic music."
Dacapo Records
- "There are plenty of interesting connections between Berlin-based Frank Bretschneider and the Dane Ejnar Kanding. At a very basic level, the two composers have linked their artistic methods and distinctive characteristics by allowing each other to create new pieces out of existing compositions of their own. In two works on the CD, it is Kanding who creates new electro-acoustic pieces out of Bretschneider’s electronic music – i.e. music for acoustic classical instruments with electronic effects. In the third instance, it is Bretschneider who remixes one of Kanding’s old orchestral works.
This produces some quite surprising works with an exhilarating mix of stasis and pulse – of open enquiry and simple driving force – one that extremely precisely points to the respective backgrounds of the two contemporary musicians. The lives of Bretschneider and Kanding, ever since they appeared on the scene in the late 1980s, have been characterised by curiosity and openness as well as an urge to explore new territory along with people unlike themselves.
The three works on this CD are the result of a cooperation between Bretschneider and Kanding over the past five years. One between Kanding, with his enquiring artistic nature that has often produced a highly expressive, dense music that has been inspired by, for example, such existential poetry at that of Rainer Maria Rilke, and Bretschneider, with his straightforward, pulsating nature that often balances between something one absolutely has to sit down and listen to in order to get best out of, and fluid rhythms that one could even dance the light fantastic to. In principle, at any rate."
http://frankbretschneider.de
Composer Ejnar Kanding is internationally known for his unique colourful sound, where the electronic and acoustic are united in complex textures, physical energy and delicate simplicity. To him, music should not embellish, but be a realm of fantasy. A journey into the ambiguous - a hall of mirrors. Kanding originally got his degree in composition and musical theory at The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen in 1993, followed by studies at IRCAM in Paris and with Professor Lev Koblyakov in Jerusalem in 1994 and 95, but has since his debut concert in 1996 specialized himself in composing music for computer and instruments. This has led to an extensive use of the software MaxMSP in the development of his works and as an instrument in live performances.
Also Kanding's role as artistic leader of the ensemble Contemporánea has made it possible for audiences to experience his music at very diverse platforms such as the nightclub Nice T, Buenos Aires; an outdoor concert on the Andes Mountains, Bogotá; in David Lang's flat (NYC), that has a scene for intimate performances, jazz club Blå, Oslo; night club Rust, Copenhagen and in the raw cement construction of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation's new radio house, when only the building's supporting parts were finished. The physical frames of the music have been prioritised, just like the performances' content has been thought through holistically.
Kanding's music is also appreciated in the traditional new music context and has been selected for prominent festivals such as International Computer Music Conference (2001, 2004, 2010), International Society for Contemporary Music (2002, 2008), Festival Synthése, Nordic Music Days, Up North, and Interactive Arts Performances Series at New York University etc. Besides the Danish Arts Foundation's three-year stipend and numerous work grants, Kanding has received several commissions by a string of international ensembles such as Osiris Trio (NL), Harry Sparnaay Trio (NL), Crash ensemble (IR), Cikada ensemble (NO), ensemble Ars Nova (SE), ensemble Adapter (DE) and Transit ensemble (NYC), as well as the Danish ensembles Figura, Athelas, Alpha Trio, Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Messerkvartetten and so on."
Dacapo Records - http://soundcloud.com/kanding
Ensemble Contemporánea
- "Founded in 1997 by Ejnar Kanding and Fritz Gerhard Berthelsen, the Danish ensemble Contemporánea has specialized in performing music involving acoustic and electronic sound in various ways, from performing pieces with tape or simple effect processing of the instruments, to more elaborated sound processing and interaction between performer and computer. Besides extensive concert activities in Denmark, the ensemble has frequently been on tour and has played concerts in Switzerland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Cuba, China, Ireland, USA and five South American countries. The ensemble has performed at festivals such as the International Computer Music Conference, ULTIMA festival, Nordic Music Days, MAGMA, Up North and the Interactive Arts Performance Series at New York University. An important feature of the ensemble is the composer portray series, where an entire program is dedicated to a single composer, which gives the audience a rare opportunity to discover several aspects of the musical world of one composer. So far, composers Ejnar Kanding, Ivar Frounberg, Anders Brødsgaard, Jens Hørsving, Morten Skovgaard Danielsen, Mogens Christensen and Deqing Wen have been portrayed.
http://www.contemporanea.dk
An extension of our CONCRETE ELECTRONICS NOISE, a brand new mix-up of unusual conceptions of sound material by young unknown composers, well known not-so-young composers and old but clever composers.
- "Cristian Vogel is a composer, music producer and music theorist. His work is known worldwide through state-of-the-art DJ and Live performances to compositions for choreography and many studio productions.
Born in Chile 1972 and raised in the UK, he is now based in Berlin. Cristian Vogel has been a long-term innovator in the composition, mixing and performance of electronic sounds.
Over a 20 year career at the vanguard of European electronic music, his work has been highly acclaimed for its quality, vision and attention to detail. He has been acknowledged for blueprinting the "minimal" and "wonky" techno music styles back in the mid-nineties, as well as outstanding work in the field of avant-garde composition for contemporary dance, film and sound art. Considered by some as 'a producers producer'. He has been asked to remix Radiohead, Maximo Park, Thom Yorke and many more talented artists."
Sub Rosa
music
- "This new release from New Haven bassist /composer Carl Testa offers a highly listenable take on the active interface of solo double bass and live electronics.
The four tracks heretotaling a too-brief 37 minutes or sowere recorded live in the studio, with Testa improvising on double bass routed through a sampling and granulating computer program of his own design. Overall, the pieces tend toward a kind of constructivism in which cascading complexities of sound are built up from simple starting elements such as a single tone from an open string, or percussive strikes. From these elements the sound ramifies in several directions, turns back in on itself, accumulates and reemerges transformed, though with the core still recognizable.
For example Early Bright, the opening track, begins with the accelerating pulse of the bow bouncing on the open G string; pitches divide, echo and accumulate into a shimmering foundation for a Lydian-flavored improvisation that evolves into the grinding sound of overpressured bowing and an emphatically rhythmic pizzicato. The initial taps and handstrikes of Diffracted build up into a rumbling subtext before moving to a rapid vibrato and an emergent theme constructed around a descending glissando, while And Engulfed closes the recording with a flowing melody that undergoes a labyrinthine process of metamorphosis.
In sum, a well-done excursion into electroacoustic improvisation that never subordinates musicality to experimentation."
Avant Music News
I am a composer and instrumentalist based in New Haven, CT and New York City. I am originally from Chicago, Illinois. While in Chicago, I studied music with Donn DeSanto, at the U of C Lab School, as well as at the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) School of Music. There I studied and performed with Mwata Bowden, Ann Ward, Avreeyal Ra, Steve Berry, Ernest Dawkins, Aaron Getsug, Isaiah Spencer, Stephen Ptacek, Will Faber, Noah Meites, Kevin Nabors, Justin Dillard, and many others.
After Chicago, I moved to Middletown, CT to study music and sociology at Wesleyan University. There I studied with Anthony Braxton, Neely Bruce, Alvin Lucier, Ron Kuivila, Charles Lemert, and performed with Anthony Braxton, Aaron Siegel, Anne Rhodes, Angela Opell, Andrew Raffo Dewar, Gergely Kiss, Dave Ruder, Daniel Raimi, Dave Kadden, Philip Schulze, David Jensenius, and many others again!
I now live in New Haven, CT with my wife, vocalist Anne Rhodes and perform in New Haven and New York City. I lead my own groups that play my own compositions, I also perform in duo collaborations, as well as various side projects most notably with Anthony Braxton. See my Projects page for descriptions of all my projects.
I am currently working on a new extended piece for voices and chamber ensemble. I am also continuously working on new pieces for my clarinet trio and for my solo electronics project.
I organize a concert series called the Uncertainty Music Series on the second saturday of every month in New Haven, CT. This series is a chance for me to have an original music performance every month as well as feature musicians from the greater New Haven area or New York, etc. . . . ."
http://carltesta.net - http://music.carltesta.net/ - music
Elizabeth Brown, flute, shakuhachi, theremin; Newband; Momenta Quartet; Pro Musica Nipponia, Yasushi Inada, conductor; Ben Verdery, amplified classical guitar played with slide bar.
- "The music of Elizabeth Brown (b. 1953) revels in paradox, but of a subtle kind. The strangeness of the music sneaks up on you; its liquid, mellifluous quality masks a far more radical stance. Seemingly irreconcilable instrumental timbres coexist peaceably: shakuhachi with string quartet, theremin with guitar, Partch instruments with theremin. The music is blessed with an old-fashioned gift for clear and singable melody . . . except for the fact that the tune keeps bending and melting. There is a genuine romantic sensibility, yet it exists in a soundworld that can only be avant-garde. But the avant-gardisme is in turn presented within a sensibility that is tender, sweet, and toylike. In short it expresses a genuine innocence, something we encounter far too rarely in an era of postmodern irony. Browns musical world is one of dreamlike sounds, images, textures, colors, and harmonies. One sees the literature of the past, especially the Romantic era, transformed through its colored filter. One also glimpses a musical future that is fresh and imaginative, but never afraid of beauty, nor of humane warmth.
Brown is a gentle maverick. Though her music bespeaks an ironclad intelligence and steely will, and evidences ties to all sorts of American experimental traditions, it still desires to give pleasure to performer and listener alike. It is eclectic, but seamlessly so. Its many sources and influences blend into an organic whole that seems to have always been there, but which she fortuitously discovered. Above all, it is personal, the work of an unpretentious, deep, and questing spirit.
New World Records - Experimedia Preview
- "Elizabeth Brown's music has been heard in Japan, the Soviet Union, Colombia, Australia and Vietnam as well as across Europe and the US. She has received grants, awards, and commissions from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Barlow Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council, the Cary Trust, the Greenwall Foundation, NYFA, Orpheus, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Newband, and the Japan/US Friendship Commission. She has been a fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in Italy and at the MacDowell Colony, and was Artist-in-Residence at the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music, in the Grand Canyon, in Maine's Acadia National Park, and in Isle Royale National Park, a U.S. Biosphere Reserve in the middle of Lake Superior. She has been composer-in-residence at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, the Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival, and the Bennington Chamber Music Conference and Composers' Forum of the East. A solo CD, "Blue Minor: Chamber Music by Elizabeth Brown" was released in 2003.
Brown is celebrated both here and in Japan for her compositions combining eastern and western sensibilities. This past season alone, 'Shinshoufuukei '(An Imagined Landscape) won Grand Prize in the Makino Yutaka Music Award Composition Competition for Japanese traditional instrument orchestra, and 'Mirage' was a prizewinner in the SGCM Shakuhachi Composition Competition 2010, with performances in Tokyo's Kioi Hall and Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Takemitsu Memorial. Music from Japan presented the Japanese premiere of 'Rubicon' in Fukushima prefecture, performed by members of Tokyo's celebrated Reigakusha gagaku orchestra. Music from Japan also commissioned 'fragments for the moon', for concerts featuring Brown with nohkan/shinobue artist Kohei Nishikawa in February 2011 in New York City and at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Finally, Brown was April Artist-in-Residence in the Grand Canyon, continuing work on a series of solo shakuhachi pieces inspired by particular places in nature. Brown has also given solo shakuhachi performances at the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum in NYC, in the sculpture quarry of the Lacoste School for the Arts in Provence, and as Artist-in-Residence inseveral National parks. Since she premiered 'Mirage', for shakuhachi and string quartet, with the Grainger Quartet at the World Shakuhachi Festival 2008 in Sydney, Australia, it has also been performed in Tokyo, Prague, and New York City. In 2008/2009, she lived in Japan on a Cultural Exchange Fellowship supported by the US/Japan Friendship Commission.
Spring 2012 will see the premiere of Brown's 4th collaboration with visual artist Lothar Osterburg. 'A Bookmobile for Dreamers', commissioned by the Electronic Music Foundation through Meet the Composer's Commissioning Music/USA program, is a multimedia chamber opera for theremin, recorded sound, and video, which celebrates the imagination as inspired by the printed word. Brown and Osterburg were in residence at the Liguria Study Center in Bogliasco, Italy, in spring 2011.
Brown, who holds a master's degree in Flute Performance from The Juilliard School, often performs as flutist in her own music, as well as with many NYC ensembles, including the New York City Ballet Orchestra, American Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, and Flute Force."
American Composers Forum - http://www.elizabethbrowncomposer.com/
Performers: Lisa Karrer, Guy Klucevsek, Jerome Kitzke, Bradley Lubman, Essential Music, The Mad Coyote
- "Some things should never disappear. First released to great acclaim by Koch International Classics in 1999, composer Jerome Kitzkes wide-ranging and ceaselessly inventive The Character of American Sunlight went out of print in 2007 and innova Recordings is proud to bring it back into the world where it belongs. At once exuberant and carefully crafted, Kitzkes music on this release amply demonstrates he has the makings of an American original (Robert Carl, Fanfare). The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said his music crackles with rhythmic vitality, brims with big-hearted expression and astounds with daring sonic invention.
Presented with new artwork and liner notesincluding Kyle Ganns essay Jerome Kitzke: Bringing Energy Down from the Gods from the original release and a new intro by Sarah CahillThe Character of American Sunlight combines voices and instruments, words and notation, in liberating new ways. Drawing on traditions from Native American song to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg, Kitzke makes the new feel familiar while repositioning and repurposing the traditional to be made new again. The result is uniquelyand bracinglyAmerican."
Innova Recordings
- "Avant-garde can mean so many things. To a composer like Jerome Kitzke it is a freeing notion. THE CHARACTER OF AMERICAN SUNLIGHT dances among the influences that comprise the American character. From Native American songs to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg, from New York saxophone to tribal drumming, Kitzke pursues the essence of the American. Melodic lines reminiscent of folk tales told around a campfire as well as the sounds of a burgeoning city play over a rich drumscape. Kitzke's compositions have more in common with contemporary jazz pieces than the works of 19th Century composers, but they are steeped in the traditions of each. The small ensembles responsible for each of these unique pieces give an exciting voicing to the unusual sounds. The all-digital recording gives an intimate clarity to the album."
CD Universe
- "Jerome Kitzke lives in New York City but grew up along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, where he was born in 1955. Since his first work in 1970, he has thought himself to be as much a storyteller as he is a composer. Some of the stories are about life's personal roads, like The Redness of Blood and Sunflower Sutra which both express the composer's love for his blood family. Many, however, like Box Death Hollow and The Paha Sapa Give-Back are about the roads that go looking for what it means to be an American late in the 20th Century, especially as it relates to the connection between how we live on this land and the way we came to live on it. Kitzke's music celebrates American Vitality in its purest forms. It thrives on the spirit of driving jazz, Plains Indian song, and Beat Generation poetry, where freedom and ritual converge. It is direct, dramatic, and visceral always with an ear to the sacred ground.
Mr. Kitzke composes for and performs with his group The Mad Coyote. His music has been performed in North and South American, Europe, Asia and Australia by such organizations as the Milwaukee Symphony, the New Juilliard Ensemble, Essential Music (New York), Present Music (Milwaukee), Earplay (San Francisco), and Zeitgeist (Minneapolis-St. Paul), Trio AKKOBASSO (Germany) and such artists as Guy Klucevsek, Margaret Leng Tan, Kathleen Supové, Michael Lowenstern, Christine Schadeberg, Dora Ohrenstein, Wendy Chambers, Anthony de Mare, Lisa Karrer and Tom Linker.
Mr. Kitzke's CD The Character of American Sunlight is available from Koch International Classics (3-7456-2 H1). Current commissions include Present Music, the Kronos Quartet, Zeitgeist, and the percussionist Tom Kolor.
Jerome Kitzke founded the ensemble The Mad Coyote in 1992 to present concerts combining his notated pieces and free improvisation. The group consists of piano, accordion, violin, bass, flute/voice, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, trumpet, solo voice, two percussion, and conductor; though Kitzke often uses smaller ensembles drawn from the group. Each member can play with equal aplomb the most complex notated music and music that is totally improvised."
Peermusic
Soundcloud
Free on Soundcloud in AAC (238 Mb)
Kenneth Radnofsky, alto saxophone
Angel Subero, bass trombone
Richard Svoboda, bassoon
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor
"As a follow-up to the composers first BMOP/sound album Michael Gandolfi: Y2K Compliant (2008), From the Institutes of Groove is the latest endeavor in a long-standing affair between Michael Gandolfi and BMOP. The recordings three concertos showcase Gandolfis multifarious compositional techniques such as post-minimalist textures and interlaced grooves as well as intellectual inspirations such as science and architecture. As evident throughout, he provides a stage for the soloists to reveal their single musical personalities and the varying facets of their respective instruments.
Two of the albums works were written exclusively for BMOP: the 20-minute, four-movement Fantasia for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra featuring saxophonist Kenneth Radnofsky; and the eponymous From the Institutes of Groove featuring Venezuelan bass trombonist Angel Subero. In Institutes, Gandolfi plays off Angels versatility as both a salsa and classical player. Soaked in rhythmic patterns, the first movement Too Jazz for Rock is inspired by big-band sounds while the second Rising on the Wing a minimalist-like groove. Rounding out the recording is Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra featuring Richard Svoboda, principal bassoonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra."
- "Michael James Gandolfi (born July 5, 1956 in Melrose, Massachusetts) is an American composer of contemporary classical music.
Initially a self-taught guitarist, Gandolfi entered the Berklee College of Music before transferring to the New England Conservatory of Music(NEC) after one year. He went on to receive both his bachelors and masters degrees from NEC, where he is now the chair of the composition department.[1] In 1986, he was a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center; while there, he studied with Leonard Bernstein and Oliver Knussen. He has served on the faculty of Harvard University, Indiana University, and the Phillips Academy at Andover; since 1997 he has been the coordinator for the Tanglewood Music Center's composition department. He was previously a composer in residence with the New England Philharmonic. He has been championed by conductor Robert Spano as one of the "Atlanta School" of American composers, a group that also includes colleagues Osvaldo Golijov, Jennifer Higdon, and Christopher Theofanidis.
Gandolfi's music often contains rock and jazz elements. He often looks to the sciences for his subject matter, resulting in pieces such as The Garden of Cosmic Speculation (inspired by Charles Jencks' garden in Scotland that incorporates modern physics into its design, and nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition at the 2009 Grammy Awards) and Trivia, written for the Weilerstein Trio, which counts Richard Wolfson's book Simply Einstein as a source. He has also written a significant amount of children's music, including a setting of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio story.
He has had significant performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The New World Symphony, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and many others.
Gandolfi currently resides in Cambridge, MA and is a member of ASCAP"
Wikipedia
http://www.bmop.org/ - http://www.michaelgandolfi.com/
- "Jace Clayton (also known as DJ /rupture) will release his new album, The Julius Eastman Memory Depot, on March 26 on New Amsterdam Records. On the album, Clayton again brings his sense of compassion, wide-eyed exploration, and razor-sharp intellect to the table, but instead of using a variety of sources for inspiration, for the first time, Clayton has chosen a single, if multivalent, subject for his artistic dissection: the lifeincluding musicof gay African-American composer Julius Eastman.
The Julius Eastman Memory Depot is an auditory repository for the sonic ideas explored in the live performance. On both, Clayton pulls acoustic and digital sounds toward each other by running the the music from each piano through a laptop, where he uses custom-built digital tools informed by his acclaimed Sufi Plug Ins projectone such tool uses the overall volume of the pianos to simultaneously adjust a drone being generated by their pitchesto create an electronic layer built entirely on the pianos sound.
Clayton chose to focus on two of Eastmans longest piano works for the album, Evil Nigger and Gay Guerrilla, to allow himself as much opportunity as possible to explore the sound and range of the piano, Eastmans rhythmic and muscular writing, and the internal dynamics of each piece. Recorded with virtuosic pianists David Friend and Emily Manzo at New York Citys world-class Merkin Concert Hall, the pianists impeccable instincts gave Clayton freedom to focus on his subtle (and in some cases, dramatic) electronic explorations of the pianos sonic possibilities. The result is two arresting, labyrinthine new songs created by the two pianos and their own electrified and transformed versions that extend Eastmans vision for multiple pianos into a truly original type of listening experience.
Claytons sole purely original composition on the album,Callback from the American Society of Eastman Supporters, acts as a bridge between the album and the live performance, and portrays how the precariousness of Eastmans work life echoes and resonates with the precariousness of jobs nowadays more than ever. Inspired by the way in which Eastmans song titles often used humor and confrontation to demonstrate that the world of classical music and the world-we-live-in are intermingled and inseparable, Sufi vocalist Arooj Aftab begins the coda in dry corporate-speak then expands the song with spiritual depth, adding intensity to the piano music while and simultaneously welcoming in the world.
The Julius Eastman Memory Depot proposes a celebration of music-in-motion, of the fragile and the strong and those who live in the outskirts, of that which for various reasons resists easy historicization but deserves to be remembered, reinvented, and set alight anew."
New Amsterdam - music
(Julius Eastman @ Wikipedia)
- "Pogus is very honored to be able to reissue this recording of works by the late Jerry Hunt (1943-1993), originally released on ¿What Next? Having long been fascinated by Hunts work, it is great to be able to have these last works of his available on CD once again."
To quote Blue Gene Tyranny:
- In the 1970s electronic music practitioners constituted a rare and marginal population on the frontiers of interactive media and performance. Audio, with its modest bandwidth requirements, led video by at least a decade in every major discovery. Early artists were able to experiment, construct, interconnect and perform with electronic systems that were consciously digital, real-time and interactive long before those buzzwords were mentioned in other artistic contexts. Among the pioneers, Jerry Hunt was the rarest, most marginal explorer of a remote terrain. As his musical activities moved from the electronic sound pieces of the 1970s into the legendary performances of the 1980s, Hunt brought along with him a curiously rich and viable ecosystem of pieces, structuring principles, performing gestures, and theatrical personae.
The sounds on this recording, created in 1993, are completely different from the ones that constitute normal or academic electronic music. The three sections of this electronic work constitute the composer's last pieces. He regarded the recorded version of this work as a "document for rehearing." The overall sound is the densest and most intricate in this one of a kind artist's body of work. The three sections consist of "interlocking audio and video optical discs which provide the fundamental image, sound and program control strings ... action code pattern structures ... for a group of transactional mimetic gesture exercises ... inflection calls evoking ... melody streams" with simultaneous tracks of acoustic percussion. The sonic result is an entrancing, overwhelming, evocative shamanic performance of brilliantly designed electronic timbres.
Pogus Productions - Soundcloud
- "Jerry Hunt (November 30, 1943 in Waco, Texas - November 27, 1993 in Canton, Texas) was an American composer who created works using live electronics partly controlled by his ritualistic performance techniques, influenced by his interest in the occult. He committed suicide in response to terminal cancer.
His collaborators included Karen Finley, Paul Panhuysen, and Philip Krumm. Hunt was also the founder of IRIDA Records, which released recordings with works by Larry Austin, James Fulkerson, Dary John Mizelle, Rodney Waschka II, and others, as well as recordings of his own music."
Last.fm - http://www.jerryhunt.org/
Take, for example, the titular track by Angélica Negrón. Written for toy piano and live electronics, its sparse and innocent opening seems to play on the connotations between the sound of the instrument and its connection to childhood. Yet as the work evolves, layers of percussive ambient noise begin to cloud the purity of the opening material. The piece crescendos into a cacophony of beeps and sputters before returning to its humble beginnings. Reaching the end of the piece, the question is less, Is this really a toy piano? and more Where do we go next?"
In fact, many of the contributing composers seem to relish in the opportunity to stretch the instrument. Karlheinz Essls Whatever Shall Be utilizes the toy pianos sound board to amplify noises made by a chop stick, a dreidel, and a small music box. Nathan Daviss meditative The Mechanics of Escapement juxtaposes the petite twang of the instrument against large clock chimes which, in performance, surround the audience. One of the more complicated offerings in terms of structure, Andrian Pertouts Pi (Obstruction) is a densely textured tribute to Conlon Nancarrow.
Takuji Kwais Okura and Dai Fujikuras Milliampere are the more introspective offerings, with similar less-is-more sensibilities letting reflective pauses and simple melodies make subtle but poignant statements.
What is most convincing about the album is the way in which each composer plays with expectation; sometimes emphasizing conventional associations with the sound of a toy piano, sometimes defying them all together. It is a testament to both the composers' respect for the instrument as well as the performers talent that the over-arching effect is to appreciate the album as simply an eclectic playlist of intriguing music."
Q2 @ New Focus Recordings
- "Praised by the New York Times for her delightful quirkiness matched with interpretive sensitivity, Phyllis is a pianist,toy pianist and composer that performs original multimedia compositions and works by contemporary composers. The Oregonian states her captivating performance was animated by unbridled inventiveness, the kind of joyous creativity that playing with toys is meant to inspire. Phyllis artistic pursuits take her in numerous directions leading to her selection as a New Music/New Places Fellow at the 2007 Concert Artist Guild International Competition.
Playing an instrument that has no set boundaries or genre, Phyllis has been invited to perform at a large variety of festivals and concerts in the US and abroad.
Phyllis is one of the founding members of ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), a New York-based collective dedicated to the performance and promotion of new works. Phyllis was selected as one of the composer/artist for the inaugural ICElab Series, ICEs newest model for commissioning, developing and performing new music by nurturing the essential composer-performer collaboration. Her ICElab works will be performed this August at Lincoln Centers Mostly Mozart Festival. Phyllis was also the recipient of the 2012 Roulette/Jerome Commission and one of twelve composers-recipients of the 2012 Fromm Music Foundation. Recent commissions included a film score to Hans Richters silent film Everything Turns Everything Revolves, that was premiered at the LA County Museum of Art and a new work for toy piano and mandolin for Jen Curtis. . . . . ."
http://www.phyllischen.net
Christopher Campbell & Grant Cutler - Schooldays Over
- "Down at the roots, folk songs erase their authors. Even when they can be traced to their original writers, they connect even further back to something indigenous, chthonic. The Irish folk ballad Schooldays Over was written by Ewan MacColl as part of a larger work entitled The Big Hewer, which was broadcast by the BBC in 1961. In its frank depiction of a life that lead directly from the schoolhouse to backbreaking labor in the mines, it is very much of its time. But its plain, melancholy melody adheres to something more universal as well, and thats the thread that Chris Campbell and Grant Cutler pull out and build on for this new innova release.
It begins with the faintest wooden soundthe shift of a chair or the creak of a piano bench, perhaps. The music unfolds delicately in reverberations and echoes from piano, glockenspiel, strings and more laid on top of synthetic tones and beds of sound. When Cutlers delicate, birdsong-encircled vocals arrive, they sound like the ashes of MacColls song, burnt down then returned from a distant place, a residual haunting repeating itself inside the track. Stretched into a roughly 20-minute suite, the songs pressing, immediate concern with the toll of hard labor is effaced and supplanted by a meditation on times fleeting nature, on questions of duty, work and leisure.
Campbell and Cutler havent added to or fleshed out the original so much as zoomed in so close were practically inside the songs heart, watching the world from inside a sepia-tinted diorama. Their achievement here is not making the song their own, but excavating it, turning it into something for no one and everyone. That is, at the root, a folk songs job. . . . "
Innova Recordings - Soundcloud
More Grant Cutler @ Emusers
- "BMOP/sounds second release this summer is Jacob Druckman: Lamia a selection of five works that best represent Druckmans mature period of polystylistic composition. It exemplifies the composers talent for timbral possibilities and homogenous interplays. The album includes the numinous Lamia (meaning sorceress according to Greek mythology) featuring mezzo-soprano Lucy Shelton and the sprightly Nor Spell Nor Charm (1990) inspired by Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream, to name a few. A Pulitzer-prize winning composer, Druckman is best known for his vividly scored and viscerally dramatic orchestral works (New York Times)."
- "One of the most prominent of contemporary American composers, Jacob Druckman was born in Philadelphia in 1928. After early training in violin and piano, he enrolled in the Juilliard School in 1949, studying composition with Bernard Wagenaar, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood; later, he continued his studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris (1954-55).
Critic Mark Swed has written, "At the heart of the works of Jacob Druckman lies the bold, sure, and often arrestingly physical dramatic gesture....Yet Druckman's scores have always exhibited another characteristic as well: that of careful structure, built with meticulous attention to detail. The process of integrating these two sides of his character...has been a consistent factor throughout the composer's development."
Druckman produced a substantial list of works embracing orchestral, chamber, and vocal media, and did considerable work with electronic music. In 1972, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Windows, his first work for large orchestra. Among his other numerous grants and awards were a Fulbright Grant in 1954, a Thorne Foundation award in 1972, Guggenheim Grants in 1957 and 1968, and the Publication Award from the Society for the Publication of American Music in 1967. Organizations that commissioned his music included Radio France (Shog, 1991); the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Brangle, 1989); the New York Philharmonic (Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, 1978; Aureole, 1979); the Philadelphia Orchestra (Counterpoise, 1994); the Baltimore Symphony (Prism, 1980); the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (Mirage, 1976); the Juilliard Quartet (String Quartet No. 2, 1966); the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress (Windows, 1972); IRCAM (Animus IV, 1977); and numerous others. He also composed for theater, films, and dance.
Druckman taught at the Juilliard School, Bard College, and Tanglewood; in addition he was director of the Electronic Music Studio and Professor of Composition at Brooklyn College. He was also associated with the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City. In the spring of 1982, he was Resident-In-Music at the American Academy in Rome; in April of that year, he was appointed composer-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic, where he served two two-year terms and was Artistic Director of the HORIZONS music festival. In the last years of his life, Druckman was Professor of Composition at the School of Music at Yale University.
Many of Druckman's works have been recorded, by Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch, CRI, New World, and other labels. Recent recordings include Aureole (St. Louis Symphony/Slatkin on New World), Prism (New York Philharmonic/Mehta, New World); and Nor Spell Nor Charm (Orpheus chamber orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon)."
Boosey & Hawkes
-KUNIKO's debut kuniko plays reich' was acclaimed by the media becoming Linn's bestselling album of 2011. Her follow up recording, 'cantus', features six pieces arranged for five octave marimba or vibraphone, each chosen to fully demonstrate the colours, depth and dynamics of the instrument. The arrangements and recording have been made with supervision by the original composers: Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich and Hywel Davies.
KUNIKO gave the world premiere performance of Reich's New York Counterpoint version for marimba in New York in 2012. KUNIKO won praise from the composer himself who stated: 'Kuniko Kato is a first rate percussionist.'
The simplicity and beauty of Arvo Pärt's music has won the composer many fans. In turn Pärt is a fan of KUNIKO's arrangements having approved the new versions premiered on this album. KUNIKO has arranged four of his best-loved pieces including Cantus, a fitting tribute to Benjamin Britten in 2013, his 100th anniversary year.
Purl Ground is an original piece written by British composer Hywel Davies, which KUNIKO premiered at the Cheltenham Festival in 2011 to critical acclaim. The piece is arranged for solo marimba and makes excellent use of both tremolo and pianissimo effects. . ."
Linn Records - Soundcloud
"KUNIKO is a soloist who is recognised around the world as one of the most gifted and significant percussionists of her generation in today's contemporary & classical music scene. Her virtuosic technical style, exquisite musical insight and expressive, yet elegant performance style continues to attract not only audiences, but established maestros and composers too. She is renowned for her flawless technique when playing both keyboard and percussion instruments, which blends seamlessly with her profound musical intelligence. . . ."