Archive for August, 2008
György Kurtág: The Matchstick Man
Peter Eötvös: The Seventh Door
Juxtapositions DVD DVD9DS16
(www.ideale-audience.com)
“Musicians are Hungary’s Best Export!”
So says Pierre Boulez about the astonishing bevy of talented musicians who emigrated from Hungary in the wake of World War II or during the Communist era. Hungarian composers György Kurtág and Peter Eötvös are profiled in two films directed by Judit Kele, packaged together on a single DVD, released by Ideale Audience as part of their Juxtapositions series. The Matchstick Man discusses the life and works of Kurtág. His career’s ascent has been a slow one, and has had long dry spells; but the resulting catalog contains few lulls. Kele’s film gives one a sense of Kurtág’s tremendous musicality and profundity of thought. The camera captures him at work: in rehearsals, chamber music coachings of his own music and classical repertoire, and in performances as a pianist. A particularly charming vignette includes a piano duo performance of “Quarrel,” from Games, with his wife Márta. Interviews with close friends and collaborators, including György Ligeti, Frank Sulyok, and Adrienne Csengery, provide a variety of perspectives on the composer.
The Seventh Door is no less fascinating. Peter Eötvös is one of the finest conductors of contemporary music in the world; so gifted in this regard that his talents as a composer have been unduly neglected and deserve more scrutiny. Hopefully, this film will spur more attention for his imaginative pieces. The breadth of his vision, depicted in The Seventh Door, is stirring; the film presents excerpts from pieces for orchestra, chamber forces, and a fascinating choral madrigal. A composition for tapping stones and ensemble, written as a birthday tribute to Boulez – one sees Eötvös testing various ways to tap out “Pie-rre” on the stones – demonstrates his willingness to explore unconventional pathways. His conducting career is also well-covered. A rehearsal of Stockhausen’s Grüppen, a work which features three conductors, with heavyweights David Robertson and Pierre Boulez, is a mind-blowing example of virtuosity at its zenith.
Our society is increasingly drawn to multimedia experiences, and Kele’s visually arresting and musically intriguing films are an excellent way to introduce contemporary music to new audiences.
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There have been a number of rumblings in recent months about Network Neutrality being under siege by media corporations. The upshot is that Big Media wants to stratify the internet into virtual lanes of traffic – heavily tolled lanes to be sure – instead of keeping the web a modestly priced level playing field (lots of great info is available about this topic at www.savetheinternet.com). If Net Neutrality became a thing of the past, it would certainly threaten the ability of websites like Sequenza 21 to bring you the content it currently does for free.
Thirsty Ear Records has recently released Rock the Net: Musicians for Network Neutrality (www.thirstyear.com): a compilation CD featuring tracks by musicians who support a free and open internet (www.futureofmusic.org). Mainstream artists like Aimee Mann, Wilco, Guster, and They Might be Giants, alt-hopper DJ Spooky, indie acts like the Wrens, Bright Eyes, and Portastatic, and jazz musicians Free Form Funky Frequencies and Matthew Shipp all supply stirring music on an excellent comp for an important cause.
My question to the readers of this site: what can contemporary composers do to show our solidarity and make a contribution to this worthy endeavor?
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I first met composer/percussionist Bruce Hamilton at the June in Buffalo festival in 1998. I was impressed with his music’s colorful pitch palette, keen-edged rhythms, and imaginative scoring. Bruce and I have kept in touch since then and I’ve remained enthusiastic about his compositions (http://sequenza21.com/2006_03_26_cdarchives.html).
Hamilton is an Associate Professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. A relatively new Capstone CD release, Resonant Edges (CPS-8784), features his composition Fly out for Cake alongside pieces by Paul Osterfield, J. Ryan Garber, and Jason Haney.
Recently, I caught up with Hamilton via email, getting the scoop on his current activities.
CC: How did the Resonant Edges CD come together?
BH: Ryan Garber instigated the project; he thought the four of us might provide a compelling mix of music. The next step was coming up with realistic possibilities for pieces to record; then making the recordings, figuring out the track order; then mastering and cover art. It was all done via email discussions.
CC: Tell me a bit about Fly out for Cake?
BH: I used to perform a lot with Boston-based pianist John Ferguson. We decided to do a mini-tour from Vancouver down to SF in 2001, and agreed that we’d both write some music to complement the rest of the program. I felt that we needed some semi-flashy virtuosic stuff and started writing FOFC with our chops and rhythmic acuity in mind. It’s a playful piece with lots of polyrhythmic interplay contrasting with unison rhythms; lots of splitting apart and coming together. There’s a similar shifting about with the pitch language, though overall one *might* say it has overtones of some jazz styles. The biggest shift comes at the last section, which compositionally felt like a coda, but which is about a third of the piece! This part is somewhat more diatonic than the rest and also features some aleatoric rhythm; I don’t think this section would work without everything that comes before it. This piece also has the only actual repeat sign in any of my concert work. When I first finished it I felt the form was a bit lopsided (partly because of the “coda”); an easy and effective answer was to replay a section near the beginning (:36 to 1:33 is repeated). It’s very complex section that I think bears repetition quite well (and is my favorite part of the piece).
CC: How do you balance your activities as composer, performer and scholar?
BH: That has always been and continues to be a huge challenge for me. I know that many composers grapple this, and there usually isn’t a nice, tidy answer. I think my eclectic interests as a musician are difficult to begin with, and once all the teaching, organizing, and family life are added in there’s no way to do everything I’d like to do. Performing has become somewhat rare for me, though that could change. I don’t do much research other than prep for teaching and as part of my organizational work (curating, etc.) for the Bellingham Electronic Arts Festival, which has turned into a massive annual project. Composing doesn’t happen every day (even in the summer), and I tend to jump around between different types of projects (chamber, electronic, pop, ambient, improv, noise, electroacoustic, etc.) so large-scale continuity and marketing seem to pose additional challenges for me. Having said all that I’m very happy to be in a position where I have outlets for my creativity, even if the production is not at the rate (or visibility) that I’d prefer.
CC: How do you like teaching at WWU?
BH: I enjoy it. It took a few years to figure out how to negotiate a reasonable load, etc., but it’s a thriving program and a wonderful place to live and raise a family. Naturally I sometimes question the choice to pursue an academic career at all, but here I am and I intend to make the best of it.
CC: Do you have any recordings in preparation?
BH: I’m hoping to make and release a professional recording in the next year or so of my recent percussion quartet and tape piece that the NJ-based Exit 9 percussion group premiered in May. Also, I have two short electroacoustic pieces that should be coming out on a compilation of music inspired by Antonioni’s films at some point.
CC: What are you composing now?
BH: An electroacoustic work for “tape alone”—it’s been a while since I’ve done one of those. It features, among other things, the sound of my son’s electric toys running out of battery life.
Biographical Sketch
Bruce Hamilton composes and performs music in a variety of genres. He has performed as a percussionist, improviser, and electronic musician for over 20 years. Hamilton was born near Philadelphia in 1966, and grew up in New Jersey. He holds degrees in Composition and Percussion Performance from Indiana University, where he received the Performer’s Certificate, the Dean’s Prize for Chamber Music Composition, and the Cole and Kate Porter Memorial Composition Scholarship. He has studied composition with Claude Baker, Harvey Sollberger, Wayne Peterson, Frederick Fox, and Eugene O’Brien; and electronic and computer music with Jeffrey Hass. His music is published by Non Sequitur Music and can be heard on the Albany, Capstone, Memex, Phill, SEAMUS, and Mark labels.
Hamilton has received honors, awards and commissions from ALEA III, AMC, ASCAP, PAS, Barlow Endowment, Carbondale Community Arts, Jerome Foundation, National Society of Arts and Letters, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Whatcom Symphony, Russolo-Pratella Foundation, and SEAMUS. His most recent work was written for the Exit 9 percussion group (New Jersey) and premiered in May 2008. Other recent performances have included those at the NWEAMO Festival, Friends of Rain, Electronic Music Midwest, and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention.
Since 2004 Hamilton has performed laptop-based electroacoustic music under various monikers at the Decibel Festival, Hempfest, Sonarchy Radio, and small venues around the Northwest. A co-organizer of the Bellingham Electronic Arts Festival, Hamilton is currently Associate Professor of Music at Western Washington University, where he teaches music theory, composition, and directs the electroacoustic music studio (WWEAMS). He lives in Bellingham with composer Lesley Sommer, their son Miles, and several cats.
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When I interviewed Bradford Cox for File Under ? earlier this year (http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/?p=32), he talked about Deerhunter working through its growing pains and continuing to collaborate. The band’s latest recording is set for an October release, and the band will be vigorously touring to support it. The nice people at Motor Mouth Media sent this press release today:
Atlanta-based Deerhunter are set to tour in support of Microcastle, the follow-up to 2006′s Cryptograms. Microcastle will be released simultaneously on CD and LP via Kranky in North America and 4AD for the rest of the world on October 28, 2008. This tour comes on the heels of a handful of dates opening for Nine Inch Nails. Times New Viking will be opening for all dates, with additional support from BARR, Knyfe Hyts, Vivian Girls and more in various cities.
Microcastle was recorded over the course of a week at Rare Book Studios in Brooklyn, New York with Nicolas Verhes. The album was recorded as a four-piece consisting of Bradford Cox, Lockett Pundt, Joshua Fauver, and Moses Archuleta. “Saved by Old Times” features a vocal collage by Cole Alexander of the Black Lips. The album also features two songs with lead vocals by guitarist Lockett Pundt: “Agoraphobia,” and “Neither of Us, Uncertainly.”
DEERHUNTER TOUR DATES 10/31/2008 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta^ 10/31/2008 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta^ 11/01/2008 Orange Peel, Asheville 10/31/2008 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta^ 11/01/2008 Orange Peel, Asheville 11/02/2008 Cats Cradle, Carrboro
10/31/2008 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta^ 11/01/2008 Orange Peel, Asheville 11/02/2008 Cats Cradle, Carrboro 11/03/2008 Ottobar, Baltimore
11/04/2008 Black Cat, Washington*
11/05/2008 First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia*
11/06/2008 Terrace F. Club, Princeton*
11/07/2008 Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn*
11/08/2008 Bowery Ballroom, New York%
11/10/2008 Paradise, Boston%
11/11/2008 Theatre Plaza, Montreal ^^
11/12/2008 Lees Palace, Toronto^^
11/13/2008 Crofoot Ballroom, Pontiac**
11/14/2008 Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights**
11/15/2008 Metro, Chicago**
11/16/2008 High Noon Saloon, Madison**
11/17/2008 Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis**
11/20/2008 Richards On Richards, Vancouver !
11/21/2008 Neumos, Seattle !
11/24/2008 Great American Music Hall, San Francisco !
11/25/2008 El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles !
11/28/2008 Casbah, San Diego
11/29/2008 Modified Arts, Phoenix
12/01/2008 Palladium Loft, Dallas
12/02/2008 Emos Alternative Lounge Outside, Austin
12/03/2008 Warehouse Live, Houston
12/04/2008 Spanish Moon, Baton Rouge
12/05/2008 One Eyed Jacks, New Orleans
12/06/2008 Bottletree, Birmingham
TIMES NEW VIKING OPENING ALL DATES
^With Pylon
*With Knyfe Hyts
%With Vivian Girls
^^With Neighborhood Council
**With Disappears
! With BARR
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This morning, I’m putting together a CD of the various performances I’ve had this year. Importing the tracks into ITunes from sundry CDRs, I find out that the software ‘thinks’ my performance by the Locrian Chamber Players (www.locrian.org) is actually a cut by De la Soul. I’d be happy to swap royalty checks with them too…
I’ve recently been fortunate to get several good tapes from performing arts organizations, which hasn’t often been the case in the past. The worst recording debacle concerned my work for orchestra and live locomotive, Mourning Madrid. The conditions of the performance were quite unusual. A section of track went alongside the Music Festival of the Hamptons’s outdoor performance venue in Bridgehampton, New York. The concert organizers held a competition in which the prize was a commission for a piece that incorporated the sounds of a passing locomotive.
I heard about the Hamptons competition just after the Madrid train bombings had happened. I’d found the bombings to be a chilling echo of the terror attacks that had occurred here in NY in 2001. After obtaining a recording of the train from the organization, I used it to organize the pitch material and some of the rhythmic gestures in a piece I wrote to commemorate the Madrid attacks. It won the competition and was commissioned for a performance by the Atlantic Chamber Orchestra and the Long Island Railroad in July 2004.
The performance came off without a hitch. The LIRR was very helpful, coordinating the arrival of the train at exactly the right moment. At the beginning of the piece, the locomotive rode past the orchestra, engaging in a horn duet with the brass, panning the audience with its lights as it passed by the venue. After it had driven on, the orchestra took up a chord of pitches from the train horn and percussionists replicated the track noise, creating a ghostly echo of the locomotive. I was thrilled to hear the concert and thought, “This tape will be a keeper for sure!”
The terms of the commission stipulated a “professional recording” of the performance and an audio technician was on hand to record the premiere; but the tape never materialized. I never got a straight answer from the commissioning organization as to why I didn’t receive the recording; but it was a disappointment that they never delivered a tape of what was, to say the least, a singular set of performing conditions. Although I haven’t yet found another railroad company and orchestra interested in performing the work, I remain hopeful that it will be heard again. This time, I’ll make sure somebody pushes ‘record.’
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Steve Reich
Daniel Variations
Nonesuch 406780-2 (www.nonesuch.com)
Nearing 72 years of age, Steve Reich’s musical reach continues to grow. Since the 90s, large scale theatrical projects (Three Tales and the opera The Cave), works for orchestra (Three Movements and Four Sections) and pieces with spiritual themes (Proverb) have broadened his already significant stylistic profile. The composer’s latest recording for Nonesuch pairs one of his most vivacious instrumental works, Variations for Piano, Vibes, and Strings, with one of his most emotionally resonant compositions to date, the Daniel Variations.
The apocalyptic visions of the Bible’s Book of Daniel meet a tale from our strife-ridden contemporary world in Daniel Variations. Composed for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by Grant Gershon, the piece is a memoriam to Daniel Pearl, a Jewish-American reporter kidnapped and executed by Islamic terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. A quote from Pearl, taped by his captors, is juxtaposed against verses from the Old Testament. Reich’s adept ear for speech rhythms and his potent method of developing local gestures into large scale, gradually morphing, formal designs are hallmarks that date back to some of his earliest pieces for tape, It’s Gonna Rain and Come Out. Here, choral voices and an instrumental ensemble create a live version of the composer’s process-music collage. While its charged subject matter could easily be given heavy-handed treatment, Reich assays the material with a combination of respect and imagination similar to his approach to the Holocaust in Different Trains. The angelic voices and multihued tertian harmonies that form the principle building blocks of the Daniel Variations may communicate somewhat more obliquely than the taped speeches in Different Trains, but their impact is no less formidable.
Reich’s music can inhabit uplifting joy as well as sobering tragedy. Commissioned for the London Sinfonietta and the Akram Khan Dance Company, the Variations for Piano, Vibes, and Strings, is a sparkling showpiece. The Sinfonietta is rightly regarded as one of the best ensembles for new concert music on the planet; the group, conducted here by Alan Pierson, dig into the bright harmonies and jaunty rhythms of the Variations with keenly palpable enthusiasm, which makes the piece seem even more ebullient. Both works are indispensable additions to Reich’s oeuvre.
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Brendan Canning
Something for All of Us
Arts & Crafts (www.arts-crafts.ca)
Broken Social Scene member Brendan Canning is the latest of the influential Canadian power pop collective to make a foray into work as a solo artist. Like fellow member of the ‘scene Kevin Drew, Canning’s CD, Something for All of Us, is released with full support of his colleagues by his ‘home’ label Arts & Crafts, billed as “Broken Social Scene Presents.” Many Canadian musicians lend their talents as well; the CD’s personnel list reads like a who’s who of Northern North American music-making.
Although a fine vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Canning’s principal role in Broken Social Scene is as the band’s bassist. Thus, it’s no surprise that this instrument plays a pivotal role on a number of Something’s finest cuts. It is particularly prominent on “Hit the Wall,” the CD’s lead-off single; placed high in the mix, the bass guitar provides bona fide riffing as well as harmonic groundwork. Canning’s rocking bass lines and understated yet effective vocals abet “Possible Grenade,” another single-worthy cut. There are also admirably unassuming, yet beautifully wrought, pieces here; this is especially true of the instrumental “All the Best Wooden Toys Come from Germany.” While one hopes that the current spate of solo projects doesn’t portend an imminent fragmenting of Broken Social Scene proper, Canning clearly has a lot to say both within and without the band.
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Thank You
Terrible Two
Thrill Jockey Records Thill 198 (www.thrilljockey.com)
Baltimore instrumental trio Thank You play a mix of avant-noise and post-rock on Terrible Two, their debut CD for Thrill Jockey. Elke Wardlaw’s tom-laden percussion is featured front and center, and derives significant inspiration from African drumming. Set against this are guitars and keyboards supplied by Jeffrey McGrath and Michael Bouyaoucas; their sound palette encompasses distortion, hardcore riffs, and, as on the title track, also atmospheric sustained harmonies.
This dichotomy of the raucous and sonorous creates an unpredictable and engaging musical experience. Produced by Chris Coady, who’s also worked with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the Radio, and engineered by former Jawbox member J. Robbins, Terrible Two inhabits an edgy, daring soundworld that will please both rock and out listeners.
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One Hot Afternoon
Tim Trevoe-Briscoe and Nicola Guazzaloca
Leo Records CD LR 505 (www.leorecords.com)
“Hot” has long been used as a term to describe inspired and inspiring music-making in jazz. But One Hot Afternoon, a duo recording by alto saxophonist Nicola Guazzaloca and pianist Tim Trevor-Briscoe, not only features hot playing in this sense, but is evocative of atmospheric qualities present during the recording session, a sweltering day at Modulab-Casalecchio di Reno in Italy. The duo depicts various ways in which people react to oppressive summer heat.
Like many avant-jazz outings, there is a mixture of free improvisation and elaborations of composed music here. The languid, hazy alto lines of Guazzaloca’s “Clouds Roots” are particularly fetching, as is the defiant riffing, suggesting resilient resistance to the heat, of Trevor-Briscoe’s several “Gibbering Story” pieces, Listening to the CD in the midst of a heat wave of the New York variety is not exactly “cooling,” but it is oddly comforting to hear others transcend their own midsummer weather with fine music-making.
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