ETHEL Quartet’s forthcoming release (June 2010, Thunderbird Records) chronicles their series of collaborations with eleven young composers from the Chickasaw nation; the first-ever recording of Native American student composers.
Q2 has posted podcasts about the recording project here, providing a preview and some context for this fascinating endeavor.
Over the years, Ethel has engaged in a number collaborations with Native American musicians. Here’s a video of them performing with Navajo singer James Bilagody.
35 years into their tenure, Belgian chamber rock outfit Univers Zero has just released a new LP, Clivages. Chamber rock? Well, calling the band “chamber rock” or even “instrumental prog” is reasonably descriptive; but its kind of like calling Wilco “roots-inflected indie rock:” it gets you in the vicinity of their oeuvre,  but it doesn’t get close to the guts of what the band’s really about. Univers Zero is one of the few outfits who entirely convince me that classical instruments can be successfully incorporated in a rock context without robbing the music of any power.
Indeed, how many other prog bands feature bassoon solos alongside skronking bass clarinet, as UZ does on the extended cut”"Warrior”? There’s more than a taste of the Stravinsky Octet in the elegant frequent metric shifts of “Vacillements” and “Soubresauts.” Meanwhile, “Earth Scream” moves us closer to the world of ambiance, sampling, and free improv.
Courtesy of the label’s site, we have an audio stream of “Les Kobolds,” a cut that combines both their neoclassical and rocking modes of music-making.
Max Richter’s 2002 debut CD Memoryhouse has recently been reissued on Fat Cat records. It’s a timely reminder of how the worlds of ambient pop, field recordings, and contemporary classical music have been converging throughout the past decade, creating a post-classical crossover style that still seems to be in ascent.
There’s a lush beauty to the proceedings here. Gauzy strings mix with nature sounds in a reverberant imaginary soundscape to stirring effect.
Richter’s employment of classical instruments alongside samples has also prepared him well for cinematic work. He’s recently composed the score for the film Waltz with Bashir. While one wishes him much success in this venue, one hopes that the orchestra and theater feature prominently in his future plans as well.
Last month, Songstresses from the Edge gave their debut concert at First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn. The program featured a number of guest artists and composers (including yours truly). The evening’s through-line was “indie art song:” vocal concert music that combines modern classical reference points and instrumentation with contemporary indie pop signatures and energy. Think Wordless Music meets a hipper, up-to-date version of Lilith Fair.
Jody and Molly will be taking the Songstresses from the Edge project to California next week, presenting two programs of original compositions.
This announcement just in from NJAC’s director, Darren Gage:
new jersey arts collective
presents
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
CLASSICAL BRUNCH
Sunday, October 11, at Noon
FITZGERALD’S 1928
13 Herman Street, Glen Ridge, NJ
This all-inclusive package features world-class chamber music interspersed with a sumptuous brunch at Glen Ridge’s hot upscale tavern, FITZGERALD’S. New York string players OLIVIA DE PRATO (violin) and JODY REDHAGE (cello) will perform vibrant, exhilarating classical music from Eastern Europe in the warm, friendly atmosphere of the restaurant. FITZGERALD’S will serve fresh fruit, a choice of four entrees, and coffee/tea. The package costs only $35 per person, and includes gratuity and even a complimentary mimosa or bloody mary. It’s an intimate classical concert and a great meal in one!
Tickets available exclusively online at:
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/82893
As I mentioned last week in File Under?, WNYC’s Spinning on Air recently devoted an episode to singers accompanied by cello. In addition to a set by Jody Redhage’s new group Fire in July, the episode also devoted coverage to Amy X. Neuburg, a composer/singer/percussionist who’s partnered with three cellists on her latest recording The Secret Language of Subways.
Neuburg and the Cello Chixtet are a compelling ensemble. The arrangements make use of the full range of the cello, never feeling bottom heavy. Neuburg’s voice is a true crossover instrument, encompassing musical theater belting and soaring operatic high notes. The material is correspondingly diverse. “Closing Doors†recalls Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, with a layered vocal coda that recalls Freddie Mercury! “Someone Else’s Sleep†is a lovely alt-pop number, with dovetailing cellos and sumptuous support vocals. “Difficult†brings things closer to experimental terrain, mixing slashing cellos with patter song and drumstick percussion.
More “legit†sounding is “This Loud,†which makes use of both cello and vocal layering, set over jittery, propulsive rhythms. Primarily originals, the CD includes one memorable cover, “Back in NYC†from Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Here, both the Neuburg and the Chixtet are in fine fettle, mixing neoprog and classical signatures to create an effective and thematically unifying closer.
The Locrian Chamber Players  are giving a concert on Thursday, August 27 at 8PM in Riverside Church (10th floor performance space).
Program:
Gavin Bryars–The Church Closest to the Sea (US Premiere)
Somei Satoh–Satoh (US Premiere)
Kurt Schwertsik–Liedersammlung (US Premiere)
Suzanne Farrin–polvere et ombra
Jonathan Faiman–Times Three
David Macdonald–Dear John (World Premiere)
This will be their first performance since co-founder John Kreckler’s untimely passing earlier this year. MacDonald’s Dear John was written in Kreckler’s memory.
The Players:
Calvin Wieresma and Curtis Macomber, violin; Dan Panner, viola; Peter Seidenberg, cello; Troy Rinker, bass; Eric Poland, percussion; Jonathan Faiman, piano; Anna Reinersman, harp.
MVP LSD: The Graphic Scores of Lowell Skinner Davidson
Riti CD 10
Joe Morris, guitar
John Voigt, bass
Tom Plsek, trombone
In the 1960s, Lowell Skinner Davidson (1941-1990) was active in two very different milieus: studying biochemistry at Harvard and playing with Ornette Coleman in the New York free jazz scene. Davidson made only one LP, Lowell Davidson Trio (ESP, 1965), but left behind a great deal of unrecorded material. Much of this was notated as graphic scores on 3×5 index cards. These serve as the jumping off point for a full length recording by Joe Morris, John Voigt, and Tom Plsek.
All three worked with Davidson, making this a recording that is closer to authoritative than many potential interpretations of his diminutive, but densely packed, scores. The music is imparted both the rhythmic fluidity of swing, but the trio also acknowledges the influence of the avant-garde New York School (John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown, and Christian Wolff), and their penchant for graphic score realizations. Thus, Voigt alternates swinging walking bass-lines with angular melodies, multiphonics, and harmonics. Plsek undertakes free jazz solos, but also explores the noise spectrum of blats and wails. Morris’ post-tonal comping style fits right in here, supplying a bridge between jazz and concert music genres. He also frequently adopts a vigorous, snapping attack, adding percussive affects to the proceedings.
While it is unfortunate that Lowell Skinner Davidson didn’t have the opportunity to more prolifically record, all three of this CD’s performers are dedicated custodians of his musical legacy. Based on the evidence here, one hopes his scores will become more widely available for study and performance.
Visually stunning and musically engaging, Voltaic chronicles Björk’s 2007-8 concert appearances in London, Reykjavik, and Paris. The instrumental complement this time out features an all-female (all-Icelandic) brass section/choir, keyboards, and copious amounts of percussion. They are abetted by dazzling production values in Paris and London. The appearance in Reykjavik, however, is more intimate. A chamber music styled performance, the choir is augmented, harpsichord replaces many of the synths, and the use of beats is suitably subdued. Â
The new songs off of the studio LP Volta – “Earth Intruders,†“Innocence,†and the show-closer “Declare Independence†– are given spot-on performances, but also imbued with the crackling energy of a live setting.The old songs are recast for the band’s unusual instrumental complement, with stirring results. “Hunter†is thrilling and “All is Full of Love,†which juxtaposes supple brass choir harmonies with downtempo grooves, is a compelling reimagining. Björk herself is in fine voice, adding a bit of timbral heft to complement the brass accompaniment, but never compromising her trademark fluid phrasing.
Like many Björk offerings, Nonesuch has released this in several versions. I’m glad to have gotten the CD/DVD, so as to enjoy both audio and visual presentations from the tour. But there’s also an expanded boxed set, with LP, 2xCDs, and 2xDVDs.  In the case of Voltaic, perhaps more might be even better!
All too often, the double bass is an instrument that is, in the words of our previous president, “misunderestimated.†While frequently utilized to secure the low end of the orchestra, playing sustained tones, ostinati, and walking bass-lines, the double-bass also has extensive capacities as a solo instrument. It has a much wider range than is frequently employed in ensemble contexts. Effects too are underutilized in mainstream concert music; harmonics, in particular, can sound quite evocative on double bass.
An object lesson in this regard is Christopher Roberts new recording on Cold Blue, Trios for Deep Voices, which includes not one, but three bassists: Roberts, Mark Morton, and James Bergman. Trios is inspired in part by Roberts’ 1981 trip to New Guinea. The sound of the country’s wildlife and music-making with natives in the Star Mountains both subtly infiltrate the proceedings; ‘birdcalls’ and percussive effects can be heard throughout the CD. Roberts is also influence by minimalism to a certain degree, creating great swaths of overlapping repetitions and drone-based passages. For instance, on the album’s opener, “Hornbills,†the big, thick chords sounded by the three bassits are truly thrilling to hear.
Trios contain a haunting lyricism as well. This is particularly evident in the final movement, “Mesto,†which contains soaring solo melodies and supple pantonal harmonies deployed in frequent dynamic swells. By the end of the CD, any negative preconceptions the listener may have had about the double bass will doubtless be dispelled.   Â
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