Last fall, I was wowed by the The Crossing,a professional chamber choir directed by Donald Nally that is based in Philadelphia. They took part in Miller Theatre’spresentation of James Dillon’sNine Rivers, a three-evening work that is the Scottish composer’s magnum opus (read my Musical Americareview here). Armed only with tuning forks (and, of course, excellent preparation by Nally), they performed this superbly difficult piece in the ‘new complexity’ style with aplomb; on a densely populated stage to boot (I don’t think I’ve seen fifty people onstage at the same time at modest-sized Miller before!).
On Monday January 9, Crossing returns to NYC to perform with Renaissance band Piffaro in Kile Smith’sVespers, a work that blends early and contemporary musical styles. Smith’s setting of Lutheran liturgical texts is crosscut with elements referencing postmodern Man’s complicated relationship with God, ritual, doubt, and organized religion. Throughout the holidays, I’ve cheated a bit and spun some Epiphany tunes early, enjoying the Navona recording of the work. I’m eager to hear it live on Monday evening.
Yesterday’s post on File Under ? previewed Saturday evening’s concert by the Talea Ensemble at Merkin Hall (details here). Talea’s Artistic Director Anthony Cheung, a composer and pianist, was kind enough to answer some questions about the show and tell us about the ensemble’s upcoming activities.
- For those who aren’t up on the lingo, how would you describe Inharmonic and (X)enharmonic music? Do you think of them as different varieties of microtonal music?
Inharmonicity simply means a sound/timbre whose overtone frequencies aren’t pure whole number multiples of a fundamental, i.e. not a perfectly consonant spectrum. Inharmonicity is a common preoccupation with composers associated with spectral music, as it’s a way to measure degrees of dissonance; if one takes purely harmonic spectra to be consonance, stretching (contracting or expanding) the spectrum can lead towards greater perceived dissonance, eventually crossing the threshold to “noise.”
Xenharmonic music was a term invented by microtonal pioneer Ivor Darreg – a contemporary of Partch – to describe any harmonic system that doesn’t fit the 12-note equal tempered system of tuning that has dominated western music of the last two centuries or so. So it basically applies to everything on the program. And my not-terribly-clever play on the word, putting the parenthesis around the letter “X”, points to the word “enharmonic” embedded within. Enharmonic equivalents (i.e. B# and C ) can be radically different in a non equal-tempered scale, resulting in startling microtonal intervals. These differences were once the subject of much debate, e.g. between theorist-composers such as Rousseau and Rameau.
-How many different tuning systems are represented on the show?
It’s hard to pin down exactly, because there is certainly just intonation within various limits, as well as the more “approximate” use of micro-intervals in classic spectral music (a term which cannot be pinned down by any particular system), and then there are many hybrid systems, like in my piece and Enno Poppe’s. Wyschnegradsky, for instance, uses quarter-tones in his second string quartet, but really views his language not as microtonal, but “ultra-chromatic.”
-Which pieces are premieres?
No world premieres, but two US, my Discrete Infinity (written for the Ensemble Modern earlier this year) and Enno Poppe’s Holz(written for the Klangforum Wien in 2000).
-Does Dean Drummond use the Partch tunings (with non-Partch instruments) for his piece?
He uses various just tunings. He programmed several presets for the Yamaha DX7 synth, and the violin part is also written with mostly pure ratios. It’s interesting to be presenting a piece of Dean’s without Partch instruments or the 31-tone zoomoozophone, which he invented, since they are so associated with his music and the hand he’s had with maintaining Partch’s legacy. But in terms of tuning accuracy, the synthesizer cannot fail, and the sounds themselves are quite otherworldly.
-Are there ways that you can get microtones out of Talea’s pitched percussion instruments?
In terms of the retuned percussion, this really is Dean’s domain. A number of composers are writing now for specially tuned instruments. Earlier this year Rand Steiger wrote us a piece with custom-made vibraphone bars tuned to specific just intervals. Certain pitched percussion instruments have inherently complex, inharmonic timbres, such as almglocken and gongs, and these always blend nicely in the context of microtonal harmonies.
-Is the piano being retuned/detuned at all for the show?
No, unfortunately not. One of the earliest ideas I had was to do either the Ives quartertone pieces for two pianos, or a selection of Wyschnegradsky’s quartertone preludes, also for two pianos. Then logistics and costs got in the way; you wouldn’t imagine how expensive it is to retune a piano. My dream is to one day hear Wyschnegradsky’s Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra for four quarter-tuned pianos, or his works for 3 pianos in sixth-tones. But other instruments will be retuned, such as in my piece.
-What’s coming up for Talea? Any plans to get into the recording studio in 2012?
Lots coming up in the spring. We have a recording project at EMPAC of Romitelli’s music, which will be presented along with a portrait concert. Also, concerts of recent Austrian music, a trio of new string quartets from Japan, residencies planned at Stanford, Cornell, Ithaca College, and a trip to Darmstadt in the summer, where we’ll present two concerts. And we’re in the process of recording some chamber works of mine, which we’ll finish up later next year. So it’ll be a packed few months ahead!
Alexandre Lunsqui’sFibers, Yarn, and Wire is receives its premiere performances tonight at the Met Museum and tomorrow at Symphony Space as part of the New York Philharmonic’sContact! program. The Brazilian-born composer has been blogging about the preparing the work for Q2: his entries are titled “Contact! High.”
Talea Ensemble performs Zorn at Miller Theatre. Photo: Matt Murphy
My article about John Zorn’s Composer Portrait at Miller Theatre is now up on Musical America’s website. While I had some reservations about the ADHD pacing of some of the piece’s on the program, I had no reservations about the performances, which were superb. Talea is an excellent group with a wide reach.
Amply demonstrating this, their next concert on 12/17 at Merkin Hall is devoted to Inharmonic/(X)enharmonic compositions. The program includes works by Tristan Murail, Enno Poppe, and Talea’s Artistic Director Anthony Cheung.
NYPO’s Principal Percussionist Chris Lamb demonstrates some of the “toy instruments” that can be heard this coming weekend in HK Gruber’s Frankenstein!!
Jerry interviews Gruber in an article on the S21 homepage.
The NY Phil presents its Contact! concerts on December 16 and 17th (Details here).
Jeffrey Milarsky’sJuilliard-based ensemble Axiom generally performs “modern classics:” repertoire from the Twentieth century that the school’s other NME, the New Juilliard Ensemble, doesn’t tend to cover as frequently (filling in a hole in the new music curriculum at a conservatory? Excellent idea!).
But they’re making an exception tonight, giving the premiere of Three Explorations, a 2010 work for baritone and ensemble by everyone’s favorite 103 year-old composer Elliott Carter. It’s a setting of poems from T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Also on the program: Babbitt’sAll Set and Boulez’sSur Incises. And the show’s the best price in town: free.
Congratulations to Cheryl Pyle and Joe Barron, who’ve won our first contest in celebration of Elliott Carter’s fast approaching 103rd birthday.
You each win a pair of tickets to the concert this Thursday at 8 PM at the 92nd Street Y!
Check back on the blog this week for our second giveaway. The prizes: signed Carter photos and recordings!
Those of you on Twitter can wish Elliott a happy birthday using the hashtag #Carter103. The greetings will be collected and presented to him at Thursday’s birthday bash!
Fred, I’m thinking of setting E.E. Cummings for tenor and chamber orchestra… That’s a wonderful idea, it goes along with your other settings of important American poets; which poems will you use? Perhaps some of the early poems having to do with WWI.
Can you play these multi-stops: C, G, C#, G#, E and C, G, E#, D#, B, F#? I’ll try them out when I get home. [Later, on the telephone] Yes, they work. Good, I’m putting them in my new Double Trio.
I’m working on a String Trio, do you think the viola can hold a high F-sharp for almost two bars? What is the tempo? Oh…it is half note = 60. (Knowing it will work, I answer) Let me try it out. Yes, the viola will be able to hold it. Good, that’s the end of the piece!
Then the idea of the 103rd birthday concert for Elliott Carter came about. Last year, for his 102nd birthday, Charlie Neidich and the Camerata Notturna did a beautiful concert which included the Clarinet Concerto, Wind Rose and the slow movement of Carter’s Symphony No. 1. This year, I thought, let’s do all of Carter’s new music, most of which has not been heard in New York or anywhere. This concert is fated to succeed because of the music, and the people: Carol Archer, Nicholas Phan, Virgil Blackwell, Rolf Schulte, Gordon Gottlieb, and many more.
Elliott will be hearing five of his pieces for the first time. THIS IS GOING TO BE AN INCREDIBLE PARTY!
Elliott Carter’s 103rd Birthday Concert will be at the 92nd Street Y (Uptown; Kaufman Concert Hall) on December 8 at 8 PM (three days early, but we’ll give ‘em that!)
Better yet, courtesy of 92nd Street Y and Boosey & Hawkes, Sequenza 21 is offering two pairs of tickets to the concert.
Here’s how to enter: send a short missive about Elliott Carter – your favorite piece, something about his music that interests you, etc. – to my email address: s21managingeditor@gmail.com
I will use a Cageian, rather than Carterian, method of selecting the winners (hint: put names in hat: draw out two).
Contest is open until Sunday at noon. I will announce the winners on Monday morning. Those entries that are particularly eloquent and non-trollish will be published on the site.
Those Carterians outside of New York or unable to make the show – take heart. We will also be having a second giveaway – signed Carter memorabilia! Check back here later this week for details.
Think the emphasis should be placed on the first word of toy piano? If so, you’re behind the times! The repertoire and the number of toy piano performers are both steadily growing. And manufacturers like Schoenhut are custom designing and upgrading their toy pianos to make them viable for a plethora of special effects (check out David Smooke’s recent blog post over at NMB to learn more about various extended techniques the instrument is capable of enduring).
Phyllis Chen. Photo: Kimono Photography
A commissioning project organized by Phyllis Chen and run since 2007, the Uncaged Toy Piano composition competition has worked on expanding the repertoire for toy piano. On November 29, December 1, and December 3, listeners will get to hear the fruits of the contestants’ labors. The Uncaged Toy Piano Festival showcases new pieces and several imaginative approaches to the baby grand’s spunky smaller cousin. In addition to Chen (and Smooke), the festival will feature toy piano diva Margaret Leng Tan, toy instrumentalist Angelica Negron, improvisorMiguel Frasconi, avant-folkies Cuddle Magic, and Rusty Banks’Babbling Tower-to-Tower for toy piano and cell phones(!).
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