The NYFA Collection
25 Years of New York New Music
various composers and performers
innova records
This collection is simultaneously easy and impossible to review. A simple glance at the track listing for these five discs make the set an easy purchase. Rarely have I seen so many important names corralled into one place. What I truly marvel at is how well innova collects and arranges the music on these CDs. Such a diverse collection of composers and music could be done in a ramshackle and chaotic fashion but innova knows better than that. Each disc has a tone and a sound world to it, making the set one of five good CDs instead of a good set of 5 CDs. Disc A gathers percussive or electronic music (or both, as necessary). Disc B features keyboard or flute works as well as a brilliant bit of programming that morphs from Robert Dick’s flute music to David Simons’ CIPHER through other flute and shakuhachi pieces. Disc C is largely jazz or folk inspired, including a surprising Augusta Read Thomas piano work which comes across as a hyper-caffeinated Irving Berlin as the final track. Vocal ensemble music as well as mixed instrumental chamber music make up disc D and the final disc collects more traditional ensembles including full orchestra will chorus.
This anthology of pieces has something for every aesthetic and sensibility. The performances sound excellent and are often by the composer or are otherwise as close to definitive as possible. Seriously, just look at the track listing and you will want to have it.
CD-A
1. Annie Gosfield: Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds Back
2. David van Tieghem: Waiting for the Gizmo – No.1
3. Joseph Bertolozzi: “Meltdown” from Bridge Music
4. Lois V Vierk/Anita Feldman: Hexa
5. Bruce Gremo: ScascadeHo
6. Lukas Ligeti: Triangulation
7. Joel Chadabe: Solo
8. Jose Halac: BLOWN 2 Nicolas Maza
9. Samuel Claiborne: Viola Breath
10. Iconoclast: Accidental Touching
11. Elliott Sharp: Cryptid Fragments
12. Stefan Tcherepnin: Ouvretorture
CD-B
1. Meredith Monk, arr. Anthony de Mare: Urban March (Shadow) Anthony de Mare
2. Annea Lockwood: RCSC. Sarah Cahill
3. John Morton: The Parting
4. Robert Dick: Eyewitness Flute Force
5. Sorrel Hays: On The Wind Andrew Bolotowsky
6. Elizabeth Brown: “Loons” from Isle Royale Shakuhachi Duets
7. Daniel Goode: Tuba Thrush Flexible Orchestra
8. David Simons: CIPHER Downtown Ensemble
9. JG Thirlwell: 10 Ton Shadow
10. Anne LeBaron, Wadada Leo Smith, Peter van Bergen: An Even Loan
11. Eric John Eigner: Music for Faucet
12. Monteith McCollum: Flight
CD-C
1. Iconoclast: No Wave Bitte Julie Joslyn, Leo Ciesa
2. Rudresh Mahanthappa: Are There Clouds in India?
3-4. Fred Ho: I Wor Kuen, No Home to Return to. Afro-Asian Music Ensemble
5. BLOB: Robust Bog. John Lindberg, Ted Orr, Harvey Sorgen, Ralph Carney
6. Sidiki Conde: Moriba Djassa
7. John Lindberg: Skip. Tripolar
8. Howard Prince: Pipe Dream
9. Newman Taylor Baker: Bosom of Abraham
10. Laura Kahle: Daize
11. BLOB: Mire
12. Augusta Read Thomas: Love Twitters. Nicola Melville
CD-D
1. Andy Teirstein: Rhapsody for Boy Soprano and Strings Interschools String Orchestra of New York
2. Bora Yoon: g i f t
3. Mary Jane Leach: Night Blossoms. Kiitos
4. Pauline Oliveros: Sound Patterns and Tropes. University of Wisconsin-River Falls Concert Choir and Percussion Quartet
5. Aaron Jay Kernis: Ecstatic Meditation 4. Volti
6. Paul Motian, arr. Joel Harrison: It Should Have Happened
7. Judith Sainte Croix: Los Pajaros Blancos de la Noche Profunda. Sonora Trio
8. Ray Leslee: Nocturne. Ashley Horne, Barbara Bilach
9. Roberto Sierra: Cronicas 3; Cancion. Society for New Music
10. Jeff Raheb: Zu Twa Szi 4 Laurel Ann Maurer, Peter Matthews
11. Eve Beglarian: We Two + Corey Dargel, Cristian Amigo
CD-E
1-2. Raphael Mostel: Night and Dawn. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Brass Ensemble; Ivan Meylemans, conductor
3-6. George Tsontakis: Gymnopedies. Concert: nova
7. Randall Woolf: Franz Schubert. Esther Noh, Jennifer Choi, Orlando Wells, Joanne Lin
8. Jay Anthony Gach: La Vita Autunnale. MONTAGE Music Society
9. Peter Golub: Less Than a Week Before Christmas. Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Choir
10. Neil Rolnick: “The Gathering” from Extended Family ETHEL
11-13. Lisa Bielawa: Trojan Women. Miami String Quartet
14. Joan Tower: Tambor. Nashville Smphony, Leonard Slatkin
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