Elodie Lauten

Once I was in a workshop where each participant was prompted to say “I am an expert in …. because…” and when my turn came, I began to explain that I practice in several fields including music composition and performance, technology, art and design – which was the wrong answer from the point of view of the workshop, but certainly an uncompromising answer, which makes it right for me.

The tendency to value over-specialization shrinks people’s minds to one particular field and may discourage forays into anything else. Marshall Coid is a perfect example of someone who did not “specialize” and is excellent in many disciplines: as a composer, a performer – not only as an outstanding violinist (he plays in the Broadway show Chicago every night), but also as a countertenor with remarkable technique and delightful tone. I  loved the way he interpreted the role of Ray Johnson in Orfreo, one of my operatic collaborations with Michael Andre. I consider Marshall a kindred spirit, a Renaissance mind who is interested in all related things (did I mention his acting, musical direction, and conducting?)…

I am particularly fond of one-composer events, as they provide perspective and insight into someone’s music, while listening to various orchestrations, music of different time periods in the composer’s life, and recent work.   I have revisited Marshall Coid’s opera The Bundle Man many times and have always liked his music, which shows a unique  sense of melody, harmony and dissonance.

On this all-Coid concert, I heard  Tempest Songs (after Shakespeare) for countertenor, flute, oboe, string quartet and harpsichord; Cityscape, for flute, oboe, string quintet and harpsichord; Soon the Radiance, a recent work for solo violin which I found strangely emotional with a very lush violin sound and legato melodies, while an aging male dancer in black veils slowly girated; unusually touching,  the piece made me think of the radiance  associated with “going towards the light” right after dying – the myth provides some degree of comfort even if it is one; I have no idea what kind of  “radiance” was meant by the composer and I didn’t ask, because I thought any radiance would do in this case, and so it did for me. Marshall’s violin sound was vibrant, passionate, spiritual. The piece was followed by a new string quartet, a recent commission.  The love of legato for strings is another element that I share with Marshall: he can write an enchanting piece for strings without using pizz at all, with dynamic consonance to dissonance overlapping the instruments, in his modestly titled String Quartet in One Movement.

The concert closed with the hilariously very well crafted Vampire Cantata actually I was at the first performance several years ago (was in on Halloween?), and for this occasion, the musicians were clad in black capes, however not without dignity.

The Queen’s Chamber Band (core members Elaine Comparone, harpsichord; Robert Zubricky, violin; Lori Miller, violin; Veronica Salas, viola; Peter Seidenberg, cello; Marsha Heller, oboe and guest performers Judith Mendenhall, flute and Logan Coale, double bass) gave a sincere performance, smooth and deeply felt; it really seemed as though everyone was playing from the heart and really enjoying Marshall’s music, as did the audience.  So many times, in other events, I have deplored that a new piece was obviously under-rehearsed and kind of rushed through, without enough time spent to digest and interpret. In this case, it is just the opposite: a polished, elegant and reflected performance. The performers have exceptional stage presence especially Elaine Comparone, the harpsichordist extraordinaire, and deliver spoken lines and act as well as play instruments.

For more than ten years, The Queen’s Chamber Band and Harpsichord Unlimited have produced an entire program of new music every spring.  This makes the ensemble very special. They should be recognized for the great service they provide to the music community in presenting new compositions for Baroque ensemble – which otherwise would never be heard – as the norm for other Baroque ensembles is to limit their sights to music of written before a certain year (usually early 19^th century).

This unusual concert took place at St Marks on the Bowery, on Sunday Mary 23 at 3PM. It was packed.

In the mid-20^th century, the composer was still a rare individual with very specialized knowledge, skills and years of training, making complicated mathematical statements that were hard on the ear. Composers were still considered as a kind of mysterious and elusive lot… mostly male in gender, as that occupation had not been open to women, with a few exceptions.

Now at the end of the first decade of the 21^st century, not only women composers (who have emerged in large numbers in the latter part of the 20^th century), but just about everyone can be a composer right at home with a computer. Styles are so numerous that it is difficult to even draw up a list. There is at this point in time an explosion of musical styles that reflect different social environments, histories, geographies, ethnicities, coming together as a global culture, and as far as I am concerned they are all valid, from the street to the Metropolitan Opera.

Composing is demystified. It is not the pride and privilege of an elite. Everyone can afford access to music composition and production tools – some like GarageBand are readily available free with every Mac computer. This program offers a very intuitive interface and a series of musical loops that can be arranged and manipulated into songs. Like a child’s construction set, it comes in pieces to rearrange. And everyone has the opportunity to get into the game of songwriting and composing. Even the tone deaf could do it.

It is interesting that while music is widely distributed through free or low-cost downloads, therefore becoming accessible to millions of people, the general interest for music has expanded considerably. And in typical 21^st century fashion, people want to “interact” with the music;  they want to create it themselves and make use of the tools that are available – hundreds of affordable software packages (Logic, Reason, Cubase, Digital Performer, Ableton, Kontakt, and many more) teach everything from songwriting to composing to sound manipulation to music production, while notation software (Finale, Sibelius) can display a score from a performance on a midi keyboard without anyone sitting down to write it. The new DAW (digital audio workstation) software is forgiving for those who do not have much keyboarding technique. With Reason, for instance, you can actually pencil in your notes – they appear as little rectangles. Which means you can create something using a visual interface without having to play an instrument and without knowledge of traditional music notation. I think this is a break-through in terms of creativity.

I am particularly sensitive to this turn of events because of my current teaching job at New York City College of Technology where I introduce both musicians and non-musicians to the creation of music on the computer. Some non-musicians are thrilled that they actually can enjoy the type of self-expression that is afforded by their own music. Some students tell me that they dreamed about making music but felt inadequate because they did not have training on an instrument. It’s been a long time since schools offered music classes, and a lot of people miss them.

When I went to elementary school I had weekly music classes and choir practice as part of the regular curriculum; we  had public performances where the school children sang and played the recorder. In high school I remember performing in the chorus of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, again part of the high school program. I know… it was in Europe. But that early education may have had a powerful impact on my desire to make music.

Now the education in America is science and technology oriented. It is therefore not surprising that music creativity is finding some new outlets with technology and computers. Even cell phone ring tones make a statement about a favorite piece or can be easily created by the users themselves. Music still is a very important part of our lives… it just comes through different channels.

New York is teeming with various benefits for Haiti – famous models, even Iggy Pop get involved in supporting this worthy cause… Gerald Hammill of Other Music has curated a benefit even.  Funds will go to Doctors Without Borders and also support a special mission to Haiti. The fest is taking place at Public Assembly in Williamsburg (70 North 6th) starting at 8 PM.

This is an especially momentous event for me as I will have the chance to premiere a new set of French tangos with Jonathan Hirschman on guitar. I am playing the tangos on synthesizer some on a sparkling piano sound and some very much like a bandoneon. Some may wonder why I am seemingly suddenly doing tango… Actually I have a long history with tango: my first tango was prompted by a friend in Paris, painter Robert Malaval who simply asked me to “write him a tango”. And so I did, even though I was in the throes of my punk days back then, hair pink or shaved, using early synths and dysfunctional TVs in my performances. But I loved tango music and I did write the piece but it was not performed at the time. When Malaval died (shot himself) about ten years later I remembered the piece and started playing it in his memory.  An instrumental version was published by Tellus as a cassette along with tangos by David Garland, Zeena Parkins and other composers on the scene.  I also recorded a version with a vocal in French. But this remained in the drawer for some 20 years until it was unearthed by Unseen Worlds to be included in the Piano Works Revisited 2-CD set they just released.  Last year I performed this tango at Issue Project Room and several of my artists friends said “we want more tangos”…

The Tango set is part of a series of charity events that will take place in March and April as Jonathan and I volunteer in several Lower East Side Nursing Homes. We will also perform at Lafayette Bar & Grill on Saturday, March 27 at 8PM, a fundraiser for Lower East Side Performing Arts to support new venues for artists downtown.

Coming back to Arms Around  Haiti, not only will I perform the new Tangos composed in Paris this winter but I will also perform with Arthur’s Landing, along with old members of the Arthur Russell group and some of my oldest friends including Steven Hall (voice, guitar) Peter Zummo (trombone)  Mustafa Ahmed (percussion) Bill Ruyle, (drums) John Scherman (guitar), Joyce Bowden (voice) an Ernie Brooks (bass). We have been recording an album together this winter for Strut and I have really enjoyed the band and found the Arthur Russell material refreshing after years of working in strictly classical music, although there are classical elements in this essentially crossover music that weaves many styles in a unique way.

To sing or not to sing… definitely an issue for me, as I got tired of being pushed into a more ‘feminine’ singing role by males so I focused more on the keyboards and composing rather than the singing.  Early on I was a songwriter and singing came with the territory.  I had some opera training and later on Indian music training with LaMonte Young, Marian Zazeela and Pandit Pran Nath at the DIA Foundation and Akhmal Parwez at NYU – a lot of Indian music singing!  But as soon as I realized that I could use my voice to compose and have others sing, I was fulfilled.  I do enjoy singing on occasion, even if I don’t practise it very much. I can also do extended techniques – for which I do not have a lot of use these days…

But now that the Arthur Russell material is coming back, I am prompted to reconnect with vocals….and last Thursday I performed Arthur Russell’s “Go Bang” with Peter Gordon and members of Arthur’s Landing at Santos… funny that  I was never credited for my performance on the original version of Go Bang, given that I was then unknown, but you can definitely recognize my voice on certain sections of the Dinosaur L recording posted on Youtube. Conversely, in Arthur Russell’s “Miracle”  my involvement was acknowledged not only as a singer and keyboardist but as a co-writer. The tune was renamed “In The Light of The Miracle” by the record label Point because there were too many other songs named “Miracle” that were already published….but the tune was originally known to us creators as “Miracle” and I always found the other title fuddy-duddy. This is why I  renamed the new version of Miracle that I have been recording “Miracle 2″ and if there still are too many songs named Miracle 2 then it  could very well be “Miracle 2 U”!

So… do not miss this opportunity to catch up with us as performances like this are few and far between… If you need directions or map I have one posted on the web site: http://www.lesperformingarts.org

and… http://www.elodielauten.net

When I first heard the name “Lady Gaga” I was both intrigued and amused. This choice of moniker reminded me of the punk days, when performers called themselves Vicious or Rotten…but to choose a name associated with elderly despondence is a sign of a certain sense of humor, which I found consistently in every aspect of her work. The lyrics contain gibberish phrases that even include the word gaga. The wigs, costumes and artifacts are extreme, and so are the storyboards of the videos, from soap-opera to rap. The young woman is obviously very intelligent as she  somehow manages to express certain interesting perceptions and feelings about people and society in her songs despite the commercialism of the package.  What I noticed is that, beyond the glitter and Vegas-ness of the performance, Lady Gaga somehow escapes vulgarity by keeping her gestures precise, never lascivious. She is perfect for the smart generation who shows us how to text on the cell and other technology tricks. Her message is purposely universal with a wide appeal to dance, rock and rap crowds of all ilks, persuasions and sexual preferences. Also she appears somehow twice removed from her own stage persona, possibly by the multiplicity of her characters.

We are living in strange times. I am contemplating the absurdity of a situation in which a nonprofit was denied funding not because of the project’s artistic merit (which was acknowledged) but because there were not enough people in attendance at the event (even though it was free of charge) and because the venue was “hard to find”.

Well, that’s food for thought. In face of the shrinking of the downtown scene, alternative spaces have to be found out of the rabbit’s ear so to speak, and venues that come without a rental fee are precious these days, although they may not offer the best facilities. It is currently very difficult to get people to go out – a lot of my friends have stopped going to events because even if the event itself is free, they hesitate to spend the subway fare or taxi. We are living through tough times. And god forbid it should be a rainy night then  no one will show. So the event is judged on the same criteria as a commercial event – how many people were there determines its success, not the piece that was presented -  and in that particular case the high-tech interactive screens and computer/camera setup took hours (the artists were up on ladders with hammers and nails with no tech help whatsoever), it is rather unrewarding for such painstaking work.

To reflect that these particular funders are unwilling to leverage the merit of the program versus the lack of attendance of one event out of a series leads to a vicious conundrum: not enough funding to properly market the event, not enough staff to coordinate outreach efforts which actually are very time-consuming and difficult to organize especially in terms of schedules, therefore no more funding for future programs, and get to the level at which funders will consider your efforts. This is enough to discourage any grass-root efforts to try and present culture in local neighborhoods, and certainly does not acknowledge good will – it’s a business, the art business, and maybe too much of a business at times for real artists who are more concerned with the work that they are producing than its ever-consuming promotion.

Usually after I finish a large-scale project such as The Two-Cents Opera, I find myself somewhat forlorn. After developing a piece for two or three years when it is done, there is almost a sense of loss. This has to do with the nature of musical activities – music is written and performed and gone… fortunately we have recordings, but there is nothing like a live performance and the excitement of being on stage with ten other people is really hard to match.

So I find myself lonely at the piano.The blues which was my first foray into songwriting, and I happened to notice how much the blues is in a way similar to the tango. There is an inherent melancholy of being in tango music, but it is offset by the dance rhythm and the ultimate rubato of the performance. Someone said about tango music that it is “a sad thought that is being danced.”

So I have been writing some tangos… and they may be a little bit French in some ways, as I recall the songs from my childhood – Edith Piaf, Juliette Greco, with actually good words by poets like Prevert and Boris Vian. My first tango was written in the 70s at the request of an artist friend, Robert Malaval, while in Paris. This predated my conversion to classical music.

A version of this tango (with a vocal in French) is on the new release from Unseen Worlds, Piano Works Revisited. Unseen Worlds carefully compiled recordings from Piano Works (Cat Collectors, 1983) and Concerto for Piano and Orchestral Memory (Cat Collectors, 1984, featuring performances by Peter Zummo and Arthur Russell), and also took the trouble to rescue a special live version of Sonate Modale in Toronto at the Music Gallery (1985), which has never been released. This release also includes my own performance of Variations on the Orange Cycle.

I have an on-off love affair with the piano. I am more often immersed in the synthesizers – hard or soft, physical or virtual – as they really draw me in, but once in a while I just have to return to the piano. It has become difficult to find a decent piano to play out downtown. Often they are not maintained and out of tune, or missing altogether from the performing space. For years I was keen on using alternative tunings such as Vallotti Young or Werckmeister III and I do prefer their more natural harmonies, but at this point I would be content to play a piano in standard tuning as long as it actually works! I had to sacrifice my grand piano as I moved to a smaller apartment… those are the times. And the one I have now – a German Neindorf from the 1920s – is nearly falling apart and I feel a great sadness as the snow falls continually.

I will perform tangos soon…
At a Haiti Benefit on March 12, 8PM – Public Assembly, Brooklyn
At Lafayette Bar and Grill on March 27, 54 Franklin St, 8PM
For details go to: http://www.lesperformingarts.org

What is the worth of a real quiet, meditative time? The worth of an almost perfect silence, not the noisy background that keeps my ears alert and awake even in the night, in New York. I found silence in a small town near Paris, and in an island off of the coast of Vendée, the Ile d’Yeu or Ile-Dieu, (the translation is Isle of God, well named), with rocks and sands and winds and sea, nearly deserted from cold weather, but utterly romantic and peaceful even in the storm, with clear night skies with haloed moon and bright constellations.

When I hear my New York sounds the noises become music; but what if there is no noise to speak of, except for maybe a solitary bird whose singing is not pretty, among the little white houses with colorfully painted shutters, originally from mixes of left-over boat paint yielding an infinity of shades of blues and greys with the occasional iconoclastic yellow or red. What is the worth of watching a solitary donkey grazing in a field and listening to his loud ha haa, of walking into a deserted, tiny chapel, impeccably clean with its modern stain glass…

I went away in search of music that does not exist. I found it in my head when less crowded with urgent matters. I even ventured briefly with the holiday crowds descending the Champs Elysées gaily decorated with pink banners against the sad grey skies. An incursion to the newly built Museum of the Quai Branly (which boasts a collection of international art)  revealed a new construction by architect Jean Nouvel who never ceases to amaze – quite a departure from the Musee du Monde Arabe he designed some twenty years ago.

I spent a couple of evening hours at the Louvre, teeming with endless crowds of all tongues – the museum catalogue exists in about fifty different languages. I did not make the pilgrimage to the Mona Lisa as I was advised that it is now covered with a plastic shield of sorts which apparently prevents any real appreciation, along with theft. I only visited more obscure paintings of various part of Europe and discovered the original of VerMeer’s LaceMaker to be a very small, square-shaped painting and not as spectacular as its reproductions led me to believe. On the other hand, the Fermette Marbeuf restaurant with its 1910 original designs of peacocks, sunflowers and billowy maidens (some by Bartoldy who gave us the Statue of Liberty -  in fact there is a smaller version of it by a bridge in Paris) was a real find. I went away with few expectations and even though at times I was cold and wet, I come back with a spark of some new music. Happy 2010!

In connection with the release of the book by Tim Lawrence:  Hold on To Your Dreams; Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, a series of panels and events will take place at NYU on Saturday October 10, 2009 at Tisch Performance Studies, 721 Broadway Suite 612. I read Tim Lawrence’s book as a draft and it  is a well-documented, historic biography with a level of objectivity that does not leave any gaps in the history or press a gay viewpoint. This is the link for the conference, book party and concert schedule which will appear only if you scroll down the page…

http://arthursymposium.blogspot.com/

Arthur Russell and Elodie Lauten at LaMama, 1988

My own presentation in the first panel (10:30-11:30AM) will cover “Lesser-known relationships: in the Singing Tractors nexus, a sense of freedom and exploration”. The elusive Singing Tractors were actually more than a band per se, a set of creative relationships that evolved between Arthur Russell, myself, Peter Zummo and Mustafa Ahmed some of which last to this day. I will also speak between 5 and 6PM in the panel Remembering Arthur Russell.

When I first met Arthur Russell at Allen Ginsberg’s apartment where we were both staying, he was a classical music student and I was the lead singer and songwriter for Flaming Youth, the all female band formed by Denise Feliu, guitarist and on-and-off girlfriend of Peter Orlovsky. Arthur was curious about our band and came to a Flaming Youth performance or two. Classical meets rock at Allen’s: being at opposite ends of the musical scene, the serious music student and the rebel songwriter, we were very interested in each other and I recall that Arthur invited me to record for him at a studio at NYU.

But I left Ginsberg’s place and lost track of Arthur for several years as he went to the West Coast and then back in New York, I did not find him again until 1977 when in a memorable jam session with his band the Flying Hearts, I sang nonstop for two hours. Then again, we lost track of each other. Three years later, I ran into Arthur on Second Avenue; he was in the process of recording Go Bang. He immediately asked me to and record for him at Sorcerer Sound – the studio’s atmosphere was created with various  species of insects including a live tarantula.

Then something magical happened: the classical and the punk rock were merging all around us. Without being “influenced” by it, we were inside of the trend – generally perceived on the scene as a crossing over from rock music to experimental and classical music to microtonality, with the rise of artists like Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham who began to perform works that borrowed freely from various forms.

Taking advantage of the proximity of our apartments we started getting together around sunset to improvise. I was playing a Casio and he was playing cello. His favorite key was G minor natural – I still have some of those recordings on cassette.  Our playing together was not prompted by anything else than making music.

Later I found myself participating in various sessions with Arthur and Peter Zummo and the three of us soon became a trio. We loved Casios. The mini keyboards allowed easy transport and some toy-like electronic sounds that were usable. All three of us played the Casios. We also did cello, trombone and Casio trios and occasionally were joined by guitarist Ken Goshhorn and also Ron Kuivila on one occasion.

When Mustafa appeared, I was thrilled because I always loved African percussion. It runs in the family: my father, Errol Parker, who played jazz piano and drums, customarily replaced the snare on his drum set by a conga which gave his band a more African feel…

The four of us became  the Singing Tractors, after Arthur had visited his family in rural Iowa and came back inspired with the name…. So that’s what he called the ‘band” although there was not the kind of pressure that you usually have with certain common goals and business. It was just a purely creative gathering, a  nexus of free-form exploration.

The music itself was very experimental and mostly improvised although there were usually a couple of lines written out but no strict arrangement for them. We would explore harmonically and melodically reacting to one another’s sounds and occasionally reading a part but always expanding from there. We were merging influences  from post-Cagean randomness to free jazz to rock and pop music to classical elements to African beat and dance music… such as In the Light of a Miracle, recorded by the group at Battery Sound where Arthur had time booked by Sleeping Bag Records.  I recall working on many, many sessions during the winter of 1982,  but the song was somehow never finished – I think Arthur was fascinated by it and wanted to keep working on it, as finishing it would mean to let it go: he keep remixing it  for years on end without ever bringing it to final stage, although every different remix was good enough to release. I was very involved with this song initially to the point that I co-wrote the music, but I also wanted to see it finished and released. Despite many attempts, remixes and partial releases the piece  has never been properly released in its entirety – it  could probably fill an entire album.

Arthur was a crossover artist who bridged the gap between pop music and experimental music, in the same way as I and many other of my contemporaries have bridged between classical music, minimalism, experimental music, rock and jazz.  No wonder this seed band and its members’ interaction led to such a fruitful variety of recordings and performances for the next 20 years.

Peter Zummo had innumerable collaborations with Arthur Russell including on his own album Experiments with Household Chemicals and on his projects for Trisha Brown Dance Company and more.  Mustafa Ahmed has a well documented MySpace page that will tell you how many albums and tours he worked on that involved Peter Zummo, myself, and others he met through Arthur Russell like Peter Gordon.

We worked together in all different ways, trading leadership on different projects.  I would play on some of Arthur and Peter’s gigs, they would join and play on some of my gigs also. Arthur and Peter are an integral part of my early 80s releases, Concerto for Piano and Orchestral Memory and The Death of Don Juan. We worked closely together until 1988. When I did a sound sculpture installation in Soho based on the work of Marcel Proust (in collaboration with Carl Karas), Arthur played with me at the opening. Also we performed together at LaMama the Music for the Trine, a custom electro-acoustic lyre I designed to facilitate microtunings, and Arthur participated in a commissioned project I had at Lincoln Center that summer. I continued to work with Mustafa Ahmed on  Existence my multimedia opera at the Performing Garage (1991), Waking in New York (1999-2003), Harmonic Protection Circle (2004). I also worked with drummer Bill Ruyle on Waking in New York and my recent Two-Cents Opera at Theater for the New City last March which also featured Steven Hall.

I was involved creatively with Arthur Russell in the early to mid-eighties. It is interesting to mention that Arthur was open to working with women – mostly myself, and later on Joyce Bowden. I was working with Arthur in an early stage of my career when I was in a process of evolution from musician to composer – I went to NYU for my Master’s in the mid-80s and got an NEA grant in 1985 for The Death of Don Juan. By the late 90s  I had evolved into a composer and multimedia artist writing chamber and orchestral music as well as multimedia operas and doing visual art as well. My band days were  over by the late 80s.

Elodie Lauten & Arthur Russell and collaborators:
Discography/Performance Highlights

Concerto for Piano and Orchestral Memory (LP, Cat Collectors 1984), soon to be reissued on Unseen Worlds: with Arthur Russell, Peter Zummo

The Death of Don Juan (LP, Cat Collectors 1985), reissued on CD by Unseen Worlds (2008) with Arthur Russell, Peter Zummo

Music for the Trine, LaMama, live performances with cello and Trine, with Arthur Russell (1988)

Five Pieces for Processed Strings (Lincoln Center Commission Serious Fun 1988), with Arthur Russell

Remembrance of Things Past, live performance with gallery installation, Penine Hart Gallery, Soho, 1988), with Arthur Russell (1988)

Existence, live performance at the Performing Garage, Cat Collectors 1993, with Mustafa Ahmed

Arthur Russell, Another Thought (Point, 1994) - In the Light of the Miracle

Dry Ice, songs by Steven Hall, produced by Steven Hall and Elodie Lauten (Studio 21, 2002)

Waking in New York, portrait of Allen Ginsberg, (4Tay, 2003) with Mustafa Ahmed and Bill Ruyle

Harmonic Protection Circle, with Mustata Ahmed (Studio 21, 2004)

The Two-Cents Opera, with Bill Ruyle and Steven Hall (DVD, L.E.S.P.A., 2009)

Bach bust in a park (photographed by Johnny Reinhard)

What kind of tuning did Bach really use? That is the subject of Johnny Reinhard’s new book, Bach and Tuning. You may know Johnny Reinhard as the host of a wonderful Bach show on WKCR every Christmas Day. He has passionately studied this subject for most of his life, including several pilgrimages to Germany to the places where Bach had lived and the churches where he played.

I am welcoming this book because it challenges a widely accepted misconception: the idea of a connection between Bach and equal temperament; I have been annoyed at times when reading or hearing from respected classical practitioners that Bach “created equal temperament”. The truth of the matter is a lot more complex and subtle…but a clear answer is provided and well-documented in this book.

Many musicians accept standard tuning as a given or even though they are quite capable of hearing the subtleties of other tunings, they do not want to complicate things for themselves – I have had some violinists refuse to rehearse in a Baroque tuning because they said “it ruins my intonation when I go play a Broadway show later tonight”. Sad but true. However, I stand by the principle that Baroque music “sounds” much better when using the correct temperaments that bring out beauty of the natural harmonic intervals. It does require a fine ear… or an average ear that can be educated.

When I discovered the power of just intonation through the work of LaMonte Young (even though his his just intonation is highly customized), and the beauty and subtlety of Baroque tunings for keyboards, I had my piano tuned to Vallotti Young for several years and then moved to Werckmeister III, which I find to be an exquisite tuning that works for any kind of material, Baroque, jazz or other. It is as they called it a “well temperament”, as in “The Well-Tempered Klavier”.

Reinhard’s thoroughly researched book covers Bach’s family and lifelong relationship with Johann Gottfried Walther, a distant cousin who became more like a brother to Bach; Dieterich Buxtehude and the type of keyboard tuning that his improvisations would necessitate; Andreas Werckmeister, responsible for a revolution in tuning through his published temperament alternatives; a discussion of tuning and very detailed comparison of Werckmeister II, IV, V and VI tunings, Kirnberger II and III tunings, Trost tuning, and Neidhart I, II & III tunings, including tuning tables in cents; Bach cities, through well-informed visits to Germany complete with photos; a chapter on “Thuringian aesthetic”, featuring the popularity of certain tunings in Bach’s particular region of Germany, Thuringia; tuning notation including samples of rare manuscripts; a chapter on Johann Philipp Kirnberger, a former student of Bach who introduced  tuning innovations; and a conclusion establishing what Bach’s tuning really was, with detailed answers to a multiple choice question: was it Meantone, Irregular Tuning, Equal Temperament, Idyosincratic Tuning (personal), or Well Temperament (Werckmeister III), the latter being the correct answer.

In addition, the appendix features the complete translation of Andreas Werckmeister’s Musical Temperament, which makes this book very convincing.

The book can be ordered directly by email to afmmjr@aol.com in hard copy or pdf version. It belongs in every music college library.

Friday September 11, 2009 at the New Museum: performance of S.O.S.W.T.C. for solo synthesizer, followed by a performance by the group Arthur’s Landing featuring the music of the late Arthur Russell. New Museum, 235 Bowery and Prince. Tickets $12/$10 at the door.

Program notes

It’s the day before 9/11. A block away from World Trade Center, I am working on a poster design with a big brown shoe against the New York skyline, as if stepping on it. I don’t really know how I came up with that idea. At night, my cats are acting up. On 9/11, I am in midtown, lucky not to be in the downtown office that day. Around 8:45 AM, people are gathering in the conference room, staring at a television screen: there is smoke coming out of the Twin Towers. It looks like a fire or accident. No one understands until a half hour later the plane crashes into the second tower. Around 11AM we are told to evacuate the building. The buses are at a halt, and there is no subway service. There are droves of people walking, walking. It’s a panic. There is a smell in the air. At home only one television channel reports live on the events.

Several weeks before I dreamed that my grandmother (who had long passed away) was on fire… I knew it was a warning of danger, but what kind?… After the disaster, I felt a scramble of mad energies, the firefighters, the tragedy and heroism, the folk music. But the jobs were gone. I was home playing my synthesizer, taking dictation from what I sensed and I saw. To avoid the smell and smoke, I stayed in, totally involved in this piece, which remained untitled for a long time. My personal tragedy of 9/11 is that with the recession that followed, I had to move to a smaller place, and give up some of the things I loved the most: space, piano, cats.

In the music of  S.O.S.W.T.C., the tonal center is either missing or constantly shifting, like a carpet pulled from under. The pitch is indefinite. The sound components are controlled via the touch sensitivity of the keyboard so that the improvisation literally ‘sculpts’ the sound. This technique allows tri-dimensional control of melody, harmony and color. The mystery surrounding pitch creates a sense of floating in space, of vulnerability, of a growling, chaotic presence. In the original recording, sections are arranged according to the “3 short, 3 long, 3 short” Morse code for S.O.S. This premiere performance is both excerpted and expanded from the original. However I replaced the reality footage with a more abstract take on the fragility of life which I created thanks to a residency at Experimental Television Center.

S.O.S.W.T.C. had its first performance (with news footage of the tragedy) on December 22, 2001 at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, in an event where the organization Dharma Nature Time had gathered spiritual leaders from all different faiths to pray and reflect on the disaster. A CD was released in November 2001 (Studio 21) and it was pledged to the Red Cross. It is now out of print. If you wish to obtain a CDR copy of the recording, or any other material, please email: elauten@yahoo.com.