Chamber Music

Chamber Music, Click Picks, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, San Francisco

What Will $5 Get You in San Francisco?

Sure, a short latte, or a couple humbows & a coke… Or, just about any couple weeks through this year, that or even less will get you into any of a slew of great concerts in the sfSound series. Beginning tomorrow (!), when you can hear Steve Reich’s Four Organs (1970), Giacinto Scelsi’s Kya (1959), Salvatore Sciarrino’s Muro d’orizzonte (1997), Tom Dambly performing Mauricio Kagel’s Atem (1970) for trumpet and tape, violist Alexa Beattie performing Alan Hilario’s kibô (1997), and a new collaboratively-created piece by sfSoundGroup, directed by Matt Ingalls.

The sfSound Group consists of a central core (currently David Bithell – trumpet; Kyle Bruckmann – oboe; George Cremaschi – bass; Matt Ingalls – clarinet; John Ingle – saxophone; Christopher Jones – piano, conductor; Monica Scott – cello; Erik Ulman – violin) augmented by a whole constellation of Bay-Area-and-beyond collaborators. Together they put on a stellar (constellation-stellar… cute, huh?) series of concerts; some upcoming shows include:

  • A sampling of theatrical compositions from the 1960’s San Francisco Tape Music Center by Pauline Oliveros, Morton Subotnick, Ramon Sender, Robert Moran and others; plus Brian Ferneyhough’s In nomine a 3, Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Intercommunicazione, Chris Burns’s Double Negative, and the premiere of a new work written for sfSound by local composer Erik Ulman.
  • Toyoji Tomita Memorial Concert (wonderful trombonist and sfSound collaborator who died this year) – work(s) by John Cage, improvisations, and more.
  • Morton Feldman’s 80+ minute composition For John Cage (1982), performed by violinist Graeme Jennings and pianist Christopher Jones.
  • sfSound’s saxophonist John Ingle in a recital of new solo and ensemble compositions, improvisations, and a concerto by local composer Josh Levine; plus, NYC-based percussion duo Hunter-Gatherer (Russell Greenberg and Ian Antonio) perform the West Coast premiere of a new work by David Lang, David Bithell’s Whistle From Above for percussion and robotics, and Gérard Grisey’s Stele for 2 bass drums.

Details & dates for all these and many more are listed on their series webpage. So spend that pocket change where it counts…

by Steve Layton
Chamber Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical

Upcoming concert by the Locrian Chamber Players

An Evening of Contemporary Chamber Music with the Locrian Chamber Players
 
Saturday, May 31st at 8 PM
Riverside Church
Entrance at 91 Claremont Avenue
(North of W. 120th Street – One block W. of Broadway)
Free Admission
 
Featured performers: Calvin Wiersma, Conrad Harris, Danielle Farina, Greg Hesselink, Diva Goodfriend-Koven, and Emily Wong
 
Henri Pousseur
Minima Sinfonia (world premiere)
Yehudi Wyner
Madrigal (NY premiere)
Louis Andriessen
Xenia
John Ross
Deux Melodies d’Aspel
Bill Douglas
Celebration IV
Christian Carey
Butterfly Flourish (world premiere)
by Christian Carey
Chamber Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music

Incredible Isn’t Even Close…

 

Already mentioned at Bruce Hodges’ Monotonous Forest, and soon should be buzzing all over the new-music web, but this is so absolutely inspired and well-executed that I just have to help spread it around even more: Virgil Moorefield (who was one of my click picks here not so long ago) recently directed the Digital Music Ensemble at the University of Michigan in a miniature version of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s already-audacious Helikopter-Streichquartett. To me this version is every bit as audacious as the original, subversive and absolutely respectful at the same moment… And both visually and aurally stunning, to boot. There are two Quicktime files at the page linked above; the “lo-fi” seems to be just audio, but the “hi-fi” has the full video presentation as well, and is well worth the download.

by Steve Layton
CDs, Chamber Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Recordings

Surprise!!

Toub: darfur pogrommenJust when you thought we’ve been musically laying low… There’s a brand-new online-only CD release by fellow S21 regular and composer David Toub, realized by yours truly (Steve Layton, for those of you who don’t read the bottom post tag). It just became available on iTunes (US, also now or very soon in UK/Europe, Australia and Japan) on my little NiwoSound label; expect its appearance on eMusic as well very soon. The CD is in the “electronic” genre at both places, but purely as a matter of expediting the release; if it’s not classical I don’t know what is!

David’s darfur pogrommen, composed only a few months ago, is another expansive minimalist essay; its single continuous movement clocks in at 47 minutes. There’s no real attempt at programmatic writing; rather — like many of David’s other pieces — the title is a marker of a moment, that can call up whatever associations the listener might have in relation to it.

The piece is for open instrumentation. David’s own first recorded version used synthy string sounds, but I decided to give it a kind of “old school” treatment: a Reich-Glass hybrid with a vibraphone and electric organ taking the two primary parts, and electric piano and two more organs adding secondary voices. It trades a little lushness, but finds a bright, hard and uncompromising edge.

The biggest influence is still “classic” 60s-70s Glass, but David has his own way with how figures intuitively expand and contract, the harmonies involved, and his preference for alternating and pulsing notes. But later in the piece there’s a spot that to my ears definitely pays tribute to Morton Feldman as well. Surprising and beautiful!

Though there are many clearly defined sections in the piece, like so much of David’s work there’s just no way to get the whole flow with separate tracks. So if you want it, it’s all or nothing. (You can preview 30 seconds of the beginning on iTunes, but it’s a laughably hopeless indicator of what unfolds…)

Anyone wishing to burn the download to disc can also download and print this PDF file, which gives you the entire cover art and inner notes. More musically, you can freely download the PDF of the entire score from David himself.

Oh yeah: play it LOUD.

by Steve Layton
Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary Classical

In Gent

“Deze naam zegt jullie allicht niks, Marco Antonio woont nu nog in Gent, maar verhuist binnenkort naar Deinze. Als solist voor kamer- en orkestmuziek heeft Marco Mazzini internationaal opgetreden in volgende toonaangevende plaatsen : Carnegie Hall (New York), Tama Center (Tokyo), Paleis voor Schone Kunsten (Brussel), Bijloke concertzaal (België) en in het Conservatorium van Parijs.”

Terrific article about our amigo Marco Antonio Mazzini in Deinzeonline.  Alas, it appears to be in a foreign language but the pictures are nice and the video is splendid:

[youtube]y33fTZJyVlo[/youtube]

by Jerry Bowles
Chamber Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music

Happy Almost-Birthday, Chapel!

Steve PetersSteve Peters quietly came to Seattle in 2004, after running the non-profit performance organization Nonsequitur out of Albuquerque for 15 years. After a stint at Jackstraw he was finally ready to get back to what he does best (besides making his own wonderful music/sound-art): creating an inviting and flexible space and then filling it up with vital performances. Very soon after its inaugaration this year, the Chapel became probably the premiere initmate space in Seattle for catching new music.

An actual chapel in the beautiful, old Good Shepherd Center (a former home for young girls), tucked into a great park in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood, the Chapel accomodates performances from across the musical spectrum, with nary a miss among the bunch. A glance back at an amazing first year:

The ChapelAnimist Orchestra  // Jessica Catron, cello & Johnny Chang, violin: The Microscores Project // Visual/Sound/Digital Poetry (Subtext Reading Series) // Death Posture butoh // Colin Andrew Sheffield & James Eck Rippie, Phil Hendricks, and Rebreather, electronics // Vanessa Skantze, spoken word/theater performance // Tom Baker Quartet + Sunship // Paul Hoskin, contrabass clarinet // Seattle Composers Salon // Eric Barber, sax & Tom Varner, horn // Duo Juum // Dean Moore, gongs & Bill Horist, guitar // DX ARTS group show // Doug Haire, field recordings // However, poetry + music // Byron Au Yong, voice, piano, percussion & Christopher Blaisdel, shakuhachi // Jeffrey Allport, guitar & Tim Olive, percussion + Cristin Miller, voice & Jason Anderson, electronics // Milind Raikar, Indian violin & tabla + Hell’s Bellows, accordion quartet // Dennis Rea & Stuart Dempster // Lisa Moore, piano // Francisco Lopez & Matt Shoemaker // Piano Christening: Gust Burns, Dawn Clement, Duo Juum, Wayne Horvitz, Julie Ives, Johanna Kunin, Victor Noriega, Amy Rubin, Cristina Valdes // Marathon: 40 artists in 10 hours (Nonsequitur, Jack Straw, Clear Cut Press, Subtext, Phonographers Union, DoubleSharp, WA Composers Forum, Seattle Composers Salon) // Chris Chandler, Paul Benoit, Ela Lamblin, Vishal & Ushwal Nagar // Gust Burns + Julie Ives, piano // Moraine + Snapbite // Gretta Harley, choral/spoken word performance // Duran/Schloss/Mitri Trio + Paul Rucker Quinte // Jim Haynes, sound art + Eric Lanzillotta, analog synth // Gregory Reynolds, sax & Gust Burns, piano // No West Festival of Improvised Music & Dance // Matthew Postle & Derek Terran + Michael Owcharuk Trio // Bling! + Figeater // Yann Novak & Son of Rose // Reptet + Ziggurat Ensemble // Dean Moore & Sha’ari Garfinkel, gongs // Satoko Fujii, piano & Natsuki Tamura, trumpet // Gamelan Pacifica // Diego Piñon butoh // Seattle Latin American Music Festival // Flute Force, flute quartet // Greg Sinibaldi // EQlateral Ensemble // Keith Rowe & friends, improvised guitar etc. // Andrea Parkins, accordion & electronics + Lesli Dalaba, trumpet & Rob Angus, electronics // Gino Robair, improv opera // Trevor Watts & Jamie Harris & Reuben Radding & Jane Rigler // Wally Shoup Quartet & Gust Burns Trio (Earshot) // Tom Baker Quartet // Metal Men, electronics, noise // Malcolm Goldstein, violin // Alexei Pliousnine, guitar // Iva Bittova, violin & voice // October Trio // Margaret Brink, piano + Tom Baker Quartet // Seattle Harmonic Voices // Tiffany Lin & Motoko Honda, piano // Tim Root // Philip Arnautoff, harmonic canon + Christopher Roberts, guqin // Shulamit Kleinerman & friends, medieval violins // Alison Knowles // John Butcher, sax, Torsten Mueller, bass, Dylan van der Schyff, drums // Katsura Yamauchi, sax and Arrington DeDionyso, bass clarinet // Impressions of Romania, chamber music // Paul Rucker Quintet // Sean Osborn, clarinet & Greg Sinibaldi, sax & electronics // Sunship // Wally Shoup Trio // Jhababa & Eric Lanzillotta

Whew! The Seattle scene has always been more-or-less alive-and-well, through places like the plucky Gallery 1412, but the Chapel provides a much-needed venue for new and experimental music that takes it out of the back alley and gives it a place where people can respect the space as much as they already do the music and artists. Even if you’re not a Seattlite, keep an eye on their blog for even more wonders this year (or sign up for the mailing list). Major Kudos to Steve P., and wishes for a wonderfully full year to come.

by Steve Layton
Chamber Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Piano, Scores

Winter Music

Renewable Music‘s long-time American-in-Deutschland, Daniel J. Wolf, had the idea of inviting composers to contribute to an album for piano, simply centered around this moment and season. No publishers, no glitzy “call for works”, just a friendly invitation for any interested. The result is the A Winter Album, twelve piano pieces of quite diverse hues, for each and everyone of us to freely peruse in our gray and inclement hours. The composers may not be known to you, but all the better; they’re a stellar bunch in my book: Dennis Báthory-Kitsz, Jon Brenner, Steed Cowart, Elaine Fine, Hauke Harder, Ben.Harper, Jeff Harrington, Aaron Hynds, Lloyd Rodgers, Jonathan Segel, Charles Shere, and Daniel James Wolf himself. Pianists, warm yourself over these embers; and thanks, Daniel. (photo by Ian Britton)

by Steve Layton
Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, Downtown, Experimental Music

Sounds Postitively…Anti-Social

Dear Jerry,

You are cordially invited to a program featuring the music of Pat
Muchmore as performed by the erstwhile and talented members of Anti-Social Music. The gala shall be held at the Ukrainian National Home at 2nd Ave between 8th & 9th streets on December the Thirteenth, where the finest beers and vodkas will be available to soothe the savage humours stirred by the oft-acrid tones emanating from the stage. Also available: pierogies and other Ukrainian delicacies–some of which may be forcibly shoved down the gullets of less attentive patrons.

A number of works excreted by Muchmore’s fecund mind will be played, all of which sport titles that are either incomprehensible, not fit to be uttered in polite society, or both. The fine musicians of ASM will then venture into the studio to record these works for an upcoming release on laser-etched binary Audio-Disk, courtesy of the fine folks at the American Music Center and their wondrous Aaron Copland Fund.

Other cool people involved in making this night of pleasure happen include The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, NYSCA, and the Meet the Composer/JPMorgan Chase Fund for Small Ensembles.

cheers,
Andrea La Rose
Anti-Social Music

Anti-Social Music Presents:
Muchmore Music–Muchmore Pierogies
Thursday, Dec. 13th – 8PM
Ukrainian National Home ( 140 2nd Avenue bet. 8th & 9th Sts)
6 to Astor Place/R-W to 8th St/F-V to 2nd Ave/L to 1st or 3rd Ave
http://antisocialmusic.org

by Jerry Bowles