Contemporary Classical

CD Review, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles

Christopher Cerrone – Beaufort Scales

Beaufort Scales is a new CD by Christopher Cerrone recently released by Cold Blue Music. Commissioned by the Lorelei Ensemble, this album explores the musical expression of the wind at sea in eleven beguiling vocal tracks. The composer writes that each of the pieces “…comment on the state of the weather at one point in time, serving as both a reprieve and a reflection upon the surrounding movements.” Developed in 1805 by British Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort and still in use today, the Beaufort Scale describes the velocity of wind using a value from 0 to 12 to indicate sea conditions from flat calm to hurricane force. The album also contains pieces based on texts from Herman Melville, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Anne Carson and the King James Bible. The eight treble voices of the Lorelei Ensemble bring a high level of virtuosity and a rare purity of tone color to all of the tracks in this album. Beaufort Scales is dedicated to the memory of Ingram Marshall.

The actual Beaufort Scale isn’t just numbers that represent wind speeds. For each number on the scale there is a corresponding description of typical wind and sea conditions. Beaufort Force 0, for example, includes the accompanying description: “Calm; Sea like a mirror. Smoke rises vertically.” A Force 7 wind is described as: “Near Gale; Sea heaps up and white foam from breaking waves begins to be blown in streaks along the direction of the wind.” The album tracks are numbered according to increasing Beaufort Force numbers and the track titles are taken from the relevant Beaufort descriptions of sea conditions. Most of the tracks combine a few of the Beaufort numbers together. Track 6, for example, is titled Steps 4, 5 & 6 Small, Moderate and Large Waves. Of the eleven tracks on the CD, seven are based on Beaufort numbers with the other four being interludes inspired by nautical texts. Track 5, for example, is titled Interlude 2: Herman Melville.

The tracks are generally short, from a little over 2:00 minutes to just under 5:30. All of the music is performed by the eight female voices of the Lorelei Ensemble accompanied only by subdued electronics realized by Chris Cerrone.. The early pieces begin gently according to their lower Beaufort numbers and the intensity gradually increases as the higher numbered tracks are heard. Prelude: Sea Like a Mirror, the first track, reflects Beaufort Scale 0. This begins in a quiet whispering sound, giving perhaps just the slightest suggestion of a breeze. This is soon accompanied by pure vocal tones in sustained harmonies that vary in volume. The singing is lovely with the words “Sea Like a Mirror” repeated in layered phrases. “Calm” is heard towards the finish as the sound of the lapping of small waves returns. Prelude: Sea Like a Mirror is a convincing realization of a calm, mirror-like sea surface.

Other tracks follow a similar pattern. Moving up the Beaufort Scale, track 8 is titled Steps 7, 8 & 9: Sea Heaps Up / Waves of Greater Length / High Waves. This opens with three voices sharply singing “Sea Heaps Up’ in a sort of round. There is a sense of urgency and alarm in the often dissonant harmony and strong articulation. “Waves of Greater Length” is heard in multiple voices with a lovely counterpoint. The singing here is precise and beautifully delivered.

The Interludes are heard as separate tracks between the Beaufort Scale numbers. Interlude 2: Herman Melville, although short at 2 minutes, is perhaps the most overtly nautical. A soft rushing sound is heard on the opening followed by a clearly spoken text: “The not yet subsided sea rolled in long, slow billows.” The spoken words continue – there is no music – and a second voice joins in repeating the words as if an echo. The language of Melville nicely evokes life aboard a 19th century sailing ship. The rushing sounds increase, just before the sudden ending. Interlude 4: Herman Melville, track 9, is just a little longer at 2:11. The text is again spoken but is now more intense, describing a violent typhoon. “The winds started blowing hard and the seas were rough…” Singing begins in gorgeous harmony with a feeling that is both eerie and beautiful. The treble voices here are impressive, as is the careful sound engineering by Mike Tierney and Scott Fraser that perfectly captures the pure tones.

Electromagnetic waves are, arguably, the building blocks of the universe. Beaufort Scales brings a vivid description of waves as we experience them in a natural, physical context resulting from ocean and weather. Another Cold Blue CD, released at the same time is Waves and Particles, by John Luther Adams and this explores the character of waves from an elemental perspective. That waves can be treated from an earthly macro perspective and also at the atomic level is a testament to the great expressive power of the music from these two composers.

Beaufort Scales is available directly from Cold Blue Music, Amazon Music and other retail outlets.



by Paul Muller
Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Events, Music Events, New York, News, Premieres

Tonight: New York Premiere by Christian Carey

Tonight, the Locrian Chamber Players gives the New York premiere of Quintet 2 by Christian B. Carey.

Sequenza 21 readers know Carey very well through his insightful reviews of concerts and recordings in this publication. He is also a superb composer with a lengthy catalogue of varied works.

Christian B. Carey

Quintet 2 is scored for oboe, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, and Carey wrote it for the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble, who commissioned it and premiered it in 2016. In his program note, Carey writes that much of his music – including this work – is based on the idea of labyrinthine structuring. “Quintet 2 deals with a spectrum of harmonic shadings, from triads to microtonal verticals with a great deal expressed in between. Likewise, the short melody at the beginning is offset by long passages of linear counterpoint. A number of rhythmic layers corruscate to create overlapping and frequently syncopated gestures.”

You can listen and follow along with the score on this YouTube recording.

Also on the program, music by Augusta Read Thomas, Oliver Knusson, Jeremy Beck, Jonathan Newman and the world premiere of “I Like Chocolate Ice Cream” by David Macdonald (me too, says the writer).

Performance Details:

August 15, 2024, 8 pm

Locrian Chamber Players

Music from the Past Decade

Riverside Church

490 Riverside Drive, NY NY

Admission is free. A reception will follow.

Performers include:  Calvin Wiersma and Conrad Harris, violins; Daniel Panner, viola; Chris Gross and Peter Seidenberg, cellos; Huan-Fong Chen, oboe; Benjamin Fingland, clarinet; Jonathan Faiman, piano; Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, mezzo-soprano

by Gail Wein
Contemporary Classical

BBC Proms–Abrahamsen, Saariaho, Gibson

The BBC Prom on August 7 was presented by the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by John Storgårds. It featured Stefan Dohr as soloist in the Horn Concerto by Hans Abrahamsen, written between 2018 and 2019. The work is mostly a monologue by the soloist which is provided with a luminous and quite beautiful backdrop, sometimes reactive and interactive, and sometimes just a background, but always aurally compelling. Although the movements are designated by tempo, they are really differentiated more by the density of the, as it were, accompaniment than by the actually speed of the music. At the end of the work, the orchestra joins the soloist in the argument of the piece, before everything recedes into the glowing distance. The performance of the concerto was on the level that it deserved. It was all quite beautiful and effective.

The Abrahamsen was proceeded on the concert by Schumann’s Genoveva Overture and Pohjola’s Daughter by Sibelius, and was followed by an absolutely barn-burning and unforgettable performance of Tschaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.

The Prom on August 9, which was presented by The BBC Symphony and their chief conductor Sakari Oramo, began with a performance of Mirage by Kaiji Saariaho, with Silja Aalto, soprano, and Anssi Karttunen, ‘cellist, as soloists. Mirage sets a poem by the Mexican shaman and poet Maria Sabina. (1894-1985). Sabina’s “poems” were actually trans-like utterances from her healing sacred mushroom ceremonies, called veladas. She is generally regarded as a masterful oral poet due to her presentation of traditional native Mexican themes in a uniquely person voice. For Saariaho, Sabina was an example of an exceptional female artist whose work was a powerful proclamation of her existence as a uniquely powerful creator. Mirage features the soprano voice singing Sabina’s text (in English, in a translation by Alvaro Estrada), but its way is prepared by the ‘cello part, which then intertwines with it, supported and amplified by the orchestra. In a way the work is a sort of recreation of the trance which produced the poem. The effect of the whole, with more forceful and less diaphanous and ethereal music than one usually expects from Saaariaho, emphasizes the concept, as articulated in the program notes by Pirkko Moisala, of “the identity of a mature woman and artist who has found her voice and accepted her calling.” It was completely compelling. The Saariaho was followed by performances of Mozart’s K. 271 Piano Concerto, with soloist Seong-Jin Cho, and Strauss’s Alpine Symphony.

The Prom on August 8, presented by the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Anja Bilhmaler, was originally to have contained the first performance of beyond the beyond, by Sarah Gibson, which was a BBC Commission. At the time of her death from cancer in July of this year, the piece was incomplete. It is to be finished by her associate Thomas Kotcheff and will be performed at a later date. In its place, the program contained an earlier orchestral work of Gibson’s, warp and weft, of 2021. warp and weft is a tribute to the artist Miram Schapiro, whose work emphasizes what she called “femmage,” which is to say artistic work formerly practiced mainly by women, for instance decoupage and weaving, which were formerly considered “cafts” or “decorative art,” as opposed to the “high” arts, which were supposedly practiced mainly by men, and were, therefore, considered superior. In warp and weft, the weft, the horizontal axis of the loom, is associated with more melodic elements, and the warp, the vertical axis of the loom, deals with more harmonic aspects, and these two aspects basically alternate, finally, at the end of the piece, coalesce in a lively and appealing music. Gibson’s program note says that she imagined the piece as a sort of representation of Schapiro’s studio, “…a place full of color, with various materials and ideas, swirling around…” That is a fairly accurate description of the qualities of the work. In the concert the Gibson was preceded by the Beethoven Violin Concerto, with the admirable Tobias Feldman, as soloist, and followed by a compelling performance of the Brahms Fourth Symphony.

All of the proms are available for about sixty days after the date of the concert, on the BBC Sounds site, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b007v097.

by Rodney Lister
Boston, CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Orchestral

Zwilich Recorded by BMOP (CD Review)

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Symphony No. 5

Sarah Brady, flute; Gabriela Diaz, violin

Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose, Music Director

BMOP/Sound 1098

 

Composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich turned eighty-five in April, and one of the many celebrations of her life and work is a recording by Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Directed by Gil Rose and featuring flutist Sarah Brady and violinist Gabriela Diaz as concerto soloists, it is a generous program of her music. The centerpiece is Zwilich’s Symphony No. 5 (2008), a powerful four-movement work that combines traditional formal structure with a musical language of a more recent vintage. 

 

Upbeat! (1998) opens the recording with a brief, sprightly overture that resembles its title, with neoclassical string motives and ebullient brass and percussion entrances juxtaposing in comedic fashion. Concerto Elegia for Solo Flute and Strings explores an entirely different emotion, that of mourning. The first movement, “Elegy,” introduces flutist Sarah Brady as its protagonist, with a fluid sound and emotive, but never bathetic, delivery of limpid runs and ardent crescendos. “Soliloquy” features a modal theme against poly-interval chords and another motive on the violin’s g-string. The music proceeds through a variety of melodies and embellishments that have a doleful demeanor. The “Epilogue” begins with diaphanous string verticals, and then a legato main theme that is offset by pizzicatos. Then the music shifts towards early jazz. The pizzicato theme recurs, but this time played arco, with the flute doubling it in octaves. The melodic doublings continue, with the rest of the strings going back and forth between pizzicato and sostenuto chords, and the piece ends in an apotheosis of major harmony. 

 

Still another set of moods, along with historical characters, is explored in Commedia dell’Arte for Solo Violin and Orchestra (2012). Hundreds of years ago, each of the Commedia characters were memorably deployed at the Venice Carnival. They have evolved over the centuries; in England, one can see a resemblance to them in Punch and Judy. Both Stravinsky and Schoenberg revived them in the 1910s for Petroushka and Pierrot Lunaire, and several composers have investigated the characters since. 

 

Zwilich depicts the commedia in four separate movements. Arlecchino (the Harlequin) is propelled by slaps in the percussion and a florid melody, with blue note glissandos, ricocheting back and forth between the soloist and strings. Alongside it are puckish pizzicatos and brawny octave punctuations. Columbina, the romantic interest of both Arlecchino and the Capitano is given appropriately heart-throbbing music and a high-lying solo line. Martial drumming accompanies Capitano as well as a brisk tune that mercurially shifts through various keys. The close of the movement is a long decrescendo of drumming: the captain marches away. Cadenza and Finale begins with bell sonorities, out of which a cadenza that coopts all three previous tunes is played with energetic brilliance. The orchestra rejoins in luminous fashion, bells signaling a final flourish from the violin and the piece’s repeated octaves to conclude. 

 

Symphony No. 5 opens with a Lydian motive and fortissimo brass chords. After the relatively chamber-like ambience of the concertos, tutti strings and tangy brass up the ante. The transition incorporates winds in tropes on the first theme. The second theme is a Beethovenian gesture, an oscillating minor third that recalls a different fifth symphony. Timpani and hand drumming add driving intensity, but it is short-lived, broken up by a brief interruption of soft winds and high violins. Again, the forte brass and Beethoven’s minor third return. This alternation repeats once more, the movement concluding piano.

 

The second movement is a scherzo, with arcing chromatic lines in strings and winds, timpani punctuations, and overlapping trumpet solos. This is succeeded by the theme in mid-register winds and then emphatic repeated octaves, a gesture in common with the concertos. The strings return to the fore with quick ascending lines, played with admirable coordination by BMOP. Winds and brass repeat terse phrases, while soloists ascend too. Vigorous percussion is unleashed, and repeated chords conclude the movement. It is the briefest, but most potent, of the symphony’s sections. 

 

The third movement is slow, alternating rigor and lyricism. It opens with a flute solo, once again in Lydian. Brass takes on a chordal role beneath altissimo register violins, which develop the flute melody into a breathless line, accompanied by downward arpeggios. Brass, snare drums and timpani are added to the proceedings as modal scalar passages are deployed in the strings. A general crescendo is brought to a halt, the texture thinning, punctuated by snippets of the arpeggiated descending line. A shift in pitch center moves the thematic material upward, helping to gather intensity. A sudden hush, and oboe and bassoon get their own solo turns. Sostenuto violins and violas return, as does the arpeggiated motive in solo clarinet and low strings. Softly, low register repetitions of the wind solos and repeated brass chords provide a final thematic utterance, and pizzicatos conclude the movement.

 

The finale begins another Beethoven allusion, the thrice repeated string gesture found in the Eroica Symphony. The bassoon and double flutes are pitted against repeated brass chords and cymbals, while the minor third motif, from previously, is heard again as an accompanying gesture. In the next section, horn stabs and sustained low trombones build the texture, while the violins play a wide-ranging chromatic theme. The strings then hold a long, high note while brass and percussion repeat the rhythmic ostinato that has undergirded so much of the movement, but this time with thunderous attacks. The violins return to their expansive melodic material, but at yet a slower pace, with rearticulations continuing to contrast it. The modal scales come back, descending first in strings and winds, then ascending in high violins. The symphony comes to a powerful conclusion with the repeating verticals and clangorous percussion in a slow ritardando. 

 

Zwilich is well-served throughout, both by soloists and BMOP under Rose. These are benchmark recordings of pieces in her catalog that show both her connection to tradition and eagerness to explore. As she celebrates her eighty-fifth birth year, one hopes that more pieces are forthcoming from Zwilich. Recommended.

 

-Christian Carey


by Christian Carey
Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles, Opera

Synchromy – My Wings Burned Off

Mimi Hilaire

On June 8, 2024 Synchromy presented a workshop reading of My Wings Burned Off, an opera by Jason V. Barabba opera with libretto by June Carryl. This was in conjunction with the 2024 Opera America conference held at various venues all around Los Angeles. The conference is a place for opera musicians, composers, conductors and administrators to meet each year to exchange ideas, techniques and to pitch new productions. This reading of My Wings Burned Off was held in the Grand Rehearsal Hall at the USC Colburn School of Music downtown. A twelve-piece string orchestra was on hand as well as Mimi Hilaire, the soprano soloist, all conducted by Dr. Renee Baker.

The opera follows the heartbreaking story of Oluwatoyin Salau, a young black woman from Tallahassee. She became a leader in the Black Lives Matter movement and who was ultimately murdered at the hands of a black man. Librettist Carryl writes “I want other Black girls and women to know they matter. It meant everything to me that Jason wanted to tell her story again in this beautiful, brutal opera. Oluwatoyin Salau deserved better; she, they, we deserve better.”

My Wings Burned Off is a monodrama in one scene with ten parts. This performance included all of the singing and the orchestral score but there was no staging, scenery or acting. In any case, the music and libretto alone have sufficient power to sustain the relentless story line. Mimi Hilaire displayed an impressive combination of stamina and control, singing for the better part of an hour. The string orchestra included a number of leading Los Angeles musicians and Ms. Hilaire, at times, had to work to keep the vocals in the foreground. The soprano sings the dramatic libretto and the orchestra comments and adds appropriate atmospherics as the text unfolds. There is generally an abstract distance between the voice and the strings, and this highlights the severity of the story line.

The point of view is first person, with furious lines from Ms. Salau such as “What do I got to do to be human? What I gotta do? I can’t go nowhere, I can’t do nothing, can’t say nothing without being BLACK.” Frustration and anger cry out everywhere in the strings, effectively multiplying the dramatic impact of the text. The voice sings “The scream in my throat becomes a roar.” and the accompaniment echoes with a series of high, searing pitches. Whenever Salau mentions her mother, however, the strings turn soft and supportive. The story unfolds in seemingly disjointed sections, and this adds to the tension. This piece hammers the heart like a Baroque Passion, the words and the music delivering unsparing anguish.

For this reading, the full libretto was printed in the concert program and this was a great help. The vocals often occupied the same register as the many accompanying strings and Ms. Hilaire’s rich voice often blended into the mixture. The orchestra was just a few feet from the soloist and a dozen or so feet from the audience, so in an actual opera hall there will likely be enough sonic separation for better clarity. But unless the story is well known in advance by the listener, it would be a challenge to apprehend the dramatic arc without closely following the text. A printed libretto or captions on a projection screen would allow reading the words while hearing the music. This was the most effective way for me to follow the story and appreciate its power.

My Wings Burned Off is as an unflinching look at the hard reality that prevails for young Black activist women in our society today. Oluwatoyin Salau deserved better, as this opera powerfully testifies.

Jason Barabba and June Carryl

Photos courtesy of Synchromy

by Paul Muller
CD Review, Chamber Music, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard and Quatuor Bozzini – Colliding Bubbles: Surface Tension and Release (CD Review))

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard and Quatuor Bozzini – Colliding Bubbles: Surface Tension and Release (Important)

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard is a composer based in Copenhagen. On his latest EP he joins forces with the premiere Canadian string quartet for new music, Quatuor Bozzini, to create a piece that deals with the perception of bubbles replicating the human experience. In addition to the harmonics played by the strings, the players are required to play harmonicas at the same time. At first blush, this might sound like a gimmick, but the conception of the piece as instability and friction emerging from continuous sound, like bubbles colliding in space and, concurrently, the often tense unpredictability of the human experience, makes these choices instead seem organic and well-considered. As the piece unfolds, the register of the pitch material makes a slow decline from the stratosphere to the ground floor with a simultaneous long decrescendo.  The quartet are masterful musicians, unfazed by the challenge of playing long bowings and long-breathed harmonica chords simultaneously. The resulting sound world is shimmering, liquescent, and surprising in its occasional metaphoric bubbles popping.

  • Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, Chamber Music, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, File Under?

Kronos Says Goodbye to Two Members After a Hello to Moondog and Sun Ra

Kronos Says Goodbye to Two Members After a Hello to Moondog and Sun Ra

Credit: Lenny Gonzalez

Many are celebrating the tenures of two members of Kronos Quartet – violinist John Sherba and violist Hank Dutt – who are, after more than forty-five years, retiring from the group at the end of June.

 

As a valediction, I have been listening to and enjoying recordings from throughout their catalog. I am impressed by how enduring the quartet’s creative vitality and imagination has persisted, even on their most recent outings.

 

Joined by the Ghost Train Orchestra and a number of guest vocalists, last Fall Kronos released Songs & Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog. Louis Hardin, AKA Moondog, AKA The Viking of Sixth Avenue, shares moments of whimsy and often playful titles. Artists could take that an imprimatur to always playfully play it, but not on Songs & Symphoniques. Indeed, I’ve long been impressed with Moondog’s self-taught craft. His madrigals and canons, written down in Braille and then “translated” for seeing musicians, are at times quirky, but are often substantial pieces. Kronos and colleagues emphasize this, as well as the emotive character of his songs’ lyrics.

 

 

Rufus Wainwright joins with a backing vocal chorus and a number of the instrumentalists in one such canon, “Be a Hobo.” While maintaining the canonic structure, it is arranged to allow close-miked Wainwright to act as its focal point, thus functioning as both song and contrapuntal excursion. Marisa Nadler performs “High on a Rocky Ledge” with her characteristic dark-hued lyricism, adding duplicate vocal tracks for the chorus. The quartet and an electric guitar play the tune’s descending riff and a series of Tin Pan Alley chords to flesh out the piece. “I’m This, I’m That” features a gravelly-voiced, affecting rendition by Jarvis Cocker. Contributing an alto lead vocal and joined by other singers for a round, Petra Haden also memorably channels Annie Ross in her high soprano line on “Down is Up,” giving it the flavor of a cappella jazz.

“Enough About Human Rights” is a humorous text that is delivered with a wink by Karen Mantler and the quartet, who double on the vocal chorus. The song asks about the rights of a long list of animals, even skunks and bats, pointing out an even-handed ecological mindset that is a throughline in Moondog’s writings. She also sings on “Coffee Beans.” After a jaunty 6/8 groove is introduced by drums,  jazz-inflected sax chords, pizzicato strings, and, ultimately, a wayward tune, Mantler sings a round about how to make the best coffee. At the conclusion, a harmonica solo adds a lilting counter-melody. Joan as Police Woman uses overlapping voices and vocoder to create a round on “Why Spend a Dark Night with You?” Hand-claps underscore the syncopation while electric guitar, saxophone, and the quartet add additional wisps of tunes, and then a raucous interlude. Mantler resumes the round in its former context, but in a new key, to conclude. A favorite is the duet between Sam Amidon and Aoife O’Donovan on “Behold.” Celtic folk fiddling style both in a solo and in the quartet accompanies their singing. Amidon takes the first verse in hyperkinetic fashion, O’Donovan’s rendition of the second resembles some of the inflections in the strings. The third verse treats the melody as a round, and the quartet provides a bluesy chord as a button.

 

In addition to the vocal turns, several well-conceived instrumentals are performed by Kronos and Ghost Train. “The Viking of 6th Avenue” is a calling card piece of Moondog’s; this was his nickname and mentions his stomping grounds. The arrangement incorporates pitched percussion instruments – xylophone, metallophones – that he performed when busking, but it also has a full jazz arrangement and the quartet playing in contemporary classical fashion – an extraordinary mash-up of styles that befits the polyglot musical approach to composition of Moondog. “Bumbo” features the lower brass alongside, again, high pitched percussion, with a Latin-tinged groove that supports saxophone and guitar solos. There’s a bit of Rain Dogs-era Tom Waits here, and one imagines that the Moondog albums might well have been on his mind when creating the Tom trilogy in the 1980s.

 

The recording concludes with another vocal track; Joan as Policewoman sings on “All is Loneliness,” which is one of the most poignant of Moondog’s creations. It is in canon, with saxophones and strings delivering the first few entrances gently, and Joan as Policewoman entering soon after with serene, sustained singing of the motive. It is a moving closer to a recording that reveals Moondog’s multitudes.

Out this month is another recording: Outer Spaceways Incorporated – Kronos Quartet and Friends Meet Sun Ra. This double LP is the fifth in Red Hot’s Sun Ra series, and by far the most substantial. Once again, prominent collaborators join the quartet to create new renditions of Sun Ra’s music as well as new compositions that both channel the visionary artist and extend his legacy.

 

The title track begins with spoken spacey glissandos in the strings, and a muted trumpet call. Then the vocalist Georgia Anne Muldrow sings the tune, doubled by Harrington, with supple tone and elegant phrasing. The arrangement by Jacob Garchik recasts the piece with emphatic music for strings but retains its linear gestural vocabulary. Electronic musician Jlin, known for her work with post-classical materials and creation of footwork singles, provides vociferous string chords and hand drums in her composition “Maji.” Laraaji adds synths and the flavor of New Age electronica on “Daddy’s Gonna’ Tell You No Lie.”

 

“Blood Running High” incorporates two hip hop artists – RP Boo and the duo Armand Hammer – rapping over a sax section and the quartet. Sun Ra’s spoken word recitations have undeniably been an influence on hip hop and here there is a tip-of-the-hat here in return. Moor Mother, DJ Haram, and 700 Bliss add reverberant production, samples, and rapping to “Secrets of the Sun.”

 

The centenarian bandleader of the Sun Ra Arkestra, saxophonist Marshall Allen, also appears on the recording. He joins Sex Mob and Laurie Anderson for “Images Suite,” one of two extended tracks on the CD. Post-bop horns and otherworldly electronics combine in a savory concoction that embodies the juxtapositions inherent in the music-making of Allen’s ensemble. Anderson adds treated vocals, and chimes accompany trumpeter/arranger Steven Bernstein. Allen gets multiple solo turns, displaying a rich tone undiminished by age. Anderson joins Allen and Kronos on “Phenomenon” and “The Wuz.” The resulting amalgam pays tribute to the eclecticism intrinsic to Sun Ra’s music while maintaining the tension between the various contributors’ own approaches. “Love in Outer Space,” featuring keyboards by Trey Spruance, imparts the tune with piano, organ, and synth playing that revels in Sun Ra signatures.

 

 

A second extended cut ends the recording with, appropriately enough, “Kiss Yo’ Ass Goodbye.” It is a lyric from Sun Ra’s famous and much-covered song “Nuclear War,” and here as well the notion of apocalypse is explored through the lens of Afrofuturism, in which the escape to space may be the only thing saving us from annihilation. The quartet is joined by Terry Riley, playing keyboards and singing, and vocalist Sara Miyamoto. It opens with portentous straight tone slides, almost like an air raid siren, which are joined by quick singing of the title in saucy fashion. The strings and percussion provide intense accompaniment and the glissandos change direction alongside an Ivesian amalgam of melodic fragments and a coda of overlapping voices (shades of Moondog’s canons).

 

 

 

From its outset and for a half century, Kronos has made many “cover albums.” Outer Spaceways Incorporated is among its most successful in terms of concept and execution. The quartet will continue performing and recording with two new members, violinist Gabriela Díaz and violist Ayane Kozasa.

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
Chamber Music, Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Ojai

Ojai Music Festival – Saturday, June 8, 2024

Saturday June 8, 2024 in Ojai began with an overcast sky and cool breezes, but this did not prevent a good size crowd from filling the Libbey bowl for the 10:00 AM concert. Works by three contemporary composers were featured: John Zorn, Missy Mazzoli and John Adams.

Accordionist Ljubinka Kulisic opened the concert with Road Runner, by John Zorn. Ms. Kulisic is from Bosnia-Hertzegivina and received her DMA from the University of Toronto in Canada. I admit to harboring a certain skepticism about this piece; music for solo accordion would seem to belong in a different cultural orbit. Using a sort of musical jiujitsu, however, John Zorn, together with the talented Ms. Kulisic, have leveraged accordion cliches, snatches of familiar tunes and an impressive array of extended techniques to conjure an entertaining and dazzling tour de force from this unlikely instrument.

Road Runner opens with a rapid series short quotes from popular music, cartoons and other sources quidkly followed by the crashing of great cluster chords, insanely rapid scales and all sorts of physical effects that leave the listener breathless. The recognizably musical phrases lull the brain into complacency and then a booming outburst thoroughly scrambles the context. The cycle then repeats and this process results – counter intuitively – in listening more closely. The listener is trying to make sense of all the sounds together and not just the familiar ones. This required virtuosic playing by Ms. Kulisic who delivered an amazing performance and received enthusiastic applause for her efforts.

Dark with Excessive Bright, by Missy Mazzoli followed, performed by musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Rick Stotijn was the double bass soloist with Vincente Alberola conducting. Inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost, the program notes state that: “While loosely based in Baroque idioms, this piece slips between string techniques from several centuries all while twisting a pattern of repeated chords beyond recognition.”

Dark with Excessive Bright opens with a strong tutti statement accompanied by a solemn bass solo. There is a slightly sad feeling to this as the strings crescendo then give way to another stretch of bass solo. The deep, rich sounds add a powerfully expressive dimension to what is essentially a double bass concerto. The string orchestra weaves in and out of the foreground as the solo bass makes its mournful journey, and this alternating pattern continues throughout the piece. There are occasional stretches of rapid rhythms in the solos that never drag; a credit to Stotijn and his agile handling of the double bass. Long, slow sustained tones, bring this piece to a satisfying conclusion. Dark with Excessive Bright meets Paradise Lost on its own weighty terms with artful musical success.

The final work on the program was the minimalist classic Shaker Loops, by John Adams. This was scored for three violins, a viola, two cellos and a double bass, played by the musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. This began with a soft but clean opening in the violins with the other strings entering in turn. The tempo was precise and each of the shimmering layers of the first movement were clearly articulated. The texture gradually built into a lovely trembling swirl that perfectly evokes the spiritual ecstasy of the Shaker sect. The second movement, “Hymning Slews” was a complete contrast, with long sustained tones and just a slight undercurrent of excitement. This was nicely balanced and very expressive with skillful control of the quiet dynamics. The high, accented tones in this movement by the violin were especially effective. After a short transition, movement 3 “Loops and Verses” edged back into the lively groove of the opening. Low growling tones from the bass added an impressive element of power. The upper strings floated long sustained tones above the active counterpoint in the lower parts and this gathered into a driving pulse with an increased tempo and beautiful harmonies. The final movement , “A Final Shaking”, was faster still with blizzards of notes coming from all the parts, save the elegant pedal tone heard in the bass. The piece simply stopped at its ending, leaving the audience in a state of silent reflection before bursting into a long standing ovation.

It was good to hear Shaker Loops again to appreciate the delicate clarity and subtle dynamics present in this music, as well as the masterful playing of the Mahler Chamber orchestra musicians.

Musicians of the Mahler Chamber orchestra were:

Alexandra Preucil, May Kunstovny, Naomi Peters, violins
Yannick Dondelinger, viola
Stefan Faludi, Christoph Richter, cellos
Naomi Shaham, double bass

Photo Credit: Timothy Teague

by Paul Muller
Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Ojai

Ojai Music Festival – Friday June 7, 2024

The 78th annual Ojai Music Festival opened on Thursday June 6, 2024 and continued through Sunday June 9. The Music Director for this year was Mitsuko Uchida. Featured artists included the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, violinist Alexi Kenney , cellist Jay Campbell, bassist Rick Stotijn and the Brentano String Quartet. The Ojai Festival always brings a mixture of fresh contemporary music along with the works of cherished composers such as J.S.Bach, W.A. Mozart and Béla Bartók. The cool morning weather did not deter a good turnout for the 10:00 AM Friday concert in the Libbey Bowl.

First up was Julie Smith Phillips performing Fall, a piece for solo harp and electronics by the late Kaija Saariaho. Thomas May’s program notes state that Fall is “…an arresting example of Saariaho’s ability to convey an assemblage of freely associated images through the interchange of acoustic and electronic sounds and a poetics of timbre.” Repeating light phrases open Fall accompanied by a churning counterpoint in the lower registers. This produces a feeling of uncertainty that is accentuated by the absence of definite rhythms or a solid pulse. The lack of a leading melody confirms that Fall is all about texture and contrast, propelled by an active tempo. The electronics and amplification intensify the timbrel palette of the normally reserved harp, and all of this is well-managed by Ms. Phillips. There is a brief stretch of simple, solitary notes in the upper registers offset by aggressive passages below, adding a sense of mystery. A series of strong arpeggios in the higher notes follow, introducing a feeling of menace. Fall is both dramatic and atmospheric and brings the normally soft spoken harp into new and expressive territory.

Pression, by Helmut Lachenmann followed, a solo cello piece performed by Jay Campbell. The piece opens with a series of whispers and soft scratches as the bow is lightly drawn across the strings. This soon escalates to angry growling sounds and vivid thumps applied to the cello wood. Pression is a series of amazing extended techniques on the cello that varies from soft ghostly tones to a rough, mechanical sound. Campbell was in full control of his instrument despite the fact that it was operating completely beyond the conventional sonic envelope of the normally stately cello. Pression is an impressive demonstration of what is possible when the elegant is completely given over to the physical.

Five Etudes, by Sofia Gubaidulina, was next. This is a five movement piece scored for harp, percussion and double bass. “Largo”, the first movement opened solemnly with a double bass solo consisting of single notes. The harp enters, followed by pitched percussion with everyone in a slow tempo and soft dynamic. A satisfying yet gentle groove soon developed. The percussion was effective, keeping a steady pulse while the harp and bass lines weaved in and around each other. “Allegretto” followed with an increased tempo and prominent drumming by percussionist Sae Hashimoto projecting the beat. This movement was stylish and jazzy, yet tastefully restrained. The “Adagio”, movement 3, consisted of lines of quiet solitary notes from the harp that were answered by the double bass. A soft trill was heard from the pitched percussion, enhanced by a metal chain draped over one of the vibraphone plates. This contributed a slightly mysterious feeling. Strong arpeggios in the harp opened movement 4, “Allegro disparato”, accompanied by a sharp drum beat. This was uptempo, described in the program notes as a “desperate Allegro.” Rapidly repeating cells in the marimba were offset by a solemn melody in the bass.

The final etude, “Andante”, started with slow pizzicato notes in the bass and counterpoint in the harp. This evolved into a comfortable walking bass line below combined with hip riffs above; an engaging mixture. Five Etudes was perhaps the most conventional of the contemporary pieces in the Friday morning concert. The playing was skillfully done, especially by Naomi Shaham on the double bass who was a last minute substitution.

The final work on the concert program was String Quartet No. 5, by Béla Bartók performed by the Brentano String Quartet. This was written in the summer of 1934 and carries all of the weighty anxiety of pre-war Central Europe. All five movements were performed and the energy and gritty complexity of this music is striking, even at this distance in time since its premiere. The Brentano Quartet played this with precision and brilliance over its entire 31 minute length. String Quartet No. 5 remains gripping in its intensity and a showcase for the high level of creativity and extraordinary technique that was present in early 20th century music.

The Brentano Quartet is:

Mark Steinberg, violinist
Serena Canin, violinist
Misha Amory, viola
Nina Lee, cello

Photo Credit: Timothy Teague

by Paul Muller
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion – Sing On (Video)

Photo: Adam Sliwinski

Composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist Caroline Shaw rejoins Sō Percussion for Rectangles and Circumstance, a new full length recording out today on Nonesuch. To celebrate the release, a video for the lead-off single, “Sing On,” has been released on YouTube today.

Rectangles and Circumstance combines imaginative percussion writing with abundant electronics and Shaw’s pop-adjacent singing. Shaw takes on an assured and distinctive role. Her voice is sometimes treated to make it nearly unrecognizable. Elsewhere, her singing is presented in its natural, fetchingly lyrical guise. Sō has developed a sound world that befits Shaw’s heterogeneous compositions, using a plethora of pitched percussion, drums, and electronics. Whether the music leans towards pop, classicism, or totalism, it is uniformly engaging. Recommended

-Christian Carey

 

 

 

by Christian Carey