Sun Ra and his Arkestra-HORIZON (Saturn 121771) 1972

Sun Ra and his Arkestra - HORIZON (Saturn Records 1972)

Sometime in the mid-late 1980's I was lucky to be in attendance for a talk and performance
by Sun Ra and his Arkestra in front of a small audience.After the talk I went along to a private
party for the Arkestra, where I was fortunate to sit (literally) at the feet of the Master.
At one point during this heady day, I reached into my napsack and pulled out 3 original Saturn l.p.'s and asked him to sign them- as soon as he saw them he said "These are meant to be looked at under different colored lights" while I was in the process of gettingout a handful of different colored hi-lighters. So I said "Then please choose the right colors".
I then pulled out a postcard of Saturn (from where he had claimed to have been borne) and asked-
"Can you send me a message from space?"
He replied- "That's beautiful- No one wants messages from space anymore." And he signed the postcard.
Ungrateful wretch that I was, I was a tad disappointed that he hadn't given me something more profound - a Message, that is...



A Dream (ca. June 1, 1993)

I have been dropped off by a flying machine of unknown origin on to the top of a high-rise building. I don't remember if it was daytime or nighttime.
I am in the city of Philadelphia.
I want to see Sun Ra's house. As I remember from a documentary, his address is 5626 Morton St.
I notice suddenly that I am not alone up here-there is a woman, dressed in Black, with a black hood almost entirely covering her face. She is facing away from me, and seems to have no interest in me at all.
I ask her if she knows where Morton Street is. Though it is dark, I am shielding my eyes, trying to look out into the distance as I ask her. She either says "no" or shakes her head
to indicate "no"- I forget which.
I then ask her if she knows which way is East, not that I know in which direction Morton Street lies.
She says "no" in some fashion, and the scene
fades away to...

Upon waking, I went into the kitchen, where my father, who is visiting me, is reading
the newspaper. He looks up and says:
"Sun Ra died."
...

So- It seems I got my message from space after all.


Horizon: Sun Ra and his Astro-Intergalactic-Infinity Arkestra, forming part of the documentation of their first visit to Egypt.

Recorded at the Ballon Theatre, Cairo.

In various editions, the record has sometimes been known by the other title of "Starwatchers"














Side One:

1- Starwatchers/Theme of the Stargazers
Discipline 2
Shadow World

Side Two:

2- Third Planet
Space is the Place
Horizon
Discipline 8























Personnel

John Gilmore - tenor saxophone
Danny Davis - alto saxophone, flute
Marshall Allen - alto saxophone, flute, oboe
Kwame Hadi - trumpet, conga drums
Pat Patrick - baritone saxophone
Elo Omoe - bass clarinet
Tommy Hunter - percussion
Danny Thompson - baritone saxophone, flute
June Tyson - vocal
Larry Narthington - alto saxophone, conga drum
Lex Humphries - percussion
Clifford Jarvis - percussion
Hakim Rahim - alto saxophone, flute
Sun Ra - organ, Mini Moog, piano

Tam Fiofori - Engineer
Live album by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
Released 1972
Recorded December 17, 1971



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Marius Constant/Karlheinz Stockhausen-14 STATIONS/ZYKLUS (Erato 1972?)

Marius Constant / Karlheinz Stockhausen-14 STATIONS / ZYKLUS
(Erato STU 70603) 1972?

Today would have been Marius Constant's 87th Birthday.
He died 15th May, 2004, aged 79.


The (rather spare) cover notes are in French, and I dare not risk the translating of technical terms.Since I couldn't find anything much online, you're stuck with my two bits worth.

Here is another Marius Constant record which has similar features to the other one I've posted:
Intelligent and creative use of unique instrumentation; primarily percussion, but including prepared electric guitar (either this or maybe the cello through a wah-pedal at one point), harpsichord, trombone, violin and viola.
The percussion batterie is enormous- the cover photos (enclosed) show images presumably taken at the recording session- Many gongs, 2 octaves of temple blocks, all the mallet instruments, loads of cowbells, tympani, and so forth.
The writing is primarily timbral and dramatic use is made of dynamic contrasts, space, and surprising color combinations. The piece has a ritual flavour (in it's theme,of course -The crucifixion, but also) in it's sound and the somewhat distinct division of Stations - (still not distinct enough for me to risk separating them) with the pitched instruments acting as spectators or commentators to the action.

Karlheinz Stockhausen's Zyklus is a (partially) graphic score which allows the percussionist to choose the order of the 12 parts, and thus the music unfolds differently in each performance, adding the extra element of risk if the performer decides not to choose the order until the moment of playing.
I have no idea what approach Gualda used, but the result is a strident, confident reading which seems more rhythmic and dramatic than the other versions I've heard. The playing is virtuosic and sounds multi-tracked at times; If it isn't, Gualda is an octopus.


Side One:

Marius Constant-14 Stations Pour Percussion Et Six Instruments

1-La Condamnation
2-La Croix
3-Première Chute
4-La Mère
5-Simon
6-Véronique
7-Deuxième Chute
8-Exhortation Aux Femmes
9-Troisième Chute
10-Vétements Arrachés

Side Two:

11-Crucifixion
12-La Mort
13-Descente
14-Ensevelissement

Percussion – Sylvio Gualda

Leader – Marius Constant
with:
Guitar [Prepared Electric Guitar] – Pierre Urbain
Harpsichord – Elisabeth Chojnacka
Cello – Jacques Wiederker
Trombone – Camille Verdier
Viola – Paul Hadjaje
Violin – Jacques Ghestem

15-Karlheinz Stockhausen-Zyklus Pour Percussion

Percussion – Sylvio Gualda























Photography By – Jean-Pierre Leloir
Engineer – Guy Laporte
Mixed By – Bernard Leroux
Soloists on 1 to 14 from Ars Nova Ensemble.

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Alice Cooper-PRETTIES FOR YOU (1969 Straight Records)

Today is Alice Cooper's 64th Birthday.

First, A True Story:
When I was a youngster in 1975 or so, I used to have to go to church on Sunday mornings. Mostly it was just Sunday-School; United Church style- which is to say; a pretty loose affair.
I used to enjoy exploring the innards and hidden places in the Church: The teeny hallways, small doors, and windey staircases.
One day, I found a turntable in a little closet: no speakers, but lots of albums I'd never seen before, with very plain covers.
The next week I brought in an l.p. (My first and favorite) to play.
When the right moment arrived, I snuck away from the common room, went into the innards of the church, and went to that cupboard.
I took out my favorite record, and I put it on the turntable, turning up the volume knob a bit from whatever it was set at, and put the needle on the record.

The effect was instantaneous, but hard to grasp for my 11 year old mind: The music seemed to be coming at me from a distance, but from everywhere at once.
It seemed both loud and not-loud at the same time.
It was at about the 15 second mark that I realized what I had done, and, ripping the l.p. off of the turntable I ran to get back to the common room as quickly as possible, to try to blend in.
AND SO: The point to all this is that I played Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" from the l.p. "Billion Dollar Babies" through the bell tower of my neighborhood church for the local residents at 10:00 on a Sunday morning in lieu of the traditional Carrillion music.

Call it payback for the Reverend Smithee's punch in the nose.
Happy Birthday, Alice.

And Now, The Music:
This is the Alice Cooper group's first album.
In this debut,(and in the band's second album- "Easy Action") the "Alice Cooper as Villain/Monster" concept has not yet been thoroughly developed.Ambiguity is the theme here.Even the name of Alice Cooper identified both the band and the singer, all of whom were confrontationally androgynous.
Wiki- "One night after an unsuccessful gig at the Cheetah club in Venice, California, where the band emptied the entire room of patrons after playing just ten minutes, they were approached and enlisted by music manager Shep Gordon, who ironically saw the band's negative impact that night as a force that could be turned in a more productive direction. Shep then arranged an audition for the band with composer and renowned record producer, Frank Zappa, who was looking to sign bizarre music acts to his new record label, Straight Records. For the audition Zappa told them to come to his house "at 7 o'clock." The band mistakenly assumed he meant 7 o'clock in the morning. Being woken up by a band willing to play that particular brand of psychedelic rock at seven in the morning impressed Zappa enough to sign them to a three-album deal. Another Zappa-signed act, the all-female GTOs, who liked to "dress the Cooper boys up like full size barbie dolls," played a major role in developing the band's early onstage look."

The identity of the protagonist in virtually all of the songs is entirely unidentifiable, and often contradictory, as are the lyrics. The violence of the later albums' horror narratives is here mostly absent and the lyrics are more "stream of consciousness" and nonsensical; the Words are often used primarily for their sound, or their ability to confound the listener and their expectations: Time and again, the lyric being sung at any moment is cancelled out by the lyric sung at the next moment- through wordplay, surrealism and other poetic devices: enjambment,metonymy and synedoche (No- I didn't know these terms; I had to look them up here).
(I have included lyrics, sourced from the web-I corrected the mistakes which I could).
The guitar work is decidedly angular and interwoven- each guitarist, taken singly, often plays lines and figures which are,in themselves, irrational and often atonal.
(sort of like a slightly less capable and more accessible Magic Band. This band also seems to have been as well-rehearsed as the Magic Band: Check out "Live at the Whiskey 1969" and you'll hear many of these songs played identically to this record- with minor lyric differences).
The bass is played like a third guitar and not as a member of a "rhythm section"- the drums are sometimes played more like a percussionist's batterie than a traditional rock drum kit, Smith often playing 'lines' rather than 'beats', (Cooper later said that Bob Ezrin, who produced their "breakthrough" third album re-taught the group how to play their instruments, helping to create their more popular 'signature sound')

The music is, nonetheless, often melodic and even rather psychedelic.
Wiki: The band have later claimed that this period was highly influenced by Pink Floyd, and especially the album Piper at the Gates of Dawn. the late Glen Buxton could listen to Syd Barrett's guitar for hours at a time.

This album and the one which followed it are unique in that they are usually ignored or disliked by fans and met with critical indifference and commercial failure.
























Alice Cooper-PRETTIES FOR YOU (1969) Straight

Side One:

1- Titanic Overture (1:13)
2- 10 Minutes Before The Worm (1:38)
3- Sing Low, Sweet Cheerio (5:43)
4- Today Mueller (1:47)
5- Living (2:55)
6- Fields Of Regret (5:47)

Side Two:

7- No Longer Umpire (1:59)
8- Levity Ball (Live At The Cheetah) (4:37)
9- B.B. On Mars (1:13)
10- Reflected (3:14)
11- Apple Bush (3:07)
12- Earwigs To Eternity (1:18)
13- Changing Arranging (3:04)












Music,Lyrics,and Arrangements by Alice Cooper
Produced by Alice Cooper
Engineered by Dick Kunc
Bizarre Business by Herb Cohen

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Iannis Xenakis=TERRETEKTORH/NOMOS GAMMA (ca1972 Erato STU 70529)

Today is the 11th anniversary of the passing of Iannis Xenakis at 78 years 8 months.
He was born May 29 1922.

Cover notes in French-These notes are from an external source.

After the initial impact of his first orchestral scores (Metastaseis and Pithoprakta), which turned the modern music world on its ear in the mid-1950s, Iannis Xenakis turned to other concerns. He worked on developing a theoretical basis for his mathematical approach to composition, worked in the electroacoustic studio at Radio-France, and wrote some chamber and stage works. In 1966, however, his attention was drawn back to the orchestra and he penned a second set of pretty remarkable scores. Terretektorh, the first of these, was commissioned for the new contemporary music festival in Royan, a picturesque French town on the Atlantic just north of Bordeaux. Those were heady days, when festival organizers were not shy of allowing a composer like Xenakis take the orchestra and scatter all the players around and throughout the audience. In his words, he wanted to create a "Sonotron: an accelerator of sonorous particles." Indeed, the opening three minutes of the piece centers on a single note, passing it around the musicians to create a swirling effect that is impossible to achieve electronically (unless you have 88 channels of sound, perhaps!). Terretektorh shows more concern for harmonic organization than the earlier, iconoclastic Pithoprakta, with its scatterings of knocking sounds and massed effects. Still, the concentration is decidedly on texture and movement, with narrow lines being bundled with a number of others in the same register to create a rawer sonic intensity that still has some basis in melody. Xenakis concentrates on the high and low registers, as did Varèse before him, and adds some unusual sound effects into the mix as well. Each player of the orchestra, in addition to his or her own instrument, is required at various times to play from an arsenal of percussion instruments, including woodblocks, whips, maracas, and siren-whistles. These sounds are spread around the orchestra, creating "flames" of sound (sirens), or "clouds" of noise-like textures. For perhaps the first time, members of the audience could hear the orchestra from the "inside;" it may not always have been comfortable (imagine being seated directly in front of a trombone!), but it certainly would have been exhilarating!


Nomos Gamma is a large, ambitious work for orchestra that follows on from Terretektorh (1966), both of them commissioned for the newly established Royan Festival. Both pieces distribute the members of the orchestra throughout the audience, inviting the listener right inside the ensemble. Nomos Gamma also follows on from Nomos Alpha, for solo cello, again from 1966, in the composer's application of certain new mathematical principles to the compositional process. After spending several years implementing probabilities into his formal procedures, Xenakis turned to deterministic, combinatorial tools. In essence, sequences of different combinations of a range of musical elements or parameters are combined to form the compositional design. Nomos Alpha was the first result of this new approach to musical architecture, and Nomos Gamma was the next (there are sketches for a Nomos Beta, but the piece never saw the light beyond the composer's papers). As a follow-up to Terretektorh, which had caused such a sensation at its 1966 premiere in Royan, Nomos Gamma is both more careful in its construction and more audacious in expression. Whereas the earlier piece focused almost entirely on texture and the effect of sonic motion, the later piece includes straightforwardly melodic elements and a more block-like construction. The effect of hearing a three-part, microtonal melodic texture from within the middle of the instruments is still, of course, an entirely different, and much more visceral, experience than hearing it from afar. Xenakis makes great use, too, of teemingly dense string textures, which many layers of different kinds of sonorities occurring simultaneously. These are intercut with other, more compressed textures, with all the strings playing glassy, sustained harmonics, for example. The brass and woodwinds are, perhaps for the first time in his output, treated as equal to the strings, with dense clusters battling against plaintive melodic passages. Each of the five main sections of the piece is dominated by one of the orchestral instrumental groups: I. woodwinds; II. brass; III. woodwinds; IV. strings; V. percussion. The final section would be positively dizzying to hear in concert. The eight percussionists, placed around the perimeter of the orchestral-audience space, pass drum rolls around, one to another, at an incredible clip. Where Terretektorh wound the musical energy up at the beginning by passing a sustained unison pitch around the orchestra, Nomos Gamma cranks itself up at the end, spinning off like a crazed top, ending with a final outburst by all of the percussionists together. The experience must have been inspiring; Xenakis would try it again the following year in Persephassa, for six percussionists, also directed to encircle the audience (and wind them up!).
~ James Harley, Rovi
























Iannis Xenakis-TERRETEKTORH/NOMOS GAMMA

Side One-

1- Terretektorh (1965-66) for 88 musicians scattered throughout the audience playing 4 percussion instruments in addition to their own.

Recorded Live 24 January 1968, Drancy.

Side Two:

2- Nomos Gamma (1967-68) for 98 musicians scattered throughout the audience.

Recorded Live at the Festival De Royan, April 1969

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James Blood Ulmer-ARE YOU GLAD TO BE IN AMERICA? 1980 Rough Trade Records

James Blood Ulmer- ARE YOU GLAD TO BE IN AMERICA? Rough Trade 1980

Today is James Blood Ulmer's 70th birthday:
He was born in St.Matthew's, South Carolina in 1942.

This is another Ulmer l.p. from around the same period as my previous post.
That is- from early in his recording career as a leader.
This record features the same line-up as the Music Revelation Ensemble's first l.p,(1981) with the addition of a second drummer- G.Calvin Weston (from Ornette Coleman's Prime Time),
alto sax player Oliver Lake, Trumpeter Olu Dara and a rhythm guitarist-William Patterson (on track 4 only).
This record fits the "jazz-funk" designation better than does the Music Revelation Ensemble l.p, and at times (especially on track one) sounds very much like Prime Time, with Calvin Weston's funk rhythms having a lot to do with that. Otherwise, it's a typical Ulmer "pedal to the metal" straight-ahead free jazz-inflected improvising session. Solid stuff.

This is a strange recording, however. The sound is dry and lacks a certain definition.(Especially in the horns).
Some of the tracks fade out at odd moments or are cut off abruptly. One can only guess as to the reasons- too many solos? Solos too long? A desire to have more compositions represented? Disintegration in performance? Since Ulmer has production and mixing credits, one can only presume the result satisfied him. In any case- "Rough 16" is an apt catalogue number. Especially when compared with "Freelancing", from the same period, which is very similar, but- to my memory- more polished.























Side One:

1- Layout
2- Pressure
3- Interview
4- Jazz Is The Teacher (Funk Is The Preacher)
5- See-Through

Side Two:

6- Time Out/
7- T.V. Blues
8- Light Eyed/
9- Revelation March/
10- Are You Glad To Be In America?

James Blood Ulmer- Guitar, Vocals
David Murray- Tenor Saxophone
Oliver Lake- Alto saxophone
Olu Dara- Trumpet
Amin Ali- Bass
Ronald Shannon Jackson- Drums
G. Calvin Weston- Drums
William Patterson- Rhythm Guitar (track 4 only)

Recorded 17th January, 1980, R.C.A. Studios, NYC.

I have had to leave certain tracks linked together (/) as separating them would add an ugly pause to the music.

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Harrison,Weber,Foss,Dahl-CHAMBER MUSIC BY (1976 New World Records)

Harrison, Weber, Foss, Dahl- CHAMBER MUSIC OF: New World Records 1976

Today is the 9th anniversary of the passing away of Lou Harrison. He was 85 years,8 months old.

Excerpted from the extensive gatefold notes (enclosed):

Lou Harrison was born in Portland, Oregon, on May 14, 1917. He studied with Henry Cowell and with Schoenberg, and has earned his living by teaching (at Mills College 1937-40), copying music, writing (critic for the New York Herald Tribune 1945-48), and performing. At various times he has been associated with Charles Ives (some of whose music he edited for publication), Harry Partch, and John Cage, and his free, open approach to composition shows their influence.
Harrison's interest in Asian music and his use of exotic tunings, unusual instruments, and medieval compositional techniques suggest the range of his mind, which has extended to designing and constructing new instruments, inventing musical systems, writing plays, and constructing mobiles.(...)
The present Suite For Cello and Harp is an excellent example of Harrison's economy.
The Suite was assembled especially for the performers on this recording, Seymour Barab and Lucile Lawrence, and performed by them at New York's Town Hall in the fall of 1949.

Ben Weber, born in St.Louis on July 23, 1916, first studied medicine at the University of Illinois, then turned to music at DePauw University. He had little formal training in composition, but was encouraged by the pianist Artur Schnabel (who also composed in a twelve-tone idiom) and then by Schoenberg.
Weber's synthesis of twelve-tone techniques with traditional thematic and structural elements produced a distinctive style that brought him wide recognition.
The Sonata de Camera was completed on October 25, 1950, and is dedicated to the violinist Anahid Ajemian. (Also hear him in the Harrison / Cowell post of January 4 )
The first movement is a Saraband, the second a modified Passacaglia, and the Finale a rondo; all three are based on a single tone row.

Lukas Foss: The Capriccio for cello and piano was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in 1945 and was published in 1946. The piece offers an appealing blend of European balance and craftsmanship with American enthusiasm and unpredictability. Its single lyrical movement is comfortingly Classical in structure, but the melodies are neither completely symmetrical nor completely predictable. The unabashedly tradition accompaniment figures are frequently cross-accented or otherwise short-circuited to amusing effect- and, indeed, mush of the Capriccio's high spirits consist of unexpected twists on familiar routines.
In the 1950's Foss became interested in improvisational techniques, and in recent years he has he has presented works employing these and other ideas of confrontation and game structure.

Ingolf Dahl was born in Hamburg, of Swedish parents on June 9, 1912, emigrating to the United States in 1935. Dahl was conductor of the Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, one of the nation's leading contemporary-music series...He was close to Igor Stravinsky (whose works in the teens are heard as an influence here, especially in the rhythms and orchestration).
Dahl's catalogue comprises music for a wide variety of instruments and combinations. His early music, in line with his European training, is marked by complex, dissonant polyphony. In America the textures became more open, the rhythms broader, the emphasis harmonic rather than contrapuntal.
The Concertino a Tre (1946) is one of the most attractive and elegant examples of Neoclassicism.
Dahl elicits from the clarinet, violin, and cello a fullness of texture that is little short of astonishing. Although the idiom is firmly based in traditional harmony, the chords are refreshed by added notes, and the rhythms have a neobaroque drive (the neoclassic style was in fact "neo-eighteenth-century", drawing its inspiration as much from Bach as from Haydn and Mozart).
The work's three major divisions are paced along traditional lines- fast, slow, fast- and the development techniques are those of the classical period. The slow movement resembles an extended song. In the finale a lyrical cello threnody is set off by jagged accompaniment figures, and then the movement bounces into successive jig, jazz, and gallop rhythms.























Side One:

1- Lou Harrison- Suite For Cello And Harp (ca 1946)

a- Chorale
b- Pastorale
c- Interlude
d- Aria
e- Chorale
Seymour Barab- Cello, Lucile Lawrence- Harp
recorded in 1951 (Originally issued on Columbia 3 ML-4491)

2- Ben Weber- Sonata Da Camera

a- Lento, con gran eleganza
b- Moderato
c- Allegro con spirito
Alexander Schneider- Violin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski- Piano
recorded in 1954 for Epic Records, but never released.


Side Two:

3- Lukas Foss- Capriccio For Cello And Piano
Gregor Piatagorsky- Cello. Lukas Foss- Piano
Recorded in 1958. (Originally issued on RCA LSC 2293)

4- Ingolf Dahl- Concertino A Tre
Mitchell Lurie- Clarinet, Eudice Shapiro- Violin, Victor Gottlieb- Cello
Recorded in 1950 (Originally issued on Columbia 3 ML-4493)

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Lukas Foss-TWO RECORD PREMIERES 1964 (?) Epic Monaural LC 3886

Lukas Foss-TWO RECORD PREMIERES commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation.

ECHOI (FOR FOUR SOLOISTS)

TIME CYCLE (CHAMBER VERSION)

Today is the third anniversary of the passing away of Lukas Foss at the age of 86.
He was born on August 15th, 1922.

Notes from the cover (enclosed):

The title ECHOI (echo in plural) has several connotations: Echoi were ancient Arabian modes, but it is obvious that the title is also reflected quite literally in the many echo sounds, imitations, instruments shadowing one another canonically, as in ECHOI II, or echoes from the distance as in ECHOI III, where a children's tune (vibraphone) is heard in the background (the past), then distorted, violated in the foreground (the present), faintly emerging again in the distance (triangle beaters inside the piano strings a la mandolin)., only to be annihilated, cancelled out by the menacing activity in the foreground. Finally, echoes result from "hearing double and triple" at the end of ECHOI IV. Here the clarinet and cello imitate their own performance as it emerges from two loudspeakers (two pre-recorded tape tracks). It could be argued here that the echoes do not follow, but precede, anticipate.
Throughout ECHOI the four musicians play from the score. Where bar lines are absent, the rhythmic notation is proportional. They stay together by following the score and by listening to one another. Considering the high speed of ECHOI I and the complex simultaneities of ECHOI III and IV, a special skill is demanded here.
Another difficult performance task occurs in ACHOI IV when the players jump back and forth between different pages in the music (much like a phonograph needle on a defective record). This is done on cue from the percussionist, who strikes an anvil at random moments within a given stretch. This is the signal for the players to skip from the moment of interruption to an earlier place in the music (idee fixe) and back, invalidating the carefully organized macro-structure. From the start of the obsessional piano monologue to the moment (climax) the percussion resorts to what is a literal invasion of the piano strings (the only way to bring the piano to a stop), ECHOI IV is a commentary on total organization with the piano acting as protagonist. Though the aleatoric notion and the "musical happening" are easily detected here, no share of the composition per se is ever relinquished to the performer- or to chance. Even the improvisatory moments toward the end are limited, directed, texturally controlled via footnotes or inserted symbols.

TIME CYCLE is a group of four songs, two English and two German, each referring to time, clocks or bells.The piece was originally composed for piano and orchestra. At the premiere given in 1960 by Adele Addison with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic , as well as in the first recording by the same artists, on Co;lumbia Records, improvised interludes were introduced between the orchestra songs by the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble, a group of four virtuosi (clarinet, cello , piano, percussion) I founded in 1957.In the present chamber version of TIME CYCLE the the orchestration is rewritten for clarinet,cello,piano and percussion. Interludes are not included. The Improvisation Chamber Ensemble accompanies the soprano in the four songs. These are composed; notated in every detail. There is no improvisation.
The orchestra songs and the chamber version are too different in their dynamic range to be compared. The latter has the advantage of greater precision. But it neither supersedes the orchestra version nor is it an arrangement of an original. The occasion, and the size of the hall call for one or the other.

Lukas Foss-TWO RECORD PREMIERES

Side One:

ECHOI (FOR FOUR SOLOISTS)

Echoi I (3:52)
Echoi II (4:25)
Echoi III (8:23)
Echoi Iv (11:52)

Group For Contemporary Music At Columbia University:
Charles Wuorinen, Piano
Raymond Desroches. Percussion
Arthur Bloom, Clarinet
Robert Martin, Cello

Side Two:

TIME CYCLE (CHAMBER VERSION)

1- We're Late (Auden) (4:16)
2- When The Bells Jostle (Housman) (4:50)
3- From Franz Kafka's "Diaries" (Sechzehente Jauar) (5:41)
4- "Oh Man, Take Heed! O Mensch, Gib Acht!" (F. Nietzsche) (5:47)
Improvisation Chamber Ensemble:
Lukas Foss, Piano, Celeste
Richard Duffalo, Clarinet
Charles De Lancy, Percussion
Howard Coll, Cello
Grace-Lynne Martin, Soprano
























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The Soft Machine-VOLUME TWO (1969) Probe

Soft Machine-VOLUME TWO (Probe Records CPLP-4505) 1969

Today is Robert Wyatt's 67th birthday.

Wyatt is the one laughing on the left in the photo below.
(From left to right- Wyatt, Hugh Hopper and Mike Ratledge.














This Soft Machine record is the last where Wyatt's vocal and songwriting duties are still fully integrated into the band's sound and presentation. The next- "Third" is a double album with Wyatt's only song having most of the basic tracks played by Wyatt alone, and the next- "Fourth", has no Wyatt-penned numbers or vocals on it at all. Around this time, before being kicked out of the group he made a solo album- 'End Of An Ear"
crediting himself- "Robert Wyatt : Out of work pop singer".

After being expelled from Soft Machine in 1971 he formed a "very bad" (in his own unnecessarily harsh words) band called Matching Mole ("Machine Molle"; get it?) releasing two albums: "Matching Mole", and "Little Red Record" (produced by Robert Fripp).

In 1973 Wyatt had an accident which left him paralyzed below the waist and decided the direction of his musical life. No longer able to play trap drums, he concentrated his energies on his song- writing and vocals, creating "Rock Bottom". This was the beginning of the type of work Wyatt releases to this day: Self-penned, often solo-performed for the basic tracks with the addition of musicians-to this day a huge roster which reads like a "who's who" of avant rock: Brian Eno, Fred Frith, Ivor Cutler, Chris Cutler, Phil Manzanera, Mike Oldfeild, and in recent years Paul Weller.

At the time this record was recorded, The Soft Machine had finished a major tour opening for the Jimi Hendrix Experience (Who are thanked personally in the song "Have You Ever Been Green?").
The music is more jazz-oriented than the music of most of the other psychedelic bands of the time, though not yet the thorough jazz-rock "fusion" of the later albums. The song structures and psychedelic touches make it more interesting then the post-"Third" albums. Though the later albums may be argued to be more technically 'accomplished' This line-up have more chops than their friends in Pink Floyd, for what it's worth.
The lyrics are usually observational, sometimes whimsical or humorous ("Hulloder","Pig") and often strangely mundane for such psychedelic music- But, as Wyatt sings in "Hibou Anemone and Bear":
"If something's not worth saying, SING IT"

Soft Machine-VOLUME TWO (1969)

Side 1:

"Rivmic Melodies":

1: Pataphysical Introduction Pt. I (1:00)
2: A Concise British Alphabet Pt. I (0:10)
3: Hibou, Anemone and Bear (5:58)
4: A Concise British Alphabet Pt. II (0:12)
5: Hulloder (0:52)
6: Dada Was Here (3:25)
7: Thank You Pierrot Lunaire (0:47)
8: Have You Ever Bean Green? (1:23)
9: Pataphysical Introduction Pt. II (0:50)
10: Out Of Tunes (2:30)

Side 2:

"Esther's Nose Job":

1: As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still (2:30)
2: Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening (2:30)
3: Fire Engine Passing With Bells Clanging (1:50)
4: Pig (2:08)
5: Orange Skin Food (1:52)
6: A Door Opens And Closes (1:09)
7: 10.30 Returns To The Bedroom (4:14)

PERSONEL:
Hugh Hopper- bass, alto sax
Mike Ratledge- keyboards, flute (10)
Robert Wyatt- drums, vocals
with
Brian Hopper- tenor & soprano saxes (uncredited)























Note: I have not split the tracks: the two suites play continuously. I have also included lyrics.

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Doris Hays (Plays Various Artists)-ADORATION OF THE CLASH (Finnadar 1979)

Doris Hays- ADORATION OF THE CLASH

Notes excerpted from the cover (enclosed) by Doris Hays:

Tone clusters: ideal rebellious gesture to topple the sacred Western muse off its ascred pedestal. A forearm bangs, and the tedium of linearity is broken, its intractbale logic prnctuated by the rude rough mass of second intervals- fingered, palmed, armed, and fisted for the clash.

Doris Hays: Sunday Nights (1977)
...Sunday Nights in Rossville, Georgia, at McFarland Memorial Methodist Church, when I was a teenager, and Mr Hudgeons led the hymn singing with his fist and the bass line. Sunday Nights is a recollection of those 4th and 5th intervals and tune fragments and a memory of the boredoms , tyranny and uncertain promise of church religion.

Henry Cowell: Piece For Piano Paris 1924
uses strumming, plucking, damping, and hitting the strings inside the piano (hence his term "string piano') in addition to fist, forearm and palm clusters.

Russell Peck: Suspended Sentence (1973)
Peck's own ideas about Suspended Sentence:
"...of desperate flight, a trip down blind alleys, trying to get started but can't get started. I was trying to write a piece that was purely pornosonic, had no structural coherence whatsoever. Hopefully this is not achieved. Definition of pornosonic: titillation of the senses without any deeper significance."

Ilhan Mimaroglu (1926) has written much music for traditional instrumental, as well as his better-known electronic music, which often contains collage, thick texture,overlay of different musical events. A surprise to those who know only the latter, his music for piano, string quartets, etc, is characterized by lyrical line and an expressive quality not often associated with composers of electronic music. Rosa reflects in its title and expressive intensity, as do all his compositions, Mimaroglu's deep passion for personal action towards the changing of society.

Morton Feldman: Vertical Thoughts IV; and Piano Piece (to Philip Guston) both composed in 1963. Marked extremely soft, both pieces record louder than they might be heard in live performance. Even at very soft dynamic levels, the minor seconds in this fingered cluster harmony prick the ear, often not lasting long enough to mellow out before the next vertical aggregate is quietly piled into place.

Leo Ornstein: Impressions De Notre Dame, I and II
Ornstein began his life as a piano virtuoso, but left public performance fairly early to give his time to writing music. His performances in the teens and twenties caused much excitement because of the music's dense harmonies, ferocious in loud passages; particularly one piece for which Ornstein is well known- Danse Sauvage or Wild Man's Dance.
In the past several years his music has been again brought to the attention of a larger public with frequency in performances of his keyboard music, notably his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra performed at Yale University in 1976.
Born in 1892 (or 1894) in Kremenchug, Russia, Leo Ornstein lives with his wife in Brownsville Texas.

(Addendum: Ornstein died Feb 24th 2002, aged 108 or 110 years.)

























Doris Hays-Adoration Of The Clash (Finnadar 1979)

Side One:
1- Doris Hays– Sunday Nights (5:17)
2- Henry Cowell– Piece For Piano Paris 1924 (5:32)

Side Two:
3- Russell Peck– Suspended Sentence (9:24)

Side Three:
4- Ilhan Mimaroglu– Rosa (5:10)
5- Morton Feldman– Vertical Thoughts IV (1:30)
6- Morton Feldman– Piano Piece (To Philip Guston) (2:52)

Side Four:
7&8- Leo Ornstein- Impressions De Notre-Dame (11:41)
7 – First Impression (5:09)
8– Second Impression (6:32)

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A Message from the Admin. [1/25/2012]

I'm sure you've all heard by now about the MU fallout. I thought that something like this would eventually happen. I'm surprised it took this long. I thought that MU or one of the other similar services would go down in 2008 or 2009. No, I never publicly posted those thoughts. It was something I thought to myself and mentioned during private conversations.

About half of our posts are no longer active because of the demise of MU and also because some of the other hosting or cloud services are closing up shop or disabling sharing in the wake of the MU takedown.

For my posts, they may go back up, but it will take some time. DrEyescope says he will re-up his stuff sometime soon. We may want to wait a while until things cool off.

For now, we plan to stick around and there will still be new posts. Some words of advice I would offer are to download as much as you can and what is still available. You just never know.

Good night or good day wherever you are.

Einem/Blacher/Egk-Split Release (DGG 1962)

Gottfried von Einem, Boris Blacher, Werner Egk- Split Release (LPM 18759Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft) 1962

Today is Gottfried von Einem's 94th birthday. He died 12th July, 1996; aged 78.
This album is 50 years old this year; It's still alive.

Notes from the back cover (enclosed) with my interpolations in italics.
Other notes are linked to their sources.

It may at first glance seem surprising to find three such individual talents as Egk Blacher and von Einem brought together in this recording, particularly as they are here represented by three quite dissimilar works. there are, unquestionably, considerable differences between the characteristics of these three composers personalities and styles of writing, but it is also undeniable that the bringing together of the works here recorded make the ear responsive th the fine nuances of a stylistic relationship, which lies below the surface rather than being announced openly. The factor which makes Egk comparable with Blacher, and Blacher with von Einem is- despite many bold innovations of construction- a degree of conservatism, a tendency to abide by a formal language which has proved its value as a means of expression, a thoroughly realistic preference tor evolution rather than revolution.

Egk's Tarantella ("I'm a poor rogue") is "a five-verse ditty which describes in a variety of ways the longing of a hungry soldier for a plate of macaroni".


Though it is more than likely coincidental it could be heard as a possible nose-thumbing to the futurists- particularly Marinetti's- tirades against the evils of pasta-
"In Genoa, an association called P.I.P.A.," (in a much funnier incarnation) "an acronym for International Association Against Pasta, was formed. Rice, we are told, was more virile, more patriotic, and more suitable for fighters and heroes."

"Marinetti(...) believed pasta ‘mentally paralysed' the Italians and made them lethargic, pessimistic and sentimental. He thought that those who defended pasta were ‘shackled by its ball and chain like convicted lifers, or carry its ruins in their stomachs like archaeologists.' For him, being anti-pasta was part of being anti-past."

Boris Blacher's Opus 54 is a work poised formally between the song cycle and the cantata. It is founded on thirteen aphorismic poems by Wallace Stevens of the same title. The instruments provide a self-contained counterpart to the voice, rather than a decorative accompaniment.
(similar to the role the piano plays in the 4 songs titled "Apreslude" - also sung by Tenor Ernst Haefliger, to be found on the Boris Blacher Wergo lp here in the closet)
The composer's predilection for tense intervals- sevenths, and above all, seconds is at once in evidence.
(As is Blacher's penchant for using palindromic forms- see his "Ornamente Op 37 in the "Blacher "Works For Piano" Thorofon lp. posted here in the Closet):
The settings of the poems are linked in pairs-the first with the thirteenth, the second with the twelfth...The relationship between the pairs of songs is not restricted to melody and rhythm, it consists of a whole web of nuances and interdependent structural features.
(The same could be said of the macrostructure of the 24 Preludes For Piano in the Thorofon l.p. cited above).

Gottfried von Einem's Opus 20 is a piano concerto constructed on classical lines. This three-movement work, which was composed in 1956 and dedicated to Alma Maria Mahler Werfel received its world premiere at Berlin in October of that year, with Gerty Herzog as soloist.
The first movement, Molto moderato, is in Dmin. and is laid out in 3 sections corresponding roughly to those of sonata form. The main constructive element is a three note motive, which either- as at the beginning- occurs three times in succession or appears in a fragmentary form interrupted by pauses or figuration. It offers a wealth of possibilities for the building up of richly varied thematic material. The exposition and recapitulation are dominated by a rhythmically marked theme with which the soloist enters. They border a playfully elegant middlle section with an abundance of pregnant ideas, and in which, by virtue of surprising modulations, themes of the exposition appear in unexpected harmonic perspectives.
The Adagio movement in G major (...) has, built up over ostinato figures and repeated motives a texture of fluent melodies which radiate glowing warmth.
The finale is a brilliant Allegro con spirito in D major in the manner of a Rondo. The climax of the movement comes in a coda, as the themes dance past once more in a kalaidoscopic succession; then a tremendously powerful stretta brings the work to a furious conclusion.



















Side One-

Gottfried von Einem- Piano Concerto Op.20
1: Molto moderato
2: Adagio
3: Allegro con spirito

Gerty Herzog, Piano
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ferenc Fricsay, Conductor

Side Two

4: Boris Blacher- Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird, Op. 54

(From The Collected Poems Of Wallace Stevens, published by Alfred A Knopf, Inc.)
Ernst Haefliger, Tenor
The Drolc Quartet

5-8: Werner Egk- Quattro Canzoni
5: Canto No.1- Canto della risaie (Song of the rice fields)
6: Canto No.2- Tu nel tuo letto (You dream in your bed)
7: Canto No.3- Crudele Irene (Cruel Irene)
8: Canto No.4- Tarantella- Io mi sono un poveretto (I'm a poor rogue)

Irmgard Seefried, Soprano
Bavarian State Radio Orchestra
Werner Egk, Conductor

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Edgar Varese-BOULEZ CONDUCTS VARESE (1977) Columbia Masterworks

Edgar Varese-BOULEZ CONDUCTS VARESE (Columbia Masterworks 1977)
(This L.P. won the Grammy award in 1979 for "Best engineered Classical Album").

I've made this post so large in order to give folks a look at the orchestration- the percussion section is of particular interest to me. The wire sculpture at the bottom is by Alexander Calder. (All photos were acquired by searching "Edgar Varese photos".)

wiki sez: (Wiki articles are accessible by clicking on titles)

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, French pronunciation: [ɛdgaːʁ viktɔːʁ aʃil ʃaʁl vaʁɛːz], whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse[1] (December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965), was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States.

Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm. He was the inventor of the term "organized sound", a phrase meaning that certain timbres and rhythms can be grouped together, sublimating into a whole new definition of music. Although his complete surviving works only last about three hours, he has been recognized as an influence by several major composers of the late 20th century. His use of new instruments and electronic resources led to his being known as the "Father of Electronic Music" while Henry Miller described him as "The stratospheric Colossus of Sound".

From the back cover notes (enclosed):

Ionisation was first performed at a Carnegie Hall concert March 6,1933. With Nicolas Slonimsky conducting.It was received with enormous enthusiasm by one part of the audience and whit horror - struck puzzlement by the other.
The Impact of the new work seemed all the greater for its brevity: it lasts barely six minutes.(...)

Ionisation (1929–1931) features the expansion and variation of rhythmic cells, and the title refers to the ionization of molecules. As the composer later described, "I was not influenced by composers as much as by natural objects and physical phenomena."
Varèse also acknowledged the influence of the Italian Futurist artists Luigi Russolo and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in the composition of this work.

Arcana is based on a single idea, which Varese called an idee fixe rather than a conventionally symphonic theme. This "obsessive idea" consists of eleven notes, which are basically only three: and ascending minor third repeated in a syncopated rhythm.

Amériques Was written between 1918 and 1921 and revised in 1927, it is scored for a very large, romantic orchestra with additional percussion (for eleven performers) including sirens. It was the first work Varèse composed after he moved to the United States, and although it was not his first work, he destroyed many of his earlier pieces, effectively making Amériques his opus one (although he never used that designation).[1]

Structurally, the work is in one movement which lasts for around twenty-three minutes, with full orchestral involvement virtually throughout. The work is marked by its fiercely dissonant chords, and rhythmically complex polyphonies for percussion and wind. It develops in continuous evolution with recurring short motifs, which are juxtaposed without development.
Varèse intended the title Amériques to symbolize "discoveries - new worlds on earth, in the sky, or in the minds of men."

Amériques is scored for the following very large orchestra with additional percussion:

Woodwinds

3 Piccolos
4 Flutes
Alto Flute
4 Oboes
English Horn
Heckelphone
E-flat clarinet
4 Clarinets in B-flat
Bass Clarinet
Contrabass Clarinet
4 Bassoons
2 Contrabassoons

Brass
8 Horns in F

6 Trumpets
4 Tenor Trombones
Bass Trombone
Bass Tuba
2 Contrabass Tubas

Percussion
Timpani (2 players)



13 Percussion Players

1: Xylophone, Triangle, Ratchet, Sleigh Bells
2: Glockenspiel, Lion's Roar, Ratchet, Whip
3: Tambourine, Gong
4: Celesta, 2 Bass Drums, Slapsticks, Gong, Triangle, Lion's Roar
5: 2 Bass Drums, Slapsticks
6: Castanets, Sleigh Bells
7: Sleigh Bells, Siren, Boat Whistle, Wind Machine
8: Cymbals, Gong
9: Snare Drum
10: Crow Call, Sleigh Bells, Lion's Roar,
Wind Machine, Triangle, Slapsticks
11: Slapsticks, Lion's Roar, Sleigh Bells, Whip
12: Whip, Triangle, Slapsticks, Wind Machine
13: Sleigh Bells, Slapsticks, Gong, Triangle

"Interior Fanfare"
4 Trumpets (2 in E-flat, 2 in D)
3 Trombones (2 Tenor, Bass)

Strings
2 Harps

Violins I, II (16 each)
Violas (14)
Violoncellos (10)
Double basses (10) (with low C extensions)

The revised version of 1927 reduced the instrumentation.(...)























Edgard Varese- BOULEZ CONDUCTS VARESE (CBS Records, 1977)

Side One:
1: Ameriques (1918-'21, Rev. 1927) (24:44)

Side Two:
2: Ionisation (1929-31) (6:07)
3: Arcana (1927) (18:22)

The New York Philharmonic,
Conducted by Pierre Boulez.

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Boris Blacher-WORKS FOR PIANO (1980) Thorofon Capella

Today is Boris Blacher's 109th Birthday.
He died in 1975.


From the liner notes by Horst Gobel (enclosed) with interpolations (in italics) by Dr I:

Boris Blacher writes about his technique of "variable meter" in the forward to his "Ornamente, Opus 37":
"The realization that formal development will often be intensified by metrical change gave rise to the idea of organizing the metrical process in such a way that each measure is subject to a different metrical structure. If the metrical proportions are then constructed along mathematical lines, namely according to sequences or combination theory, then the metrical process is no longer the product of random or arbitrary events. New, higher-level symmetries are the result, moreover interesting overlaps of the metrical series with the musical phrase, varient recapitulations, and the like.

Some of our well-worn compositional techniques (e.g. canonic and imitative figures) will likely have to be sacrificed in favor of new rhythmic patterns. The variable meter method, on the other hand, if correctly applied, places at our disposal a substantial enrichment in respect to rhe elemets of rhythm and form.

No.1 and 2 are based on the simple arithmetic series:
234....9 and retrograde, then 34....43.

No.3 is based on a series with the formation law:
234 345 456....678 and retrograde.

No.4 is based on the principle of cyclic variation ie:
4532 5324 3245......
4532 2453 3245......

No.5 on a summation series:
2,3,5,8,13,

No.6 Permutation of four elements=24

No.7 is based on the formation law of the series:
87 876 8765.....8765432
65 654 6543.......65432
43..................432
The recapitulation appears in retrogerade. The basic unit for all movements is the eighth note".


Lest all this math should scare you away-as Gobel writes in the liner notes (in reference to the Sonata - but it is a truth which could be applied to almost all of Blacher's works):
"This purely formal component is of course to be recognized only as the groundwork upon which the musical materials are then to be erected."

That such strictures could yield such playful, lyrical, and swinging music is truly a marvel.

Boris Blacher- WORKS FOR PIANO (Thorofon Capella MTH 223) Recorded In 1980.

Side One:

1: Sonata For Piano (1951) (7:59)
-Allegro ma non troppo - Andante
-Andante - Vivace

2: First Sonatine, Opus 14 No.1 (1940) (2:33)
-Allegro
-Andantino - Vivace

3: Second Sonatine, Opus 14 No.2 (1940) (3:08)
-Moderato
-Allegro

4-10: Ornamente Opus 37 (Seven Studies In Variable Meter) (1950)

4: No.1- Vivace (Virgil Thomson) (:58)
5: No.2- Andante (Rudolph Wagner-Regeny) (1:16)
6: No.3- Allegro (Karl Amadeus Hartmann) (:56)
7: No.4- Allegretto (Priaul Rainier) (1:11)
8: No.5- Allegro (Rolf Liebermann) (1:20)
9: No.6- Moderato (Nicolas Nabokoff) (2:47)
10: No.7- Presto (Gottfried von Einem) (1:19)


Side Two:

11-34: 24 Preludes For Piano (1974)

11: No.1- Allegro (:46)
12: No.2- Allegretto (:28)
13: No.3- Moderato (:45)
14: No.4- Presto (:38)
15: No.5- Allegretto (:25)
16: No.6- Andante (:46)
17: No.7- Maestoso (:39)
18: No.8- Agitato (:49)
19: No.9- Adagio (1:27)
20: No.10- Vivace (:35)
21: No.11- Lento (:39)
22: No.12- Allegro molto (:25)
23: No.13- Allegretto (:41)
24: No.14- Lento (1:16)
25: No.15- Vivace (:40)
26: No.16- Adagio (1:22)
27: No.17- Agitato (:28)
28: No.18- Maestosto (1:30)
29: No.19- Andante (:51)
30: No.20- Allegretto (:26)
31: No.21- Presto (:50)
32: No.22- Moderato (:54)
33: No.23- Allegretto (:25)
34: No.24- Allegro (1:06)

35-37: Three Pieces For Piano (1943)

35: No.1- What About This, Mr. Clementi? (:45)
36: No.2- Moderato (1:35)
37: No.3- Allegro moderato (:44)



















Horst Gobel: Piano

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