Thunderstorm Terror

Moods Gateway Recordings - Thunderstorm Terror

Last Sunday, I posted a recording of the soft sounds of the "Gentle Rain". This time, I'm posting the violent sounds of the thunderstorm along with the sounds of torrential rain.

The violence of thunder is tempered by the rhythm of the rain. The storm's turbulence drives one inside seeking shelter, warmth and companionship...

Close your eyes and be in touch with your surroundings.

NOTE: Both sides of the cassette are the same.

Tracklisting:

1. Thunderstorm Terror {24:55}

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Concert Percussion for Orchestra

various artists compilation - Concert Percussion for Orchestra

From the liner notes:

The seven compositions recorded on this disc date from the pioneer Thirties and early Forties, when American music was making gigantic strides toward the honored place in the world arena which it occupies today. The percussion ensemble was new then, and its exploitation was a major challenge to composer and auditor alike. But, although the idiom of the percussion ensemble had little precedent in Western culture, it was not brought to being as the result of any whim.

Stravinsky stands, to some degree, behind all this music. His SACRE DU PRINTEMPS of 1913 had awakened human sensibilities to a new world of rhythm, and his HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT of 1918 had opened the door to a vast range of instrumental effect obtainable through the soloistic use of percussion instruments. Henceforth the percussion was not to be a mere orchestral condiment, and its progress toward independent status was hastened by the interest - so marked in the Thirties - in the percussion ensembles of Bali and Java and the even stronger interest - also characteristic of that time - in the music of Latin America, wherein percussion plays so large a part. It is no accident that the oldest piece on this record is by the late Amadeo Roldan of Cuba and that one of the works by William Russell of the United States is in a Cuban vein.

Jazz and its uses of rhythm and percussion are another element in this story, although a relatively slight one. Of much greater importance was the development in the theater known, rather loosely, as Modern Dance. Percussion music was ideal as accompaniment to this form of choreographic art, and several of the pieces on this record were originally composed for recitals thereof, either in direct association with the dances or as interludes between them. One of the composers represented here, Lou Harrison, was once active as a dancer and another, John Cage, remains to this day associated with the Modern Dance theater of Merce Cunningham.

TWO RITMICAS (1930) by Amadeo Roldan

Conductor: PAUL PRICE

Performers: Zita Carno - claves; Gerald Jacobosky - claves, quijada; Richard Allen - claves, cencerro; Michael Rosenberg - claves; Sal Buccola - guiro; Don DesRoches - maracas; Ray DesRoches - bongos; Edward Cornelius - timbales Cubanos; Warren Smith - timbales orquesta; Damon Buckley - bombo; George Boberg - marimbula

CANTICLE NO. 1 (1939) by Lou Harrison

Conductor: PAUL PRICE

Performers: Ray DesRoches - sistrum, tambourine, 3 wood blocks, 3 high bells; Michael Rosenberg - gourd rattle, 3 dragon's mouths, 3 large glass bells; Edward cornelius - wood rattle, 3 claybells, 3 cowbells, morache; Warren Smith - windbell, triangle, suspended cymbal, brake drum, thundersheet, bell, gong, tam-tam; George Boberg - 3 high drums, 3 low drums, 3 muted gongs

THREE DANCE MOVEMENTS (1933) by William Russell

Conductor: JOHN CAGE

Performers: Paul Price - small triangle, large triangle, dinner bell, bottle, anvil, tom-tom; George Boberg - finger cymbal, suspended Turkish cymbal, suspended Chinese cymbal, pair of cymbals, tom-tom; Ray DesRoches - small wood block, large wood block, snare drum, tom-tom, bass drum; Zita Carno - piano, slapstick

OSTINATO PIANISSIMO (1934) by Henry Cowell

Conductor: PAUL PRICE

Performers: Zita Carno and Charles Burkhart - string piano; Ray DesRoches - 8 rice bowls; George Boberg - marimba, xylophone; Edward Cornelius - tambourine, 2 wood blocks, guiro; Damon Buckley - bongo drums; Richard Allen - 3 drums; Gerald Jacobosky - 3 gongs

THREE CUBAN PIECES (1939) by William Russell

Performers: Edward Cornelius - cencerro, maracas, guiro; Paul Price - claves, quijada; George Boberg - marimbula; Ray DesRoches - bongo drums, cencerro

DOUBLE MUSIC (1941) by John Cage and Lou Harrison

Conductor: JOHN CAGE

Performers: Paul Price - 6 water-buffalo bells, 6 brake drums; George Boberg - 2 sistrums, 6 sleighbells, 5 brake drums, thundersheet; Ray DesRoches - 3 Japanese temple gongs, large tam-tam, 6 cowbells; Edward Cornelius - 6 muted gongs, large tam-tam, water gong

AMORES (1943) by John Cage

Performers: John Cage - piano; Paul Price - 3 high tom-toms, 3 high wood blocks; Ray DesRoches - 3 medium tom-toms, pod rattle, 2 medium wood blocks; George Boberg - 3 low tom-toms, 2 low wood blocks


Tracklisting:

Side A

1. Amadeo Roldan - Two Ritmicas: I. No. 6 Tiempo de Rhumba {1:46}

2. Amadeo Roldan - Two Ritmicas: II. No. 5 Tiempo de Son {2:25}

3. Lou Harrison - Canticle No. 1 {3:57}

4. William Russell - Three Dance Movements: I. Waltz {1:35}

5. William Russell - Three Dance Movements: II. March {1:37}

6. William Russell - Three Dance Movements: III. Fox Trot {1:08}

7. Henry Cowell - Ostinato Pianissimo {3:18}

Side B

1. William Russell - Three Cuban Pieces: I. Havannera {0:52}

2. William Russell - Three Cuban Pieces: II. Rhumba {0:43}

3. William Russell - Three Cuban Pieces: III. Tiempo de Son {0:43}

4. John Cage and Lou Harrison - Double Music {5:35}

5. John Cage - Amores {9:47}
I. Solo for Prepared Piano
II. Trio (Nine Toms-Toms, Pod Rattle)
III. Trio (Seven Wood Blocks, not Chinese)
IV. Solo for Prepared Piano

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Tristan

Hans Werner Henze - Tristan

prelude for piano, tapes and orchestra (1973)

Performers:

Homero Francesch - piano

Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester; Hans Werner Henze - conductor

Hans Werner Henze on the creation of "Tristan":

One morning, early in 1972, I composed a lengthy piano piece within a few hours. The thematic material which figures prominently in it - steps of a semitone and of a sixth, and on the vertical plane, chords of the fourth and especially diminished fifths - represents distant recollections of something concrete: the music of Wagner's "Tristan". Like Wagner's, my harmony seems to strive toward an incommensurable goal, whose attainment is constantly deferred while new questions present themselves. Wagner's music has, however, something glowing and exclusive, total and ceremonial about it. Mine, on the other hand, is cool as though it is early in the morning, and the questioning and longing are muted, seemingly coming from afar - it appears to have something marble, monumental and impersonal about it. Nevertheless this piano piece, which I called Prelude and which was subsequently to be followed by other Preludes, brought out the most intimate and personal elements which were later to be unfolded in my symphonic Tristan music. For the time being I left the piano piece in sketch form.

...

A few months later in London:... At night I write down in words what I hear when half-asleep or in dreams. A form and a name emerge: Tristan. The sounds flit about as in a nightmare, like the bats from the drawing by Goya entitled: El sueno de la razon produce monstros". ... I write down the sounds I have dreamed as a score. There are two sections, each lasting for six minutes; one of them is laid out for prepared piano and primitive percussion instruments. Seven tracks, seven-part counterpoint. The other is for Renaissance instruments - flute, shawms, lutes, tromba marina, and includes the ancient Florentine "Lamento di Tristano". A few days later, we record these instrumental parts track by track, and after this has been done successfully we prepare the strings of Zinovieff's grand piano with clothes pegs, strips of cardboard, drawing pins and wire. Vieux jeu. Children's toys, whips and bells are among the instruments. We work for a whole day recording this music....

We drop glass marbles onto the strings. They leap about, chuckling, and clink against the steel of the sounding board. We bombard the bass strings with tennis balls, producing sounds like distant explosions. This is a game, but it also has something diabolical, neurotic, evil and demented about it. We are tense and excited, cry out and lose our composure. Finally, we fix an old pianola device to the piano and play a pianola roll of Chopin's Funeral March. The result on the tape is overpowering in its ugliness, even before being treated by the synthesizer. It sounds grotesque, frightening, this act of violence to the music. Brutality. Physical aggression. It clatters, groans, howls, bellows. Never before have I made, let alone heard, anything like this.

Later, the first four bars of the third act of Wagner's "Tristan" are computer-analysed....Suffering and atonement, death and deliverance are blended in these artificial sounds, as ever new experiences of suffering, of many kinds and in many forms, are poured forth. Six minutes of this material will later be preserved as continuum for the epilogue of my work.

However, a year is to elapse before that occurs. Before I can begin the composition of the piano pieces and the orchestral music I must listen to the tapes again and again until I know them by heart, because until I have done this, it would be impossible for me to conceive opposing colours and lines, and others to correspond to the sounds on the tapes.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. I. Prologue {4:53}

2. II. Lament {6:07}

3. III. Prelude and Variations. Lento quasi improvisando {9:05}

Side 2

1. IV. Tristan's Folly {5:58}

2. V. Adagio. Burla I (Valse)-Burla II (alla turca) Vivace-Ricercare I. Un poco meno mosso-Burla III (Marcia. Molto piu mosso)-Ricercare II {5:24}

3. VI. Epilogue. Silenzioso, fluido, meditativo {11:32}

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Extended Voices

various artists compilation - Extended Voices

New pieces for chorus and voices altered electronically by sound synthesizers and vocoder.

Performed by The Brandeis University Chamber Chorus; Alvin Lucier, director

EXTENDED VOICES is an apt title for this album, for the simple reason that all of the works here either extend the human voice physically or enlarge the performance situation of choral music.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Pauline Oliveros - Sound Patterns {3:57}

2. Alvin Lucier - North American Time Capsule 1967 {10:11}

(for voices and Sylvania Electronic Systems vocoder)

3. John Cage - Solos for Voice 2 {12:36}

(electronic realization by Gordon Mumma and David Tudor)

Side 2

1. Robert Ashley - She Was a Visitor {5:46}

2. Toshi Ichyanagi - Extended Voices {10:57}

(for voices with Moog synthesizer and Buchla Associates Electronic Modular System)

3. Morton Feldman - Chorus and Instruments (II) {5:02}

(Harvey Phillips - tuba; John Bergamo - chimes)

4. Morton Feldman - Christian Wolff in Cambridge {3:46}

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Music of Samuel Magrill Vol.2: The Oklahoma Years (1989-1996)

Samuel Magrill - Music of Samuel Magrill Vol. 2: The Oklahoma Years (1989-1996)

Music of Samuel Magrill Vol. 2 is a second collection of Magrill's electronic and electro-acoustic music which continues to chronicle his repertoire that started on Vol. 1: The Early Years (posted earlier in this blog). In 1988, Magrill began his tenure as professor of music at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond hence the title "The Oklahoma Years."

Notes about some of the music from Magrill: "Ambiances": Ambiances, the French word for environments or surroundings, is in no way meant to be background music. The four movements are contrasting sound sculptures, each with a similar structure, yet each with a distinctive character. -- "Strands of Time": Six lines of distinct character and timbre derived from the same material... a layer of eight percussion patterns without noticable meter permuted in a modified rondo... as the threads in this tapestry of sound interact, the drama of forms and textures unfolds. -- "secondhandmusic": The "riff" came from the drums and the rest of the ensemble wanted to play it too, all thirty-eight of them. Meanwhile the vocalists wanted to sing the instrumental "licks," which they did phonemically. Sometimes a performer is playing the original music, but mostly the players are performing transformations, borrowed from the source - secondhand music. -- "Strange Jazz": "Strange Jazz" was conceived as a simulated jam session with aliens with apologies to Stephen Foster, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and others. -- "Sampler '94": "Sampler '94" is a demo tape of sorts, presenting snippets of twenty-five compositions written over two decades, packaged especially for people with short attention spans. The compositions were divided into eleven categories and broken up into segments of interruptions.

Tracklisting:

1. Ambiances: I {5:02}

2. Ambiances: II {6:12}

3. Ambiances: III {4:20}

4. Ambiances: IV {4:21}

5. Strands of Time {7:02}

6. secondhandmusic {6:47}

7. The Green Monkeys {7:03}

8. Oklahoma Goulash {5:07}

9. Strange Jazz {5:25}

10. Sampler '94 {8:30}

11. A Suite of Bagatelles: I. Quantization Rag {1:14}

12. A Suite of Bagatelles: II. Time Dialation {1:05}

13. A Suite of Bagatelles: III. Trio Concerto {1:06}

14. A Suite of Bagatelles: IV. Three Steps to Diminished Acceleration {1:07}

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Opus '71

various artists compilation - Opus '71

Here's the following year's Opus release. These are Dutch avant-garde pieces composed and performed in 1971. These are two "programmes" released on one LP and offered as a free service to radio stations outside the Netherlands.

Tracklisting:

programme 1

1. Ton de Leeuw - Music for strings {11:52}

2. Peter Schat - Theme, for solo oboe, eighteen wind instruments and five electronic instruments {15:05}

programme 2

1. Jan Vriend - Huantan, for organ and wind instruments {15:16}

2. David Porcelijn - Requiem {11:26}

(for percussion)

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Opus '70

various artists compilation - Opus '70

As far as I know, there were 'new music' avant-garde "Opus" albums made every year by Radio Nederland. I do not know the first year this was started and I do not know the last year. I do not even know if this is currently continuing. I am still trying to find out more information about these annual Radio Nederland "Opus" albums.

The LPs contain samplings of Dutch avant-garde music that was created and performed during the year (for this LP it is 1970). These LPs were offered as a free service to radio stations outside of the Netherlands. Before the performances of each of the pieces on the Opus LPs, an announcer tells the background of each piece.

The LP sides are listed as "programmes" (i.e. side 1 is programme 1).

Tracklisting:

programme 1

1. Otto Ketting - Set of Pieces for Wind Quintet {16:03}

2. Ton de Kruyf - Seance {11:34}

(for percussion, piano and harp)

programme 2

1. Will Eisma - Because It Is {13:26}

(for harpsichord, oboe and percussion)

2. Ton Bruynel - Signs {13:16}

(for wind quintet with electronic sounds)

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A Message from the Management: News & Notes 11-24-08

Contributor Telvin Bartruss has recently let me know that he is not able to post here anymore due to priorities in real life. We here at the Closet are forever grateful for the valuable contributions Telvin has made to the blog during this year. We wish Telvin farewell and best wishes in all of his endeavors. We hope Telvin can drop by and say hello sometime.

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Later this week, the Thanksgiving holiday takes place here in America. I will most likely be with my family during the last part of this week. We'll be feasting on the traditional Thanksgiving meal. After we are through stuffing ourselves, we'll probably sit on the sofa or some other furniture and watch the Dallas Cowboys play American-style tackle football against some other team. On the following day, we may fight the crowds and shop for stuff on sale in either the malls or the big-box chain stores. However, I'll try to sneak on the web and put out posts during this time. Just in case anything doesn't show up from me for the next several days, you'll know why. To my fellow dwellers of the U.S. of A., I would like to, in advance, wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. I hope that your turkey or whatever you decide to eat turns out delicious and you don't end up with too many leftovers.

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The first 10 people to the Rapidshare links can get the file. You have to be quick or else miss out. That's because Rapidshare, in its collective wisdom, has decided that files, not uploaded by a premium member or anyone with a collectors' account, can only be downloaded 10 times. The 'bee' is not a premium member and it doesn't have a collectors' account as I have found out from several of this blog's visitors. So, if you're not one of the lucky first 10 folks, at least you're not totally out of luck. You have three other options left although those options may or may not work for people in different parts of the world. I'm searching for other services to use. At the present, I have decided to alternate between Mediafire and the 'bee' in upcoming posts.

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That's it from me for now. Thanks for reading and take care.

Music for the Classical Oud

Khamis El Fino - Music for the Classical Oud

The Oud virtuoso, Khamis El Fino has concertized throughout the Far East and Middle East for the past seventeen years. He has appeared as a performing artist in India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Thailand, Japan and the United States.

Born in El Raml, Alexandria, Egypt, and a graduate of Cairo conservatory, Professor, El Fino taught at Conservatories in Cairo and Alexandria. His compositions have been performed on radio in India, Egypt, Iran and Iraq, and at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. His songs have been commissioned by vocal artists in the Middle East.

Professor El Fino is unrivaled in the field of Arabic music for his "Taksimes" (slow, free-rhythm improvisations) and for his inventiveness and skill in "Tagheer" - changing from one Nagham (tonal scale) to another, thus bringing the listener from mood to mood, evoking an emotional response which can be felt even by the totally Western ear.

This recording was made during a concert at Asia House on December 1, 1963, for the Society for Asian Music. (liner notes)

Tracklisting:

Side A

1. Selection No. 1 {3:45}

2. Selection No. 2 {14:02}

Side B

1. Selection No. 3 {13:48}

2. Selection No. 4 {3:32}

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Gentle Rain

Gentle Rain

For this Sunday's environmental/nature sounds post. I present to you the sounds of just rain as given by the title of this cassette. It says that the sounds of the soft falling rain will take you to a place of peace and relaxation. Yes, it will. Sometimes, I like to play this at around bedtime as the rain sounds help me fall asleep. Often in my area, there are stretches of a lot of days without rain. When it does rain, loud thunder sounds usually accompany the watery sounds. The rain without thunderstorms and wind are rare. It is nice to have access to soft rain sounds.

As suggested by this cassette, escape stress and tension and relax to the gentle rain or fall asleep to the gentle rain.

Tracklisting:

1. Gentle Rain {29:18}

NOTE: both sides of the cassette are the same

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Arp Art

Elias Tanenbaum - Arp Art

About this album by Elias Tanenbaum (1924-2008): "Movements," as all the pieces on this album, was composed at the Electronic Music Studio of the Manhattan School of Music. The main instrument of the Studio is an Arp Synthesizer, a very compact and flexible instrument, that uses matrix switches to make connections instead of the usual patch chords.

"Movements" is involved with the movement of sound in space on a multidimensional level. The sounds are presented as patterns or shapes, that at times repeat in different surroundings, become altered, and are sometimes accumulative.

The melody sung by the soprano at the end has its origin in specific intervals and pitches that have moved in and out of the piece on different levels and at different times.

I find it most satisfying to listen to "Movements" in total darkness even during public performance. Walls are flat surfaces. Darkness allows the musical shapes to move through space more freely and with greater depth and perception.

"Contrasts" is a physical piece. The title applies to the many directions the sounds move and to the extreme contrasts in dynamics and range of frequencies.

"Blue Fantasy" begins with sounds that fade and bend in spece. These sounds evolve into noise and noise in turn evolves into them. Free fantasy emerges as the dominant characteristic. Even the voice, which is fed through and blended with the synthesizer, is a free improvisation.

"For the Bird" - "The Bird in this piece is the jazz musician, Charlie Parker, long admired by me. It starts with a slow pulse and a very short envelope on four separate envelope generators. The envelopes are then varied and the pulse gradually quickens into a jazz-like beat, which is used as a base for the fading in and out of the jazz tune "Bloomdido" by Charlie Parker.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Movements {16:14}

Side 2

1. Contrasts {5:00}

2. Blue Fantasy {6:32}

3. For the Bird {6:51}

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Michael Sahl/J. K. Randall split release

Michael Sahl/J. K. Randall - split release

This LP is all about the interaction between violin and electronics. Michael Sahl's "A Mitzvah for the Dead" is on the first side and J. K. Randall's "Lyric Variations for Violin and Computer" is on the other side. Paul Zukofsky performs on violin on both pieces.

About "A Mitzvah for the Dead": The word mitzvah is used in a incorrect way here, but that is the way I grew up using it, to mean an art of philanthropy or benevolence. Strictly speaking, you can't do a mitzvah for the dead or for anybody, because it is a good action which builds you up credit in heaven. The sense in which this piece is a mitzvah for the dead is that is an attempt to come to terms with the music of the dead, and to write the kind of music that might have gratified them, had they heard it.

A Mitzvah for the Dead was given its first performance at the Spencer Memorial Church in Brooklyn Heights, where I was organist in 1967-8.

The tape work for Mitzvah was done at [Morton] Subotnick's studio in the School of the Arts at New York University. (Michael Sahl)

About "Lyric Variations for Violin and Computer": [It] was commissioned by Paul Zukofsky in the summer of 1965; and, after three years of extensive collaboration among composer, violinist, and recording engineer, was completed in the summer of 1968. Since the violin frequently plays several parts simultaneously - and anyway since the piece was conceived as sound emanating solely from two widely separated loudspeakers - there is no distinction between a "live performance" and a "recording" of this piece: in concert, a tape-recording is played through speakers. (J. K. Randall)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Michael Sahl - A Mitzvah for the Dead: First Movement {7:04}

2. Michael Sahl - A Mitzvah for the Dead: Second Movement {7:58}

3. Michael Sahl - A Mitzvah for the Dead: Third Movement (all electronic) {3:50}

4. Michael Sahl - A Mitzvah for the Dead: Fourth Movement (all violin) {7:16}

Side 2

1. J. K. Randall - Lyric Variations for Violin and Computer {20:07}

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The New Music

various artists compilation - The New Music

All pieces performed by the Rome Symphony Orchestra (Bruno Maderna, conductor).

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontra-Punkte (for 10 instruments)

Frederick Rzewski - pianist

My 'Kontra-Punkte' sprang from the idea that in a multiple world of sound, with individual sounds and time relations, conflicts must be solved in such a way that a condition is reached in which only something homogeneous and immutable is perceived. The work is in only one movement. Six different 'tone color' groups are used: flute-bassoon, clarinet-bass clarinet, trumpet-trombone, piano, harp, violin-cello (three pairs of wind instruments blown differently and three kinds of stringed instruments struck, plucked and bowed respectively). These different tone colors merge into a single one: the struck strings of the piano. The other instruments drop out one after the other in this order: trumpet, trombone, bassoon, violin, bass clarinet, harp, clarinet, cello and flute. (Karlheinz Stockhausen)

Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (for 52 strings)

"Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" constitutes an unprecedented example of the use of string sonorities. The basic sonic material of "Threnody" consists of: 1) the highest possible sounds on the stringed instruments, obtained by placing the finger on the string right next to the bowing point...; 2) "tone clusters" - absolutely solid bands of sound consisting of all the pitches contained within specific vertical sections....

This cataclysm of sound is arranged in a clear formal structure, which places the listener within a compass of recognizable proportions, with events that are worked out in accordance with a well-calculated plan. And above all, there is beneath this musical exhibitionism the fire of a passionate civil sense and of heartfelt compassion for the victims of violence. In the midst of the blasts and the horrors of the atomic bombing, the few notes the strings play in normal position assume the ancient force of primeval song and of noble compassion for all living things.

Earle Brown - Available Forms I (for chamber ensemble)

"Available Forms I," a work for 18 performers, was composed in 1961 on commission from the city of Darmstadt. In this work the aleatory principle - freedom of choice in performance - is carried to the extremes of an "open form," which is composed each time by the performers, who are provided with only a few elements together with a few instructions for their use. The score consists of six loose pages, with four or five "events" on each page. The conductor may begin with any "event" on any page and continue from one page to another, with or without repetitions and omissions of "events" and pages, combining them any way he wants and stopping on any page and any "event" he chooses. In the orchestra, all six pages of parts can be seen at the same time by the performers, and the conductor indicates where they are to play by moving an arrow around on a large board, placed in full view of all performers and bearing the numbers 1 to 6.

The instruments used are: flute, oboe, clarinet, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, harp, piano, first and second violin, viola, cello and double bass plus two groups of percussion, one of which includes chimes, marimba and timpani, the other xylophone, vibraphone and also timpani.

Henri Pousseur - Rimes pour differentes sources sonores

The nature and purpose of "Rimes pour differentes sources sonores" is explained by the title: to combine (rhyme) electronic sounds recorded on magnetic tape with instrumental sounds. The sound sources are set against each other, reminding some of the 16th-century example of broken or answering choirs in St. Mark's.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontra-Punkte {11:28}

2. Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima {9:34}

Side 2

1. Earle Brown - Available Forms I {8:45}

2. Henri Pousseur - Rimes pour differentes sources sonores {13:34}

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Morton Feldman/Earle Brown split release

Morton Feldman/Earle Brown - split release

I had to deal with some issues with my computer, so I had to go the past few days without posting. Now I return to regular posting with an LP of music containing beauty and depth. If you have been a regular visitor of this blog, you're most likely already familiar with Feldman and Brown. Feldman's music is on the first side of the LP and Brown's music is on the other side. This was first released by Time Records in the early 1960s then re-released by Mainstream Records in the later half of the decade. There are explanations of their music from the liner notes given by both Feldman and Brown.


Performers:

Durations (1960-61)

Don Hammond - alto flute
Don Butterfield - tuba
David Tudor - piano
Philip Kraus - vibraphone
Matthew Raimondi - violin
David Soyer - cello

In Durations I arrive at a more complex style where each instrument is living out its own individual life in its own individual sound world.
In each piece the instruments begin simultaneously, and are then free to choose their own durations within a given general tempo. The sounds themselves are designated.
The pieces, while looking identical on paper, were actually conceived quite differently. In Durations I the quality of the particular instruments together suggested a closely written kaleidescope of sound. To achieve this I wrote each voice individually, choosing intervals that seemed to erase or cancel out each sound as soon as we hear the next.
In the Durations with the tuba, the weight of the three instruments used made me treat them as one. I wrote all sounds simultaneously, knowing that no instrument would ever be too far behind or too far ahead of the other. Through thinning and thickening my sounds I kept the image intact. In Durations IV there was a combination of both. Here I was a little more precise in that I gave metronome indications. I also allowed the instruments to have their own individual color more pronouncedly than in the others. (Morton Feldman)


Performers:

Music for Violin, Cello and Piano (1952)

Matthew Raimondi - violin
David Soyer - cello
David Tudor - piano

Music for Cello and Piano (1955)

David Soyer - cello
David Tudor - piano

Hodograph I (1959)

Don Hammond - flute
Philip Kraus - orchestra bells, vibraphone, marimba
David Tudor - piano, celeste

In [Alexander] Calder, the construction of units and their placement in a flexible situation which subjects the original relationships to constant and virtually unpredictable but inherent change (the movement of the units as well as the movement of the viewer), led me to construct units of rhythmic groups, (with assigned intensities but "open" timbre possibilities subject to an independent timbral-density plan) modify them according to previously mentioned "generative" techniques, and assemble them rather arbitrarily ... accepting the fact that all possible assemblages were inherently possible and valid. This is, in general, the technique used in three "twelve-tone" works, using rows but no other rules of twelve-tone writing, between 1950 and 1952. Music for Violin, Cello and Piano is the second work in this group, the last being "Perspectives" (1952) the title of which refers to the "mobile" concept.
In works from 1952 and 1953, assembled under the title "Folio," the concept of mobility, which previously resulted in one static version of compositionally mobile elements, was extended to include the physical mobility of the score itself and attempts to encourage conceptual "mobility" in the performers approach to the score ... the scores being in different invented notations of a highly ambiguous graphic nature, subject to numerous different but inherently valid realizations. The notation used in Music for Cello and Piano is developed from graphic experiments of "Folio." It is what I have called a "time notation" because of its lack of dependence on any rational metric system and its reliance upon the performers' actions relative to their "time sense" of the graphic spatial relationships. The notation intentionally encourages varying realizations of the given material; between the instruments in any one performance, and from performance while at the same time presenting the performers with an unequivocal basic graphic situation.
There are two very different notations used in Hodograph I. The first is the "time notation" of "Folio" and Music for Cello and Piano, called in the preface to the work, "explicit"; explicit in that frequency, intensity, timbre, modes of attack, and relative duration are given. The second notation is called "implicit," in that it implies the amount and character of activity (all of the above characteristics of sound) by means of line drawings. There are three, fifteen second, "implicit" areas in the score, interrupting the "explicit" areas sporadically.... The juxtaposition of the two notations produces a result which is a spontaneous correlation between the performers individual responses, and the varying degrees of ambiguity and explicitness in the notations. (Earle Brown)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Morton Feldman - Durations I: Violin-Cello-Alto-Flute-Piano {8:01}

2. Morton Feldman - Durations II: Cello-Piano {6:34}

3. Morton Feldman - Durations III: Violin-Tuba-Piano {8:52}

4. Morton Feldman - Durations IV: Violin-Cello-Vibraphone {4:15}

Side 2

1. Earle Brown - Music for Violin, Cello and Piano {2:57}

2. Earle Brown - Music for Cello and Piano {9:04}

3. Earle Brown - Hodograph I {3:30}

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Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia - Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia

Performers:

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia - bansuri

Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari - tabla

Uma Mehta and Krishna Joshi - tanpura

Hariprasad Chaurasia is one of India's most famous musicians, having in recent years become as much part of concerts and recordings in the West as in India. He was born in 1938 in Allahabad, the son of a wrestler. He was inspired by the flute playing of Prasana Bholanath at the age of twelve and began learning with him. Later he learnt from Annapurna Devi, daughter of the great Allaudin Khan, who taught through the medium of the voice. The vocal priority is important for all instruments of Indian music, but the shared reliance on the breath makes it particularly relevant to the flute. The North Indian flute, known as bansuri (which highlights the fact that it is made from bamboo), is a relative newcomer to the classical concert, and owes its acceptance to Pannalal Ghosh (1911-1960). That master showed how the instrument, so simple in construction, is capable of the most delicate nuances as well as the most dazzling displays of agility. Hariprasad Chaurasia has developed all kinds of new techniques to keep his instrument at the forefront of Indian music. He has made recordings and concert appearances all over the world, as a soloist, with other Indian musicians, most notably with the santur maestro Shivkumar Sharma, and in collaborations with such Western musicians as John McLaughlin and Jan Garbarek.

This recording is from the second half of a recital given in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on 28 April 1996. It is customary to follow the opening item of a concert with music in a lighter mood, as is evident throughout this recording. By happy coincidence, or perhaps as a deliberate ploy, Hariprasad Chaurasia chose two ragas which can be related not only through their mood and time of performance but also through their predominantly pentatonic structure and actual names. Durga is one of the names of the wife of the lord Shiva. (liner notes)

Tracklisting:

1. Raga Durgawati: Alap {6:50}

2. Raga Durgawati: Gat in teen tal {36:16}

3. Raga Durgawati: Drut gat in teental {14:15}

4. Raga Mishra Shivaranjani: Alap {3:10}

5. Raga Mishra Shivaranjani: Dhun in dadra tal {10:43}

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Adama Drame: Rhythms of the Manding

The Mandingo country comprises north-western Guinea, the north-western part of the Ivory Coast, and the south-eastern part of Mali. The prominent ethnic groups in these regions are the Malinke, the Bambara and the Diula.
In the caste society of the Mandingo peoples, the griots together with the artisans (Nyamakala) occupy an intermediate position on the social ladder, between the nobles (Horon) on the one hand, and the captives (Dyon) on the other. The griots (Diely) are the repositories of oral tradition and it is their task to transmit it to their descendants. Griots marry within their caste (although not necessarily within the same ethnic group.
Even nowadays, the great historical narratives (the Mandingo Epic and the History of Sundjata of the 13th and 14th centuries are the best known), continue to be transmitted orally in the traditional manner, during an apprenticeship lasting several years. The griots were also genealogists, bound to great families who gave them their keep, and were commissioned to sing their masters' praises at public celebrations.
Many griots nowadays, both men and women, no longer have a lord or master, they are "independent," earning their living by singing the praises of celebrities at public meetings, weddings, baptisms and funerals. Many of them have lost all historic value as repositories of tradition and are considered as parasites by modern society. Nevertheless, so great is the power of the spoken word that they are feared, and there is no one who would chase them from his house for fear that his reputation would be immediately and irrevocably destroyed.





Adama Drame, son of a famous griot and musician, started to focus all his musical efforts on the Jembe (or Djembe) at the age of 13, gaining the status of a professional virtuoso in his early twenties.
The Jembe originally comes from Northern Guinea (Malinke country). It is not an instrument reserved for the use by griots alone. It is a drum made of hollowed out Lengue wood, covered with a single goat or antilope skin. One, two or three iron plates with rattling components are often added on the rim of the drum. In West Africa, the shape of the drum is very widespread, whilst the size, snare, and loudness varies a great deal according to the region and the individual musician.
The rhythms used are often of ancient origin and take years to learn, during which time the musician elaborates his techniques of expression step by step. A good player is known for the variety of his rhythms and an excellent one for the qualities of his improvisations. According to musicologist Didier Dulout, Mandingo rhythms may be described as typically African. The far origins of the basic structure of the Samba and Bossa-Nova can also be recognised in them. The frequent use of demi-semiquavers and sextuplets as well as the many different types of compound time make these often syncopated rhythms particularly complex.(from the liner notes)

01 Tom-tom call & Malinke Mandiani rhythm
02 Somo moriba, Malinke rhythm
03 Dansa, Bambara rhythm
04 Suku, Malinke rhythm
05 Kofli, Bambara rhythm
06 Sanja, griot dance
07 N'dri, Bambara rhythm
08 Kurubi, Diula rhythm
09 Sunu, Bambara rhythm
10 Jondon, captives' dance
11 Improvisation

Recordings (1976-78) and photographs: Bernard Mondet

Note: Since the original recording quality is very poor, and because the record has some bad crackles and scratches all over, I decided to clean up the noises (most of them are gone, the biggest ones remain as much smaller "pops") and then to remaster the low and high frequencies. The result sounds much better now, with more presence and even some nice "boom".
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Visitor Hamor contributed cover scans (front and back) in very good quality. Thanks!

Soul of the East

Buddy Sarkissian & His Mecca Four with Fred Elias - Soul of the East

Performers:
Buddy Sarkissian - durbeckee (hand drum)
Fred Elias - violin
Manny Petro - guitar
Paul Mooradian - tambourine
Lisa and Ahmad [no last names given] - finger cymbals (zils)

From the liner notes:

The ancient rhythms and sounds of the Near East, with their Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Turkish and Israeli overtones, take on an exciting new dimension in these imaginative interpretations by a group of skilled musicians born in the USA of Near Eastern parentage.
With two exceptions, all the tunes are original compositions, written and arranged by Fred Elias and Buddy Sarkissian. The unusual instrumentation - violin, guitar, tambourine and hand drums, creates a distinctive blend that adds depth to the group.
...
Leader, Buddy Sarkissian, born in Lowell, Mass. has been called the king of Near Eastern drummers. Utilizing an authentic Durbeckee (hand drum) he creates his own unique rhythmic patterns, switching occasionally to bongoes and combo drum for variety.
Like Sarkissian, violinist Fred Elias has been a life-long devotee of Near Eastern music. Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, of Lebanese parentage, he is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music and is generally acknowledged as the finest violinist in his field. His unerring command of complex Near Eastern scales, which he blends skillfully with standard Western progressions, has earned him honors from many quarters, not the least of which was a recent command performance for King Saud of Saudi Arabia.
Rhythmic background for the group is supplied by Manny Petro, a Peabody, Massachusetts, native of Greek ancestry. His unique style, developed over a period of years, makes use of a technique called doubling, enabling his one guitar to sound like two.
...
Rounding out the group's distinctive sound is Armenian-American Paul Mooradian, born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. One of the few true masters of the tambourine in America, his accented syncopations and dynamic expressions make themselves felt on every number.
The sheer skill and exuberance of the players, coupled with their modern conceptions and interpretations will provide a true listening thrill.
The tunes chosen for this album are numbers played during the group's night club and concert appearances. They have been arranged in a sequence that will generate excitement - and listening interest - from the first note to the last.
During night club dates, the group often features the artistic interpretations of folk dancers Lisa and Ahmad. Listen carefully and you'll hear the metallic glint of their finger cymbals (zils) in the background on many of the numbers.



Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Mecca Interlude {3:00}

2. Tempo of the Veils {4:01}

3. Laurentien Dreams {2:50}

4. Drumselero {2:34}

5. Chifti Sands {3:15}

6. Caravan {3:21}

Side 2

1. Turkish Nightmare {3:57}

2. Desert Moods {2:47}

3. Carribean Holiday {3:42}

4. 6/8 Delight {2:08}

5. Moorish Echoes {3:28}

6. Habeebe Village {3:12}

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The Musical Railism of Anne LeBaron

Anne LeBaron - The Musical Railism of Anne LeBaron

I have been scouring both the real world and the virtual world in search of harp music, particularly contemporary (and preferably avant-garde/experimental) harp music. Somewhere in the real world, I stumbled upon this collection by Anne LeBaron.

This release begins and ends with harp pieces. The first track, "Dog-Gone Cat Act", is performed with only a prepared harp that is prepared with paper and alligator clips. The last track, "I am an American...My Government Will Reward You", is performed with an amplified or electric harp with live electronic processing and tape. Both of these tracks are interesting and enjoyable pieces of harp music. As for what is between the harp pieces, "Selections from The E. & O. Line" is labeled an "electronic blues opera". The selections on this album are blues/jazz songs which are from Act I, Scene 2 of this "opera" and has little electronics. I didn't care for these songs at first, but they're very slowly starting to grow on me. "Waltz for Quintet" is a piece performed by The New Music Consort featuring flute, violin, viola, cello and piano. "The Sea and the Honeycomb" is another chamber music piece with soprano vocals, piccolo & flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, piano and percussion and performed by The Theater Chamber Players of Kennedy Center.

I hope to have some more interesting harp music posted in the future. Meanwhile, enjoy what's presented here.

Tracklisting:

1. Dog-Gone Cat Act {4:59}

2. Selections from The E. & O. Line: Juke Joint Jam Session {5:35}

3. Selections from The E. & O. Line: Eurydice Meets Hermes {4:24}

4. Selections from The E. & O. Line: Eurydice's Death; Funeral Band {6:19}

5. Selections from The E. & O. Line: Eurydice's River Journey {1:57}

6. Selections from The E. & O. Line: Orpheus Laments: "Looked Away" {4:52}

7. Waltz for Quintet {5:12}

8. The Sea and the Honeycomb {7:49}

9. I am an American...My Government Will Reward You {15:58}

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Dan Gibson's Solitudes Volume One

In our series of Sunday posts with Nature and Environmental Sounds, here's the first volume of Dan Gibson's never ending Solitudes series, from 1981. Grey posted Volume Six some time ago, and hopefully more will come in the future, at least from the early volumes, before Gibson started to mess up these beautiful sounds with "specially selected" music.

***

from the liner notes:

1 By Canoe to Loon Lake

"Our starting point is a waterfall at the end of a portage. We dip the paddle into the gently flowing river. We drift awhile. We are watched. The ruby-crowned kinglet notes our presence in its territory. The Kinglet is the first wildlife voice we hear. As we drift downwards a spruce lined shore one of nature's friendliest sounds keeps us company, the spruce forest rings with the song of the white-throated sparrow. ... Up ahead we can see the white waters of the rapids thrashing up above the surface level of the lake. The canoe is drawn forward. Our microphones are mounted on the on the gunwales, soon you are plunging into ever quickening rapids until they are thundering all around you as you surge through the channels ... then come at last to the placid reaches of Loon Lake. A slight evening breeze drifts us out into the secluded lake where the gray tree frogs and the spring peeper frogs provide their evening background chorus to the haunting calls of the loon."

Wildlife species featured: Ruby-crowned kinglet, Red Squirrel, White-throated Sparrow, Ovenbird, Catbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Veery, Common Loon, Gray Tree Frogs, Spring
Peeper Frogs.


2 Dawn by a Gentle Stream (The ultimate water treatment experience)

"... You feel harrassed? Your nerve ends are hanging out? It's been a desperate day? You need to sit by a gentle stream. You need to let that cool soothing rush of water wash through, over and around your psyche. Now add the perfect symbiotic element - the song of birds... Recorded in Panoramic Stereophonic Sound, producing pristine clarity and presence, this might well be the ultimate water treatment."

Wildlife species featured: Wood Thrush, Red-Eyed Vireo, Canada Warbler, Blue Jay, Magnolia Warbler, Ovenbird.

A great listen for a cold and gray November Sunday. 

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Red Bird/Anticredos

Trevor Wishart - Red Bird/Anticredos

Red Bird (1977) was made using the sounds of birds, animals, words & mechanisms, orchestrated and transformed into one another, in the York University Electronic Music Studio between May 1973 and May 1977.

Red Bird is not only a piece of music, but also a journey into an alternative world. When we listen to a piece of pure sonic art such as Red Bird, we bypass the theatre of the concert hall, and are cast adrift in an entirely aural universe. The whole environment is defined by the dynamic process of sound events. Sounds may again take on some of the 'magical' power they must have had for pre-literate peoples - a significance and resonance muted by the dominance of written language in our culture. If we allow ourselves, we can enter that state of perception where the environment is vibrant with significant sounds and symbols and in which myths have their power.

Red Bird is both a piece of music and a mythic retelling of the world. The underlying structural idea, as far as it can be put into words, is the conflict between 'open' and 'closed' conceptions of reality. This conflict may be expressed in a number of different ways (political, philosophical, technological..). I don't wish to explain this further, as I prefer the music to speak for itself. I will only add that such interpretations of reality are complementary, rather than conflicting - all reflect a 'deep structure' represented by the myth. What is straightforward in one interpretation may be metaphorical in another. (Trevor Wishart)

Anticredos (1980) is performed by Singcircle: Gregory Rose - director; Nicole Tibbels - soprano; Penelope Walmsley-Clark - soprano; Alan Belk - tenor; Richard Wistreich - bass; Steven Jackson - bass; Paul Hillier - bass.

Recorded March/April 1982 in the Music Center, University of East Anglia, Norwich.

Written in 1980, the six amplified vocalists use a wide range of unusual vocal sounds, which I had researched over the previous four years. The results of these researches are brought together in the chapter 'The Human Repertoire' in my book On Sonic Art. The piece sonically takes apart the word 'Credos' and, through processes of sound transformation, develops towards a completely new and seamlessly evolving sound world, the dissolution of all fixed points of reference. Unlike Red Bird these transformations are achieved in live performance and without the use of any electronics. This is possible because the voice is the most flexible sound producer we know - capable of many more types of sound production and articulation than any other individual musical instrument. (Trevor Wishart)

Tracklisting:

1. Red Bird (part 1) {18:59}

2. Red Bird (part 2) {0:19}

3. Red Bird (part 3) {0:16}

4. Red Bird (part 4) {25:55}

5. Anticredos {17:35}

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