Luciano Berio and Swingle II - A-Ronne/Cries of London
LP released in 1976
Swingle II: Olive Simpson, Catherine Bott - sopranos; Carol Hall, Linda Hirst - mezzo-sopranos; John Potter, Ward Swingle - tenors; John Lubbock, David Beavan - basses
"A-Ronne" was recorded in February 1976, "Cries of London" in July 1976, both in Decca Studio 3, West Hampstead, London
The subject of "A-Ronne" is the elementary vocalisation of a text and its transformation into something perhaps equally elementary but difficult to describe. In fact this is not a case of a musical composition in the usual sense of the term, even if the procedures which often organise its course are musical (use of inflections and intonations, development of alliterations and of transitions between sound and noise, occasional use of elementary melodies, polyphonies and heterophonies). The musical sense of "A-Ronne" is basic: that is, it is common to any experience, from daily speech to theatre, where changes in expression imply and document changes in meaning. This is why I prefer to define this work as a documentary on a poem by Edoardo Sanguineti, as one would say a documentary on a painting or on an exotic country. Sanguineti's poem, which undergoes different readings, is not treated as a text to set to music but rather as a text to be analysed and as a generator of different vocal situations and expressions. But finally "A-Ronne" is also a kind of madrigale rappresentativo - i.e. theatre for the ear of the late Italian XVI century - and a vocal naive painting because the range of the given situations, no matter how wide, can always be related to elementary situations, to recognisable, familiar and often obvious feelings: a social gathering, speech in a square, a speech therapy session, the confessional, the barracks, the bedroom, etc.
Sanguineti's poem - which in "A-Ronne" is repeated about twenty times and almost always from beginning to end - exposes three themes: in the first part the theme of the Beginning, in the second part the theme of the Middle and in the third part that of the End. The poem is strictly built on quotations in different languages that go from the beginning of the New Testament of John (in Latin, Greek and German: Luther's translation and changes made by Goethe in "Faust") to a verse by Eliot; from a verse by Dante to the first word of the Communist Manifesto; from a few words of an essay by Barthes on Bataille to the last three words, the three signs (ette, conne, ronne) with which the Italian alphabet, in old times, concluded after z: from which comes the dictum, no longer in use "from A to Ronne" instead of "from A to Z". Therefore this poem is also a very articulated and discontinuous sequence of figures of speech. This is why in "A-Ronne" one often encounters musical figures of speech. The occasional sung sections do not have an autonomous musical significance: they are moments among many others - and perhaps the simplest - in the liturgy of vocal gestures. Only the brief final section, based on a series of very elementary harmonic "alliterations" has its own musical autonomy.
Thus the musical sense of "A-Ronne" is not to be found in the sung sections but in the relation that is established between a written text and a "grammar" of vocal behaviour, between a poem that is constantly faithful to its own words and a vocal articulation that continuously modifies its meaning and its referential apsects. Thus it happens that the two levels (that of the written text and that of the vocal behaviour) always interact in a different way, always producing new meanings. This is directly analogous to what generally happens in vocal music and in daily speech where the relation between the two levels (the grammatical one and the acoustical one) is substantially responsible for the infinite possibilities of human speech and singing.
These "Cries of London" for eight voices (2 Sopranos, 2 Altos, 2 Tenors, 2 Basses) are a re-working of a composition of the same name written in 1974 for the "King's Singers" (2 Counter Tenors, 1 Tenor, 2 Baritones, 1 Bass). In this new version the "Cries of London" become a short cycle of seven vocal pieces of a folk nature in which a simple piece regularly alternates with a musically more complex one and where the fifth "cry" is the exact repetition of the first (the text of which is also used in the third "cry"). The seventh piece, "Cry of Cries," is a commentary on the preceding "cries": although it uses the same melodies and the same harmonic characteristics it is musically detached as if recalling them from a distance. . . . As a whole this short cycle can also be heard as an exercise in characterisation and musical dramatisation. The text is essentially a free choice of well-known phrases of vendors in the streets of Old London. (Luciano Berio)
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. A-Ronne {29:06}
Side 2
1. Cries of London {14:44}
(1)
Charles T. Griffes - Roman Sketches, Op. 7/Piano Sonata
LP format
performed by Leonid Hambro - piano
Charles T. Griffes (born September 17, 1884) was only thirty-six when he died, on April 8, 1920, following an attack of influenza that developed into a lung infection. Legend, however, attributes his tragic early death to neglect, want, even poverty but contains, in actuality, only a grain of truth. Griffes, unable to hire professional copyists, wore himself out preparing scores and parts for important performances of his works; how hard he worked may be gauged by the fact that he was often forced to wear a bandage over his right eye because of strain. This arduous application depleted whatever strength and resistance he had and contributed to his fatal illness. His last public appearance took place at Carnegie Hall on December 4, 1919 when the Boston Symphony, conducted by Pierre Monteux, performed The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan. For the already ailing Griffes the occasion was a satisfying triumph, for the work was immediately recognized as an original and important contribution to American music and Griffes was hailed as a most promising, richly endowed composer. A similar reception had been accorded the Poem for Flute and Orchestra less than a month before.
The ROMAN SKETCHES, Op. 7 (1915-1916) are the best known of Griffes' piano works, the high point of his preoccupation with impressionism. The title was taken from a poem of William Sharp, as are the titles of the four sections, each of which were prefaced by Griffes with quotations indicating the mood and intent; the titles alone are sufficiently descriptive to make clear the programmatic tone-painting Griffes had in mind; The White Peacock, (". . .as the breath, as the soul . . . of . . . beauty moves the White Peacock . . .") opens the Sketches; in it Griffes utilized unusual chord structures, displaying a revolutionary freedom from a fixed tonality. Nightfall is a study, built on subtle ostinatos, of the muffled sounds of early evening. In The Fountain of the Acqua Paola, Griffes experimented with exotic scales to achieve the effect of "shimmering lights . . . flashed in happy bubbles . . .", and the play of color on water and foam. Clouds, ("Mountainous glories; They move superbly; Crumbling so slowly . . ."), is the final section in which Griffes began to work toward polytonality.
The PIANO SONATA, begun in December 1917 and finished a month later, marked a distinct turning away from impressionism by Griffes. The Sonata is a work of great power and uncommon beauty that balances, in perfect musical proportion, austere neo-classicism and an almost romantic passion. It was performed for the first time by the composer in New York for the MacDowell Club on February 26, 1918, when it was programmed as a 'Sonata in one movement." It was not well received by the critics who found it "experimental" and too unconventional. The Piano Sonata is stark, intense, completely devoid of embellishment, and uncompromising, "the finest abstract work in American piano literature," according to Rudolph Ganz, whose opinion has since been echoed by musicians and critics alike. Austere and abstract the Sonata may be, but it is without doubt one of tremendous emotional impact. (Edward Jablonski and Edith Garson)
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Roman Sketches, Op. 7: The White Peacock {4:46}
2. Roman Sketches, Op. 7: Nightfall {5:47}
3. Roman Sketches, Op. 7: The Fountain of the Acqua Paola {3:16}
4. Roman Sketches, Op. 7: Clouds {3:35}
Side 2
1. Piano Sonata {13:54}
(1)
The Louisville Orchestra - 121st Release
LP released sometime in 1974 or 1975 and includes three pieces
Mantrajana (1971) composed by Matthias Bamert
recorded December 12, 1973
conducted by Matthias Bamert
instruments used: two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contra-bassoon, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones and tuba, harp, piano, strings, four gongs differently pitched
Mantrajana is a Buddhist belief which seeks redemption through the repetition of sacred formulas (Mantra).
Mantrajana makes use of four oriental gongs. These four gongs are in front of the orchestra, two on each side of the conductor. Each gong is played by one person using six different sticks, striking the instrument on six different points. To the rear of the stage, two violinists will play - one in the right corner and the other in the left corner. The seating for the remainder of the orchestra is left to the discretion of the conductor.
Mantrajana contains no oriental themes or rhythms. It is strictly occidental music based on an oriental philosophy. As in the religious use of Mantra, repetition becomes the most important factor in Mantrajana. Intervals and rhythmic figures are repeated, then these figures are often inverted, reversed, transposed, interrupted, shortened, and used in varying combinations. This makes these repetitions sometimes obvious to the listener, sometimes not. (Mathias Bamert)
Some Marches on a Ground (1970) composed by Gordon Crosse
recorded December 12, 1973
conducted by Jorge Mester
This is almost two pieces in one; layers of quite different musical character being superimposed throughout. The marches are variations in differing tempi, for winds and percussion. The theme, heard after an opening fanfare, is of a deliberately "fatuous" national-anthem character. The ground (is used) in two senses; firstly a ground bass, or passacaglia, based on a short theme in parallel thirds. Secondly, a ground swell of string colour, in particular pizzicato, which keeps up a constant background thrum and patter emerging as the dominant idea in the brief central section which is a king of a battle symphony. (Gordon Crosse)
Museum Pieces for String Quartet and Clarinet (1973) composed by Phillip Rhodes
recorded October 2, 1973
James Livingston - clarinet
The Louisville String Quartet:
Paul Kling - violin
Peter McHugh - violin
Virginia Schneider - viola
Guillermo Helguera - cello
Movements:
I. Equestrian Bronze
(artwork is Italian, dates from early 16th century)
II. The Pierrot Music Box
(artwork dates from 19th century)
III. Landscape
(artwork created by George Seurat, French, dates from 19th century)
IV. Station of the Cross
(artwork created by Theodore Chasseriau, French, dates from 19th century)
V. Le Bouquet
(artwork created by Pablo Picasso, Spanish, dates from 20th century)
VI. A Bacchanal
(artwork created by Brueghel-van Balen, Flemish, dates from late 16th century)
For anyone fascinated with the interrelationships between music and the visual arts, the disappearance of most of the original Victor Hartmann originals which inspired the various episodes of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is an incalculable loss. Scarcely a handful of the architect's sketches, costumes, and drawings survive although the vivid illustrations by his musical friend have given us the materials from which to reconstruct the originals in our mind's eye. The twentieth century is rich with examples of painting-into-music ranging from traditional works such as Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead (Bocklin) and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler (Grunewald) to more contemporary efforts along the lines of Bohuslav Martinu's Three Frescoes of Piero della Francesca and Gunther Schuller's Seven Studies on Paul Klee.In 1973, Phillip Rhodes, then the Kentucky Arts Commission's Composer-in-Residence, was asked to provide a new composition for the dedication of the Hattie Bishop Speed Music Room of the J. B. Speed Art Museum of Louisville. The six movements of the Museum Pieces take their points of departure from a half dozen works in a variety of genres that make up a part of the museum's permanent collection. They consist of three substantial pieces (Movements I, IV, and VI) balanced by three further episodes of a slighter nature. Unlike Mussorgsky's famous work, where the presence of the "viewer" is represented by the series of Promenades which link the various sections, the contrast between art work and audience seems here to be represented in the texture of the ensmeble itself - the juxtaposition of the intricate ensemble writing for string quartet against the more expressive and personal reactions of the solo clarinet. That the latter is inclined to be a follower and interpreter is clear from such a piece as Movement III, a "Landscape" by Seurat. The smudged forms of this tiny (6" x 9") country scene are suggested by the string chords in harmonics while the clarinet's fanciful flight comes as an afterthought, an airy commentary from the poetic imagination. (Robert McMahan)
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Mantrajana {9:03}
2. Some Marches on a Ground {13:02}
Side 2
1. Museum Pieces: I. Equestrian Bronze {2:53}
2. Museum Pieces: II. The Pierrot Music Box {1:54}
3. Museum Pieces: III. Landscape {1:47}
4. Museum Pieces: IV. Station of the Cross {6:35}
5. Museum Pieces: V. Le Bouquet {1:11}
6. Museum Pieces: VI. A Bacchanal {2:39}
(1) or (1) (2) or (2) [links coming back soon, maybe (1/24/2012)]
John Cage - Litany for the Whale
Performed by Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices
I have been performing, reading, looking at, and listening to John Cage's work for years - I number myself amongst those who consider him to be an important composer and not simply an important influence. One of the earliest Theatre of Voices concerts, at London's Almeida Festival in 1990, was devoted primarily to Cage's music, and, since then, I seem to have been working toward this recording. After I moved to California in 1990, I began putting together the forever-fluctuating nucleus of the present Theatre of Voices, and this included working with Shabda Owens on text-sound compositions (by Cage amongst others) using electronics. Shabda has known the composer Terry Riley for some years (he tunes pianos in Just Intonation for both Terry and LaMonte Young) and made it possible for the three of us to get together at Terry's house in the Sierras and pre-record some of the materials used on this disc. The remaining material was recorded later in Germany, though only after moving to Bloomington, Indiana, in 1996 was I in a position to bring the project to fruition. It now forms the first of a projected series of recordings of modern American music which Theatre of Voices will undertake over the coming years. (Paul Hillier)
Tracklisting:
1. Litany for the Whale {25:49}
Alan Bennett and Paul Elliott - voices
2. Aria No. 2 {6:23}
Paul Hillier - voice; Shabda Owens - electronics
3. Five {5:04}
Andrea Fullington, Allison Zelles, Alan Bennett, Paul Elliott and Shabda Owens - voices
4. The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs {3:06}
Paul Hillier - voice; Alan Bennett - closed piano
5. Solo for Voice 22 [from Songbooks] {3:48}
Andrea Fullington and Paul Hillier - voices; Shabda Owens - electronics
6. Experiences No. 2 {4:08}
Andrea Fullington - voice
7. 36 Mesostics re and not re Marcel Duchamp {11:41}
Terry Riley and Paul Hillier - voices; Shabda Owens - electronics
8. Aria {10:16}
Andrea Fullington, Allison Zelles, Alan Bennett, Paul Elliott, Shabda Owens, Terry Riley and Paul Hillier - voices; Shabda Owens - electronics
9. The Year Begins to Be Ripe {1:22}
Paul Hillier - voice; Alan Bennett - closed piano
(1)
Sounds of the Everglades
cassette recorded in 1988, released in 1990
The Everglades is a subtropical wilderness area made up of mostly swamps and forest located in the southern area of Florida. It is the only subtropical wilderness in the United States. The southern 1/5 of the Everglades is Everglades National Park. Rare and endangered species dwell in the Everglades. The tape has recordings of birds, frogs and other wildlife. There is no information given on the packaging, but no doubt that some of the species heard are rare, endangered or extinct.
Tracklisting:
1. Sounds of the Everglades {30:45}
both sides of the cassette are the same
(1)
George Crumb - Works for Piano, Volume 2
performed by Jeffrey Jacob
Recorded January 20-21, 1988 at O'Laughlin Auditorium, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana.
Released in 1991
Makrokosmos Volume II
In Volume II, Crumb employs the most elaborate array of inside-the-piano techniques of any of his piano compositions. In addition to strumming, muting, and plucking the strings, the pianist must chant, shout, whistle, whisper and apply glass tumblers and a sheet of paper to the keys.
Each of the twelve movements beats a fanciful and often remarkably specific title followed by highly descriptive performance directions: No. 1, Morning music (Genesis II); exuberantly, with primitive energy; No. 5, Ghost-Nocturne: for the Druids of Stonehenge (Night Spell II); dark, fantastic, subliminal; No. 11, Litany of the Galactic Bells, jubilant, metallic, incisive, echoing. Each movement is associated with a sign of the zodiac.
A Little Suite for Christmas: A.D. 1979
The Christmas Suite offers ample evidence of the extraordinary range of Crumb's compositional techniques. Compared to the extravagance of the Makrokosmos volumes, the Christmas Suite reminds us of the composer's five pieces for piano in its economy of means and pianistic restraint. Each of the seven movements bears the title of one of Giotto's Arena Chapel frescoes, but the musical material is distilled and the inside-the-piano techniques are limited to plucking, muting, and strumming the strings. The resulting textures are, for Crumb, remarkably thin. During the 1970's, then, the essence of Crumb's piano music shifted from the sonorous effects of the Makrokosmos volumes to the exquisite melodic and rhythmic refinements of the Christmas Suite.
Processional
Processional exists in two versions: one with a handful of plucking and muting effects and one without. Crumb has said that in composing Processional, he wanted to convince himself that he could write a piano composition without using "extended techniques," but decided to offer pianists the option of added color for a few individual pitches. Loosely based on the whole-tone scale, Processional presents an altogether different type of piano approach to musical structure. The basis of the piece is a series of repeated chords which very gradually move toward or away from major climaxes.
The mesmerizing effect of the chordal repitition is countered by the rising and falling dynamics. With Processional we are again reminded that the celebrated coloristic devices of Crumb's music are by no means the most important aspects of his compositions; that his harmonic writing, his melodic and rhythmic motives, and his exploration of structure participate equally in defining the character of some of the most striking, influential and beautiful piano music of the 20th century. (Jeffrey Jacob)Tracklisting:
1. Makrokosmos, Volume II {28:33}
2. A Little Suite for Christmas: A.D. 1979 {13:04}
3. Processional (original version) {9:39}
4. Processional (revised version) {9:20}
(1)
Francois Bayle - Son Vitesse-Lumière
Son Vitesse-Lumière = Light Speed-Sound
I. Grandeur nature = Life size (1980)
Imagine an object coming to 'visit' us from many light years away. Journey. Approach. Images of speed. Soundscapes. First contact. Observations. Uneasy movements. Departures and discreet disappearances. . .
Why not 'explain' this piece in such a way? Everyone is free to give his own interpretation. As for the music (don't worry), it can't be related!), it's a question of transformation by compression, distension, disappearance, decomposition, synthesis and other rather alchemic operations.
II. Paysage, personnage, nuage = Landscape, person, cloud (1980)
The 'object', motionless, far away, is connected. It takes its sequence of information. But a sustained note discreetly shows that it is at work. The scene is bare. A desert, an oasis perhaps. Vocalic manifestations; then, suddenly, a commentary. My voice giving a speech. . . It comes in snatches, like interference on a radio. The scene continues. Interference from electric mirages. It seems to be burning, burning and crackling like the film from a great celluloid image.
But if I relate everything, what will there be left to listen to? Everything, in fact.
III. Voyage au centre de le tete = Journey to the center of the head (1981)
First of all, my love of Jules Verne (Espaces inhabitables, Jeita) and his symbols. And also the impossibility of not reflecting the surrealist experience inherited by my generation. We thus 'see' two sound images which come together and begin to converse and respond, adopting one another as two fragments of the same thing: the transformed image of chanting in a monastery, and the natural sound of a woman at home making coffee (inside at the coffee-pot versus centre of the head!).
Indeed, this section is about 'the inside'. The object moves inside us.
IV. Le sommeil d' Euclide = Euclid's sleep (1983)
Two 'forms' occupy the auditory space of this work. The first is radically modified to transcend perception, thus creating an illusion-space, a phantasmagorical effect. The second (including the substantial fragments into which it is broken up) is roughly shaken up; the ear can make out the degrees of order and disorder that are intentionally added to it.
V. Lumière ralentie = Light in slow motion (1983)
Counter-space. Inversion of the general title. End of the journey.
The 'object' has become wind. And half the duration of this piece is taken up by a pattern of interlacing winds. As little phonic resistance as possible. Melodies that are understood, variations in speed, gusts, lulls, whirlwinds, and air movements that may be conveyed by sound (speed-light). Then everything freezes, in straight lines, layers, stripes, projected colours, loops, with flying objects slowly passing through, observing.
Are they listening?
Change of scale; a peaceful night.
Suspension.
But we must end. The 'object' has to leave. Enough information. Or is its energy spent?
No time to waste. It goes, leaving behind just a trace, which soon evaporates. And the earth goes on turning. Of course.
...
And the hostility of the days is still to be overcome. (Francois Bayle)
Tracklisting:
CD1
1. Grandeur nature (1) {18:17}
2. Grandeur nature (2) {13:47}
3. Paysage, personnage, nuage (1) {10:20}
4. Paysage, personnage, nuage (2) {7:16}
5. Paysage, personnage, nuage (3) {6:25}
CD2
1. Voyage au centre de la tete (1) {8:10}
2. Voyage au centre de la tete (2) {6:34}
3. Voyage au centre de la tete (3) {2:02}
4. Voyage au centre de la tete (4) {3:55}
5. Le sommeil d'Euclide (1) {4:12}
6. Le sommeil d'Euclide (2) {3:41}
7. Le sommeil d'Euclide (3) {1:27}
8. Le sommeil d'Euclide (4) {5:59}
9. Le sommeil d'Euclide (5) {5:30}
10. Lumiere ralentie (1) {12:55}
11. Lumiere ralentie (2) {5:35}
12. Lumiere ralentie (3) {3:09}
(1) (2)
Paul D. Miller - Viral Sonata
released in 1997
If this seems familiar to some of you, I posted this one in another of my online projects some time ago. In case you're not familiar, Paul D. Miller is better known as DJ Spooky for which he uses this alias for most of his releases.
Viral Sonata elements:
backwards jajouka
20 layers of television static
sonograms of ocean's depths
sound of the rings of Saturn
Jupiter's magnetosphere
an audio analogue of solar wind
audio translation of human DNA code
Macintosh Quadra 800
Yamaha DX-7 keyboard
Moog Opus 7 keyboard
Pro Tools (algorithms)
Sound Design Program (algorithms)
human body (algorithms)
flute elements provided by Space
Krafta Sitar elements provided by Ranabir
tabla elements provided by Karsh
guitar elements provided by Akin Atoms
duelling moogs on "Morphic Interlude": a battle between Manny and DJ Spooky
all other music elements provided by DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid
Cybernetic dissolution elements provided by Akai s3000 sampler
The Viral Sonata: a compositional note by Paul D. Miller:
The Viral Sonata was conceived as a semiotic engagement with music as a bearer of cultural meaning. It is inspired by the writings of Iannis Xenakis, Luigi Russolo, Tricia Rose, Ishmael Reed, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Ludwig Fuerbach, Ralph Ellison, Douglas Kahn, Allen S. Weiss, Greg Tate, Joseph Kosuth, Grand Master Flash, Afrika Bambaata, Cutty Ranks, Kojin Karatani, Bounty Hunter, Bob Marley's lyrics, Dick Hebdige, David Toop, aerosol expressionist artists, Daze, Lee, Futura, and Toxic.
I would like to thank the musicians that provided the sound elements for the composition. Ranabir, a brilliant sitar player who works in NYC and Karsh, an extremely talented percussionist, provided the Indian abstract "ragas" elements, Akin Adams provided the guitar elements, and Spazecrafta provided the flute elements. I play keyboards, bass, and various other computer equipment. Additional tones for "Morphic Interlude" were provided by Manny (a member of the NYC electroacoustic ensemble "Byzar"). The project's engineer was Chris Flam who works at Mindswerve Studios in the Lower East side.
I wanted aspects of the album to sound "live" so I had people come by and jam to some beats I set up. I then took the beats away, and sampled what people had played against the rhythm patterns. Things were rearranged, altered, and cut-apart from their original contexts of human representation. My voice was part of the composition as well, but it is not recognizeable as a human sound in the composition. Rather, in mixes like "Indra's Net" or in some of the Interludes (elements provided by several 12" and some of my work [Sub Dub]) you will hear the voice as a bass presence, or a rippled, and "timestretched" tone structure that no longer represents any articulate human narrative. I thought that this would work with the ragas form of the indian music, where *raganini* (the core elements of the ragas) were regarded as deities, and represented complex systems of rules, rhythms, motives, formulas, forms and ideas, that have accumulated over the centuries. In "Indra's Net" there is a central tone that everything else in the track revolves around in a very oblique manner, and this was my attempt to reconstruct a kind of cybernetic "vadi" (in Indian music this music structure is made more prominent by repetition or special emphasis, and this "vadi" tone is called "that which speaks.") The "samvadi" or "king of tones" acts as a centralized narrative, a place where memory is linked to the continuous flow of repetition.
Without the "samvadi" the music becomes an expression of a kind of anarchy, a country without a king, disorder in the feelings, and emotional instability. This "emotive sculpture" of narrative turbulence is what I attempted to reconstruct throughout the viral sonata. In a sense, the "narrative turbulence" that I try to portray is a reflection of the cultural dissonance occuring in contemporary society as humanity's ancient forms of cultural production encounter electro-modernity. There are many other cultures that flow through the Viral Sonata, but this particular motif is central to the compositional structure of the entire work. The Viral Sonata, at heart, is an attempt to invoke with sound the kind of cultural entropy that I think humanity will have to come to grips with if it is going to survive the many environmental, economic, social, and geopolitical upheavals and changes the 21st century probably has in store for us.
Tracklisting:
1. Prologue (The Duchamp Effect) {7:22}
2. Indra's Net (Song of the Circular Ruins edit) {11:08}
3. Morphic Interlude (The Sun Ra Effect) {2:50}
4. Nodal Flux (The Rauschenberg Effect) {2:08}
5. Invisual Ocean (Critical Bandwidth mix) {7:55}
6. Striated Interlude #1 {1:58}
7. Necrologue (The Lament of Darth Vader) {5:07}
8. Striated Interlude #2 (Biomorphic Structure #786*Beta) {0:55}
9. City on the Edge of Forever {8:06}
10. Zona Rosa (Total Chromatism mix) {7:36}
11. Colophon {6:49}
12. Striated Interlude #3 (Synchronic Overload edit) {1:58}
13. Primary Inversion {7:05}
14. Striated Interlude #4 (The Fanon Effect) {1:50}
15. Epilogue (Processed Digital Feedback) {1:04}
(1)
Stephen Erickson - Rain Forest: Escape to the Amazon
cassette released in 1986
Location recording and post-production: Stephen Erickson
Co-producer: Eve Beglarian
Despite what the cover says, this is not an audiobook. This is a recording of sounds somewhere inside the Amazon Rainforest. Apparently, the Great Escapes series were targeted at folks who buy audiobooks. (There are two other titles listed on the back of the cover - Ocean: Escape to the South Pacific and Space: Escape to the Stars.) Of course, people could still think that this was actually an audiobook about either some sort of adventure or spiritual quest in the Amazon undertaken by people who want to get away from the drudgery of daily life in the suburbs or cities. I do wonder if some people bought this believing this was an audiobook and were not pleased once they played the tape to hear only the sounds of birds, insects and the rain. Actually, once you get past the deceiving label of "books on tape", this is a soothing soundscape that does offer an escape without one having to be actually there to confront the potential dangers of the Amazon and endure the humidity (that is assuming the Amazon will still exist).
Tracklisting:
1. Rain Forest {28:11}
both sides of the cassette are the same
(1)
Erik Satie - Parade, Relâche and Gymnopédies
performed by The Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, conducted by Louis Auriacombe
Erik Satie (1886-1925) was one of the odder figures of Music - an art which has not been lacking in odd characters and eccentric geniuses. Satie's talents were both multitudinous and many-sided, though many of these sides were strangely undeveloped. Critic Eric Salzman, in his book Twentieth Century Music, appropriately describes Satie as "a remarkable innovator with a great deal of genius if little talent."
Though Satie's art is at its most convincing in his numerous short piano pieces, his literary bent and interest in all the artistic movements of his time made inevitable an alliance with such leaders of the avant-garde as Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Jean Borlin, Serge Diaghilev, Claude Debussy, Darius Milhaud and others of the flamboyant artistic life of the Paris of that era (roughly 1905-1925). The two ballets Parade (1916) and Relâche are especially representative of Satie's later style while the Three Gymnopédies (1888) serve as a reminder of his earlier taste for Rosicrucianism, plainsong and the musical economy which he deemed of such importance all through his life. Debussy in particular was so taken with the Gymnopédies that he orchestrated two of them and, though the pieces are so beautiful one suspects they would have become famous even without it. Debussy's subtle orchestrations have contributed to their popularity.
Parade is a satirical treatment by Jean Cocteau of the attempts by a small French theatrical troupe to attract public attendance. The ballet was first produced at the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris on May 18, 1917, with curtain, scenery and costumes by Pablo Picasso and choreography by Leonid Massine.
...
Relâche, in terms of ballet, is an intensification of the avant-garde, cubistic outlook of Parade. The book for Relâche was supplied by Francois Picabia. Jean Borlin, the director and premiere danseur of the Ballets Suédois (Swedish Ballet) created the choreography. Picabia and Borlin collaborated on the production itself and the "Cinématographie Entr'acte" was directed by René Clair. The first production was in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on December 4, 1924. (Robert Jones)
Tracklisting:
Side One
1. Parade {15:30}
2. Gymnopédie No. 1 {2:27}
3. Gymnopédie No. 3 {2:59}
Side Two
1. Relâche Part 1 {9:33}
2. Relâche Conclusion {12:12}
(1)
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Stimmung
performed by Singcircle
What was important for the creation of Stimmung was the fact that I'd just come back from Mexico where I'd spent a month walking through the ruins, visiting Oaxaca, Merida, and Chichenitza, and becoming a Maya, a Toltec, a Zapotec, an Aztec, or a Spaniard - I became the people. The magic names of the Aztec gods are spoken in Stimmung. . . . And then the space. I sat for hours on the same stone, watching the proportions of certain Mayan temples with their three wings, watching how they were slightly out of phase. I relived ceremonies, which were sometimes very cruel. The religious cruelty isn't in Stimmung, only sounds, the whole general feeling of the Mexican plains with their edifices going into the sky - the quietness, on one side, and the sudden changes, on the other. (Karlheinz Stockhausen from Stockhausen - Conversations with the Composer by Jonathan Cott)
Stimmung is divided into 51 sections. In each section a new overtone melody or 'model' is introduced and repeated several times. Each female voice leads a new section eight times, and each male voice, nine times. Some of the other singers gradually have to transform their own material until they have come into 'identify' with the lead singer of the section; they do this by adopting the same character as the leader in tempo, rhythm and dynamics. When the lead singer feels that 'identity' has been reached, he or she makes a gesture to another singer who leads the next section. Each model is a set of rhythmic phonetic patterns, often with actual words used as their basis, such as 'Hallelujah' or 'Saturday'.
In 29 of the sections, 'magic names' are called out. These are the names of gods and goddesses from many cultures - Aztec, aboriginal and Ancient Greek, for instance - and have to be incorporated into the character of the model. The erotic and intimate love-poems that are recited were written by Stockhausen "during amorous days" in 1967.
Different versions of the work result from the order of models and choice of magic names decided upon by the performers. The first version of Stimmung made by the Collegium Vocale is known as the 'Paris version', and has recently been published as work Number 24 1/2. The ensemble has performed this version hundreds of times throughout the world. The 'Singcircle version' of 1977 evolved over many months of rehearsal in London prior to its first performance at the Round House on November 21st. This version was revised after consultations between the composer, Gregory Rose and Simon Emmerson in April 1978.
The word 'Stimmung' has many meanings in its original German. Literally it means 'tuning', but can also indicate 'being in tune with', good or bad atmosphere, and so on. Die Stimme = voice. (Gregory Rose & Helen Ireland) Tracklisting:
1. warming up, leading to Model 1, Bass {3:03}
2. Mezzo. "Gott nochmal" -- Soprano 2. GROGORAGALLY: Sun god (Australian aboriginal) {1:31}
3. Soprano 2. "Vishnu" -- Baritone. ELYON: God of Storms (Hebrew) {0:52}
4. Soprano 1. -- Tenor. USI-AFU: God of the Earth (Timor, Indonesia) {1:18}
5. Baritone. "Saturday", "Saturnstag", "Samstag", "complement nous" -- Tenor. CHANG-TI: Director of the Cosmos (Chinese Buddhist) {1:05}
6. Tenor. {0:32}
7. Baritone. "Hallelujah" {0:28}
8. Soprano 1. -- Mezzo. UEUETEOTL: God of Fire (Aztec) {1:37}
9. Bass. "Phoenix" -- Tenor. USI-NENO: Sun god (Timor, Indonesia) {1:11}
10. Soprano 1. "Komit" (like screech owls) {1:10}
11. Bass. "moo", "moo-coo" (like cows), "Guru" (a dove) -- Baritone. AHURA-MAZDA: God of Wisdom (Persian) {1:08}
12. Tenor. {2:54}
13. Baritone. -- Soprano 2. ABASSI-ABUMO: Creator of Heaven (Ibi. Africa) {1:35}
14. Soprano 2. "hippy" -- Mezzo. CHALCHIHUITLICUE: Goddess of the Sea and Salt Water (Aztec) {1:22}
15. Mezzo. -- Soprano. WAKANTANKA: God of Thunder (Sioux Indian) {1:50}
16. Bass. {0:46}
17. Soprano 1. "The male is basically an anymale" {0:49}
18. Tenor. {1:44}
19. Bass. "Sontag", "Sunday" -- Soprano 1. DIONYSOS: God of Fertility and Wine (Greek) {1:08}
20. Soprano 2. {1:29}
21. Baritone. {0:36}
22. Mezzo. {1:10}
23. Baritone. {1:50}
24. Soprano 2. -- Soprano 1. VENUS: Goddess of Love (Roman) {1:15}
25. Mezzo. "Wotansday", "Mittwoch", "We(d)nesday" -- Baritone. YAH-WEH: God of Israel (Hebrew) {2:27}
26. Soprano 1. "Tuesday" -- Mezzo. QUETZALCOATL: God of gods (Aztec) {1:06}
27. Tenor. {0:59}
28. Bass. -- Soprano 2. MUNGANAGANA: God of wind (Australian aboriginal) {0:58}
29. Baritone. -- Mezzo. TLALOC: God of Rain (Aztec) {1:03}
30. Soprano 1. {0:55}
31. Mezzo. {0:51}
32. Baritone. {4:19}
33. Soprano 2. "Friday", 'Freitag" -- Baritone. OSIRIS: God of Fertility and Death (Egyptian) -- Tenor. ALLAH: Almighty Creator (Islamic) -- Soprano 1. RHEA: Mother of Zeus (Ancient Greek) {1:35}
34. Soprano 1. "Niemals" -- Tenor. "VISHNU: The Bringer of Good (Hindu) {0:51}
35. Bass. "Sehr hell", "Helena" -- Soprano 1. GAIA: Goddess of the Earth (Ancient Greek) {1:19}
36. Tenor. -- Mezzo. TETEOINNAN: Mother of the Gods (Aztec) {1:30}
37. Mezzo. -- Soprano 2. SUSSISTINAKO: God of Heaven (Sia, American Indian) {1:37}
38. Soprano 1. "Salemaleikum", "Salami-e", "Come-on" -- Bass. RANGI: God of Heaven (Maori, Polynesia) {1:39}
39. Mezzo. "Moonsday" -- Baritone. ATUM-RA: Goddess of the Sun (Ancient Egyptian) {0:55}
40. Baritone. {0:50}
41. Bass. "Thorstag", "Thursday", "Donnerstag"; "Freitag Samstag Sonntag Montag Dienstag Mittwoch Donnerstag" -- Soprano 2. YADILQIL: Heaven-Man (Navajo, American Indian) {1:01}
42. Baritone. "Nemesis", "Artemis" -- Tenor. VARUNA: God of Wisdom (Hindu) {0:59}
43. Tenor. neighing (like a horse) {0:39}
44. Bass. {2:37}
45. Soprano 2. {0:55}
46. Tenor. -- Soprano 1. CHRONOS: God of Time (Ancient Greek) -- Mezzo. CHICOMECOATL God of Food (Aztec) {1:20}
47. Soprano 1. -- Tenor. BUDDHA: The Enlightened One (Buddhist) {1:38}
48. Mezzo. "Maria" -- Bass. TANGAROA: Sun God (Maori, Polynesia) {1:26}
49. Tenor. {0:50}
50. Soprano 2. {0:58}
51. Tenor. {2:10}
(1) or (1)
Amadu Bansang Jobarteh - Tabara
released in 1993
Amadu Bansang Jobarteh is a jali or griot, an oral historian and hereditary praise singer from among the Mandinka people of Gambia, West Africa. His instrument is the kora, a 21-string harp. This is a live studio recording featuring kora and accompanying vocals. Now in his late seventies, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh embodies the wisdom and maturity of a grand master, and is one of the oldest and most respected kora players of our time. Despite his age, his musical mind is sharp and his fingers are incredibly nimble. He has performed around the world and has taught in Europe and the United States.
The kora
The kora is a 21-string harp from West Africa. Because of its pleasing sound and accessibility to Western ears, it is perhaps the most well-known of stringed instruments from the African continent. The kora's resonator is made from a large hollowed gourd which is dried, cleaned and prepared by its maker and then covered with cowhide. The hide is stretched over the open side of the gourd and wrapped around toward the back, where it is held in place by ornate metal tacks. A hardwood neck is fixed to the center of the gourd, along with two wooden hand supports. Nylon strings are fastened to an upright bridge, and are held in place by strips of leather which, when moved up and down the bridge, alter the pitch. A hole is punched in the gourd to serve as a resonator, and also serves as a convenient pocket to carry extra strings and personal items.
Music of the kora
Much of kora music is based on short cycles of finger movements called kumbengo. These kumbengo may be continuously developed within a piece with slight variations in rhythm and melody. Another important element of kora playing is birimintingo, or downward-spiraling melodic runs, which can be fast and highly ornamental in nature.
Much of West African music relies heavily on improvisation, and individual musicians are somewhat free to develop their own styles within established boundaries such as song format, spoken or sung text, tuning and rhythm. Kora players also often use humming as an accompaniment to their improvisations.
There are four basic tunings connected to the kora, and each one carries its own repertoire of songs. Each tuning is regional; they reflect local preference. It is rare to find a kora player who performs well in all four tunings. (from the liner notes)
Tracklisting:
1. Tabara {8:31}
2. Jula Faso {11:53}
3. Lamban {7:21}
4. Kelefaba {11:06}
5. Fode Kaba {9:44}
6. Hama Ba Jata {3:01}
7. Jula Jegere {10:54}
8. Alfa Yaya {8:39}
(1) or (1)
various artists compilation - New Music for Early Instruments
released in 1995
Performed by Ensemble Nova: Leta Miller - flutes, Linda Burman-Hall - harpsichord
with Frans Bruggen - recorder, Richard Crocker - baritone, Eva Legene - recorder
From the liner notes:
In the early years of the 20th century, many of the more adventuresome composers wished to break out of the mold of late 19th-century romantic tonality, and began searching for ways to expand or change musical language. These composers explored many different musical paths - a return to modality, borrowings from folk music and world music, "exotic" scales, and so-called "atonality" (leading to the development of the 12-tone system).
One path of escape from romanticism was archaism - engagement with the formal structures and tonal/harmonic languages of early European music. Manifestations of this approach can be seen in such diverse pieces as Vaughan-Williams's Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis (1909), Resphigi's Ancient Airs and Dances (1917-32) and Orff's Carmina Burana (1936). Paralleling this compositional interest in archaism was a budding interest in early instruments themselves. Various historians, performers and teachers began to research the construction and playing techniques of early instruments, and encouraged craftsmen to build replicas of them. A community of dedicated amateurs and semi-professionals began to form, dedicated to playing early music on modern replicas of the recorder, harpsichord, viola da gamba, and lute.
Before long, some European composers began to write new music for these early instruments.
...
In the United States, there were similar attempts in the 1930s and 1940s to find fresh approaches to the problem of musical language. Like many of their European counterparts, composers of the American "experimental tradition" (such as Seeger, Cowell, Hovhaness and McPhee) also looked to folk music, world music and early European music for fresh sources of compositional inspiration. Lou Harrison's baroque-influenced Six Sonatas for Cembalo (1943) - recorded on this CD - was a product of this movement.
...
Today, as this century draws to a close, fine players of early instruments abound, and musicmaking involving early instruments is now a frequent and respected aspect of concert life on both sides of the Atlantic. A substantial body of modern works has already been created for early instruments by both European and American composers, and twentieth-century compositions now occupy a small - but significant - place in the early instrument repertoire.
Tracklisting:
1. Lou Harrison - Six Sonatas for Cembalo: Sonata I (Moderato) {3:10}
(1943) for harpsichord
2. Lou Harrison - Six Sonatas for Cembalo: Sonata II (Allegro) {2:52}
(1943) for harpsichord
3. Lou Harrison - Six Sonatas for Cembalo: Sonata III (Moderato) {5:08}
(1943) for harpsichord
4. Lou Harrison - Six Sonatas for Cembalo: Sonata IV (Allegro) {1:42}
(1943) for harpsichord
5. Lou Harrison - Six Sonatas for Cembalo: Sonata V (Moderato) {3:21}
(1943) for harpsichord
6. Lou Harrison - Six Sonatas for Cembalo: Sonata I (Allegro) {3:11}
(1943) for harpsichord
7. Richard Felciano - Alleluia to the Heart of Stone {3:53}
(1984) for reverberated recorder
8. Richard Felciano - Responsory {7:09}
(1992) for solo male voice and live electronics
9. David Evan Jones - Fugue State: Prelude {3:31}
(1993) for flute and harpsichord
10. David Evan Jones - Fugue State: Fugal Variations {9:17}
(1993) for flute and harpsichord
11. David Evan Jones - Fugue State: Postlude {2:59}
(1993) for flute and harpsichord
12. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 1, a Luigi Dallapiccola {0:21}
(1978) for harpsichord
13. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 2, a Durand Begault {0:20}
(1978) for harpsichord
14. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 3, a Diane Carlson {0:28}
(1978) for harpsichord
15. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 4, a Graciela Paraskevaidis {0:38}
(1978) for harpsichord
16. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 5, a Padre Mujica {1:12}
(1978) for harpsichord
17. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 6, a Jacques Bekaert {0:13}
(1978) for harpsichord
18. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 7, a Pauline Oliveros {0:59}
(1978) for harpsichord
19. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 8, a Eduardo Bertola {0:20}
(1978) for harpsichord
20. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 9, a Linda Burman-Hall {0:38}
(1978) for harpsichord
21. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 10, a Coriun Aharonian {0:36}
(1978) for harpsichord
22. Gordon Mumma - Eleven-Note Pieces: 11, a Robert Ashley {0:14}
(1978) for harpsichord
23. Gordon Mumma - Decimal Passacaglia {1:25}
(1978) for harpsichord
24. Gordon Mumma - Octal Waltz {1:23}
(1980) for harpsichord
25. Robert Strizich - Aphorisms: Aphorism II {0:50}
(1986) for solo alto recorder
26. Robert Strizich - Aphorisms: Aphorism VII {1:20}
(1986) for solo alto recorder
27. Robert Strizich - Aphorisms: Aphorism VIII {1:02}
(1986) for solo alto recorder
28. Robert Strizich - Fantasia {6:27}
(1985) for recorder quartet
29. Robert Strizich - Tombeau {10:53}
(1982) for baroque flute and harpsichord
(1) or (1) (2) or (2) [links coming back soon, maybe (1/24/2012)]
John Cage - Variations II/Eight Whiskus/Music for Two/Ryoanji
Performers:
Malcolm Goldstein - violin
Matthias Kaul - percussion, glass harmonica
When discussing John Cage's music, the word "anarchy" is never far away. There is nothing wrong with this, if the concept of anarchy is used discerningly, and if we remember that anything that lacks not just regimentation but also discipline is doomed to failure. Only those for whom others set the limits can proceed without consequences. By contrast, those who define the rules of their actions for themselves are best off being precise in those actions. Anarchy and discipline: the compelling logic of this combination is best demonstrated using the example of John Cage's lifework. For, however iconoclastic John Cage's thoughts and actions might seem, the open universe that he preached was always precisely surveyed.
Even in his early work, Cage revealed a marked preference for measurement. The sound explosions of his Constructions in Metal or his pieces for prepared piano occur within an exact grid of rhythmic structures, predefined subdivisions of time, within which Cage arranges the sounds and noises. And even in the Variations I of 1958, a (belated) birthday present for David Tudor, in which he proclaimed "anarchy by means of the negation of time" (Heinz-Klaus Metzger), he did not abolish measurement when he relinquished rhythmic structures. On the contrary, the "construction of a pure 'in itself,' the emancipation of every 'for other,'" as Metzger analyzes the situation of this composition, is based directly on operations involving measurement. Six transparent sheets - one of which has 27 different points, the others five lines each - can be superimposed in different ways. The lines represent different parameters of the sound event: pitch, volume, timbre, duration, and point of entry. When perpendicular lines are drawn through the points from each line, it gives values, distances to be measured or simply observed, as Cage puts it in his introduction to Variations I. If Cage's procedure for generating a musical text by means of points and lines might seem arbitrary, there is no denying the exacting subordination of the performer under this maxim of "measure and comply."
The same is true of Variations II, conceived four years later (and presented here in a version prepared by Malcolm Goldstein for violin and glass harmonica), where the plurality of possible results is even greater. The material provided by Cage consists of five small sheets with a point each, and six larger ones each with a line. The sheets can be superimposed in any way imaginable; five of the lines have the same function as in Variations I, while the sixth one determines the number of tones (in Variations I this was determined by the sizes of the points, which were fixed).
...
The visual contrast between the conspicuous macroforms of the fifteen large stones and the raked gravel, which from a distance seems homogeneous but from up close reveals an anarchic micropattern, that characterizes the famous stone garden of the Ryoanji monastery in Kyoto inspired Cage first to the drawings and etchings of the cycle Where R=Ryoanji. The musical composition Ryoanji transforms that visual contrast into sound in a way that is as appropriate as it is original.
...
Another variant of this surveying of preexisting materials so typical of Cage is found in the technique of writing through, in which texts of the most diverse provenance - from the Bible to James Joyce - are "filtered" through mesostichs. In Eight Whiskus for solo voice from 1984, Cage applied the method to a poem by the Australian poet Chris Mann, and since the poem is called whistlin is did, and since Cage used it as the source for eight haikus structured like mesostichs, he invented the word "whis-kus" for the results. Using chance procedures, Cage assigned the syllables to the notes of the F-minor scale, producing a piece of vocal music that is very unusual within his oeuvre: with a key signature of four flats and purely diatonic! The imaginary folk song that is generated by this abstract method was reworked by Cage for solo violin a year later, after consulting with Malcolm Goldstein, such that the vowel and consonant qualities of the poem are transformed into various bowing positions, gradations of bowing pressure, and forms of articulation. According to Goldstein, "The tonal melodies are thereby extended, as lines of timbre-texture qualities, expressive of the bowed violin sounding."
...
Two extensive series of pieces - Music for ... of the years 1984 to 1987 and the 47 compositions, ranging from solo to orchestral works, that make up the so-called number pieces that began with Two - demonstrate that Cage had now found a solid and productive method for reconciling his anarchic ideals with the conventions of traditional concert practice. The numbers that the computerized I Ching generates are as "random" as the distances between the perpendicular lines connecting the lines and points in arbitrarily arranged transparent sheets, and just as the sheets of the Variations allow for an incalculable number of versions, the numbers of the I Ching oracle can be read as answers to a wide range of questions. The questions that interested Cage in the reductionist pieces of his later years were ones like: "How many successive sounds should I place in a 'time bracket' of one minute? How many components should make up these events? What pitch and what dynamic should these sounds have?" Music for ... provides 17 half-hour-long answers in the form of independent parts for different instruments that are not coordinated into a score, which can be played as solo parts or in any possible combination. (Peter Niklas Wilson)
Tracklisting:
1. Variations II {20:10}
(1961) realization for violin and glass harmonica
2. Eight Whiskus {5:21}
(1985) for violin
3. Music for Two {29:40}
(1985) for violin and percussion
4. Ryoanji {19:51}
(1983-85) for voice and percussion; voice part transcribed for violin by Malcolm Goldstein
(1)
Wind Chimes
cassette released in 1990
On this edition of the nature/environmental sounds postings, I present the sounds of chimes made by a gentle wind.
Tracklisting:
1. Wind Chimes {30:48}
Note: both sides of the cassette are the same
(1)
The Freight Elevator Quartet - Fix It In Post (1997-2000)
released in 2001
Luke Dubois - Max/MSP programming, analog modular synths, guitar, bass, keyboard, effects
Paul Feuer - didjeridoo, keyboards, synth bass, programming
Rachael Finn - cellos, effects
Stephen Krieger - beats, drum machines, keyboard, sampling, effects
The recordings on this CD were taken from nearly four years of live recordings by The Freight Elevator Quartet. This album chronicles the progression of our sound from our first chaotic performance in a 125th st. freight elevator through our performances this year in support of our fourth album, some thirty-five shows later. Over this time we've moved from our original instrumentation of cello, didjeridoo, modular-synth and drum machine to include samplers, keyboards, guitars, basses and a Powerbook running Max/MSP. The tracks you hear on this album are composites of different performances, some as many as three years apart. Our music is largely improvised, so no two shows are the same, and we tried to reflect this range of sound and styles in the composite tracks. As computers become so immersed in our cultural discourse that they become literally transparent, we're interested in highlighting the juxtaposition of technology with acoustic instrumentation and human improvisation, using electronics and computers in the framework of four people in a band performing on stage. We hope you enjoy the album. (liner notes by The Freight Elevator Quartet)
Tracklisting:
1. Pomoerotic {8:53}
2. Transform/Disappear {6:20}
3. Downtime is Becoming Less of an Option {8:32}
4. Seeming {6:01}
5. Acmend's Revenge {3:05}
6. Transparent {5:27}
7. How Does It Feel to Be Going Out of Style? {4:18}
8. Gilgamesh {4:22}
9. Bring Me My Mental Health {7:06}
10. Cellophane {1:48}
11. Ahmed Goes to Heaven {4:42}
12. Infrared {5:13}
13. Excerpt from 'Berlin: Symphony of a Great City' {1:49}
14. File Under Futurism {5:34}
(1) or (1) (2) or (2) [links coming back soon, maybe (1/24/2012)]
Charlemagne Palestine - Strumming Music
This was originally posted on the old version of this blog three years ago and also posted again on this version of the blog after I created this version of the blog to obtain the capabilities of the new Blogger engine. There are people who have asked for a reposting of this piano drone classic so here it is.
Originally released on LP in 1974; reissued on CD in 1995
From the back cover:
Charlemagne Palestine was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1945. His formal education includes music and art in high school, Mannes College of Music, The New School for Social Research and New York University. From 1964-1970 he was carillonneur at Saint Thomas Church, NYC. He was composer in residence at New York University and has taught at California Institute of the Arts and Nova Scotia College of Art. His works have been performed all over the United States, Canada and Europe. Apart from his music he is also known for his body art, video and purely visual works.
Strumming Music is a work developed over the past five years utilizing a note alteration technique with the sustain pedal of the piano constantly depressed. This technique allows the undampened strings to resonate and compound with each other creating complex mixtures of pure strummed sonority and their overtones. No electronics or special tunings are utilized; only the finest instrument available today, the Rolls Royce of pianos, "Bosendorfer" of Vienna, all of Mr. Palestine's piano works have been composed especially for this marvelous instrument.
Tracklisting:
1. Strumming Music {52:13}
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