[uncredited artist] - Turquie-Turkey
This is the last post of the year 2009. Happy 2010!
In Turkey, which lies between East and West, the Arab tradition has not only been maintained, but it has also been transformed, enriched, and influenced. This compact disc takes the listener on a journey to the heart of Turkish folk music, ith such instruments as the deblek (single-headed goblet drum), the davul (large double-headed cylindrical drum), the zurna (folk oboe), the ud (Arab lute), the kanun (plucked box zither) and the violin. (from the back cover)
Tracklisting:
1. Chant d'Istanbul {10:55}
violin, clarinet, deblek, ud, tambourine
2. Variations sur un kanun {10:35}
kanun, violin, darbouka
3. Danses villageoises {5:53}
zurna, davul
4. Selection de chants turcs {27:06}
violin, clarinet, deblek, ud, tambourine
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I would like to wish my visitors and fellow bloggers happy holidays and hope that everyone enjoys whatever holidays and traditions are celebrated.
I'll be offline most of the time during the next few days as I'm visiting family and maybe a lost relative. I hope to resume posting a day or two after Christmas.
Iannis Xenakis - Persepolis + Remixes Edition 1
I found this one somewhere on the web some time ago. This is a 2-CD release with a recording of "Persepolis" on the first disc and the second disk contains remixes (or interpretations) by some of the biggest names in contemporary experimental sound art.
Also found on the web are the information and background of "Persepolis":
In 1971, former Iranian dictator Muhammad Reza Shah hosted a lavish and highly choreographed event amidst the ruins of the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis in order to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of Iran's founding by Cyrus The Great. This commemoration of modern Iran's beginnings was part of the Shah's own struggle with the country's increasingly politicized Shi'ite Muslim clerics, led by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, to secularize Iran. Declaring himself to be heir to Cyrus' legacy, the Shah presided over a cast of 6,200 vintage Persian costume-wearing vassals in an outlandish ceremony affirming the Shah's own interpretation of Iranian history, one which paid little deference to Islam.
The third annual Shiraz arts festival was held that same year at Persepolis. In keeping with the 2500th national anniversary celebrations, the Shah commissioned Greek composer and computer music pioneer Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) to write a piece of music exalting ancient Persia's aristocratic pre-Islamic religious culture. Selecting Xenakis to author such a work could not have been more symbolically appropriate. A central figure in the development of computer composition, this half-blind former architect, WWII resistance fighter and associate of Le Corbusier evolved a new approach to music, most notably one that employed mathematical probability functions as a compositional methodology.
Titled Persepolis, in honor of the location in which it was to be performed, Xenakis composed a fifty-six minute, eight-track tape piece of musique concrète for the occasion. A noisy, apocalyptic-sounding work distinguished by rising waves of intensity, Persepolis' debut must have been quite an experience for those lucky enough to be in attendance. Persepolis takes on an even greater significance when listened to as a musical work whose purpose was to serve a failed secularist ideology overtaken less than a decade later by a fundamentalist Islamic revolution.
Tracklisting:
Disc 1
1. Persepolis GRM Mix {60:43}
Disc 2
1. Persepolis (remix by Otomo Yoshihide) {9:21}
2. Persepolis (remix titled Per Se by Ryoji Ikeda) {8:36}
3. Persepolis (remix titled Doing By Not Doing by Zbigniew Karkowski) {15:13}
4. Persepolis (remix by Antimatter) {10:00}
5. Persepolis (remix titled Glitche by Construction Kit) {5:00}
6. Persepolis (remix titled Untitled 113 for Iannis Xenakis by Francisco Lopez) {10:05}
7. Persepolis (remix titled Whorl by Laminar) {7:06}
8. Persepolis (remix by Merzbow) {7:01}
9. Persepolis (remix by Ulf Langheinrich) {7:34}
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Carmencita Y. Kazan - Tinikling
LP released in 1972; includes instructions and diagrams
From the liner notes:
The Tinikling Dance is one of the most dramatic dances in the Philippines. The dance is named after the long-legged "Tikling" birds as they hop between tall reeds and tree branches.
Dancers perform along the sides and between two bamboo poles which are struck together in time to the music. Hopping in between the bamboo poles without getting caught demonstrates skill but it is still a lot of fun even if you get caught.
Equipment:
Two bamboo poles approximately 9 feet long
Two heavy boards at least 2 inches thick and 2 feet long
Costume:
GIRL DANCER - a plaid colorful wrap-around skirt, a loose overblouse with butterfly sleeves BOY DANCER - bright colored pants with one leg rolled up to mid-calf, with long-sleeved shirt worn outside the pants; a colorful scarf around the neck
Dancers perform barefooted.More information about the Tinikling here.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Introduction to Tinikling {2:14}
2. Clapping to the Rhythm {0:24}
3. Bamboo Beating Instructions {1:26}
4. Bamboo Beating to the Music {0:17}
5. Bamboo Beating Instructions {0:34}
6. Figure 1-The Tinikling Step {3:07}
7. The Tinikling Step-with Music {0:28}
8. The Tinikling Step-with Music {0:35}
9. Figure 2-The Cross Step {1:42}
10. Figure 2-The Cross Step-with Music {0:28}
11. Figures 1 and 2-with Music {0:51}
Side B
1. Figure 3-Tinikling Step Diagonal Forward {1:42}
2. Figure 3-with Music {0:33}
3. Figures 1, 2, 3-with Music {1:11}
4. Figure 4-Straddle Jump with Turns {2:44}
5. Figure 4-with Music {0:28}
6. Figures 1, 2, 3, 4-with Music {1:31}
7. Figure 5-Forward and Sideward {2:31}
8. Figure 5-with Music {0:31}
9. Complete Instrumental Music {3:06}
10. Complete Instrumental Music-Repeated {2:51}
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various artists compilation - Classical Music of Japan
LP released in 1965
Notes by Katsumasa Takasago and Jac Holzman:
KABUKI MUSIC
Kabuki, one of the most popular theatricals of Japan, was originated by a Shinto dancer, Okuni, a lady from Izumo. Okuni made her debut on the bank of the Kamo River in Kyoto in 1596 and word of her popularity spread all over the country. She attracted the audience with dances notes for their erotic gestures. The government prohibited the performance by women (mostly prostitutes) in the middle 17th century and since then, actresses have been completely excluded and today, men play women's roles in Kabuki.
The themes of the Kabuki dramas deal with warriors in the older feudalistic society. The relationships of pity, sympathy, obedience and devotion between masters and their men are stressed.
...
Kanjincho, one of the most famous Kabuki dramas, was written about a hundred and twenty years ago specifically for an actor named Ebizo Ichikawa. When the curtain rises, three border guards are on the stage and the chief guard orders his men to capture Yoshitsune of the Genji family. Benkei, the protector of Yoshitsune, disguising himself as a mountain priest, tries to cross the border with Yoshitsune and several other men.
...
The musical selection in this album is the dancing scene of Benkei taken from Kanjincho.
KOTO
Before Imperial Court Music was introduced to the West, koto was the only music of Japan widely known. Koto music pervades Japanese life and derives, as does so much of Japanese music, from the Chinese. It became the "national" Japanese instrument early in the 17th century. However, there are not many serious artists of the koto. Koto, like flower arrangement or the tea ceremony, was one of the required aspects of pre-marital education for Japanese girls. Through koto, they were supposed to learn elegance in manner, and thus the value of koto music from the artistic standpoint was veneered by this form of popularity.
...
Hiyaku, a composition for two kotos, composed by Genchi Hisamoto in 1931, is in the form of a rondo. This lively piece consists of three sections and a prelude. The short prelude is followed by the second movement in 4/6 time, and the third movement is in 2/4. The fourth movement, in 2/4 time, gradually accelerates in tempo, the two kotos "weaving" the musical line together.
GAGAKU (IMPERIAL COURT MUSIC)
Imperial Court Music called Gagaku (in translation, "elegant music") was brought primarily from China about 1400 years ago and is now regarded as the oldest instrumental music in Japan. The performers were predominantly the members of the music department (Gagakusho) of the Imperial Household. Under the feudalistic society of ancient Japan, the common people were not allowed to participate in the performance nor were they even allowed to hear this music, a circumstance which was not changed until the end of the 19th century.
...
The selection included here is called Bairo and it is one of the most famous traditional pieces. The performers are the Heian Imperial Court Music Orchestra playing koto, sho, hichiriki, fue, kakko, and biwa.
KAGURA (SHRINE MUSIC)
There are innumerable kinds of Kagura, some performed in court, some in Buddhist temples, some in Shinto shrines (widely scattered in Japan), some in far-away mountain temples. What is common to all kagura, however, is that the music is dedicated to gods; Miya-kagura, meaning music dedicated to the gods of the Imperial Court and Sato-kagura being music dedicated to gods in shrines in local areas. Shrine music is designated for the piety of the common people, while Miya-kagura is limited to the piety of gods of the Imperial Household.
Sat-kagura (Shrine music), however, is a mixture of court music and folk music. Shrines are sacred places for the common people, who used to frequent them on various festival days to pray for security, prosperity and success. Such practices, however, are disappearing so fast that the research on the subject is becoming increasingly difficult.
A few centuries ago, the Kagura repertoire was large, but today only a few authentic pieces are still heard. These are Haya-kagura (shrine music in quick tempo), Sato-kagura (music in local shrines), Tsurugi (sword music and dance), and Tsurukame (Crane and Tortoise). Tsurugi makes an interesting contrast with Haya-kagura. The former is slow and serious while the latter is quick and cheerful. Tsurugi includes an elegant sword dance which must have originated in an ancient time, its artistic form being stablized in ensuing years. A dancer, usually called Miko (a divine lady) is selected from among the young virgins of a village, dances on the stage of a nearby shrine with a sword accompanied by music played on drum, flute and cymbal.
GEZA MUSIC
Geza is a generic term which may include any kind of music required for any operatic performance. Geza means "left side of the stage" and musicians usually play this music behind a screen unseen by the audience. Today Geza music is used for almost any theatricals or operatic performances. Yet its unique existence is coupled with performances of medieval dramas, in which the Geza band becomes most important and effective. The Geza band produces various kinds of sound effects by means of musical instruments: the sounds of waves, snow, ghosts and dozens of other short pieces. Naturally, their function is to make the scene more dramatic and vivid.
...
The first three pieces, called Daibyoshi, are played for festival scenes. The beginning piece is played by flute, shamisen, big drum, small drum and cymbal. The second piece is played by flute, small drum and big drum, and the third piece by shamisen, flute, bell and drum.
SHAKUHACHI
Shakuhachi is the traditional bamboo flute music of Japan, played by Buddhist priests of the Fuke sect. The Fuke sect derived from the Zen sect which originated in China and was officially brought to Japan in 1255. The chief doctrine of the Fuke sect is expressed by a verse of four lines: "Not attached to the light Nor to the darkness, Everything that arises from every region Shall be freely and closely experienced."
...
The selection featured in this recording, Hontechoshi, is played with a flute more than two feet in length. Hontechoshi means "fundamental tones." This short piece is frequently studied by beginning students of the shakuhachi. This music is accompanied by two kinds of hand bells - kei and rei (one smaller than the other) - and the reading of Hannyashingyo (heart sutra), one of the main sutras of the Zen sect. The music is played by Asakura and Tanikita of the Meianji Temple. The reading is by Keiun Hirazumi.
FLUTE CONCERTO
The flute concerto, Tsumikusa, composed by Kikuhara in 1908, is taken from his "Four Seasons" in which "Clouds" depicts summerl "Moon," fall; "Snow," winter; and Tsumikusa, which means "Picking Wild Flowers" is dedicated to the spring season. Its folk quality and its gaiety made it popular during the Meiji era (1868-1912).
MIBU-KYOGEN MUSIC
Mibu-Kyogen is a category of pantomime play created in the year 761 by a Buddhist priest which has been performed in the Mibu Temple (Kyoto) every year since that time. The sound of the bg bell, drum and flute of Kyogen is believed to be the harbinger of spring for the people of the ancient capital. The pantomime takes place in April in the main hall of the Mibu Temple and thousands of tourists come to see the colorful costumes and hear this ancient music. The performance is not so polished as that of the Imperial Court Dance or dances at shrines. The music is taken from folk music of various areas.
...
These selections are "festival tunes" and "shrine music," both of which are representative pieces of Mibu-Kyogen music.
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Kyoto Kabuki Orchestra - Kanjincho {7:07}
2. Ikeda and her "Co-operatives" - Hiyaku {3:32}
3. Heian Imperial Court Music Orchestra - Bairo {6:05}
4. Kasai family - Sato kagura {1:57}
5. Kasai family - Tsurugi {6:14}
Side 2
1. Kyoto Geza Band - Daibyoshi {8:46}
2. Meianji priests - Hontechoshi {5:23}
3. Ikead and her "Co-operatives" - Tsumikusa {11:56}
4. Staff for the Preservation of Mibu Kyogen - Festival tunes Shrine tunes (Yudate Kagura) {3:35}
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Vivienne and Dirk Keilhack - Musik fur 20 Finger
LP released in 1977
Info from the liner notes roughly translated from German to English using a free translation website:
The existing work selection offers a cut out of the literature for piano to four hands of our century, beginning with Regers Burlesken from the year 1901 and ending with Werner Heiders "Locomobile" out of the year 1977.
The funf works show a development line of the music of the 20th Jahrrhunderts of the Spatromantik uber the musical impressionism and the Klassizismus to the vanguard after 1945. You are a testimony fur the pluralism of the styles in the past 75 years. All works received here are knew become real 20-Finger-Musik, i.e. it. only by 4 hands with 20 fingers bewaltigt. A preparation fur a player became essential musical aspects beruhren and ware unthinkable. You spiegelin the much wrinkly Moglichkeiten vierhandiger set manners impressively against. (Dirk Keilhack)
About Vivienne und Dirk Keilhack
The pianist Dirk wedge hoe born in Nurnberg encountered its partner coming out of Cardiff/Wales in the study at the university fur music in Munchen. Both wetted here the same musical training in Maria country Hindemith and Rudolf Hindemith. Further teachers were Otto A Graef, Illona Kabos and Hugo Steurer. After the study entschiossen it itself when duo to appear. They constructed themselves in the following years a coarse repertoire on that at present alone in the field of the vierhandigen piano music approximately 80 works of the before classical period to the vanguard umfabt. Since 1972 have played Vivienne and Dirk wedge hoe with coarse Erfoig program fur piano to four hands and fur of 2 pianos as well as as a soloist in orchestra concerts in Germany, France, England, Holland and Sweden. Fur radio and television received erganzten the concert active-ness. A special concern of both pianist is, the extensive and precious literature fur a piano to four hands of the past and Vernachlassigung to entreiben. Zehlreiche zeitgenossische composers wrote fur the duo composition of this work species.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Sechs Burlesken op. 58 {11:15}
composed by Max Reger (1901)
2. Six epigraphes antiques {13:22}
composed by Claude Debussy (1914/1915)
Side B
1. Sonate {13:04}
composed by Paul Hindemith (1938)
2. Capriccio {6:07}
composed by Richard Rodney Bennett (1968)
3. Locomobile {5:06}
composed by Werner Heider (1977)
(1) or (1) (2) or (2) [links coming back soon, (1/22/2012)]
George Crumb - George Crumb
Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death for baritone, electric guitar, electric contrabass, electric piano (electric harpsichord), percussion (2 players)
performers:
Speculum Musicae: Sanford Sylvan - baritone; David Starobin - electric guitar; Donald Palma - electric contrabass; Aleck Karis - electric piano and electric harpsichord; Daniel Druckman and Eric Charlston - percussion
producer: Michael Calvert
engineer: Paul Zinman
recorded at the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, June 17, 1990
In 1962, George Crumb (b. 1929, Charleston, West Virginia) began a cycle of chamber music settings of the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca (b. 1892, near Granada, Spain; died by firing squad 1936, Granada). The first completed composition of the series was the Night Music I (1963). Then followed, (in order of completion): Madrigals, Book I (1965); Madrigals, Book II (1965); Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death (1968); Madrigals, Book III (1969); Madrigals, Book IV (1969); Night of the Four Moons (1969); and Ancient Voices of Children (1970). A postscript to this cycle was added in 1986 with Federico's Little Songs for Children. Additionally two other compositions from the time period of the cycle utilize fragments of Lorca's poetry spoken or incanted by the instrumentalists; Eleven Echoes of Autumn (1965); and Echoes of Time and the River (1967).
Rarely has a composer's evolution of musical expression been so inextricably formulated and intertwined with his exploration of a single poet's work. Lorca's poetry assimilated a multitude of artistic styles, but was particularly influenced by the Futurist energy and surrealist symbolism of such artists as Marinetti, Dali, Arp, Picasso and Stravinsky among others. This fusion of influences molded a poetic style which contained fantastic counterbalances of extremes; realist and surrealist juxtapositions within a perspective that is observant rather than experiential. And always contained in the poetry is the symbol and presence of Death, and the influence of the "dark sounds" and emotion of "duende" - the evil side of nature. As Crumb has written: "Lorca's haunting, even mystical vision of death. . . is the seminal force of his dark genius."
The sharp-edged precision of Crumb's musical language developed in descriptive relation to this quality of Lorca's poetry. His initial acquaintance with Lorca occurred during his student years at Ann Arbor, Michigan, well before his first mature composition, the 5 Pieces of 1962. That year Crumb began work on Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death, whose completion would require some six years. As in other pieces of Crumb's Lorca cycle, an extremely broad array of coloristic resources is employed, including: amplified instruments; players and soloist shouting, whispering, humming, and singing; a very personal use of "fringe" instrumental techniques, and some 50 percussion instruments, played by all of the performers.
The eight compositions of the Lorca cycle reflect an ongoing maturation, not so much in musical language, but rather in an increasingly complex and richly textured transformation of the poetic implications and images of the text into musical expression. Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death is the largest composition of the Lorca cycle, both in musical forces used, and in the length and complexity of the form. The title, which is a conscious variation of Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, reflects the three types of formal structure used. In Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death, the periodic arrangement of these forms is dramatically positioned to achieve a cohesive macro-structure. The following chart presents an outline of the two part structure: Part 1 - Refrain I, Song I Death Drone I, Refrain II, Song II, Pause Part 2 - Refrain III, Song III Death Drone II, Refrain IV, Song IV Death Drone III (William K. Bland)
A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979
performer:
Lambert Orkis - piano
producer: Bill Bennett
engineer: Curt Wittig
recorded at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, Maryland, in August 1982
Written for Lambert Orkis, A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979 is, in Crumb's characterization, an "aural tableau" of seven pieces conceptually related to the Nativity frescoes of the Arena Chapel in Padua, Italy. The private chapel, painted by Giotto de Bondone (1267?-1337) and finished in 1305, traces, through a series of separate panels, the lineage and conception of Jesus, incidents in his life, and his crucifixion and resurrection. These frescoes, instrumental in initiating the transition from a Medieval to Renaissance 'style' of expression, were revolutionary not only for their bold use of colors and formal balance, but also, for their humanistic portraiture.
Only two of the pieces from the Suite are actually based on panels from the Chapel - 1) The Visitation and 4) Adoration of the Magi. The remaining five pieces are related to a seasonal observance of the Nativity.
...
Considered together like the panels of a fresco, these seven pieces convey both an extroverted sense of wonderment and joy, and an inward contemplation of the religious intertwining of the human and the metaphysical. The mystery of God becoming man is, to Christians, the beginning of the fulfillment of God's promise to redeem mankind. Giotto, a fervent Christian, represented this in scenes both joyous and quietly personal. A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979 portrays a similar balance. (William K. Bland)
Apparition
Elegiac Songs and Vocalises for Soprano and Amplified Piano
performers:
Jan DeGaetani - mezzo-soprano
Gilbert Kalish - amplified piano
producer: David Starobin
engineer: David Hancock
associate engineer: Paul D. Lehrman
recorded at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, New York City in October 1982
Written in 1979 for Jan DeGaetani and Gilbert Kalish, Apparition is George Crumb's first work for solo voice and piano, and his first setting in English. The text of Apparition is extracted from Walt Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", part of a set of poems grouped under the title Memories of President Lincoln. Whitman wrote "When Lilacs..." during the weeks 'following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, April 14, 1865. Although Whitman's poem is specifically an elegy to Lincoln, Crumb has chosen most of his text from a section subtitled "Death Carol." This is a pause in the direct reference to Lincoln, and contains some of Whitman's most imaginative writing on the experience of death.
In Apparition, each song and vocalise form a piece of the larger vision, eventually coalescing as a tableau. The literary and musical materials focus on concise, highly contrasting metaphors for existence and death. Yet Crumb's cycle offers the listener reassurance, for just as in Whitman's verse, death is never depicted as an ending of life. Instead, it is circular, always a beginning or an enriched return to a universal life-force. (William K. Bland)
Tracklisting:
1. Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death: Part One {9:26}
2. Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death: Part Two {15:45}
3. A Little Suite For Christmas, A.D. 1979: The Visitation {3:16}
4. A Little Suite For Christmas, A.D. 1979: Berceuse For the Infant Jesu {1:50}
5. A Little Suite For Christmas, A.D. 1979: The Shepherd's Noel {1:11}
6. A Little Suite For Christmas, A.D. 1979: Adoration of the Magi {2:00}
7. A Little Suite For Christmas, A.D. 1979: Nativity Dance {1:08}
8. A Little Suite For Christmas, A.D. 1979: Canticle of the Holy Night {3:03}
9. A Little Suite For Christmas, A.D. 1979: Carol of the Bells {2:36}
10. Apparition: I. The Night in Silence Under Many a Star {3:10}
11. Apparition: Vocalise 1: Summer Sounds {1:02}
12. Apparition: II. When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd {1:36}
13. Apparition: III. Dark Mother Always Gliding with Soft Feet {2:59}
14. Apparition: Vocalise 2: Invocation to the Dark Angel {0:59}
15. Apparition: IV. Approach Strong Deliveress! {2:07}
16. Apparition: Vocalise 3: Death Carol ("Song of the Nightbird") {0:42}
17. Apparition: V. Come Lovely and Soothing Death {6:20}
18. Apparition: VI. The Night in Silence Under Many a Star {3:49}
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Barry Adamson & Pan Sonic - Motorlab #3
CD released in 2001
The idea of Motorlab is to create a new kind of electricity between musicians/artists by introducing them to elements they had previously left untouched. The result is then documented during intimate live performances or as in the case of Motorlab #3 by throwing ideas between artist's studios.
The Hymn of the 7th Illusion composed by Barry Adamson & Pan Sonic
choir: Hljomeyki, conducted by Horour Bragason
vocal arrangements & additional treatments: Barry Adamson
electronics: Pan sonic
choir recorded by Halldor Vikingsson at Digraneskirkja, April 6, 2001
mastered & mixed at Thule Musik
About the cover and artwork: Magnus Blondal Johannsson the pioneer composer of electronic music in Iceland was kind enough to let Kitchen Motors perform a brain scan on him while listening to the music contained on this CD. While most people would find the sterile hospital environment unnerving - not to mention the strangeness of having twelve "brain wave pick-ups" taped to their head - Magnus softly drifted into a completely relaxed alpha state similar to being in-between sleep and wakefuloness. One could therefore look at the brain waves printed on the inside of this CD sleeve as being representative of this landscape of hidden dimension that lies between the illsory and the concrete.
Tracklisting:
1. The Hymn of the 7th Illusion {12:23}
2. "" {0:25}
3. The Illusion of the 7th Hymn (remix by Hafler Trio) {23:03}
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Doris Hays - The Piano Music of Henry Cowell
LP released in 1977
Doris Hays - piano
produced by Ilhan Mimaroglu
recording engineer: Bernard Keville
RCA Recording Studios, Studio "A", New York, N.Y.
mastering engineer: George Piros
Atlantic Recording Studios, New York, N.Y.
The vitality of a musical culture is apparent from the way its traditions are investigated, tested, tinkered with and generally overhauled. Henry Cowell was one investigator who influenced countless composers and listeners through his compositions, his teaching and numerous concert tours around the world performing his piano music.
Henry Cowell was born in Menlo Park, California, in 1897. He began his experiments in sound production at the keyboard, using fists, forearms and palms to produce masses of adjacent seconds which he called tone clusters. His earliest-known piece using clusters is entitled Adventures in Harmony, completed when he was about fifteen. From that time into the thirties, Cowell wrote dozens of pieces using tone clusters in a surprising variety of ways. Sometimes the cluster is pictorially programmatic, as the ostinato bass clusters imaging the pulse of waves in The Tides of Manaunaun; or is used as accenting tone mass, in Advertisement; or, for special colorative effects as in The Voice of Lir.
Cowell also explored possibilities provided by the strings of the grand piano: damping strings at various nodes for timbre and pitch change (Sinister Resonance); scraping and rubbing the windings of bass strings (The Banshee); and strumming and plucking strings (Aeolian Harp).
Henry Cowell began concertizing outside of the U.S. in the twenties; he gave his first concert in Europe in 1923. It was after a successful visit to Russia in 1928 that the Russian government published Tiger and The Lilt of the Reel, a first in publishing for an American in Soviet Russia. In mid-1950s Cowell and his wife toured the Middle and Far East under State Department and The Rockefeller Foundation auspices. He composed symphonic works which carry the spirit of his impressions of oriental scales and rhythmic modes gathered during these trips and from childhood influences of Chinese and other cultures in California - Ongaku, the Madras Symphony, Persian Set, Concerto for Koto.
The relationship of dissonance to consonance and the functions of overtones in harmonic theory which Cowell had explored instinctively in his early tone cluster pieces, he then organized into carefully formulated ideas, published in the twenties as New Musical Resources, which was reissued in 1969 by Something Else Press. In 1927 he began the New Music Edition, a quarterly that published compositions of many composers who are now considered among the finest of this century, including Berg, Chavez, Copland, Vivian Fine, Ives, Dane Rudhyar, Ruggles and Ruth Crawford Seeger. He taught at the New School for Social Research in New York City. His wide acquaintance among living composers made of him a continuing contact center and information exchange on several continents.
Henry Cowell died December 10, 1965, at his home in Shady, New York. (Doris Hays)
Tracklisting:
Side One
1. The Voice of Lir {4:26}
2. Advertisement {1:35}
3. Anger Dance {1:32}
4. Amiable Conversation {0:48}
5. The Tides of Manaunaun {2:55}
6. Aeolian Harp {2:11}
7. The Hero Sun {3:44}
8. Tiger {3:14}
9. Six Ings {8:08}
Side Two
1. Dynamic Motion {3:26}
2. The Harp of Life {5:22}
3. What's This {0:51}
4. Sinister Resonance {2:53}
5. Fabric {1:16}
6. Antinomy {3:17}
7. The Trumpet of Angus Og {3:37}
8. The Banshee {3:13}
9. Maestoso {3:29}
10. The Lilt of the Reel {1:56}
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Syntonic Research Inc. - Environments 11 [tape]
The unrivaled beauty and melody of English birdsong, set in the verdant Sussex countryside, will make your living space seem brighter and cheerier. The sheer joy of these unusual birds, recorded at the site of a long-ruined monastery, makes this one of the finest nature recordings you will ever experience. A superb wake-up sound. (from the liner notes)
Tracklisting:
1. English Meadow {29:10}
Note: both sides of the cassette are the same
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* Sorry, I have not been prolific in posting during the past two to three weeks. My time has been heavily occupied especially offline with work and school. Now for the time being I am able to post regularly again.
* During the next few weeks, I will be reuploading some stuff from the archives. I want to get rid of the Sharebee links as Sharebee has been having technical issues lately causing problems for users. I do not know if I will be done with this task within the next few weeks as my attention could be warranted elsewhere. I want to point out that this will take some time.
* I hope to find a mirroring service similar to Sharebee, one that is reliable like Sharebee once was. Unfortunately, all of the other ones I've tried are either too slow to upload or they do not work properly. This is why I've currently been using two hosting services for posts.
* A hosting service I will not be using in the forseeable future is Rapidshare. At the present, if you're a free user and you've tried to get something via Rapidshare you might as well give up. I think it's been a month since I was able to download from Rapidshare. I keep getting a message that says something like "sorry no download slots available, please try again later" and there's another sentence which I'll paraphrase that says that if you really want this file, pay up by getting a premium account you cheapskate. I still do not understand why people use Rapidshare since there are much better hosting services. It may have been great once, but now it is terrible for free users (and even for premium users if what I heard is true about their change in policy for file storage). Overall, Rapidshare is mediocre. However, I must point out that Rapidshare still has its good points. Rapidshare is the most known brand among file hosting services which means that it will detract unwanted attention from the much better hosting services. It will be a good thing for the others to operate under the radar while the spotlight will be on Rapidshare as it already is in Germany.
* I've still been looking for more hosting services to increase my knowledge of options. One that I've found is Filebox. I've used it for a few current posts. So far, everything is smooth and fast upping to it. However, I have not downed anything from there. I am thinking about registering for a free account so I would like feedback on whether it is working on the other end and how well it works. There are several others that I will be evaluating in the next several days.
* I have added tags or labels to all of the posts. The labels are categories of what type of music or type of recording that are featured in the posts as well as serving as categories of the posts themselves. The labels are generally simplistic or rather broad as I did not want to get carried away with the labelling. The labels posted are hopefully adequate and helpful.
That's it for now. Take care.
various artists compilation - American Society of University Composers (Record No. 4)
LP released in 1980
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
composer: Leslie Bassett
performers:
Fernando Laires and Nelita True - piano
Midland Symphony Orchestra, Don Jaeger - conductor
This recording is from a live performance.
The three movement CONCERTO FOR TWO PIANOS AND ORCHESTRA (1976) was created for a commission sponsored by the Midland Center for the Performing Arts. The composer provides the following notes: "The Concerto begins with agitated, highly assertive overlays of six two-note sonorities, followed by forceful ascending 'arpeggiations' that prepare the entrance of the soloists. Much of the musical language and material for the entire work is based upon brief sonorities and lines heard early in the first movement. The slow and gentle second movement progresses from sseveral lyrical phrases toward more quiet and introspective music until interrupted by a forceful and climactic passage. An unmetered aria follows, proceeding to a gentle cadence. The third movement opens with quiet but animated rustlings and overlays of numerous hushed runs and scurryings. Pianos gradually take over this texture, bringing it to a rapid and energetic climax juxtaposing the pianos with various sections of the orchestra. A quiet section leads to a third unmetered quasicadenza and a final crescendo passage ends in a forceful reassertion of the initial sound of the piece."
November Voices, A Ceremony for Voice, Narrator and Ensemble (1975)
composer: Sidney Hodkinson
performers:
Eastman Musica Nova Ensemble, Sidney Hodkinson - conductor and Rayburn Wright - assisting conductor
Stanley Cornett - tenor
Dana McKay Kriehbiel - soprano
Steven Kujara - narrator
recording engineer: Patrick Pasco
The static reluctance of November Voices, with its separated antiphonal small ensembles, attempts to convey the persistence, euphony and yearning expressed by the poems of Minnesotan, Alvin Greenberg. The texts, chosen from a collection entitled "The Preservation of the Self in Everyday Life," are divided between a spoken narrator and a soprano. All of the material in the composition is derived from a Gregorian chant fragment first heard in an off-stage trombone, and later intoned by the tenor soloist. (Richard Brooks)Omaggio II for four-hand piano and tape
composer: Lawrence Moss
performers:
Sheryl Seltzer and Joel Sachs - piano
recording engineer: Curt Wittig
OMAGGIO II, for four-hand piano and tape is the second of a series which pay tribute to favorite composers. The first one (without tape) incorporates material from Mozart's Sonata in B-flat for four-hand piano, a work often played together with friends by Professor Moss. Omaggio II makes rather free use of the first page or so of Schoenberg's Third Quartet as a kind of "presence," more and more clearly preceived as the tape plays on. All the tape sounds are synthesized and the "prepared" piano pitches are those of the Quartet's first two measures. (Richard Brooks)
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Leslie Bassett - Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra {19:11}
Side 2
1. Sidney Hodkinson - November Voices {12:42}
2. Lawrence Moss - Omaggio II {9:10}
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Barbara Kolb - Toccata/Appello/Soundings
LP released in 1986
Toccata
performed by Igor Kipnis - harpsichord
Parts 1 and 3 (tape) were produced by George Sponsaltz and recorded by Carson Taylor at Capitol-Angel Studios in New York City, 1973. Mixing and filtering by Maggi Payne. Part 2 was produced and recorded by Edward J. Foster in Redding, Connecticut, on May 29, 1986. Final mixing by Mikhail Liberman.
Two harpsichords were used for this recording: both are by Rutkowski & Robinette of Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. For Parts 1 and 3 a 1970 model was used; for the Scarletti Sonata and Part 2, a 1961 model was used.
Inspired by the Sonata in b minor (K. 87, L. 33) of Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), Toccata was written in 1971 expressly for Igor Kipnis. What I found interesting about the material in this particular sonata was its homophonic nature, with harmonies so rich and chromatic that they seem to forecast the 19th century. My idea was to embellish these harmonies, thereby creating an entirely different character which emerges out of Scarlatti's harmonies. The result is rather like a jazz improvisation.
Toccata is constructed in three different speeds simultaneously (two parts are on tape and are manipulated electronically), thereby establishing no exact tempo which is discernible. Color and texture are the primary goals, also a movement toward and against tonal agreement. An aural confusion on the part of the listener will occur . . . a maze-like moving in and out from what he thinks he hears to what he wishes he had heard. Finally, as the continuous motion wears itself out, all voices coincide in tonal agreement and the dissension of contrapuntal involvement is resolved. The original Scarlatti sonata is heard first, preceding my interpretation. (Barbara Kolb)
Appello
performed by Jay Gottlieb - piano
recorded in Paris, France in June 1985
Appello was written during the summer of 1976 in response to a commission from Diane Walsh and the Washington Performing Arts Society. Appello, the Italian word for call, is in four sections, each of which embodies a specific type of call; calls which are reaching and enticing, rather than insistent or demanding. The four section titles reflect the quality and memory of these types of calls; the first, "Quietly, and with a cruel reverberation," is taken from the second movement of Toru Takemitsu's Pause Ininterrompue; the second, "A vague chimera that engulfs the breath," is from a poem by Robert Pinsky; the third, ". . . a perhaps hand (which comes carefully out of Nowhere)," is from E. E. Cummings; and the fourth, "And I remembered the cry of the peacocks," is from Wallace Stevens. Each call implies two kinds of distances: first, the distance that separates the identities of both the "caller" and "perceiver" . . .an almost mystic distance that is conscious and "sub-conscious", physical and "metaphysical"; secondly, the distance involved in the perception of sound; distance between silence and music. In many aspects Appello is similar in sound intent to two other of my recent works, Looking for Claudio and Soundings, each of which involved an aspect of searching. (Barbara Kolb)
Soundings
performed by Ensemble InterContemporain, Arturo Tamayo - conductor
recorded by Didier Arditti at L'Espace de Projection, IRCAM, Paris, France in July 1984
Soundings is a technique which makes it possible to ascertain the depth of water by measuring the interval of time between the sending of a signal and the return of its echo. Soundings begins at the surface, at the thin edge where the sea spans the earth and the horizon, descends through layers of sound, all of which remain present, whether or not they are actually heard, and suffers "a sea-change into something rich and strange."
The piece is divided into three sections (and incorporates pre-recorded material on tape). the first begins with a linear ostinato in the strings, from which further patterns evolve in successive layers. . . . In the second, or soloistic, section the original patterns are isolated and treated individually as though seen through a microscope. . . . The final section is characterized by an ascending linear movement which contrasts with the first section. (Barbara Kolb)
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Toccata {7:21}
2. Appello {13:20}
Side B
1. Soundings {16:57}
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