HurdAudio Rotation: Platonic Electrons and Voice

Iva Bittova/Bang on a Can All-Stars: Elida. 2005. Cantaloupe Music: CA 21027.

Iva Bittova: violin, voice
Robert Black: bass
David Cossin: drum set, percussion
Lisa Moore: piano
Mark Stewart: guitars
Wendy Sutter: cello
Evan Ziporyn: clarinets

These ears don't get nearly enough of Bittova's silky lyricism. The extended vocal techniques and creative turns are an exquisite balance of song writing sensibility with a command of the abstraction of compositional matter. Even when revisiting Elida the qualities of this music are still unnerving. The shifting collage of focal points that seamlessly weaves texture and voice is a rare pleasure. Even more rare is the feat of sonic hooks that draw in the ear without wearing out their welcome for a music that is durable and inviting.

Louis Andriessen: De Staat. 1991. Electra Entertainment: 9 79251-2.

Schoenberg Ensemble
Reinbert de Leeuw: conductor
Maarten Karres: oboe
Ernest Rombout: oboe
Maarten Dekker: oboe, english horn
Justine Gerretsen: oboe, english horn
Willem van der Vliet: trumpet
Hendrik Jan Lindhout: trumpet
Huug Steketee: trumpet
Jos Verspagen: trumpet
Iman Soeteman: horn
Christiaan Boers: horn
Peter Hoekmeijer: horn
Theo Hoekstra: horn
Toon van Ulsen: trombone
Pete Saunders: trombone
Albert Zuyderduyn: trombone
Peter van Klink: bass trombone
Hans Kunneman: electric guitar
Patricio Wang: electric guitar
Rob Zeelenberg: electric bass guitar
Mapje Keereweer: harp
Ernestine Stoop: harp
Henk Guittart: viola
Aimee Versloot: viola
Rena Scholtens: viola
Jouke van der Leest: viola
Claron McFadden: soprano
Barbara Borden: soprano
Yvonne Benschop: mezzosoprano
Ananda Goud: mezzosoprano

This setting of an excerpt from Plato's Republic is loud and steeped in the irony of how sadly wrong Plato was about the power of dissonance as a vehicle of subversion. If harmony really could subvert governments then De Staat would be illegal. As it is, this piece courses through my veins as an old favorite. A vocal style and political message with strong parallels to Steve Reich's Desert Music with a decidedly less gentle bend and brass parts designed to knock walls off of their foundations.

Keith Rowe/Toshimaru Nakamura: Between. 2006. Erstwhile Records: 050-2.

Keith Rowe: guitar, electronics
Toshimaru Nakamura: no-input mixing board

Between is a good word for these other worldly sheets of sonic matter. A musical space that exists within a sliver between what is and is not audible. Extended explorations that often convey the illusion of settling into a perpetual introduction. Keith Rowe having refined his skills at improvising quietly for long durations over the decades with AMM applies his signature ears to these soundscapes. Rowe and Nakamura allow the electrons themselves to tell their own story through the signals barely revealed here. A revelation of the infinity that lies between silences.

HurdAudio Rotation: Soundtrack for a Revolution

Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost [disc 4]. 2004. Revenant: 213.

Albert Ayler Quintet - April 17, 1966 @ La Cave, Cleveland, OH
Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone
Don Ayler: trumpet
Frank Wright: tenor saxophone
Michel Samson: violin
Mutawef Shaheed: bass
Ronald Shannon Jackson: drums

One of the best aspects of the Holy Ghost box set is its documentation of these La Cave sets from 1966. This is an Albert Ayler led ensemble at the top of its game that draws the ears to the great interactions working on all levels with this group. I remain fascinated by Michel Samson's contribution to this sound and even more impressed with Ronald Shannon Jackson's drumming sensibilities within these Ayler compositions.

Iva Bittova/Bang on a Can All-Stars: Elida. 2005. Cantaloupe: CA21027.

Iva Bittova: violin, voice
Robert Black: bass
David Cossin: drums, percussion
Lisa Moore: piano
Mark Stewart: guitars
Wendy Sutter: cello
Evan Ziporyn: clarinets

An almost absurdly pleasant listening experience. Elida ripples with playful color and an ear for arrangements that buoy the Czech poetry and striking range of extended vocal technique employed by Iva Bittova. It's hard to believe that there's some intense violin playing working in parallel with the singing by this singular performer. The earthy, folk-rich materials are woven into a tapestry of smart textures animated by a balance of feel and technical accuracy by the All-Stars.

Louis Andriessen: De Staat. 1991. Elektra Nonesuch: 9 79251-2.

The Schoenberg Ensemble
Reinbert de Leeuw: conductor

I'm always floored by how much I dig this piece each time I revisit it. Louis Andriessen artfully turns Plato's pessimism about the power of particular modes and scales to undermine political power into a longing for sounds that have such potency to topple the entrenched and corrupt. If there really was such a politically viral harmony it seems as if Andriessen was searching for it in this forceful, pulsating music. An anarchistic Rite of Spring directed at the tone-deaf brokers of power. If "any alteration in the modes of music is always followed by alteration in the most fundamental laws of the state," then we should all be altering our modes until the walls come tumbling down. In the meantime, De Staat continues to be a HurdAudio indulgence.

Running with the Mob

Mobtown Modern's "State of the Union" @ Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD
Tuesday, January 29, 2008

program:
Frederic Rzewski: Coming Together
Vinko Globokar: ?Corporel
Steve Reich: Come Out
Erik Spangler: Iraq Mix
Louis Andriessen: Workers Union

With video footage remixed from that "other" State of the Union delivered just the night before as a backdrop and an ensemble in combat boots the fine young subversives of Mobtown Modern launched their first performance with a focus on politically themed pieces. Any organization that kicks off with Rzewski's classic "Coming Together" has my full attention.

The sequencing of pieces was brilliant. With an edge toward radical posture balanced against progressive optimism this was a perfect context to absorb the timeless urgency of "Coming Together" or "Come Out" compared to Spangler's contemporary statement on Iraq. It was the transition from one piece into another that was especially powerful. As the final words from the Attica prison inmate in "Coming Together" was hanging in the air the room fell dark for Tim Feeney's performance of ?Corprel. Illuminated by a single flashlight, the sense of madness and isolation took on an abruptly human and disturbing form as Feeney performed percussive and vocal feats upon his own body. The video ambiance of an administration that has brought "waterboarding" into common vernacular set against the unsettling violence of Globokar's performance-art composition made for an unflinching statement.

Louis Andriessen's Workers Union is one of the most revered works in the HurdAudio pantheon. The way that piece demands an aggressive unity and rhythmic cohesion from a large ensemble makes for a beautifully loud expression of solidarity that feels substantial. In the hands of the Mobtown Modern that noise was expanded as the reasons why that masterpiece from 1975 endures filled the air.

HurdAudio Rotation: Dissonance Destroys Capitolism (if only), Lyons Growls, Time Changes

Louis Andriessen: De Staat. 1991. Elektra Nonesuch: 9 79251-2.

The Schoenberg Ensemble

Reinbert de Leeuw: conductor
Maarten Karres, Ernest Rombout: oboe
Maarten Dekkers, Justine Gerretsen: oboe/english horn
Willem van der Vliet, Hendrik Jan Lindout, Huug Steketee, Jos Verspagen: trumpet
Iman Soeteman, Christiaan Boers, Peter Hoekmeijer, Theo Hoekstra: horn
Toon van Ulsen, Pete Saunders, Albert Zuyderduyn: trombone
Peter van Klink: bass trombone
Hans Kunneman, Patricio Wang: electric guitar
Rob Zeelenberg: electric bass guitar
Mapje Keereweer, Ernestine Stoop: harp
Henk Guittart, Aimee Versloot, Rena Scholtens, Jouke van der Leest: viola
Claron McFadden, Barbara Bordeon: soprano
Yvonne Benschop, Ananda Goud: mezzosoprano

This one is a heady concoction, feeling like a cross-breed between Steve Reich's Desert Music and Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. The political dimension of this piece is also interesting as a setting of Plato's naive and misguided notions about music's role and potential in an ideal state. If the mixolydian mode was even remotely as dangerous as Plato believed the power to affect change would be far less remote than it is. If "changing to a new kind of music" was indeed "followed by alteration in the most fundamental laws of the state" then we could at least strive toward the utopian anarchy of John Cage's idealism as pragmatic practice. If anything, the current powers that be are deaf, and all the dissonance in the world - cognitive or otherwise - is lost in an ocean of cronyism and incompetence. In the meantime, it's been far too long since I last spun De Staat. I enjoy its brash loudness and pulsing persistence.

Cecil Taylor: The Great Paris Concert. November 30, 1966 (re-issued in 1994). Black Lion: BLCD760201.

Cecil Taylor: piano
Jimmy Lyons: alto saxophone
Alan Silva: bass
Andrew Cyrille: drums

After last weekend's brush with the great Andrew Cyrille the ears were hungry for more. "Great" is the word for this live outing from 1966. The texture is unmistakably Cecil Taylor with his intense and focused improvisation filling out the full range of the piano. It's the filling out of that texture from Lyons, Silva and Cyrille that makes the overall sound shimmer. From the initial, forceful blasts from Lyons' alto at the onset of "Student Studies part 1" to the pianistic blurs across "Niggle Feuigle" this one is a steady jolt of the avant "old" garde.

Mark Dresser/Denman Maroney with Michael Sarin and Alexandra Montano: Time Changes. 2005. Cryptogramophone: CG124.

Mark Dresser: bass
Denman Maroney: hyperpiano
Michael Sarin: drums, percussion
Alexandra Montano: voice

This disc is too good to stay out of the rotation for long. There's an unbelievable balance of creative playing - both inside and outside the jazz tradition - and enormous chemistry between Dresser and Maroney. The extended techniques on bass and "hyperpiano" have considerable emphasis on both the "extended" and the "technique" as the resulting compositions and overall sound make for an outstanding listening experience. The undulating tempos add a wonderful dimension while Alexandra Montano's intonation and sense of balance makes her voice a welcome layer within this music. I enthusiastically recommend putting an ear to this one.