HurdAudio Rotation: Three Sides of Tonality

Michael Harrison: Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation. 2007. Cantaloupe Music: CA21043.

Michael Harrison: piano, composition, tuning

I have to think that equal temperament played no small role in the necessary "crisis" that led Arnold Schoenberg and others to develop an atonal harmonic system. The layers of compromise (and poor thirds) laid out in even twelfth-root-of-two semitones along the piano keyboard had robbed tonality of so much color and contrast. So it is no accident that Michael Harrison and others bring a renewed interest in tonality once the harmonic limitations of equal temperament are addressed. The piano itself, and the just intonation system applied to it, is the aural focus of this music. There is brilliant range of consonance and dissonance in this music. A beautiful sound that compositionally owes so much to the great (and sadly difficult to acquire) Well-Tuned Piano of LaMonte Young. The language of "tone clouds" and the "Homage to La Monte" movement are clear nods to an abiding apprenticeship to Young. And also the meditative approach of "Revealing the Tones" and "Revealing the Commas." Indeed, it was the avoidance of harmonic commas - the so-called "wolf tones" that arise from pure intervals not fitting cyclically into 12-notes per octave - that fueled the push toward compromise and equal temperament in the first place. Here, those bitter, dissonant spices are "revealed" and folded into the harmonic fabric. An ear opening work that also reveals the qualities of tonality available when one can hear them in tune.

Philip Glass: From the Philip Glass Recording Archive: Volume II - Orchestral Music. 2007. Orange Mountain Music: 0047.

Days and Nights in Rocinha (1998)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies: conductor

Persephone (1994)
The Relache Ensemble
Joseph Franklin: director

Music written with such clarity and simplicity that I can almost imagine a full transcription as it plays. With large tonal consonances that leave me speculating how they would sound in just intonation. If you have any familiarity whatsoever with the musical style of Philip Glass then this is a music that develops without any surprises. And in many ways it leaves me a little hungry for his earlier, edgier and brutally static works. And even a little hungry for dissonance and surprise. But this sound is undeniably pleasant and listening to it is an indulgence. As orchestral works they won't stand out from the Glass oeuvre. But I do enjoy hearing them.

Available Jelly: Happy Camp. 1996. Ramboy: 10.

Michael Moore: alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Tobias Delius: tenor saxophone
Eric Boeren: cornet, melodica
Wolter Wierbos: trombone
Ernst Glerum: bass
Michael Vatcher: drums, percussion

Available Jelly plays with a hard swing that simmers their Amsterdam sound with a helping of New Orleans flavor. And a musical sensibility that draws upon a deep reservoir of jazz history without coming up weighted down by everything that has come before. Happy Camp kicks off with a wonderful arrangement of "Nilentika" and "Tanzana Kely" - traditional melodies from Madagascar and then makes a turn toward a sultry rendition of Duke Ellington's "The Feeling of Jazz" before jumping headlong into a set of brilliant Michael Moore originals. Along the way the ears are treated to an ever shifting array of improvised material that never loses sight of its swinging impulse. An absolutely solid disc from a great band. Recommended with enthusiasm.

HurdAudio Rotation: Whole Number Ratios, Additive Patterns and Math Rock

Michael Harrison: Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation. 2007. Cantaloupe Music: CA 21043.

Michael Harrison: piano in just intonation

The fingerprints and breath of Lamont Young's Well Tuned Piano feels close at hand at the start of this piece. The just intervals and "tone clouds" of standing waves are at once a familiar texture and compositional device associated with Young. But the formal construction is entirely Harrison's. And it is the undeniable sonic beauty of this particular piano (I believe it is an adapted Schimmel that I once heard Harrison play live) that is recorded with incredible clarity on this release. The cascading crescendos add a dynamic touch to this music as it builds toward an astonishing conclusion. With deliberately articulated phrasing this becomes a work that allows the "pure intonation" to become enmeshed within every harmonic crevice of the music without obscuring the impressive compositional details.

Philip Glass: Volume II: Orchestral Music. 2007. Orange Mountain Music: 0047.

Days and Nights in Rocinha (1998)
performed by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies: conductor

Persephone (1994)
performed by the Relache Ensemble
Joseph Franklin: director

Philip Glass has built up his career out of a sound so identifiable - and undeniably "pleasant" - that it manages to attract and repulse at the same time. The tonal progressions modulating around pedal points along a steady pulse makes for a music full of hooks that effortless draw the ears in. The early works of Glass revolved around a repetitiveness with an edge. While later works have softened up many of the static textures in favor of lush blankets of sound. These orchestral works from the 1990's come from a period just after the mushy middle with their soft contours. The material is - as always with Glass - familiar to a fault. Yet completely enjoyable. Days and Nights in Rocinha in particular is excruciatingly attractive. One is tempted to admire and reject this music at the same time. In the end, one can't help but listen.

Sleeping People: Growing. 2005. Temporary Residence: TRR 123.

Kasey Boekholt: guitar
Joileah Maddock: guitar
Kenseth Thibideau: bass
Brandon Relf: drums
Amber Coffman: guitar

Progressive rock is alive and well in the clean, irregular beats of Sleeping People combined with a sonic vocabulary informed by the San Diego punk scene. There's something satisfying about grooving to a beat that juts off with odd stops and turns and heady structures. This is music that appeals to the physical, rhythmic propulsion while teasing the brain with unusual structures. There's some intricate guitar work all over this recording combined with tight drumming. Party music for people ready to dance to prime numbers. Enthusiastically recommended.

The Mob Hit

Mobtown Modern @ The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD
Friday, May 9, 2008

Not so Much: Minimalish Music

Music In Similar Motion (1969) - Philip Glass
Katayoon Hodjati: flute
Jennifer Everhart: bass clarinet
Brian Sacawa: soprano saxophone
Phil Kiamie: marimba
Erik Spangler: laptop, KP3

Vermont Counterpoint (1982) - Steve Reich
Katayoon Hodjati: piccolo, flute, alto flute

The Low Quartet (1985) - Michael Gordon
Brian Sacawa: baritone saxophone
Christopher Blossom: baritone saxophone
Jacob Chmara: baritone saxophone
Michelle Acton: baritone saxophone

Honest Music (2002) - Nico Muhly
Lisa Liu: violin

In C (1964) - Terry Riley
Lisa Liu: violin
Katayoon Hodjati: flute
Jennifer Everhart: bass clarinet
Brian Sacawa: alto saxophone
Phil Kiamie: marimba
Shodekeh: beatboxer
Erik Spangler: KP3

The additive, unison lines of Music In Similar Motion with a twist. A new arrangement with a Kaoss Pad in the mix. Video accompaniment. A performance space dressed up with candles and a modest bar. At the core of the sound is the familiar minimalist classic by Philip Glass at his most essential, static self. But there is this thoughtful, attentive re-interpretation added to the experience. It is an attractive sound that has evolved from the loft spaces of Greenwich Village of the late 1960's and found a new shape at the Contemporary Museum of Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood.

At one time the Minimalist movement was regarded as a revolt against the academic serialist composers that dominated the academic institutions as they fiercely guarded and promoted their vision of the "music of the future." But the future proved too slippery to be neatly transitioned into its "logical" post-tonal era. The minimalists never claimed to hold the mantle of the "future of music" even as the steady pulse and clear tonal centers eventually eroded the core tenants of that fabled post-tonal era. Change and transition became more precious as a scarce commodity within this music. The beauty of audible process - of phasing and layering - became a focal point for a generation of composers learning to trust their ear and instinct.

Now the minimalist works of Glass and Reich are proving to be resilient as details emerge with renewed interpretations. The battle for the "future of music" has been fought to a draw and the aesthetic landscape is now marked with several minimalist masterpieces worth revisiting. The understanding and passion applied to this music by Mobtown Modern shows off its strength in re-arranging and re-shaping classic contemporary works. With a smart sequence of pieces making up the "minimalish" program the evening proved to be a heady mash-up of familiar works recast to startling effect.

Possibly the most resilient, and most re-interpreted minimalist work is Terry Riley's In C. The unspecified instrumentation, the blissful embrace of static tonal harmony and steady pulse combined with the expansive freedom of 53 short cells sequentially and individually explored by the performers has allowed this piece to thrive in many contexts. The Mobtown Modern eschewed the temptation to pile on thick layers of sound in favor of a balanced, multi-textured take that allowed the individual layers to evolve with sharp clarity. The addition of Shodekeh's human beatboxing proved to be a fresh update on the pulsing high piano C's that typically serve as the ensemble's metronome for this piece. The Mobtown Modern also chose to unfold In C with a tight forward momentum as opposed to lingering for long stretches within the trance-inducing innards of this piece.

Katayoon Hodjati's performance of Vermont Counterpoint hit upon the electric qualities of this piece as a live work as she negotiated multiple changes between piccolo, flute and alto flute while playing against a prerecorded backdrop of multi-tracked flutes. This is the first re-interpretation of this work I've heard since encountering the original Ransom Wilson recording and I was pleasantly surprised by the differences in dynamics and tempo used for this performance.

The one piece on the program unfamiliar to me was Honest Music by Nico Muhly. A beautiful work performed by Lisa Liu on violin against a prerecorded track. As my first exposure to the music of Muhly I was left intrigued. The recorded accompaniment was relatively sparse and consisted of short gestures that melded with or helped punctuate the live violin sound.

Michael Gordon takes the attractive textures of minimalism and puts a decidedly more dissonant edge to it. With the Low Quartet he brings this music to a satisfyingly primal level that comes through in this all baritone saxophone arrangement. With equal attention to sonic color and groove the Mobtown made their hit and allowed the rich detail of this piece speak for itself.

HurdAudio Rotation: Three Sides of American Music

Harry Partch: 17 Lyrics of Li Po. 1995. Tzadik: TZ 7012.

Stephen Kalm: intoning voice
Ted Mook: tenor violin

Kalm and Mook have an eerie ability to practically channel the tone and intonation of Harry Partch as the maverick troubadour sound weaves a poetic spell that is half-sung and half-spoken. The vocal delivery of this music suggests a well-paced alternative to standard singing technique as the tenor violin bends toward just intervals and natural spoken rhythms that allows these unassuming verbal images to emerge. These 17 Lyrics have deeply affected my own conception of vocal writing as the music folds tightly against the austere beauty of these episodic poems.

Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost [box set] - disc 6. 2003. Revenant Records: RVN213.

Albert Ayler Quintet: June 30 - July 1, 1967 @ Freebody Park, Newport, Rhode Island
Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, vocals
Don Ayler: trumpet
Michel Samson: violin
Bill Folwell: bass
Milford Graves: drums

Albert Ayler Quartet: July 21, 1967 @ the funeral of John Coltrane
Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone, vocals
Don Ayler: trumpet
Richard Davis: bass
Milford Graves: drums

Pharoah Sanders Band: July 21, 1968 @ the Renaissance Ballroom, New York City
Pharoah Sanders: tenor saxophone
Chris Capers: trumpet
unknown: alto saxophone
Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone
unknown: tenor saxophone
Dave Burrell: piano
Sirone: bass
Roger Blank: drums

Albert Ayler - various recordings around New York City in August, 1968
Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone, vocals, solo recitation
Cal Cobbs: piano, rockischord
Bill Folwell: electric bass
Bernard Purdie: drums
Mary Parks: vocals, tambourine
Vivian Bostick: vocals

This disc combines the different sides of Albert Ayler that reflects the turmoil of the late-60s. Starting with the Love Cry era live recordings from Newport that feature some of his most intense, dense ensemble playing. The sound from this set is some of the most concentrated Ayler substance these ears have heard as the quintet roars and runs through some exhilarating transitions. From there we move to the solemn, love-filled mourning from the funeral of John Coltrane. The roughness of the recording matches the raw sense of loss. Then there is the twenty minutes with Pharoah Sanders as Ayler communes with "the son" on Sanders' great composition "Upper Egypt."

Then this disc fills out with a series of demo tracks for Ayler's R & B New Grass material. Coming off of the intense, raging energy of the Newport set at the start of this disc these Mary Parks sessions feel as if the great King Kong has been caged up. And that he willfully confined himself. The inflexible rhythm section keeps a steady pulse while Ayler's horn continues to speak with his energitic outpouring while the sense of loss at not having a Milford Graves or Henry Grimes or Sunny Murray responding or balancing this force sets in. When Ayler sings he simply sounds lost, his voice being a far cry from the confident tone of his tenor saxophone. I don't doubt the sincerity of Aylers' New Grass efforts. But it still sounds like something derailed within him creatively when he went down that path.

Philip Glass: From the Philip Glass Recording Archive: Volume II - Orchestral Music. 2007. Orange Mountain Music: 0047.

Days and Nights in Rocinha (1998)
Performed by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Dennis Russell Davies

Persephone (1994)
Performed by the Relache Ensemble

This one is a light dose of the Philip Glass repetition, pulse and clear tonality that marks so much of his work. The arpeggio machine is turned way down on these orchestral arrangements while the sequences and steady rhythmic patterns are retained. These are pleasant pieces that are well performed and recorded and enjoyable despite way they blend into the opacity of so many Glass compositions. This is a good place to put one's ears if you haven't yet overdosed on the Philip Glass experience.