Hearing Voices

Continuum: Finding Voice
October 12, 2012
The Music Gallery
Toronto, Ontario

Christopher Butterfield: Music for Klein and Beuys (1987)
Anne Thompson: bass recorder
Carol Lynn Fujino: violin
Paul Rogers: bass
Laurent Philippe: melodica
Rob MacDonald: banjitar
Sanya Eng: harp
Ryan Scott: percussion

Nikolai Korndorf: Cazone Triste (1999)
Sanya Eng: harp

Linda C. Smith: Brush Line (2004)
Anne Thompson: flute
Max Christie: clarinet
Carol Lynn Fujino: violin
Paul Widner: cello
Laurent Philippe: piano
Ryan Scott: percussion
Marion Newman: mezzo-soprano
Brian Current: conductor

Martijn Voorvelt: Frederick's Doctor (2012)
Christopher Mayell: tenor
Anne Thompson: flute
Max Christie: clarinet
Carol Lynn Fujino: violin
Paul Widner: cello
Rob MacDonald: guitar
Sanya Eng: synthesizer

Martijn Voorvelt: Petit Air II / Fredrich's Tagebuch (1998)
Marion Newman: mezzo-soprano
Anne Thompson: flute
Rob MacDonald: guitar
Adrian Gross: mandolin
Sanya Eng: harp

The Continuum Contemporary Music ensemble started off their 2012 season with a strong voice.  Or at least a collection of strong voices that balanced out a program of music carving out a wide path of expressive territory.  Each piece was exquisitely well rehearsed and presented in a manner that allowed the ears to hear all the way inside the music.  Even as the subject material would switch from haunting beauty to complete madness.

The second half of the concert consisted of the Martijn Voorvelt pieces, presented as a continuous work of musical theater.  Continuum had spent the last week working directly with the composer to realize the drama Frederick's Doctor and their dedication to the macabre absurdity made for a flawless production of material that was often challenging and brittle.  The setting of Doctor Morell Mackenzie's often graphic accounts of the botched diagnosis and surgery upon German emperor Frederick III's laryngeal cancer were occasionally a bit hard to take. Especially given Christopher Mayell's incredible dead-pan delivery.  The sense of madness in his text could nearly be tasted in the back of my throat.  As this gave way to Marion Newman's performance of a voice robbed of its ability to communicate, the balance of humor and despair was simply delicious.  Having the flute player and mezzo-soprano delivering text in rhythmic unison was a particularly striking sonic effect.  Especially as the performance transitioned to the vocalist lip-syncing to Anne Thompson whispering through her instrument.  It was a brilliant set of pieces that won over my normal aversion to theatrics.

To my ears, the most stunning work on the program was Linda C. Smith's Brush Line.  An achingly beautiful work built out of luminous, horizontal strokes of warm sounds along a cold landscape of silence.  The constant reference to colors in the text added to the sense of sound painting with their vibrato-less delivery.

Cazone Triste is a virtuosic solo harp piece that gently gives way to song.  Sanya Eng's voice eventually shifting into the foreground as she plays to reveal a beautiful sound.  The simplicity of her voice balanced well against the confidence of her playing.

The opening work, Music for Klein and Beuys by Christopher Butterfield, set the whimsical-yet-serious tone that anticipated the Martijn Voorvelt experience of the second half.  The combination of bass recorder, melodica and banjitar with a percussion part the often consisted of tearing and wadding up newsprint never took on a sense of gimmick as the musical textures proved to be substantive.  Written as a memorial to Yves Klein and Josef Beuys, it is a wonderfully unpretentious and warm piece of art music.

Overall, there aren't enough superlatives to lavish upon an evening such as this.  An inspired sequence of great pieces of music performed well.  Continuum has set high expectations for the season that follows this concert.

Seldoms in Space

My review is posted here.

I Hear the Gongs Singing - Percussive Adventures in Chicago

I review a pair of recent percussion performances here.

Weathering the Improvisation at the 2011 Umbrella Music Festival (part 2)

The second part of my Umbrella Music Festival 2011 review is posted

here.

Free Jazz Storm Under the Umbrella

Part 1 of my 2011 Umbrella Music Festival review can be found here.

Ensemble Dal Niente: From Professor Bad Trip to Sounds Seek People

My column on Ensemble Dal Niente's first two concerts of the season is located here. It's where I tackle the monolithic piece that is Fausto Romitelli's Professor Bad Trip.

Brewing Up the Noise

My write-up of the 2011 Milwaukee Noise Festival can be found here.

Finding Peace at the Fulcrum Point

My review of Fulcrum Point New Music Project's 9/11 concert is posted here.

Blackbirds at Dusk

Chicago Counterpoint: A Steve Reich Celebration @ Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago, IL
Monday, August 22, 2011

Come Out (1966)*
Mallet Quartet (2009)
Double Sextet (2008)
Melodica (1966)*
Music for 18 Musicians (1974-1976)
It's Gonna Rain (1965)*

Performed by Eighth Blackbird, Third Coast Percussion and friends (with the exception of the *tape pieces, which were broadcast over the sound system at Pritzker).

Come Out was broadcast over the sound system as an invocation for an outdoor celebration of the music of Steve Reich. It quickly established that this was going to be a different Reich experience. Imagine hearing avant garde tape pieces of the 1960s played at a sporting event for a crowd of thousands. The sound vanishing into the open space with odd reflections obscuring the phasing that is the foundation of this sound. Eventually the Reich qualities emerge and the meditative nature of his repetitions begins to take hold and holds up surprisingly well within an acoustically challenging space. A sequence that repeated with each piece and performance of a music centered around repetition itself.

The late works of Mallet Quartet and Double Sextet draw upon stylistic elements that are deeply established. Even though these pieces were new to me, they were also deeply familiar in their similarities to the Reich oeuvre. The middle "slow" movements for both of them sounded like the the slow movements of Desert Music. But unlike Come Out or Desert Music, these works were strikingly non-political and polite. Pleasant music. But without the hungry fire that made his early works so groundbreaking and exciting. However, the soaring final movement of Double Sextet is a thing of soaring bliss that clearly was the reason why it won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music. The processes that build over time in Reich's music have a way of scaling toward staggering musical vistas.

Music for 18 Musicians is an irresistible masterpiece. One of those rare works that carves out its own space to inhabit. One could hear the gentle push and pull at the rhythmic pulse as the outstanding musicians of Eighth Blackbird and Third Coast Percussion collectively focused upon that all consuming pulsation. The sky darkened perceptibly over the span of this hour long work. By the end, even the chirping crickets of the night had adjusted their own pulse to match.



The amplification for each of these pieces was a bit disorienting. The balance and the resonance being so different from the sound of concert halls and studio recordings. And yet, one by one, each of these compositions overcame the challenges of being freed from the concert hall and recording studio and found a way to thrive as a music that builds toward transcendent experience. That is a quality found in music that endures.

Steve Reich abandoned electronic music some time after his celebrated tape works of the 1960s in favor of live musicians realizing the rhythmic implications of the phasing principles he had been exploring. Performances of tape music have a long tradition of getting little respect. A tradition that the city of Chicago observed as they evicted me from the seating area long before the beautifully sonorous It's Gonna Rain had stopped filling the night air. Another obstacle that Reich's music manages to overcome with the persistent beauty of his compositions.

Bang On

Bang on a Can Marathon 2011 @ World Financial Center Winter Garden, New York, New York
Sunday, June 19, 2011

Carlton by STEW and Heidi Rodewald
Opus 81 by Yoko Ono
Asphalt Orchestra

The Self and the Other by Matthew Welch
Mirrors mvmt 1 by Matthew Welch
Hericlitus mvmt 3 by Matthew Welch
Queens College Percussion Ensemble
Matthew Welch: bagpipes
Amanda Accardi: piano
Michael Lipsey: conductor

Codigos secretos by Gabriela Ortiz
Alejandro Escuer: flute

Portrait of Eva Hesse (palindrome), for percussionists in unison contours by Anthony Gatto
Queens College Percussion Ensemble
Iktus Percussion

Three Small Pieces for String Quartet by Richard Ayres
JACK Quartet

Hymn by Kati Agocs
Prism Saxophone Quartet

Transamerica by Todd Reynolds
Todd Reynolds: violin

Xas by Iannis Xenakis
Prism Saxophone Quartet

Love Always Counts by Michael Nyman
Sinatra Shag by Michael Daugherty
Sentieri Sevaggi

Keen by Roshanne Etezady
Prism Saxophone Quartet

Risvegliatevi! by Filippo Del Corno
Brightness by Mauro Montalbetti
Zingiber by Carlo Boccadoro
Sentieri Selvaggi

Two Ships by David Byrne and Annie Clark
Ngoma Yekwedu by Thomas Mapfumo (arr. Alex Hamlin)
Asphalt Orchestra

Concerning the Doodle by Christine Southworth
O Shut Your Eyes Against the Wind by Bryce Dessner
Bang on a Can All-Stars

Hijaz by Michael Harrison
Young People's Chorus of New York City
Maya Beiser: cello
Michael Harrison: just intonation piano
Payton MacDonald: tabla, percussion

warmth by David Lang
Taylor Levine, James Moore: guitars

Exalted by Michael Gordon
Young People's Chorus of New York City
JACK Quartet

Songs and Rhapsodies by Poul Ruders
Athelas Wind Quintet
Frode Andersen: accordion

Zomby Woof by Frank Zappa (arr. Peter Hess)
Hyper Ballad by Bjork (arr. Alan Ferber)
Champagne by Goran Bregovic
Asphalt Orchestra

An Index of Metals by Fausto Romitelli
Talea Ensemble
Tony Arnold: soprano

At the River by Timo Andres
Timo Andres: piano

Cruel Sister by Julia Wolfe
Ensemble Signal
Brad Lubman: conductor

From Euridice: Playing in the Waves, E-U-R-Y-D-I-C-E, Orpheus at the Gates, Yes! Yes! Yes! by Toby Twining
Toby Twining Music

Metamorphosis 4 by Philip Glass
Music in Similar Motion by Philip Glass
Closing by Philip Glass
Bang on a Can All-Stars
Philip Glass: piano, keyboard

Various selections by The Sun Ra Arkestra

Hive by Evan Ziporyn
Carol McGonnell, Joshua Rubin: clarinets
Michael Lowenstern, Evan Ziporyn: bass clarinets

Various selections by The Glenn Branca Ensemble

The Bang on a Can Marathon is a bit like having a friend over for an extended round of "check this out" as you rifle through your personal music collection to expose and share the excitement of a range of music you've discovered. Except that Bang on a Can does this with live performances and a dizzying array of players shuffling on and off a stage in an exceptionally well organized way. Bringing the full Sun Ra Arkestra on stage feels nearly as effortless as dropping in a CD or clicking on a track on iTunes. The music that unfolds over a 13+ hour span revels in an all encompassing regard for music from a multiplicity of creative impulses. The infectious enthusiasm and welcome exposure of "check this out" is meticulously preserved.

This was not my first marathon. And it will most certainly not be my last. I can't recall attending a better oiled machine of new music than this year's offering. It was remarkably smooth (running ahead of schedule for most of the day) and nearly every piece of music was compelling over an extended span.

The most astonishing experience of the day came in the form of An Index of Metals by Fausto Romitelli. This was my first exposure to Romitelli's music and it delivered a prolonged intensity and density of ideas that provokes me to learn much more about his music. One could feel the energy of this well attended performance mirroring the other worldly qualities of this hour long piece as it built outward like an expanding universe. The dimensions of this music take on an unusual scale without releasing the ears. The Talea Ensemble and soprano Tony Arnold gave it a knockout performance.

The highlight of the marathon was Ensemble Signal's transcendent performance of Julia Wolfe's Cruel Sister. An amazing composition for string orchestra that transitions beautifully into a pizzicato section that depicts the sound of a harp. Julia Wolfe has a remarkable knack for drawing upon the language of over 50-years of minimalism to say something unique and non-derivative.

Also impressive was Michael Gordon's Exalted for choir and string quartet. A brilliantly composed work that builds its layers with descending, cascading lines in the choir against looping material in the string quartet. It takes on the feel of a prayer uttered through rhythmic pulse.

The understated, sonic beauty of Kati Agocs's Hymn performed by the Prism Saxophone Quartet was a haunting work that resonated with me. It explored the contrast between the independent instrumental parts within the timbral unity of the ensemble. It was one piece that could have been longer. A rare quality in new music.

Another shimmering beauty worth noting was Michael Harrison's Hijaz for choir, cello, just intonation keyboard and tabla. A piece that thrives upon its simplicity and Harrison's wisdom in allowing the harmonic qualities of the "Hijaz" scale to resonate.

The energetic performances of the Asphalt Orchestra sprinkled through the marathon offered an accessible-yet-avant-garde take on the marching band. Bringing a refreshing mobility to this year's marathon that was later extended upon by the Sun Ra Arkestra - who have been playing with deft mobility within audiences for decades.

The marathon as a whole built toward a forceful conclusion toward a pair of established icons of new music: Philip Glass and Glenn Branca. Philip Glass performed Metamorphosis 4 on piano before being joined by the Bang on a Can All-Stars to play two of his significant early works.

Then came Glenn Branca with his arsenal of amplification and guitars. Closing out a long day of music with a loud foray into the rhythmic and sonic materials of rock and roll. Not to mention the "fuck it" attitude that oozes charismatically from Branca as he conducts 4/4 beats with surrealistically Elvis-like poses. His music is unmerciful and oppressively loud. And completely necessary. A dose of punk into a new music aesthetic that risks becoming too effete without such an open acknowledgement of beat and brutality.

There were only occasional hints that the World Financial Center Winter Garden is not an ideal concert hall. The acoustic challenges of what is essentially a large atrium within a mall were rarely evident. And for 13 hours it retained the intimate qualities of a living room as many performers took to the stage to reveal several wellsprings of musical inventiveness. The desire to commit the ears to every moment of the experience is rarely so richly rewarded.

Music After the Future

Orchestra of the League of Composers @ Miller Theater at Columbia University, New York, New York
Saturday, June 18, 2011

John Schaefer: host
Louis Karchin: conductor

More Melisma (2006) by Milton Babbitt
Fred Sherry: cello

Silent Voices (2010) by Shulamit Ran
Peter Van Derick: reader

Concertino for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra (2008) by Elliott Carter
Virgil Blackwell: bass clarinet

Sound Merger (2011) by Arthur Kreiger

Talking Points (Right Wing Echo Chamber) (2010) by David Rakowski
Fred Sherry: cello

Violent, Violent Sea (2011) by Missy Mazzoli

The Orchestra of the League of Composers is a medium for realizing a musical aesthetic that was once touted as "the music of the future." A musical vein that passes through the second Viennese School of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern and into the sonic worlds of Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter and Roger Sessions. Eventually, that future came and went and the emphasis of "the music of the future" dissolved into "a music of the future" as a plurality of stylistic approaches and aesthetics began to co-exist without a single set of rules to judge the "rigor" and intellectual brawn of each piece of new music. Now that careers and tenure are no longer gauged against fidelity to set theory it is possible to hear the current works within this tradition in a new light.

Milton Babbitt's More Melisma is a beautifully lyrical solo cello work. Fred Sherry gave an outstanding performance that never allowed the extreme virtuosic demands of the piece to overwhelm its gentle humanity. It was a ringing sonic reminder that Milton Babbitt possessed a remarkable compositional instinct and sense of humor that was in full command of the heady underpinnings of his musical language.

Silent Voices by Shulamit Ran is a piece based on Draft of a Reparations Agreement by Dan Pagis. Words and music about the Holocaust presented along side one another as Ran developed a sonic texture from the expressive qualities of her writing for chamber ensemble. The words and music were powerful enough to more than justify their temporal separation.

Speaking to the durability of the tradition of the League of Composers was Elliott Carter's Concertino for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra. A piece composed when Carter was 100 years old. And performed with Carter in the audience at age 103. Carter's own career has been intertwined with the League for many decades. Age has not dulled his ability to write demanding, virtuosic music.

Arthur Kreiger's Sound Merger is a tightly orchestrated piece for large chamber ensemble with an electronic track. It is an extremely polished set piece that blurs the distinction between the prepared recorded material with the live realization on stage. The widely dynamic sense of reverberation within the electronic component stood in stark contrast to the static, stage reverberation of the ensemble. While it was a nearly flawlessly realized and executed piece I was left craving a more improvised interplay between the two parts.

David Rakowski's Talking Points (Right Wing Echo Chamber) presented a transparency of process as the solo material in the cello part formed the generative material for the ensemble as a whole. This worked extremely well.

The program concluded with Missy Mazzoli's Violent, Violent Sea. A through-composed, lush work that drew more heavily upon intuitive sensibilities than the other pieces on the program. And it packed a more emotionally loaded punch as a result. It was a detail rich piece that deserves performances well beyond this world premier.

The Orchestra of the League of Composers reminds these ears that "the music of the future" thrives when it is so well rehearsed and presented. It is not served nearly as well by the in between interviews conducted by John Schaefer. While Schaefer is a passionate host who mercifully kept these interviews with the composers limited to the duration needed to change the instrument configurations on the stage, they were still an unnecessary dialog for a music that stands well on its own merits. Empty moments to reflect upon this music more introspectively would be an improvement.

Miserable Pieces Exquisitely Performed

International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE): ICElab
Saturday, June 4, 2011 @ Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL

Ryan Nelson: conductor
Claire Chase: flute
Eric Lamb: flute
Campbell MacDonald: clarinet
Joshua Rubin: clarinet
Rebekah Heller: bassoon
David Byrd-Marrow: horn
Gareth Flowers: trumpet
Dan Peck: tuba
Daniel Lippel: guitar
Erik Carlson: violin
Jennifer Curtis: violin, mandolin
Katinka Kleijn: cello
Jacob Greenberg: piano
Nathan Davis: percussion
Tony Arnold: narrator, soprano
Ryan Ingebritsen: sound engineer

Nathan Davis: Bells (2011) for 2 flutes, clarinet, percussion, and live electronics activated by cellular phones

Du Yun: The Last Post, music for the film by Shahzia Sikander (2011) for flute, clarinet, bassoon, tuba, percussion, guitar and voice

Nathan Davis: On the Nature of Thingness (2011) for flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, piano, vioin, cello, soprano, conductor, guitar and engineer

Marcos Balter: AEsopica (2011) for flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, tuba, piano, two violins, cello, soprano, guitar and conductor

At the sound of a bell the audience milling about in the lobby of the Museum of Contemporary Art pulled out their cell phones and dialed into a conference call. Each entering a code for one of four electronic tracks from the Nathan Davis piece being performed within their midst. With speakers turned on and turned out, the soft presence of tiny speakers added a delay to the electronic sounds within the reverberant space. Performers armed with flutes and percussion instruments moved within the crowd. Occasionally adding to the sonic texture. A clarinetist could be heard from one balcony. A percussionist on another along with live electronic manipulations.

The audience participation of collective cellular phones brings to mind the new music holiday tradition of Phil Kline's Unsilent Night with its boom boxes strolling down the street. Much of the spatial energy was similar. Even if the communal element was conspicuously absent. What the din of tiny speakers did bring out is the sense of impoverishment common to many pieces where live electronics and acoustic instruments. The full spectral beauty and richness of real gongs, bells and flutes contrasted sharply against the lo-fi sounds from the phones.

Nathan Davis' other piece of the evening, On the Nature of Thingness used amplification to similar effect. Dulling the qualities of live acoustic sound by stretching the timbre into a caricature of itself. This was accompanied by a text that effectively did the same thing to language.

Du Yun's The Last Post was a study in beautiful textures worn thin. Accompanied by an astonishingly beautiful video by Shahzia Sikander. The extreme distance between performers at opposite ends of the stage added a strange sense of detachment between media and sound.

Marcos Balter's AEsopica began with some amazing orchestration that quickly dissolved into an overly theatrical mashing together of disjointed extended techniques. Each promising moment cut short along the way.

ICE executive director Claire Chase repeatedly referred to the ICElab project as a vehicle for the music of this generation. There is no doubt that this generation will produce amazing music. But there were no keepers in this evening's program. Like every emerging generation, there are a number of aesthetic dead ends to be worked out. And several were on display here. The talent and precision of this well rehearsed ensemble was clearly not at fault.

One thing that made this performance far more difficult than it needed to be were the brief conversations between Claire Chase and the composer before each piece. Such dialog means little before a piece is heard and is often unwelcome after it has been played. Composers are rarely articulate in a concert setting and Chase often sounded like one of the "NPR Ladies" from Saturday Night Live speaking as quickly as possible. Musical works need to speak for themselves and they rarely live up to the verbal baggage thrown at them when presented in this manner.

The desire to give a pre-performance presentation is unique to formal concert spaces. An attitude has evolved in concert halls and orchestral venues that believes the audience needs to be spoon fed its information about the music. Chances are that the audience is there because they're already informed or at least interested and there is no shortage of information readily available in this wired world. Spoon feeding is not needed and is often defeating. Many of these conversations should have been done as a podcast for those inclined to hear them.

Also, formal concert spaces need to learn from the experience found in less formal spaces. The Umbrella Music concerts are an excellent example. With at least three concerts every week in bars and art galleries this series succeeds by consistently presenting great music that never feels precious. The music is respected by a "keep the talking to none" policy that respects both performers and listeners. I have to think that New Music could grow and give voice to this generation much more quickly if allowed to flourish in less formal venues with this kind of frequency. The access to quality beers doesn't hurt the experience either.

Tradition for the End of Time

Quatuor Pour la Fin du Temps by Olivier Messiaen @ Covenant Presbyterian Church of Chicago, May 17, 2011

Rebekah Cope: violin
James Falzone: clarinet
Karen Schulz-Harmon: cello
Rick Ferguson: piano

One of the more inspired Chicago traditions - now having been observed over the past three Palm Sundays - is the annual performance of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time within the architecturally impressive Convent Presbyterian Church of Chicago. The large chapel playing host to one of the most vibrant, emotional and spiritually intense compositions of the twentieth century. A work that embodies the dual strains of serenity and anxiety as it was composed within the darkness of a German prisoner of war camp where Messiaen was interned.

The eight movements of this profound work of chamber music are an expression of faith. Faith as a foil against the despair of incarceration and an uncertain future. Faith as a necessary companion in the face of adversity.

Musically, it is a challenging piece that explores an elastic approach toward pulse and time and harmonic materials frequently drawing upon octotonic scales. Challenges deftly met by the well rehearsed quartet at Covenant Presbyterian.

James Falzone's use of a slide projector to display the composer's own notes for each movement was a welcome touch. His thoughtful introduction to the piece and post-performance question and answer session gently invited the audience to hear and understand this music. I appreciated the statement that Messiaen's music "is not entertainment." The best music often isn't. Fortunately, Chicago has no shortage of people intellectually curious enough to grasp, and even enjoy, music that challenges our sense of what is possible.

The cavernous echo of Covenant Presbyterian quickly added a thick layer to this sound that took some getting used to. I struggled to hear the rhythmic precision of the first movement and found myself concentrating to hear the cyclical patterns that were buried within a wash of sound. The room acoustics offered similar challenges for the Interlude and "Dance of Fury" movements with their rhythmically propelled energy washing against the acoustic delay. The solo clarinet movement, "Abyss of the Birds," took on an interesting quality within this space. While the long tails of sound at the end of each note and phrase were substantially different for these ears, the harmonies that came out revealed a new perspective on this familiar material. And the cello feature "Praise to the Eternity of Jesus" and violin feature of the final movement, "Praise to the Immortality of Jesus" were absolutely stunning within this wash of harmonic sound. Slow as these movements are, I imagine playing them even slower within that live space would accentuate the qualities of this music even more.

As a non-believer, this is a tradition I can respond to. Just as Messiaen's music draws upon a mysticism that can be admired (and even envied) from the outside. This is thoughtful, reasoned tradition that touches upon meaning and expressions of faith from a grounded perspective. A reason to perform this fantastic piece with these dedicated musicians. Something I'm happy to get on board with.

Boring Like a Sunset

International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) performing the music of John Luther Adams, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Saturday, February 26, 2011

In the White Silence (1998)
Steven Schick: conductor

Members of ICE:
David Bowlin: violin
Erik Carlson: violin
Doyle Armbrust: viola
Michael Nicolas: cello
Nathan Davis: percussion
Doug Perkins: percussion
Cory Smythe: celesta
Nuiko Wadden: harp

Musicians from The Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University:
Austin Wulliman: violin
Rodolfo Vieira: violin
Peter Povey: violin
Elliot Cless: violin
Alisa Seavey: viola
Catherine Price: viola
Russell Rolen: cello
Mira Luxion: cello
Mark Buchner: bass
Samuel Suggs: bass

The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies (2002)

Steven Schick: percussion
Ryan Ingebritsen: sound engineer

In a pair of sequential concerts the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago exhibited the contrasting subversive inclinations of Alaska based and inspired composer John Luther Adams. In the White Silence uses a large ensemble of musicians to produce a mere ripple of delicately tranquil sound. While The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies uses a soloist to produce an enormous din of noise. Each work striving to convey the impossible, natural expansiveness of the remote environment of the Arctic North.

In Winter Music: Composing the North, John Luther Adams includes diary excerpts from the period of time he spent composing In the White Silence. Stating "the longer we stay in one place the more we notice change." The suspended counterpoint of this concert length work reveals the rich detail found within a desolate stasis. Limited to the "white" keys of a C-major diatonic scale this work gently expands time until it takes on the expanse of a horizon. The aesthetic sparsity that Morton Feldman used to make audible the abstract paintings of Mark Rothko or Philip Guston become the raw material of a shimmering landscape. It is a music that reveals a wind swept beauty without dramatic intent.

The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies is the spiritual offspring of James Tenney's Having Never Written A Note for Percussion as an expansion of the drawing out of enharmonic counterpoint and timbral study teased out by that work. Each movement focusing upon a singular class of percussion instrument using well engineered amplification to tease out the dancing tones that hover in the air within the mass of percussive tremolo. Again, John Luther Adams makes use of an expansive sense of time to compose a music with the expansive density and grandeur of a slowly melting glacier. Freed from the constraints of human drama, the ears are drawn to an aurora borealis of acoustic dimensions. Steven Schick's performance was perfectly tuned to the meditative discipline demanded from a work composed specifically for him. The use of lights and staging expanded upon an already transparent formal construction as Schick moved between formations of snares, triangles, cymbals, a gong, a bass drum and a crank driven siren.

Singing Despots

John Adams: Nixon in China live HD broadcast from The Metropolitan
Saturday, February 12, 2011

The Metropolitan Opera is a world class institution that produces opera at the highest caliber. An institution with impressive resources and talent applied to every detail of their productions. I doubt they serve popcorn at their productions.

The "Live in HD" season of the Metropolitan Opera brings their large scale productions into the popcorn soaked corners of multiplexes and movie houses across the country. Offering an oasis within an environment of mainstream Hollywood fare. Posing the questions: does it make sense to applaud an aria within a movie theater? Would the maestro be slighted if I don't participate in a standing ovation?

The decision to conduct interviews with the star performers, the composer/conductor, the choreographer and director over the course of the two intermissions reduced the experience to a sporting event. Such interviews felt out of place within the normally introspective spaces within a performance. I couldn't help feeling that such external reflections belonged at the end of the experience as opposed to adding to an already four-hours sensory bombardment. That said, the quality of the interviews ranged from insightful to awkward.

The production itself was world class. The sets and costumes were outstanding. And the dance choreography was fantastic. It was the composition of Nixon in China that fell flat for me. I've noticed that John Adams has built a career upon taking compositional ideas from other composers (borrowing heavily from the language and sound of Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach for Nixon in China or lifting from Charles Ives's Central Park in the Dark in My Father Knew Charles Ives) and heavily diluting the sound. Gone were the additive processes and static elaborations of Glass. All the sharp corners and dissonances filed down to a consonant sheen. To be fair, even Glass himself has diluted his own ideas in the wake of Einstein on the Beach. It is clear that the watered down versions of this material does make it more widely accessible. But it leaves these ears hungry for the less compromised originals with the spices left in.

With Nixon in China, the diluted material wears out its welcome long before the incredibly disappointing third act. Once the set was reduced to a set of six beds and the principle characters were left to ponder what they had done, the "substance" of the music itself was unable to sustain the dramatic energy. I also think that the real world characters of Richard Nixon, Chairman Mao and Henry Kissinger require a far less sympathetic portrayal as figures who were ultimately on the wrong side of humanity. The interviewees of the two intermissions declared Nixon in China to be a modern masterpiece. I disagree. It is an opera that strikes a nerve with the here and now. And then gets on those nerves with its sticky sweetness.

Flock of Blackbirds

Eighth Blackbird: PowerLESS @ Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Saturday, February 5, 2011

Chaconne from the Partita in D minor BWV 1004 by J.S. Bach
Arranged by Matt Albert for 19 players

Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich

Eighth Blackbird
Tim Munro: flutes, piano
Michael J. Maccaferri: clarinets
Matt Albert: violin, viola
Nicholas Photinos: cello
Matthew Duvall: percussion
Lisa Kaplan: piano

Third Coast Percussion
Owen Clayton Condon: percussion
Robert Dillon: percussion
Peter Martin: percussion
David Skidmore: percussion

Meehan/Perkins Duo
Todd Meehan: percussion
Doug Perkins: percussion

Guest Artists
Sunshine Simmons: clarinets
Adam Marks: piano
Amy Briggs: piano
Amy Conn: soprano
Kirsten Hedegaard: soprano
Susan Nelson: soprano
Nina Heebink: mezzo soprano

Eighth Blackbird turned to a steady-state, sequential performance of Bach's Chaconne leading into Steve Reich's monumental Music for 18 Musicians without a pause in between for the "PowerLESS" side of the concert pair of PowerFUL/LESS. "Powerless" in the sense of a music that isn't about anything outside of the music itself. Music as abstraction. In the case of Music for 18 Musicians, a music that operates within its own sonic universe. A piece utterly contained within its mesmerizing continuity and gradual harmonic transitions.

The performance was a knock out. Tight and well rehearsed. With subtle lighting changes that allowed the visual spectacle of the four Steinway grand pianos, four marimbas, vibraphone, vocalists and instrumentalists against the black brick wall of the stage to shimmer against the steady metric pulse. The redundancy of doubled parts and phasing sequences added another dimension of obscuring the relationship between the actions perceived visually and aurally. Each member of the 18 musicians becoming sublimated into a looming sonic tapestry. It's a work of intricate choreography as percussionists move around (occasionally featuring sequences of three percussionists playing a single marimba or two pianists playing on two of the four pianos) and vocalists realizing the swelling crescendo/decrescendo by sweeping the microphone across the space in front of their mouths. There are many reasons why this pleasantly pulsating, tonal work will continue to endure as an enthralling minimalist work.

The decision to tack on the Bach arrangement as a prelude was an interesting one. The setting oscillated between feeling thin as the solo material was stretched out between so many players to moments of lush harmonic development. Juxtaposing the similarities and contrast between the Baroque and Minimalist aesthetics. The mechanized rhythmic qualities and tonal progressions fitting neatly side by side while the Chaccone clearly favored a melodic focal point over Music for 18 Musicians sense of rhythmic phasing. Ultimately, the Bach piece dissolved quickly as the powerful haze of Reich rolled in.

Powered by Blackbirds

Eighth Blackbird: PowerFUL @ Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Saturday, January 22, 2011

Eighth Blackbird:
Tim Munro: flutes, voice
Michael J. Maccaferri: clarinets, voice
Matt Albert: violin, viola, voice
Nicholas Photinos: cello, voice
Matthew Duvall: percussion, voice
Lisa Kaplan: piano, voice

special guest:
Katherine Calcamuggio: mezzo-soprano

John Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (2000/09) for soprano and sextet

John Luther Adams: The Light Within (2007) for sextet and electronics

Frederic Rzewski: Coming Together (1972), arranged by Matt Albert for sextet 2000/03

Coming Together is a "powerful," and adaptable piece of music. I've heard it performed many times over the years. Most performances focus on the pulsating churn that often overwhelms the text. Allowing fragments of Attica Prison inmate Sam Melville's words to poke through just enough to reveal the chilling intensity and foreboding of the repeated words to emerge (and subsequently submerge). Rzewski doesn't specify instrumentation. Simply rhythm and an indication of where the spoken words should line up within that churn. Eighth Blackbird takes liberties within the guidelines of Coming Together that allows the full text to come to the foreground with a strong sense of dramatic purpose. Each member of the ensemble contributes to the reading of the text. The rhythmic churn begins understated. Leaving plenty of room for it to grow and build upon the intensity of the poetry. Matt Albert practically transforms into the persona of Sam Melville as the primary speaker. Pushing his own performance toward the extremes fitting the man who would become the leader and casualty of the prison riots that would erupt six months after writing these words. Words that were never lost within the performance even as the ensemble progressed along a relentless crescendo of churn. Eighth Blackbird's interpretation was absolutely devastating.

The first half of the program featured a setting of the words of Bob Dylan by John Corigliano. Songs that exist along a completely different continuum from Bob Dylan the bard. The familiar words settled into an art song treatment with a deceptive sense of simplicity. Hearing Corigliano's music performed live (and performed well) is a powerful reminder that his music is even better than the high regard it has earned. Mr. Tambourine Man is a powerful work that easily belongs on a program focused upon powerful, politically charged music. Eighth Blackbird brought an amazing precision to this piece. The unison entrances between Lisa Kaplan on piano and Matthew Duvall on percussion were particularly impressive. Highlighting the incredible attention to detail throughout the performance.

Sandwiched between these political works with words was the expansively instrumental The Light Within by John Luther Adams. This was my first chance to experience this work as a non-performer. A remarkably different experience when the click track in the headphones is absent. Without that click, the passage of time takes on a different focus as the harmonic landscape shifts with an ecological sense of time. The changing qualities of light of a sunset translated into the frequency domain. A reminder that "powerful" isn't limited to human endeavors in a changing and fragile world. The electronic component of this performance was understated and only barely audible within the haze of sound.

This was a remarkably thoughtful, and well rehearsed program that builds enormous anticipation for the "powerLESS" program scheduled for February 5.

Electric Groove Carving

Paul Giallorenzo/Anton Hatwich/Charles Rumback @ The Hungry Brain, Chicago, IL
January 2, 2011

Paul Giallorenzo: electric piano
Anton Hatwich: electric bass, acoustic bass
Charles Rumback: drums

An electric piano trio that forms its textures and allegiances through groove. Paul Giallorenzo's rock-steady-yet-jagged compositions gives this trio material to chew on with his electric piano timbre sitting at the heart of the sound. Anton Hatwich anchors the ostinato bass lines while Charles Rumback gives a restrained and organic sense of pulse. This group was a revelation at The Hungry Brain into the wee hours of a Sunday night. Hearing Anton Hatwich work the electric bass into a tight groove with the drums was particularly surprising.

The smoldering, understated solos formed an unholy partnership with a smattering of odd meters and subtly twisted forms. The balance of funk with a laid back sound was beautiful to behold. This is one group that needs to get into the recording studio.

Ballister Trauma

Ballister @ The Hideout, Chicago, IL
Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Dave Rempis: alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone
Fred Lonberg-Holm: cello, electronics
Paal Nilssen-Love: drums, percussion

From the first attack from Paal Nilssen-Love's stick landing on membrane Ballister lurched forward with a willingness to plunge over any improvisational cliff. With a music that is far from subtle - but full of subtlety - this trio mines a sonic territory built upon three slabs of noise emanating from equal partners. The jagged beauty of their sound pouring down like a firestorm during an active eruption.

Behind the thrill of sonic fortissimo lurks the contours of the independent parts. The surprising moments of quiet introspection that creep into the foreground or the delicious moments when one layer drops out, allowing for a duo to pool around the edges of the aggressive energy. The confidence these performers have in one another as collaborators and partners in angry dialogue offering ample evidence that their responsive listening habits have fused together as a band and over years of playing together within larger formations.

Dave Rempis played with a lot of heat. Often concluding pieces with a searing tone from a surprising register on the baritone. Or tracing soft contours that sounded nearly as processed as Fred Lonberg-Holm's pedal heavy cello setup. While Nilssen-Love displayed how the percussive vocabulary on display in last week's solo set plays out within a trio format. The end result was a satisfying blast of noise therapy.

Love and Roebke

Paal Nilssen-Love and Jason Roebke Combination @ The Hideout, Chicago, IL
Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Set 1: Paal Nilssen-Love
Paal Nilssen-Love: drums

Set 2: Jason Roebke Combination
Greg Ward: alto saxophone
Brian Labycz: electronics
Jason Roebke: bass
Frank Rosaly: drums

Paal Nilssen-Love has the rare balance and instinct to know what is possible on a drum kit along with the restraint to know how to organically explore that range of percussive timbre and pulse. He began his solo set with a quick blast on the snare drum before moving to a world of dynamic range along skins and cymbals. At one point striking the drum heads with claves while catching the drum head with a finger to change the tension (and resonant pitch) before the sound trailed off. He also explored a range of possibilities with hand held cymbals and gongs against the resonant bodies of the snare and tom. All with remarkable musical instinct. He could have played both sets and easily had enough material to hold these ears.

The Jason Roebke Combination featured a set of charts for the quartet of saxophone, modular electronics, bass and drums. Pieces that grooved hard with a tight rhythm section while the electronics and saxophone entered into a rich dialogue built upon blues and bop. Labycz's vintage electronics are well beyond novelty as his jagged, brash timbres worked both rhythmically and sonically with the group as a whole. With Frank Rosaly working the trap set, this was an evening to feast upon excellent drumming.