Scale of the Day: A Phrygian no 4 major 6

The A Phrygian no 4 major 6 Scale as one would find it on any conventionally tuned, equal tempered instrument.

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.

Scale of the Day: F Locrian no 4

The F Locrian no 4 Scale as one would find it on any conventionally tuned, equal tempered instrument. The missing fourth degree adds a level of ambiguity to the diminished fifth. With an equal tempered system it is probable that the ear will cognitively resolve it as an augmented fourth. As a composer, the standard issues of resolution that manifest with the odd tonal gravity of the diminished fifth are ever present and the challenge is to not treat the diminished fifth as a substitute for the missing fourth degree.

Scale of the Day: E 5, 3 Construct #1, Lydian Mode - reflected into the First Pool

The E 5, 3 Construct #1, Lydian Mode - reflected into the First Pool - Scale. This is a conceptual scale with just three notes. The "reflection" takes the 5-limit major seventh and adds a proportionately equivalent interval within itself. The 1.768 is to 15/8 what 15/8 is to 2.

The Map

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Tan Dun
October 11, 2007 @ The Music Center at Strathmore, North Bethesda, MD

Dmitri Shostakovich: Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folk Themes, op. 115
Alexander Borodin: Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor
The Map, Concerto for Violoncello, Video and Orchestra
Ilya Finkelshteyn: cello

Some believe that the classical music tradition is somehow in its last throes. Orchestras and orchestral music are frequently declared to be in various stages of decay in the press (and in music blogs) and discussions often circle a tight orbit with a pessimistic view toward change. Encountering The Map, particularly as conducted by its composer Tan Dun, sheds much needed perspective upon the fragility of all traditions from one who has weathered many changes.

The Map is an intensely personal work. It is motivated by a passionate journey to recover and preserve the aboriginal dance and music traditions of China. Traditions that are astonishingly vivid, beautiful and frail. The juxtaposition and incorporation of the sounds, movement and people of China via pre-recorded video into the pan-cultural context of an orchestra within a formal concert hall draws striking parallels to the mortality and enduring humanity inherit in all traditions. The video, cello and orchestra work as equal parts in The Map. There is no sense of one accompanying the other. The performance unfolds as a dialogue between these three parts that periodically overlaps at times. Tan Dun skillfully mixes and balances this piece by allowing the video screen to go blank or the orchestra to go silent at different times as the focal point shifts fluidly in accordance to the materials being presented. The incorporation of the orchestral percussion with the dancers and stone drummers on screen was particularly exhilarating. And the call and response between the singer on screen with the cellist on stage was brilliant - in part because of the vocal-like inflections of the cello part. Extended techniques for the orchestral players were clearly focused on complimenting and adding to the overall sonic image and the orchestration was extraordinarily economical with sparse - but never thin - textures.

The common thread of works that make use of folk materials native to their respective composers was also evident in the Dmitri Shostakovich and Alexander Borodin pieces in the first half of this program. Shostakovich's Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folk Themes is a well-orchestrated piece that lives up to its "overture" status as unusually light fare for its composer. The Polovtsian Dances of Alexander Borodin had a sticky, overly sweet quality that seemed to clean all the earthiness off of its folk materials.

As a conductor, Tan Dun made precise, deliberate motions toward a responsive Baltimore Symphony Orchestra that seemed to draw a world of sound with a minimum of extraneous gestures. One could sense the connection Tan Dun felt with each of the pieces on this program. And one could sense the melancholy of the fading traditions so lovingly presented in The Map along side the optimism that this one creative expression might help preserve the awe and human warmth found within Tan Dun's personal and cultural geography.

Scale of the Day: E Flat Whole-tone no 2 mapped to the Square-root-of-2

The E Flat Whole-tone no 2 Scale mapped to the Square-root-of-2 Scale as one would find it on any conventionally tuned, equal tempered instrument. The first pentatonic "scale of the day" in square-root-of-2 space. And it inherits the whole-tone anomaly of being a scale with the 600-cent "tritone" as the interval of harmonic equivalence without requiring a complete re-tuning of most instruments.

HurdAudio Rotation: The Delusion Sets In

Harry Partch: Delusion of the Fury: A Ritual of Dream and Delusion. Conducted by Danlee Mitchell. 1999 (re-issued from the 1971 Columbia Masterworks recording). Innova: 406.

Delusion is a sonic universe so complete, so inviting that putting on this disc is an invitation to live within the alternate reality of Harry Partch's imagining. The call of a bacchanalian, ritualistic sensibility continues to stand in sharp contrast to the world that Partch turned his back on when he invented these instruments, this intonation system and this incredible music. As his final and most ambitious work, Delusion of the Fury remains a significant point of reference in the HurdAudio Rotation.

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Complete Quartets - Volume V. Recorded by The Orford String Quartet. 1994. Delos International: DE 3035.

String Quartet in C Major, Op. 59 No. 3 ("Razumovsky")
String Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 74 ("Harfen")

Andrew Dawes: violin
Kenneth Perkins: violin
Terence Helmer: viola
Denis Brott: cello

With this listening I've finally dipped my ears into all three of the "Razumovsky" quartets - an impressive set of polished "middle period" pieces from the old master. The Opus 74 also falls into that transition period between Classical and Romantic sensibilities. (At least that's how it sounds to me). The transition exposes a transparency between the two styles that is fascinating to hear. The Classical language seems to swell with additional syntax and ever expanding inventiveness (to continue the habit of torturing the 'music as syntactical language' metaphor). The final V-I progression of the Op. 74 feels tacked on somehow. Like a soft let down - or nod toward cadential convention in the immediate wake of so much vigorous activity.

Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost [box set] - disc 4. 2004. Revenant Records: 213.

Albert Ayler Sextet: 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

Albert Ayler Quintet: November 3, 1966 @ Berlin Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone
Don Ayler: trumpet
Michel Samson: violin
Bill Folwell:bass
Beaver Harris: drums

There's a satisfying release of aggressive energy in these sessions - with Michel Samson sawing away with a perfect counterbalance to Ayler's tenor playing. I'm struck by just how different this violin sound is compared to what Ornette Coleman does with that instrument in his own free improvisations. This is hardly surprising given the forceful conviction of "Truth Is Marching In" of "Zion Hill" compared to the off-centered harmolodics of a "Lonely Woman" or "Change of the Century." Not to mention the fact that violin is Samson's primary instrument. It's fortunate that these 1966 sets were documented.