Scale of the Day: E Flat Chromatic 1% wide

The intervallic content of the E Flat Chromatic 1% wide Scale.

Interval of the Day: Major Seventh 1% wide

The major seventh 1% wide. The interval that was 1100-cents is increased by 11 cents.

Scale of the Day: D Chromatic mapped to the 3/2

The D Chromatic mapped to the 3/2 Scale. The 3/2 just perfect fifth divided into 12 equal parts.

HurdAudio Rotation: Classical Turns and a Trip to La Cave

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Symphonies [disc 5]. Recorded in 1994. The International Music Company: 205299-305.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Symphony No. 7 in A major (op. 92)
Barry Wordsworth: conductor
Symphony No. 8 in D minor (op. 93)
James Lockhart: conductor

When the ears develop a sense of historical context it becomes difficult not to hear these two symphonic works as the calm before the ninth symphony. The challenge - as it is with any fetishized and profoundly familiar body of musics - is to hear the sounds of these works in the present tense. Stripping away the precarious point between Classical-with-a-capital-c and Romantic-with-a-capital-R and hearing the formal development and sensibilities is a continually rewarding exercise with each of the symphonies. A sense of brooding optimism runs through these pieces as each takes their customary developmental turns upon core themes and reminds the composerly mind just how exhilarating it is to bridge surprising turns from a set body of materials.

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Complete Quartets, Vol. IV. Recorded in 1986. Delos: DE 3034.

The Orford String Quartet
Andrew Dawes: violin
Kenneth Perkins: violin
Terence Helmer: viola
Denis Brott: cello

String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59 No. 2 ("Razumovsky")
String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95 ("Serioso")

The "Razumovsky" quartets continue to intrigue these ears with that transitional quality between the early and late Beethoven sound. While the late "Serioso" contains all the formal and compositional qualities of the symphonies without the instrumental scale and difficulty of separating it from memory (these quartets are less familiar compared to the often played symphonies). This is a big dose of the big "B." There's plenty of reason to come back to these pieces time and again.

Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost (box set) [disc 3]. 2004. Revenant Records: 213.

Albert Ayler Quintet @ La Cave, Cleveland, OH. April 16-17, 1966
Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone
Don Ayler: trumpet
Michel Samson: violin
Mutawef Shaheed (aka Clyde Shy): bass
Ronald Shannon Jackson: drums

It's hard to overstate the fascination with the layer of sound found in Michel Samson's violin work on these live sets. It's also hard to overstate the strain to hear it at times with the cave-like acoustics of La Cave on these rough recordings. On one hand, a much treasured document of one of Ayler's great quintets. This is coupled with the disappointment that the attention to engineering this sound didn't get its due in this all to brief moment of time.

The treatment of melodic themes as grounding material is of particular interest in these sets. Especially how the cyclical quality wears away to expose different members - often as they iterate and dissolve that same theme. Even more so when that dissolving leaves the way clear to hear Samson dragging his bow along the violin. I would be interested to learn more about Samson's influence on sometimes violinist Ornette Coleman and the similar sound he reaches for with that instrument.

Scale of the Day: E Flat Chromatic mapped to the Triative

The intervallic content of the E Flat Chromatic mapped to the Triative Scale.

Cache and Carry

Cache-Flow Quartet/Instant Coffee @ The Red Room, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, February 28, 2009

Instant Coffee
M.C. Schmidt: hi-hat, percussion, synthesizer, sampler, voice, video
Jason Willett: sidrassi organs, amplified rubber band, percussion
Lisle Ellis: bass, electronics

Cache-Flow Quartet
Michael Muniak: feedback, electronics
Paul Neidhardt: feedback, electronics
Twig Harper: feedback, electronics
Drew Daniel: feedback, electronics

The debut performance of Instant Coffee offered up a heady brew. A blend of creative forces that collaboratively build music from different angles. M.C. Schmidt's restless switching between instruments and sonic choices providing a prodding through an ear-driven creation that allowed for humor, substance and contrast. The presence of Jason Willett's amplified rubber band and similarly elastic electronic source materials provided a tension between control and non-control simmering just within the overall texture. Lisle Ellis moved between balancing and complimenting these parts with his widely varied - yet focused - bass playing combined with his own electronic impulses. His responsive strumming would anchor a drone texture before taking a turn toward expansively free pizzicato or bowed lyrical lines against a broadly fluctuating backdrop.

M.C. Schmidt has a striking sensibility for seizing sonic choices from any given moment. The squeaking as he rotates on his seat is effectively folded into the overall sound and repeated with deliberate durational intent. A collection of metal pipes detached from a wind chime tossed and scattered upon the floor and hi hat takes on a prolonged and intentional clumsiness to soak up the sonic racket offered up. The theatre of the performance never becoming unhinged from the collaborative sound of the group. These three different personalities and musical histories finding a common territory of evolving textures. Instant Coffee has a good sound that keeps the ears steeped in its unexpected turns.

The Cache-Flow Quartet is experimental music in its purest sense. The chain of inputs sent between players being deliberately obscured - and manipulated by the audience over the course of the performance - to place the performers in a collaborative feedback loop of managed unpredictability. The sonic equivalent of a laboratory with beakers of strange concoctions boiling over as four mad scientists strain against the Jekyll and Hyde within their own improvisative instincts. The unpredictable signal flow swallowing up input from each and swirling into an attractive din of noise.

Interval of the Day: Major Seventh mapped to the Triative

The Major Seventh mapped to the Triative. This is the equal tempered interval stretched to fill 3-space. 1743.46-cents is to 1901.96-cents (the size of the 3/1 triative) what 1100-cents is to 1200-cents.