Gamelan Son of Lion, Mark Steven Brooks, Spin-17, Alan Lamb, Ryoji Ikeda, Pete Namlook, Bill Laswell

Many years ago, I started a blog named Juxtaposition Ezine. Here’s a column I from a series I was working on, until I finally folded the blog.

Visitation #11

New Gamelan/New York
Gamelan Son of Lion
(GSOL CD-1)

Gamelan Son of Lion is both a New World gamelan and a new music group. Not only are GSOL continuing tradition, but they are contributing and extending it by writing new music for the ensemble. Although the entire CD is noteable, here’s some highlights:

• Laura Liben’s Piece for Peace in the Middle East features tuned bamboo angklung rattles in different time signatures.
• Mark Steven Brooks contributes some short movements in Four Dances for Balinese Angklung.
• A digital gamelan of sampled wine glasses perform Kebyar Leyak by David Simons. Spooky vocal sample snippets from a TV documentary on UFO’s are included (I recognize this material!).
• The clarinet in co-founder Daniel Goode’s Slendro Clarinet makes one forget that the clarinet is from Europe!
• Jody Kruskal, David Demnitz and co-founder Barbara Benary also contribute pieces.

One of few ways of exposing yourself to the percussion ensemble music of Indonesia as filtered through the West. Highly recommended.

Hopefully someday the Gamelan in the New World lp’s on Folkways will be re-released on CD.

Writhing to the Occasion
Mark Steven Brooks
(Elaterium Records EL-6)

Gritty improvised electronics from the producer of the Gamelan Son of Lion CD (see first review, above). Cubic (in three parts) for computer generated sound brings us electronic night life and various other alien landscapes. In Prelude and Solo #3 for digitally processed theremin, Brooks caresses the instrument to produce sliding tones and then releases them into the ether, echoing and blooming into a cloud of processed reverb. No Still Point and Threnody are both for digital synthesizer yet seem influenced by his work with the theremin. A refreshing leap beyond the usual. Jump in – the electronic soup is great!

Spin-17
(Quodlibet QLCD001)

50:56 minutes of pure fun and mayhem. A free wheeling skip through rock, jazz, free improv, music concrete, dj turntable frennzy, skronk opera, studio manipulation, toy instruments and anything/everything else…twisted electronics, 20th century clarinet, heavy guitar, tapes, tape manipulation and turntable acrobatics by Ed Chang vs. vocal extremities, turntable gymnastics, toys, gizmos and more heavy guitar by Motoko Shimizu. Includes a nod to John Cage with a performance of Aria. Not for the weak of heart – nothing stays the same for more than a few seconds – take a step beyond and fall off the edge. Recommended.

Original Masters – Night Passage
Alan Lamb
(Dorobo 013)

These last three new recordings are by people who have been reviewed on this site before. Telegraph wire sound artist/musican Alan Lamb’s Night Passage has finally been released, the de-mixes by studio wizards Ryoji Ikeda, Thomas Köner, Lustmord and Bernhard Günter having been released a while back. Lamb’s music is found on abandoned telegraph wires and recorded.

The best stuff is edited in to these recordings without any studio manipulation. What you hear is the original recording of wires shifting in the wind. See the Juxtaposition Ezine review of his Night Passages de-mixed for more info.

O°C
Ryoji Ikeda
(Touch TO:38)

Ryoji Ikeda is back with his follow up to his +/-, this one is called O°C. Zero degrees centigrade? Minimal reverb, minimal samples. Full of beating, beeping, ticking, ambient moments that give way to thumping electronics. A truly gifted use of silence and hard edged electronics. His last cd made Juxtaposition Ezine’s Notable releases of 1997. “Sine tone madness. Extreme beep music. Really high notes. Really low notes. Really cool too.” “I love it. Zen techno rock garden of boops and drones. Sort of like a friendly MRI.”

Outland III
Pete Namlook & Bill Laswell
(FAX PW 37)

And last, but not least…is the last in the Outland trilogy of collaborations between FAX label guru Pete Namlook and bassist/producer Bill Laswell – Outland III. Some signature Namlook beats…some timeless floating ambient. Not quite up to the standards of Outland I, this sounds like Laswell wasn’t there for the mix down, his trademark thumpy bass just isn’t thumpy enough. Is this the end of the union of Namlook & Laswell? Let’s see what happens…stay tuned.

dB
8/4/1998

Harold Budd and Jon Gibson in NYC: April 24, 1997

Harold Budd and Jon Gibson
in NYC: April 24, 1997

Harold Budd and Jon Gibson, two principle figures of ambient music and minimalism, played at the Merkin Concert Hall in NYC on Thursday, April 24, 1997. Budd is perhaps best known as a collaborator with Brian Eno and the Cocteau Twins, and his controversial work “Madrigals of the Rose Angel” (1972), performed by a topless female chorus, harp, percussion, celeste and lights. Gibson is a saxophonist/flautist who has played with all four “major” minimalist composers: Terry Riley, La Monte Young, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass.

Set List:

Gibson- CHROME I (1996; World premiere)
Budd- NOVE ALBERI (New York premiere; poem “The Butterfly” by Michael McClure)
Budd & Gibson- CUIDADES (1996; World Premiere)
Budd- MORE THAN THIS [the Roxy Music song]/ CAROUSEL AT THE END OF THE WORLD [Francesco Landini] (New York Premiere)
Budd & Gibson- FLAGS: Parallel Eagles-Jagged-Dance of the Cubes-Stan I- Stan II-Lambda Halved-Lambda Squared-A Rose It Isn’t-Pleasure [by Steven Brown]-The Night is Remiss- Parallel Eagles (World Premiere)
Budd- FRAGMENTS FROM “1000 CHORDS” (for John Foxx) (New York Premiere)
Gibson- MUCH ADO (World Premiere)
Budd & Gibson- CONSTELLATION OF SPIRES (World Premiere)

Gibson started the set out with “CHROME I”, a piece comprised primarily of merely five notes, with long, extended, hold-your-breath-till-it-hurts trills frenetically played on saxophone. His fingers could be heard audibly tapping the valves of the instrument, almost like a telegraph. Very interesting work.
Budd then came out and delivered “NOVE ALBERI”, a very haunting piece very reminiscent of Laurie Anderson’s work, with a pre-recorded backdrop and Budd’s sparse piano drifting unnoticably in and out of the atmosphere. Budd delivered the poem deep and dark, almost as if in a trance. Really captivating stuff.

The two came out and then played “CUIDADES”, a very simple work with Budd playing two ascending riffs (improvising each time by dragging out the spacing or by omitting notes), while Gibson played a beautiful some beautiful stuff over it.

Budd’s next piece, a combination of Bryan Ferry’s “More Than This” (so transformed as to be virtually unrecognizable) and Francesco Landini’s “Carousel at the End of the World” was a highlight of the evening: spritely and energetically delivered.

“FLAGS” was the evening’s crux, with many varied sections. “Parallel Eagles” was a broad ‘n’ brooding, legato piece while “Stan” had an upbeat, jazzy feel to it.

“FRAGMENTS from 1000 CHORDS” made heavy use of the Budd trademark: the “hazy”/”languid” chords (usually sevenths, ninths, augmenteds, diminisheds) that he executes masterfully on his most beautiful pieces.

“MUCH ADO” brough Gibson back on solo, for a wild performance of heavily echoed flute cadenzas.
The duo closed with “CONSTELLATION OF SPIRES”, another hauntingly beautiful piece to enamour the audience.

I really enjoyed the performance, and hope that some of this stuff, if it isn’t already, gets recorded (I think, though I could be wrong, that “Nove Alberi” is already on Budd’s latest studio album “LUXA”). One thing you took away from the performance was Budd’s us of spacing; listening to him play live, it gives the illusion that each note he plays has travelled a few light years to get from the piano to your ears! That’s seriously what it seemed like to me: watching a starry sky at nighttime.

After the show, I talked with him for a bit- he’s really a great guy, again (like Terry Riley, who I had seen maybe a month ago), very approachable, friendly, easy to talk to. If you do talk to him, however, be warned that he prefers not to shake hands (though someone else there did and he didn’t scowl at them or anything 😉 )-apparently, I think his left hand may be slightly injured (?). I asked him about his experiences with making “THE MOON AND THE MELODIES” album (with the Cocteau Twins), to which he said that he enjoyed making the album with them, though they went into it completely in the dark, not knowing what to do or expect; although he doesn’t consider it a perfect album, he’s overall happy with it (at least we both agreed that “Memory Gongs” was a great song! 🙂 )…and what were the Cocteau Twins like, I asked? “Oh, they are absolutely wonderful people! Totally unpretentious, no egos, or..you know…*none of that crap* !! Plus, she [Elizabeth Fraser] has an absolutely beautiful voice…” “Is Brian Eno like that, too?” “Oh yes, most definately…” (!!) 🙂

Joe McGlinchey
Sun, 27 Apr 1997

Note: I was at Harry Partch’s Oedipus across town so I missed this rare appearance by Harold Budd in NYC. Good thing Joe was there! This review originally appeared in the USENET newsgroups and appears here with the authors permission.

db
10/2/1997

Originally published online at Juxtaposition Ezine.

Juxtaposition Ezine, an ancestor of this blog

In 1996, I had a day job in the magazine business and I saw the editors always getting lots of promotional compact discs. I thought…hey I could do that. And so Juxtaposition Ezine was born. I had some major surgery on my leg and had a bit of time on my hands, so I wrote a bit, eventually including reviews of shows I went to. I stopped writing after a while because didn’t have time. Later I wrote reviews for the Downtown Music Gallery Newsletter.

dB
12/31/2012

Here’s what I wrote about the review of my site from the Wire in 1998.

The Wire is an internationally distributed new music publication published in London. In the June 1998 issue, Rob Young reviewed Juxtaposition Ezine for his Multimedia feature. How about that! The only thing they got wrong was the authorship of the NewBand article – that was by Philly tuning theorist Joe Monzo. I don’t know about Joe but I can live with that. Anyway… thanks to The Wire for noticing my efforts.

The Wire review:

Lots of articles here on a wide range of New Music, with emphasis on Just Intonation and microtones, but with a strong penchant for the exploits of (former) Prog rockers (there’s a recent live review of Bill Bruford and Tony Levin’s Upper Extremities at New York’s Knitting Factory). Webmaster David Beardsley has his ear to the ground in the States – he reviews a live soundtrack to the Murnau film of the Last Laugh by Newband leader Dean Drummond, performed on the instruments of Harry Partch; and he traces the interface of gamelan on the Fouth World fusions of Bill Alves. Other names that rase an eyebrow among the ever growing archive of profiles, live reviews and ruminations include Cluster, Eno, Deep Listening Band and Ornette Coleman, and there’s the odd side trip into the world of multimedia installation by the likes of sound sculptor Harry Bertoia. Plenty to mull over for browsers trying to escape the summer sun.

Pretty cool, eh?

db, 5/31/1998

Music for Airports, Brian Eno, Annie Gosfield, Glen Branca and Arnold Dreyblatt.

Music for Airports
Brian Eno’s seminal ambient masterpiece
as performed by Bang On A Can

also Annie Gosfield, Glen Branca and Arnold Dreyblatt
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, NY, NY.
March 7, 1998

I first heard about the Bang On A Can transcriptions on Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports last year when I endured the annual BOAC marathon. A transcription many people asked. Why? Dumb question. Cash for Eno. Cash for BOAC. Homage. Whatever. I went for the other composers anyway (more on that later).

The transcription is a bit more then that: also a re-orchestration, there were a few parts that weren’t on the original. A repeated microtonal ornament by the cellist, an out of tune trumpet in 1/1. During 1/2, the percussionist whipped out some brake drums and played them by rubbing something around the inside rim like a tibetan bowl. This resulted in a cool shimmering scraping sound like Superman lifting a manhole cover but what was it doing in 1/2??? What was that all about? Halfways through the tour, DJ Spooky will probably be up there spinning records.

Despite those problems, the BOAC arrangement (at least on cd) is stunning. The percussionist’s gong, vibes, marimba and tubular bells – among other instruments – with the piano, lend an almost Harold Budd atmosphere to the proceedings. Bowed vibraphone always lifts music to heaven and it’s use during 2/2 did just that.

Annie Gosfield’s been getting an increasing number of performances in NYC and tonight’s performance of “The Manufacture of Tangled Ivory” was another example of her fascination with detuned piano. In the first section, various studio enhanced samples of piano are pounded abstractly – early 20th century angst – on a keyboard. Followed by a thrashing band unison section where the guitar player would mute and slash at the strings and the cello and acoustic bassist abuse one note or drum on the bodies of their instruments. Likewise, the drummer, who sounded incredible in this hall, pounded out time on the toms. A regular uptown/downtown jungle/20th century angst fest.

When I got the promo post card from BOAC, I doubted that Glenn Branca was still a microtonalist. I thought that Branca abandoned just intonation, but apparently the BOAC commission “Movement Within” does the trick. Reviving his home made instruments: two keyboards, an organ, a guitar, a hammered dulcimer and a approximately 9 foot long steel guitar – all microtonal harmonic series tunings – this was the jaw dropping work of the evening. Nice stereo mix too, I was sitting in the back of the hall and the two keyboards seemed to be panned left and right, huge harmonic chords making the room pulse back and forth.

Arnold Dreyblatt’s “Escalator” is based on recordings of malfunctioning escalators. The band would hammer away on one note while the drums pounded with Beefheartian rhythms. Tense harmonies abruptly gave way to gentler sections while still maintaining typical Dreyblatt rhythms. “Escalator” sounded less like a malfunctioning escalators than an insanely mad town orchestra. BOAC should commission more works by New York City microtonalists like Branca and Dreyblatt.

db
3/9/1998

Originally published online at Juxtaposition Ezine.

Theatre of Voices, John Cage, Terry Riley, Paul Hillier

Litany for the Whale
Theatre of Voices
John Cage, Paul Hillier, Terry Riley
Harmonia Mundi HMU 907187

Paul Hillier is mostly known for his performances of early music, although he has recorded the music of Ingram Marshall, minimalist composer Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt and others. On this CD by radical avant gard American composer John Cage (1912 – 1992), Hillier is joined by his ensemble Theatre of Voices and special guest early minimalist Terry Riley. There’s a wide range of vocal music by Cage on this disc.

A pastoral duet between Theatre of Voices members Alan Bennett and Paul Elliott on Litany for the Whale opens the disc. 26 minutes of Cageian vocalese based on the word whale where two voices sound as one. I listened to this piece a few times and read the liner notes before I realized there was more than one person singing.

Aria No. 2 starts with thunder and a kiss, Paul Hillier explores vowels and consonants from five languages: Armenian, Russian, Italian, French and English. On the late Cage piece, Five, five voices blend harmoniously. Hillier’s solo voice on The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs is accompanied by closed piano. One can hear him tapping about on the piano while singing text from Finnegan’s Wake. Solo for Voice from Songbooks, is split up between two performers who make textural breathing sounds that are in turn electronically processed.

Soloist Andrea Fullington sings Experiences No.2 based on e.e cummings “III,” Sonnets-Unrealities, Tulips and Chimneys (1923). This sweet ballad serves as an introduction to conversational tone of: Mesostics re and not re Marcel Duchamp as performed by Paul Hillier and Terry Riley. Back and forth: Riley recites and Hillier sings through various digital sound processing devices.

Aria (for Cathy Berberian) is a theatrical festival for seven voices and electronics. Hillier arranged the piece for multiple voices to cover the different vocal styles. The electronics give the listener an added colorful element of enviroment . Bells, breaking glass, water, the surf and other sounds illustrate the work.

A satisfying and frequently unpredictable survey of Cage’s vocal music as performed by Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices. Highly recommended.

David Beardsley
7/22/98

Originally published online at Juxtaposition Ezine.

Tisziji Muñoz, David Tudor, Columbia-Princeton Music Center

Spirit World
Tisziji Muñoz
Anami

Guitarist Muñoz owes a lot to the modal ecstatic jazz of Impulse! records period John Coltrane. At one time the replacement for Sonny Sharrock in the Pharoah Sanders band, he is here joined by saxophonist Sanders – another influence in his composing – Rashied Ali (percussion), Bernie Senenski (piano), and Don Pate (bass).

Clean burning guitar lines with a real nice distorted tone reminiscent of Sharrock (Ask The Ages on Axiom), early ’70’s Mahavishnu John McLaughlin or the *spiritual* Carlos Santana (without the latin percussion and specifically on Illuminations with Alice Coltrane). I know I’ll be looking forward to other releases by Tisziji Muñoz. (Pronounced: Tiss-see-jee Moon-yos)

Rainforest (Versions I & IV)
David Tudor
Mode
Mode 64

In a way, there were two David Tudors. There was the pianist who premiered many pieces of New Music for piano (Stockhausen, Cage, Feldman, Young). There was also the electro-acoustic composer/performer who conceived the music on this cd.

Objects are rigged with contact microphones, fed in to Tudor built filters and a mixing board. The results are then amplified through speakers. The objects pick up these vibrations creating a feedback loop of sound that is controlled by the composer and/or assistants. And yes, at times it does sound like an alien electronic rainforest with strange creaking and groaning. A classic before it was even released.

Columbia-Princeton Music Center
New World Records
80521-2

An excellent sampling of electro-acoustic music that came out of the legendary Columbia-Princeton Music Center from 1961 to 1973. Composers include: Bülent Arel, Daria Semegen, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Ingram Marshall, Alice Shields and Charles Dodge (who’s classic Earth’s Magnetic Field is reissued here for the 1st time on CD).

Includes extensive liner notes with an article by Alice Shields detailing the center, Sound Sources in the Classical Analog Studio, Analog Sound Manipulation, notes on the music, biographical information on the composers, selected works and recordings by the composers and a selected bibliography.

Highly recommended.

db
11/16/1998

Originally published online at Juxtaposition Ezine.

Roger Klier 1997

Roger Klier
eXperimental Intermedia, New York, N.Y.
March 9, 1997

Roger Klier is a guitarist of the free improvisation school. Using a red Epiphone SG, a Lexicon Jamman, various effect pedals and a black face Fender Champ (oh yeah!), he improvised avant soundscapes. He would create a loop of skronking harmonics and then improvise with an ebow (electronic bow). While the loop would fade away, a soundscape of sustaining ebow was layered. Objects like files and screwdrivers were used percussively and also jammed into the strings, creating an artificial bridge. The guitar was then played like a koto with the strings being pulled on one side of the artificial bridge and plucked on the other side. Strings were detuned and played behind the nut. Klier played this way for almost an hour, playing, looping, playing over the loop, creating another loop, juxtaposing and joining sections of texture. Klier would sometimes stop playing and enjoy the accompanying slide show. Phil Niblock’s slides from travels in the Szechuan provence of China were projected on a huge screen.

This concert was part of XI’s Seventh Annual Festival with no fancy name, part two. If history is any indication, part one of XI’s Eighth Annual Festival with no fancy name will continue the series in December 1997 and part two will be in March 1998. See you there!

eXperimental Intermedia
224 Center Street
New York, N.Y. 10013

db
3/18/1997

Originally published online at Juxtaposition Ezine.

Jim Cole and Spectral Voices

Coalescence
Jim Cole and Spectral Voices

The harmonic singing technique used here is similar to Tibetan, Mongolian and Tuvan harmonic overtone singing. Using the naturally occurring harmonic series, the singer changes the shape of the mouth and throat to control the harmonic. This technique enables the singer to produce more than one note.
Recorded in a 120 foot tall water tower, Jim Cole and Spectral Voices continue and extend a tradition of harmonic chant as used by David Hykes and Tim Hill in the Harmonic Choir and Michel Vetter (as well as the previously mentioned Tibetan, Mongolian and Tuvans). One singer is a group, a duo is a choir. Higher harmonics sound like a second person is whistling. Sub-harmonics resemble the gruff chant of Tibetan monks. The resonant water tower adds to the direct to digital audio tape recording, a natural reverb that enhances the music.

Spectral Voices are: Jim Cole and Alan Dow with Berk “Deepak Throat” Meitzler, Sharen Baker, Sylvia Halkin and Florentin Traista. Except for a tambura on Blue India and percussion on Heartbeat to Avalon, only voices are used on this recording. No synthesizers or studio wizardry.
Of course, since we’re dealing with the harmonic series, these musicans are working with just intonation – intervals based on whole number ratios. For example, 7/4 (the seventh harmonic) or 9/8 (the ninth harmonic) are whole number ratios.
Harmonic singing is too beautiful. In all the other traditions of singing, there’s nothing like it, a true spiritual experience.

db
12/4/1997
Originally published on line at Juxtaposion Ezine.

Invite the Spirit, 1997

Invite the Spirit
Knitting Factory Alterknit Theater, New York, N.Y.
May 2, 1997

Soon after Sang-won Park came to America, Charles K. Noyes called and invited him to improvise together.The second time they got together, the album “Invite the Spirit” (Celluloid, 1984) was recorded with guitarist Henry Kaiser. On May 2, 1997, the group played two sets at the cozy Alterknit Theater (downstairs in the Knitting Factory) with Jim O’Rourke on guitar and prepared guitar replacing Kaiser.

Sang-won Park sang and played the kayagum, a 12 silk string Korean zither in the same family as the Chinese ching and Japanese koto. Each string had a small moveable bridge. He would pluck with one hand while bending the strings behind the bridge with his other hand. He also played two other instruments, one was a steel string version of the kayagum and the other with a bow.

Charles K. Noyes had a unique drum set. Instead of a floor tom and a bass drum, he used large one headed frameless drums that were very resonant and a shallow snare. He spent the evening abstractly hitting rims, drums and the occasional cymbal. Where has he been for the last fifteen years?

On his third gig with the band, Jim O’Rourke was the quiet member of a quiet group. Playing an acoustic flat top with an electric pickup taped into the soundhole, O’Rourke’s approach to the guitar was quite subtle. One moment plucking chords, then alterknitly attaching alligator clips, then gently rocking the guitar to set the clips bouncing on the strings, he never blotted out the rest of the band with free improv mayhem. O’Rourke is very prolific and seems to be playing everywhere and with everyone these days. Although listed in the K.F. Knotes as also playing piano and hurdy gurdy, he only played guitar during the first set.

By the way, the performance of the band was more then the sum of it’s parts.

db
5/13/1997
Originally published on line at Juxtaposion Ezine.

Kronos Quartet Dances on the Grave of Harry Partch

Kronos Quartet Dances on the Grave of Harry Partch
The Kronos String Quartet at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, October 23, 1998. Part of the BAM 1998  Next Wave Festival.

"I thought I told you not to do that!"

Yep. Not only didn’t the Ben Johnston transcription of Harry Partch’s U.S. Highball (Musical Account of a Transcontinental Hobo Trip) translate well, but Kronos knows they really shouldn’t performing it in the first place. This piece just doesn’t work for a string quartet. It belongs – as was originally intended by the composer – on the instruments the piece was written for. Maybe they have good intentions at heart but here’s the real irony: last spring the Newband (caretakers of the Partch instruments) lost their studio space at the State University of NY at Purchase. Fortunately, they are now renting studio space in Sloatsburg, NY. So, while Newband struggles to pay rent, Kronos Quartet rakes in the cash.

Before you react too quickly, read these quotes by people who worked with Partch:

“We just disagree about the idea of transcribing music to an instrumentation of which the composer would have so obviously disapproved, especially when the composer involved went to greater lengths than possibly any other composer in history to care about the instrumental sound surface of his music. And I can tell you with 100% certainty, based on knowing Partch intimately for several years and living closely with his music for even more years, that he would have disapproved strongly.” Dean Drummond, Newband co-director. May 1996.

“To transcribe Partch’s music is to misrepresent the totality of its interrelated components. To do so is a “…mutilation…” of Partch’s original concept. Harry Partch steadfastly maintained this posture throughout his life, and he would turn over in his grave at the thought of his life’s work being compromised in any such manner.” Danlee Mitchell, Harry Partch Archive. October 1995

Credit where credit is due: an artifact of the transcription is a reduction in the number of intoning voices. Even though vocalist David Barron did a fine job intoning both the objective and subjective voice, it was strange to hear only one person singing a part intended for two.

If Kronos wanted to help someone out, they should record the complete cycle of Ben johnston’s string quartets or at least commision a piece for Newband & string quartet. Hrummph!

 “I really like Stravinsky…I loved his haircut: I mean the way it was real thin, and the way he combed it with a thick-tooth comb.” Captain Beefheart aka Don Van Vilet

While some of my contemporaries still ramble on about how wonderful Beethoven and Mozart were, squeezing their thighs together and moaning at the thought of how wonderful their music was, I’ve always been a modernist. That whole classical error is way over rated. One of my favorite works by Igor Stravinsky is the Rite of Spring. The pounding rhythms, the exotic harmony, the extreme orchestration – it breaks free of that rigid Euro-centric tradition – tight coats and tight shoes.
There have been piano reductions by the composer for four hands/one piano, arrangements for solo piano (Dickran Atamian, RCA Red Seal ARC 1-3636, 1980) and solo guitar (Larry Coryell, Philips 814 750-2, 1983). This evening, Kronos presented John Geist’s arrangement of the Rite of Spring for piano and string quartet. And it survived the transition very well – Kronos and pianist Margaret Kampmeier received a standing ovation from the crowd. The only snag was the balance between Kronos and Kampmeier, the piano wasn’t loud enough in the mix.

Also performed was Steve Reich’s Different Trains. It sounded just like the cd and it should, most of the performance is on pre-recorded tape.

db
10/26/1998

Originally published on line at Juxtaposion Ezine.

*

Kind of extreme, but…hey, I was a young man.

dB
12/16/2011