Tag: Composer

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Terry Riley – More Than Just Minimalism at Le Poisson Rouge

From NYTimes.com:

More than 45 years have passed since Terry Riley composed “In C,” a watershed work that heralded the breakthrough of Minimalism. The piece is in no danger of losing its freshness; the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, a mostly undergraduate group based in Michigan, will release a new recording of “In C” in November, along with a second CD containing 18 imaginative remixes. The Michigan players will celebrate their new album with a concert at Le Poisson Rouge on Nov. 8.

But when Mr. Riley appeared at that club on Sunday night, “In C” was the furthest thing from the agenda. What became clear during the performance — which also featured Mr. Riley’s son, the guitarist and composer Gyan Riley; Tracy Silverman, an electric-violinist; and Ches Smith, a percussionist — was just how poorly the Minimalist label suits Mr. Riley now.

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Performances Reviews

Mario Diaz de León – Players From Two Ensembles Support One Emerging Composer at Roulette

A recent New York performance from Mario Diaz de León is reviewed:

Part of the anticipation had to do with the performers on hand. The International Contemporary Ensemble, a flexible organization based in Brooklyn and Chicago, reliably attracts large, enthusiastic audiences with its wide-ranging programs and brilliant execution. Here, four members of the group — Claire Chase and Eric Lamb, on alto flutes; Joshua Rubin, a clarinetist; and Nathan Davis, a percussionist — worked alongside players from the Talea Ensemble, a four-year-old new-music group directed by Alex Lipowski, a percussionist, and Anthony Cheung, a pianist.

That an emerging composer had secured the attention of two prominent groups was itself cause for curiosity. Mr. de León, born in St. Paul in 1979, played in hard-core punk bands during the ’90s. When he started to write chamber works for acoustic instruments and electronics in 2001, he combined unorthodox techniques developed by composers like Gyorgy Ligeti, Iannis Xenakis and Giacinto Scelsi with influences culled from free improvisation, noise and black metal.

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Performances

Open Space Festival for New Music

Next Spring, the University of Northern Colorado brings forth the Open Space Festival for New Music:

The Open Space Festival of New Music is designed to present innovative composers and interpreters of contemporary music annually at the University of Northern Colorado. Composers and performers are featured guests in lectures, seminars and performances. Each Festival gives students the opportunity to perform with guest artists in a number of diverse settings and genres.

Here’s a list of of what happening last spring at UNC:

Thursday, April 9
4:40 p.m.: Composition master class with Paul Rudy, Studio B at Frasier Hall, 7th Street between 9th and 10th avenues
4:40 p.m.: Piano master class with Stephen Drury, Milne Auditorium, 8th Avenue and 17th Street
7 p.m.: Pre-concert talk with Paul Rudy, Milne Auditorium
7:30 p.m.: Music of Paul Rudy and Charles Ives performed by Rudy, Stephen Drury and Roger Landes, Milne auditorium

Friday, April 10
Noon: Lecture/demonstration: “What You See is Not What You Get: Slight of Hand in Sound and Image” by Paul Rudy at the Kress Cinema & Lounge, 817 8th Ave.
2:30-4 p.m.: Open rehearsal for John Zorn’s “Cobra” with Drury, Kress
5 p.m.: Live performance of John Zorn’s “Cobra,” Kress
6-9 p.m.: Live music at the Kress
9 p.m.: Irish, Balkan, Middle Eastern concert with Roger Landis at Patrick’s Irish Pub, 800 9th St.

This spring we’re looking at bringing composer Christian Wolff, Stephen Drury and the Callithumpian Consort to perform a new piece by Wolff, “Songs from Brecht: The Exception and the Rule.” The UNC Cobra Ensemble will be giving a performance of Wolff’s improvisatory piece “Edges.” Composer and performer Michael Hicks from Brigham Young University will also be a part of this spring’s music festival.

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Interviews

Interview with Lisle Ellis

From Roulette NYC:

Lisle Ellis, is a New York-based bassist, composer, visual artist, and teacher. On September 26th at Roulette, Ellis presents Stomping Ground – a “band” of shifting dimensions and a “song” without end – investigating ideas of community and a spectrum of diversity through traditional, experimental, and futuristic concepts, attempting to convey meaningful music through a shared sensibility of custom, territory, and gathering together.

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Free Music

Two from Free Albums Galore

Free Albums Galore has dug up a couple of notable recordings.

Jozef Van Wissem – A Priori
Genre: Classical, Modern Composition, Avant-Garde

The lute is not exactly the first instrument I think of when someone says “avant-garde” or “contemporary music”. Yet Jozef Van Wissem uses his lute virtuosity to create exactly that. His compositions are clearly minimalist with the use of musical palindromes or mirror structures rather than precise compositional forms. Hearing a Jozef van Wissem compositions is a hypnotic trip down a rabbit hole. I think it is safe to say that most people have never heard the Renaissance minded lute in such a modern yet beautiful way.

A Priori is freely available through Ubuweb and is an excellent introduction to the the composer and lute virtuoso’s odd and quiet world. Very accessible yet very meditative, these tracks lulls you into a calm. Yet this is not casual listening but the kind that pulls you into the structure and gives rewards with every listen. While Van Wissem does work with electronics on some albums this is a pure acoustic effort and, in my opinion, the best way to experience his music.

Interkosmos – Interkosmos
Genre: Space Rock

The space jam band Interkosmos is an European affair with musicians from Germany, Austria, and Spain. Their brand of space rock goes back to the psychedelic 60s but is also influenced by the experimental electronic artistry of the 21st century. Interkosmos can weave an interesting tapestry of sounds for a trio. Their self-titled album is a good collection of this type of jam rock and is recommended to space jam fans, jaded Deadheads, and sci-fi buffs of all ages.

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Interviews

Interview with Gordon Beeferman

Roulette NYC offers this interview.

GORDON BEEFERMAN is a composer and pianist whose work spans opera, orchestral and chamber music, improvisation, and collaborations with dance and other arts. On Tuesday, September 22nd Gordon presents “Music for an IMAGINARY BAND” – a (real) 7-piece group comprised of some of New York’s most uniquely creative musicians. The band explores the territory where classical ‘new-music,’ jazz and free improvisation intersect. Beeferman’s compositions range from the gnarly to the operatic, and are both incredibly detailed and very free.

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Reviews

Bagatellen Reviews

From Bagatellen:

Jon Mueller – Physical Changes

Percussionist and composer Jon Mueller’s discerning creativity does not rule out a willingness to put the listener’s ears through the ordeals. His music is often bewilderingly violent, yet retains a pumping nucleus connecting it with all that matters in life, good or bad: bodily functions, natural phenomena, ecologic disasters, contagious enthusiasm. The […]

Barry Guy & Mats Gustafsson – Sinners, Rather than Saints

Sinners, rather than Saints is only the fourth meeting on record of English bassist-composer Barry Guy and Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson over almost two decades, and for that alone this vinyl-only release on Lithuanian imprint No Business should be more than a curio. The duo format is an interesting one, which […]

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Performances Reviews

Vaudeville and Avant-Garde Strings at Le Poisson Rouge

From NYTimes.com:

The two shows at Le Poisson Rouge on Monday evening, though both rooted in classical music, could not have been more different. At the early show Polkastra, a virtuosic polka ensemble led by the violinist Lara St. John, with the composer Ronn Yedidia as its accordionist, played wildly idiosyncratic arrangements and original music from its new recording, “Apolkalypse Now.” A more restrained sort of virtuosity governed the late show, the Jack Quartet’s program of avant-garde string quartets in the Moving Sound Festival’s final concert.

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Performances

Avant Gardner Series in Boston

Details about this new classical series are available.

Home to the longest-running museum music program in the country, under the direction of esteemed violist Scott Nickrenz, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum further expands its musical offerings this fall with the launch of Avant Gardner: a new contemporary classical series set to shake up Boston’s new music scene with an edgy slate of musical offerings from modern composers—including the world premieres of three new works.

In three dynamic programs this season, Avant Gardner serves up music from the 20th and 21st centuries on Thursday evenings as part of Gardner After Hours, the museum’s popular series of evening events. All three concerts feature performances by the Callithumpian Consort, a Boston-based new music ensemble, under the leadership of Stephen Drury.

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Performances

Darcy James Argue To Host Brooklyn Big Band Bonanza October 19th

Darcy James Argue & Secret Society
Image by Nicken05 via Flickr

From Improvised Communications:

On Monday, October 19th, SearchAndRestore.com will present Brooklyn Big Band Bonanza, a celebration of innovative big bands organized by acclaimed composer Darcy James Argue, at The Bell House in Brooklyn, NY. Performers will include Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, Andrew Durkin’s Industrial Jazz Group and Argue’s own acclaimed 18-piece steampunk big band, Secret Society, which will headline the event. All three bands are led by composers working to reinvigorate the big band format for the 21st Century by integrating influences from a wide variety of other sounds and genres.

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