aworks :: "new" american classical music

Banyuari (1992). Michael Tenzer

A work by Michael Tenzer on a New World Records CD entitled "American Works for Balinese Gamelan Orchestra" along with works by clarinetist Evan Ziporyn and Wayne Vitale. "Banyuari" is written for the gamelan idiom but yet not traditional. From the liner notes by Marc Perlman:

Tenzer sees this composition as a small stream branching off from the great river of Balinese musical tradition.

Schlingen-Blangen (1979). Charlemagne Palestine

I don't much about Charlemagne Palestine, other than some affiliation with the 1960s minimalism community. But "Schlingen-Blangen" streams on the Minnesota Public Radio / Music Mavericks - Smooth Live 365 site and whenever it comes up, I take notice. The long, drawn-out chords convey both stasis and energy, in a beguiling way.

In an interview with Palestine, he says that "Schlingen-Blangen" is a way of "humming in space."

The Database of Recorded American Music describes the origins of the organ piece.

9/1/03 update: I bought the CD from Amoeba in San Francisco. It's 71:38 of organ drone aka "rocks on the keyboard." I admit to liking it although it is a bit overhelming as well. It's hard to tell what is actually being played versus what are "psycho-acoustical" effects from a Baroque tracker organ, of all things.

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9/13/03 A good review on Almost Cool. The music is compared to the sensation of being in a dark, silent cave and surrounded by the experience.

City Life (1995). Steve Reich

Andrew Clements reviews the CD of Reich's music by the Italian Contempoartensemble.

Clements suggests "City Life" is becoming one of the most played Reich works. Is this despite or maybe because of the car alarm?

In an old Salon review, Matthew Daines suggests that "City Life" is "artificial", "labored" and lacking the "elegance" found in Reich's other music.

Quintet for Winds (1979). John Harbison.

Elizabeth Silsbury writes about an Adelaide concert including Philip Glass' String Quartet No. 5 "ear catching" and John Harbison's Quintet for Winds "embraced with gusto."

Sun Blindness Music (1967). John Cale

From the minimalism New York community of the sixties.  John Cale was a member of the Velvet Underground rock group.

Think of it as an extreme version of Reich's Four Organs.  Sounds as if bricks are stuck on the organ keyboard.  But interesting nonetheless.  Not for minimalism haters.

Ken Clark says:

This piece really starts to grow on you after repeated listenings if you can survive that far.

Luke Buckman says:

...at 42 minutes, it's an endurance test no matter who's listening. However, for those willing to provide full attention and look past the somewhat lo-fi sound, it can be a meditative piece of work filled with vibrating textures and radiating intensity.

Update: Although this piece was written in the United States, of course, John Cale is Welsh.

link to original test weblog

original test weblog

Escalator (1995). Arnold Dreyblatt

This piece stands out on a re-listen to Bang on a Can's Renegade Heaven CD. From Dreybatt's web site:

This performance of Escalator for the Bang in a Can All-Stars is one of the few occasions where my music has been played by an ensemble other than my own... Its basis are recordings of the rhythms produced by a number of malfunctioning escalators on the Blvd. Ansbach in Brussels which I made in 1987. In this version of Escalator, composed in 1995, I notated repetitive rhythmic patterns found in these recordings and scored them for cimbalom, prepared electric guitar and cello, later adding layers of percussion, saxophone and prepared "excited strings" bass in collaboration with the musicians.

He also has a CD on the same Cantaloupe label.

Fancy on a Bach Air (1997). John Corigliano

Joshua Kosman reports on the Music@Menlo's plan to provide a pre-concert CD of program notes, complete with musical clips of both the Bach original and Corigliano's new take on the opening of the C-Major Cello Suite.