aworks :: "new" american classical music

Double Music (1941). John Cage & Lou Harrison #watermusic

Nina Sun Eidsheim in the book Sensing Sound:

The composers whose work I believe [Juliana] Snapper's most resembles are not those who foreground the sounds of water, but rather those who work with sound in water. Major composers who deal with the acoustic environment offered by water include Cage with Lou Harrison (Double Music, 1941), Max Neuhaus (Whistle Music, 1971), and Michael Redolfi (various works, 1981-present). With Cage and Harrison, Snapper shares the notion of changing the sounds of a familiar source by immersing the sound source in water. With Neuhaus, she shares the desire to eject music from concert spaces and institutions and to showcase the sonorous possibilities of traditionally nonmusical environments. And with Redolfi, Snapper shares a fascination with adapting instruments, performers, and listeners to an aquatic medium. Nevertheless, to my knowledge, Snapper is the first to concentrate on singing underwater...

aworks listening log :: august 12, 2016 #unsaid #liquid #prayer

• Beyond the Fog (). Gary Schocker
  • Gary Schocker, Emily Mitchell - Garden in Harp - Compositions by Gary Schocker / Emily Mitchell. Flute and harp make a good combination. In my mind, if you invert all the bits in music by Tristan Perich, this is the result. I have yet to find the date of composition.
• ✔ The Things Left Unsaid ()
  • Caleb Burhans - Evensong. "Its simple arpeggios and descending scales first recall Arvo Pärt (there's an underlying spirituality to the whole album), but Burhans gives them an urban sensibility"
• Prayer (). Gary Smart
  
  • Guy Yehuda - Bright Eyed Fancy
• ✔ Into the Liquid (2013). James Kimo Williams
  • Ethel - Documerica. "a rolling stream of harmonic and rhythmic variations set to water images"
• Half String Quartet (2012). Randy Bauer
  
  • Tarn Travers, Eric Kulz - The Recalcitrants. "Half" here means 1 violin and 1 cello. The first movement is unusual.
• Summer Morning, Summer Afternoon (2006). Gary Schocker
• Snapshot - Circa 1909 (2003). John Corigliano
  • Mark Mandarano, Sinfonietta of Riverdale - New World Serenade
• Filibuster (2003). Charles Norman Mason
  • Corona Guitar Kvartet - Taut
• ✔ Fantasia on an Ostinato (1985). John Corigliano
  • Sung-Soo Cho - Maximum-Minimum-Modern. "uses the slow-movement theme from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and then later flies off into wonderfully emotion-filled directions"
• Chamber Concerto (1980). John Heiss
  
  • Fenwick Smith, New England Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble, John Heiss - Serenade: Music of John Hess
• ✔ Mad Rush (1979). Philip Glass
  • Bruce Brubaker - Glass Piano (Extended Version)
• Exercise 13 (1974). Christian Wolff
  • Christian Wolff, Robyn Schulkowsky - Angelica Music
• ✔ Persian Surgery Dervishes/Performance One (1971). Terry Riley 
  • Persian Surgery Dervishes.  "I found when I meditated to Side One, the rest of my day went better than days I didn't"
• ✔ Alien Bog (1967). Pauline Oliveros
  • Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970
• ✔ Mnemonics IV (1964-66). Pauline Oliveros

aworks listening log :: august 11, 2016

• Solo Prelude, Pilasters, ✔ Spinario, Hypocrite, St. Paul, Winter, Oulipo, Bacchanal, Moon Above, Virgin & Child, Ethereal Tree (2016). Joan Jeanrenaud
  • Joan Jeanrenaud - Visual Music
  • Discogs lists the players for each track although not the date of composition. Actually, Spotify also lists the additional players.
• Harmonic Harlem, Harlem Strut, Dead Reckoning, (2016). Joan Jeanrenaud
  • Joan Jeanrenaud, PC Muñoz - Visual Music
• ✔ Isola (2016). Joan Jeanrenaud
  • Joan Jeanrenaud, Dohee Lee - Visual Music
• Puzzle, This Is Not a Duet (2016). Joan Jeanrenaud
  • Joan Jeanrenaud, William Winant - Visual Music
• Equilibrium (2015). Paul Moravec 
  • Maria Bachman, Stephen Gosling - Violin Concerto / Shakuhachi Quintet / Equilibrium (M. Bachmann, Schlefer, Gosling, Voxare String Quartet, Symphony in C, Milanov)
• Shakuhachi Quintet (2012). Paul Moravec
  • Jamies Nyoraku Schlefer, Voxare String Quartet - Violin Concerto / Shakuhachi Quintet / Equilibrium (M. Bachmann, Schlefer, Gosling, Voxare String Quartet, Symphony in C, Milanov)
  Violin Concerto (2010/13). Paul Moravec
  • Maria Bachman, Rossen Milanov, Symphony in C - Violin Concerto / Shakuhachi Quintet / Equilibrium (M. Bachmann, Schlefer, Gosling, Voxare String Quartet, Symphony in C, Milanov)
  • "Founded in 1952 as The Haddonfield Symphony, Symphony in C began as a community orchestra allowing amateur musicians to pursue their love of music by performing for the Haddonfield and southern New Jersey communities." Symphony In C
• Evermore (2004). Paul Moravec
  • Maria Bachman, Stephen Gosling - Violin Concerto / Shakuhachi Quintet / Equilibrium (M. Bachmann, Schlefer, Gosling, Voxare String Quartet, Symphony in C, Milanov)
• The Room (2000).Harold Budd
  • Julia Rovinsky - Dark
• Etude for Piano No. 2 (1994). Philip Glass
  • Julia Rovinsky - Dark
• Electric Counterpoint (1987). Steve Reich
  • Camerata Argentina de Guitarras - La Ciudad de las Mil Cuerdas
  • Not sure exactly how many different guitarists are playing on this recording. Camerata Argentina de Guitarras
• Piano Phase (1967). Steve Reich
  • Julia Rovinsky - Dark
  • This is the version for harp.
• ✔ Four Walls (1944). John Cage
  • John McAlpine, Beth Griffith - Four Walls
  • 'The dance is programmatic, its theme centering around a dysfunctional family that consists of a weak but loving mother, a silent father, a rebellious son and daughter, the daughter's fiancé, a speaking chorus of 6 friends and relations, and a dancing chorus of 6 “mad ones.”' johncage.org
• ✔ Appalachian Spring (1944). Aaron Copland
  • Thierry Fischer, Ulster Orchestra - American Landmarks
  • From a BBC Music magazine promotional CD that I somehow own. Discogs

aworks listening log :: august 10, 2016 #fireworks #chapel

• ✔ Sarasvati (2000). Brian Coughlin
  • Fireworks - First Tracks 
• A Fork in the Road (1997). David Ozab
  • Fireworks - First Tracks 
• Carbon Copies (1989). Alvin Lucier
  • Alvin Lucier & Trio Nexus - Broken Line
• Risonanza (1982). Alvin Lucier
  • Alvin Lucier & Trio Nexus - Broken Line
• Music for Pure Waves, Bass Drums and Acoustic Pendulums (1980). Alvin Lucier
  • Alvin Lucier & Trio Nexus - Broken Line
  • These Lucier works were too ambient, even for me.
• Rothko Chapel (1971). Morton Feldman
  • Kim Kashkashian, Sarah Rothenberg, Robert Simpson, Houston Chamber Choir - Rothko Chapel: Morton Feldman, Erik Satie & John Cage
• Les Moutons de Panurge (1968). Frederic Rzweski
  • Fireworks - First Tracks 

aworks listening log :: august 9, 2016

• The Distance of the Moon (2015) - Michael Ippolito
  • Sung-Soo Cho - Maximum-Minimum-Modern
  • The pianist is "pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of Antonio Pompa-Baldi" (Sung-Soo Cho). 
• ✔ China Gates (1977) - John Adams
  • Sung-Soo Cho - Maximum-Minimum-Modern
  • This album may be one of the best recordings of the year.
• ✔ Piano Phase (1967) - Steve Reich
  • Sung-Soo Cho - Maximum-Minimum-Modern
  • This, and China Gates, are two classics of minimalism.

aworks listening log :: august 8, 2016 #maximum #minimum #modern

• ✔ Fantasia on an Ostinato (1985). John Corigliano
  • Sung-Soo Cho - Maximum-Minimum-Modern
• ✔ Mnemonics I, IV, V (1964-66). Pauline Oliveros
  • Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970
• I have the 12-CD box set but it's on Spotify as well. Best tape & electronic music ever? 
• Mnemonics II, III (1964-66). Pauline Oliveros
  • Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970
• Time Perspectives (1961). Pauline Oliveros
  • Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970
• Structures for String Quartet (1956). Morton Feldman
  • Arditti Quartet Plays Works by Nunes, Zimmerlin, Feldman & Lachenmann

aworks listening log - august 7, 2016 #imbrication #strange #scent

• Scent Opera (2009) . Nico Muhly
  • "a 14-minute score that is funny, aggressive, shape-shifting, electronic, acoustic, and strange" Bandcamp
• Rush (2008). Jonathan Leshnoff - Michael Stern, Iris Orchestra
  • "commissioned by Jeremiah German, a retired economics professor and long-time patron of Leshnoff’s work." Naxos
• Compassinges (2003). Ryan Streber - Sam Solomon, Kristy Errera-Solomon
  •  "a single movement work arising from the imbrication of two independent pieces" Sam Z Solomon 
  • "Imbrication"  is "a set of tiles or shingles that overlap like the scales of a fish" Wikipedia
• Soundings for Violin Solo (1994). Malcolm Goldstein
  • "a crystalline piece with many sharp edges that Goldstein maneuvers around" sonoloco
• Eight Whiskus (1985). John Cage - Malcolm Goldstein
  • Not exactly party music.
  • 'After consulting with Malcolm Goldstein, Cage reworked the composition "such that the vowel and consonant qualities of the poem are transformed into various bowing positions, gradations of bowing pressure, and forms of articulation.'  johncage.org. 
• For Bunita Marcus (1985). Morton Feldman - Gianni Lenoci
• The Black Page No. 2 (1976). Frank Zappa - Fire Works
  • "the disco easy teenage New York version." Wikipedia
• ✔ Marnie (1964). Bernard Herrmann - London Philharmonic Orchestra & Bernard Herrmann 
  • The intersection of Hitchcock and Herrmann is sublime.
  • Hitchcock fired the composer on his next movie, Torn Curtain. Wikipedia
• Ixion (1958/62). Morton Feldman - Helen Camp, Wendy Stern, Katherine Fink
• Pharoah (1956). Jimmy Giuffre - Gunther Schuller, Miles Davis, The Brass Ensemble Of The Jazz & Classical Music Society
• Kentucky Spring (1949). Robert S. Whitney, Louisville Orchestra
• Ebony Concerto (1945). Igor Stravinsky - Igor Stravinsky, Benny Goodman.
  • Commissioned by big band leader Woody Herman, although not the version recorded with his band. Wikipedia
• Rhapsody in Blue (1924). George Gershwin - Michael Tilson Thomas, Columbia Jazz Band 

Noise Patterns (2016). Tristan Perich

• I'm listening to the Spotify version of Noise Patterns although I do have the 1-Bit Symphony electrical "CD."
• "In the vein of Perich's previous projects, it's a black circuitboard made up of an on/off switch, microchip, watch battery, volume knob, fast-forward button and headphone jack." Cool Hunting
• "It's swirling digital showers of falling 1's and 0's coming together to create vast waves of intense brain flossing electro-acoustic noise, also it is completely assembled on a circuit board (unlike the vast array of noise being released on cassettes week after week)." Bleep
• "Questions of categorization appear paramount to Perich; his triptych of related releases—1-Bit Music, 1-Bit Symphony, and Noise Patterns—tease the binary between “album” and “instrument” in ways that the similar Buddha Machine or even Brian Eno’s Bloom could not." 8.0 on Pitchfork
• "Noise Patterns is coarse and cold, for the most part, but wandering deep into its tundra is actually a hypnotic experience." exclaim.ca.  I had a similar experience. It took a second listen to begin to assimilate the aesthetic.