aworks :: "new" american classical music

Pondok (2000). Evan Ziporyn /american flavor/

imeem has an audio stream of Sarah Cahill playing the last movement of Evan Ziporyn's Pondok:

Robert Commanday reviewed a 2001 performance:

An unexpected American flavor derives from Ziporyn's use of a simple progression of harmonies and modal cadence associated with folk music style.

And news from Cahill's web site:

In 2008, Sarah will be working on a long-term project which involves commissioning eighteen composers to write new works envisioning peace. This project is titled A Sweeter Music, after this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King’s Nobel Lecture: "We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody that is far superior to the discords of war."

The composers are Meredith Monk, Frederic Rzewski, Terry Riley, Yoko Ono, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Pauline Oliveros, Peter Garland, Kyle Gann, Paul Dresher, Carl Stone, Ingram Marshall, Jerome Kitzke, Phil Kline, Mamoru Fujieda, Larry Polansky, Michael Byron, The Residents, and Preben Antonsen.

Be-In (1991). Evan Ziporyn /favorite/

I've gotten a little ahead of myself in ripping CDs to MP3 format. As a result, according to iTunes, I had about 1300 tracks I'd never listened to. I have listened to four hundred of those; I'm now a little dazed but keeping at it.

Although not new to me, Be-In is probably my favorite of the first four hundred. I blogged some about it last year. Note that Ziporyn's Melody Competition (prior aworks post) will be played Saturday at the Other Minds Festival (although I won't be able to attend).

Brief notes on other music I've just heard:

• That CD of Allen Ginsberg is better than I expected. Alain Neveux playing Schoenberg also exceeded expectations as well (albeit low ones).
• Why I don't listen to Eric Dolphy more I'm not sure. Some concentrated listening of Hat and Beard among other tracks was enlightening. Definitely on my list of eMusic downloads for next month.
• More Pixies, less Boulez please.
• I need to listen more closely to the music I have of Barney Childs (or was that Donald Martino, I may have them confused).
• The Early Music CD by the Kronos Quartet was consistently interesting.
• Without any liner notes handy, I couldn't make sense of Evan Ziporyn's Shadow Bang. What's the significance of that long frog track?
• Finally, why did I recently rip Journey's Greatest Hits? Did a recent article in SF Weekly about Journey's star being added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame get the best of me? The wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'...

Update: Back in town. However, I fear I've ruined my brain. I don't dare mention it as I am worried about permanent imprint, but song "x" by Journey keeps going through my head on a daily basis. I've tried to erase it from my recall by listening to other Journey songs, some Walter Piston flute music, Hans Zender's orchestrated Winterreise, e.e. cummings, anything. If this doesn't stop, I'll end up as a Oliver Sacks neurological case study, "The Man Who Can Only Remember the Song Stylings of Steve Perry"...

Melody Competition (1999-2000). Evan Ziporyn

Richard Friedman, formerly of KPFA in Berkeley, reveals he is about to start a new show on KALW in San Francisco:

Starting Friday, January 7 2005, 11pm, I will initiate a weekly radio program of new music on S.F. Bay Area NPR radio station KALW 91.7. And the program will be called:  MUSIC FROM OTHER MINDS

The first shows will feature music from the Other Minds Festival coming in February.  That Festival includes a performance of Evan Ziporyn's Melody Competition:

an electrifying piece incorporating the sounds and techniques of Balinese gamelan music and inspired by the west Balinese mebarung, a raucous “battle of the bands.”

The piece has a three minute sample stream here.

I have to say the only artifact I have of the old KPFA is a cassette recording of Friedman's show where he interviewed Claudine Pellerin, the French director of the (now apparently defunct) label Disques Montaigne. Still enjoyable after all these years (playlist here). I see also that Richard's old email domain was netcom.com. Ah, memories of the beginning of the dotcom boom...

Be-In (1991). Evan Ziporyn

I like string quartet. I like bass clarinet.  String quartet with bass clarinet, in this instance by Evan Ziporyn, is delightful.

John L. Walters in the Guardian compliments the string quartet Ethel on their sense of contemporary rhythm and culture but also favors Be-In:

The most gripping piece is Evan Ziporyn's Be-In, for which the quartet is augmented by the composer's bass clarinet, a hypnotic, spiralling nine-minute journey with a tender conclusion that's both intellectually demanding and emotionally satisfying - like Shaker Loops with heart.

John Sunier says the Cantalopue CD has "brash, up-close sonics."

New Sounds streams a different performance on Real Audio.