(August 23, 2007) The newest of Merian Soto's evocative "Branch Dance" series featured performances by Danielle Kinne, Megan Mazarick, Shavon Norris, Kumatatu Poe & Olive Prince. The electroacoustic score blends prerecorded synthesized sounds based on colored noise and "frozen" spectra with amplified sound captured within the dance itself. More...
A Fish's Tale premieres in Copenhagen
(August 27-31,2007) A comic fantasy on themes of language and misunderstanding, A Fish's Tale debuted at the International Computer Music Conference. More...
Quartet for Strings at Carnegie Recital Hall
(September 30, 2007) Composed in 1983, the Quartet was heard for the first time in the borough of Manhattan, performed by the Serafin String Quartet.
Mythology Songs premiere in Philadelphia
(October 10, 2007) Soprano Laura Heimes and pianist David Pasbrig premiered a cycle of four songs based on the tragically comic poetry of William F. Van Wert at Temple University's Rock Hall. More...
Nitzan Haroz in Premiere
Concerto for Trombone, String Orchestra and Harp was commissioned by Karl Middleman and the Philadelphia Classical symphony for the remarkable virtuoso Nitzan Haroz, whose playing I have admired ever since I first heard him in his role as principal trombonist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. As I got to know his solo playing I was struck by the remarkably delicate quality of his sound, and his ability to produce liquid, floating lines on an instrument often noted primarily for its power.
Although this concerto is extremely challenging in places, exploiting extremes of pitch and unusual leaps, I was less interested in making a showpiece than in writing for several contrasting voices of the instrument. The first and third movements are sombre and subdued, the second movement very playful and light, and the last movement a collection of rustic tunes in triple meter.
The original title was Concertae Antiquae Novae, alluding to John Dowland's Lacrimae Antiquae Novae, but which, unlike Dowland's eloquent rhyme, turned out to be jibberish in Latin. Still, the idea of the concerto as an argument between opposing points of view–loud/soft, fast/slow, high/low, and dark/light–that was both old and new at the same time was very compelling and interesting to me, and the signature sigh of Dowland's famous lament is found in every movement.
Performance materials for the Concerto are available from the Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Scores.
Lambert Orkis Recording Re-issued
Innova writes: "Lambert Orkis is a pianist for all seasons. Mr. Orkis's equally astonishing pianistic feats, under the auspices of his long-time collaborators, the 20th Century Consort, the Smithsonian’s Resident new music ensemble directed by Christopher Kendall, that provide this compact disc's focal point: on George Crumb's Celestial Mechanics, and Maurice Wright's tautly-textured Chamber Symphony for Piano and Electronic Sounds.
"Needless to say, the works recorded here are as far a cry from the music Mr. Orkis plays on his regular gig with the National Symphony Orchestra as they are from the stuff he and cello giant Mstislav Rostropovich and violin wonder Anne-Sophie Mutter cover during their international concert tours together. Innova is honored to have Mr. Orkis kick off this first in a series of three discs, featuring highlights of the Consort’s Smithsonian seasons."
vintage electronic music
Mid-Autumn
Harvest Moon Festival and Symposium
of Multi-channel Electroacoustics
Friday September 23, 2005
Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Oscar Peterson Concert Hall adjacent to the Vanier Library
7141 Sherbrooke St W, Montréal, Québec, Canada
From the program:
Maurice Wright (1972-73 / 2004) Electronic Composition
(USA) 5:30
Electronic Composition was created as an abstract tape studio composition in 1972 and 1973 at the Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Center. It was realized in four channels by combining two stereo tapes. In some sections there were four discrete sound sources, but in others each tape presented a stereophonic image using phase coherence versus phase reversal, metal plate reverberation, level differences, and so on. The piece was restored and re-mixed in 5.1 for concert presentation in 2004. The Center channel mixes channel 1 and 2 in phase, and the difference of channels 3 and 4 together with attenuation to create a ghost focal point in an effort to enhance the 4-channel separation. The Main Left and Right, and the Surround Left and Right are equal voices.
