Podcast appearances and mentions of james tenney

AI is everywhere. It hasn't really affected music yet, or has it? Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thenexttrack). We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks! ‌Show notes: Perplexity (https://www.perplexity.ai) Microsoft made an ad with generative AI and nobody noticed (https://www.theverge.com/news/656104/microsoft-surface-ad-generative-ai-copilot-intel) How Daydreaming Can Enhance Creativity for Fiction Writers (https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/how-daydreaming-can-enhance-creativity-for-fiction-writers) The Next Track: Episode #305: Timo Andres on Steve Reich's Collected Works (https://www.thenexttrack.com/310) Sonatas and Interludes - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonatas_and_Interludes) Our next tracks: John Cage, Sonatas and Interludes, James Tenney (https://amzn.to/4jK2uPm) Corey Harris: Greens From the Garden (https://amzn.to/44XhYeA) If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-next-track/id1116242606) or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.

Episode 166 Chapter 26, Early Computer Music (1950–70). Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music  Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes. This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text. The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings. There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast. Let's get started with the listening guide to Chapter 26, Early Computer Music (1950–70).  from my book Electronic and Experimental music.   Playlist: EARLY COMPUTER MUSIC (1950–70)   Time Track Time Start Introduction –Thom Holmes 01:40 00:00 1.     Tones from Australia, 1951. All produced using the CSIR Mark 1 computer built at the CSIR's radio-physics division in Sydney. The computer had a speaker—or hooter—to signal when operations were completed. A clever programmer thought of manipulating the signal tones into a melody. 02:18 01:42 2.     Alan Turing's computer music. 1951. Recording made of tones generated by the mainframe computer at the Computing Machine Laboratory in Manchester, England. Snippets of the tunes God Save the King, Baa, Baa Black Sheep, and Glenn Miller's swing classic In the Mood. Plus, the voices of computer lab members listening to the sound as it was recorded. Original acetate recording from 1951 restored by University of Canterbury composer Jason Long and Prof Jack Copeland. 01:55 02:36 3.     Max Mathews, “Numerology” (1960). Introduced by a narrator. From the album Music From Mathematics, Bell Telephone Laboratories. While working at Bell Labs in telecommunications research, Max Mathews was one of the earliest computer engineers to use a general-purpose computer to program music and digitally synthesize musical sound. His programming language Music I allowed composers to design their own virtual instruments, a breakthrough during those pioneering days of computer music. “Numerology” was composed to demonstrate the various parameters, or building blocks, available to the composer using this programming language: vibrato (frequency modulation), attack and decay characteristics, glissando, tremolo (amplitude modulation), and the creation of new waveshapes. 02:49 04:38 4.     John Robinson Pierce, “Beat Canon” (1960). Introduced by a narrator. From the album Music From Mathematics, Bell Telephone Laboratories. Played by IBM computer and direct to digital sound transducer. 00:52 07:28 5.     James Tenney, “Noise Study” (1961). So named because “each of the ‘instruments' used in this piece includes a noise-generator.” 04:24 08:20 6.     “Bicycle Built For Two (Accompanied)” (1963) From the demonstration record Computer Speech - Hee Saw Dhuh Kaet (He Saw The Cat), produced by Bell Laboratories. This recording contains samples of synthesized speech–speech artificially constructed from the basic building blocks of the English language. 01:17 12:42 7.     Lejaren Hiller, “Computer Cantata, Prologue to Strophe III” (1963). From the University Of Illinois. This work employed direct computer synthesis using an IBM 7094 mainframe computer and the Musicomp programming language. 05:41 14:00 8.     J. K. Randall, “Lyric Variations For Violin And Computer” (1965-1968). J. K. Randall's piece had a complex section that pushed the limits of computer processing power at the time. Although the section consisted of only 12 notes, each note was 20 seconds long. Each note overlapped with the next for 10 seconds, making the total length of the section only about 2 minutes. But this required 9 hours to process on one of the fastest computers of the day. 03:34 19:40 9.     John Robinson Pierce, “Eight-Tone Canon” (1966). “Using the computer, one can produce tones with overtones at any frequencies.” Produced at Bell Telephone Laboratories. 03:53 23:14 10.   Pietro Grossi, “Mixed Paganini” (1967). “Transcription for the central processor unit of a GE-115 computer of short excerpts of Paganini music scores. Realized at Studio di Fonologia musicale di Firenze (Italy). 01:46 27:08 11.   Pietro Grossi, “Permutation of Five Sounds” (1967). Recording made on the Italian General Electric label. Realized at Studio di Fonologia musicale di Firenze (Italy). Distributed in 1967 as a New year gift by Olivetti company. 01:33 28:54 12.   Wayne Slawson, “Wishful Thinking About Winter” (1970). Produced at Bell Telephone Laboratories. 03:53 30:26 13.   John Cage and Lejaren Hiller, “HPSCHD” excerpt (1967-1969). The piece was written for Harpsichords and Computer-Generated Sound Tapes. Hiller and Cage staged a lively public performance in 1968 at the University of Illinois in Urbana. The first 10,000 individual recordings came with an insert in the form of a computer printout insert designed to allow the listener to program their own performance. And I quote from the jacket: "The computer-output sheet included in this album is one of 10,000 different numbered solutions of the program KNOBS. It enables the listener who follows its instructions to become a performer of this recording of HPSCHD. Preparation of this material was made possible through the Computing Center of the State University of New York at Buffalo." I happen to have three copies of this album, each with the printout. 07:20 34:16 14.   Jean-Claude Risset, “Computer Suite From "Little Boy" (1968).  Realized at Bell Laboratories. 04:28 41:46 15.   Peter Zinovieff, “January Tensions” (1968). Zinovieff's notes, from the album: “Computer composed and performed. This piece is very much for computer both in its realization and composition. The rules are straightforward. The computer may begin by improvising slowly on whatever material is first chooses. However, once the initial choices are made then these must influence the whole of the rest of the composition. The original sounds must occasionally be remembered and illustrated but a more and more rigid structure is imposed on the randomness. The piece was electronically realized and composed in real time by an 8K PDP8/S and electronic music peripherals.” 09:48 46:12 16.   Barry Vercoe, “Synthesism” (1969). Realized in the Computer Centers of Columbia and Princeton Universities using MUSIC 360 for the IBM 360 mainframe computer. Vercoe authored this musical programming language. 04:33 56:00 17.   Charles Dodge, “The Earth's Magnetic Field” excerpt (1970). Composer Charles Dodge helped close the gap between computer music and other electronic music practices in 1969– 70 by working on computer code at Princeton University and then traveling to Bell Labs to have the code synthesized by a mainframe computer. The work, “Earth's Magnetic Field” (1970) was an outcome of this process. Dodge realized this piece by fusing computer composition with synthesis, one of the earliest examples of a practice that would become the norm many years later but that was quite difficult at the time. He used a “general- purpose sound synthesis program” written by Godfrey Winham at Princeton University. Every sound in the piece was computed into digital form using the IBM/ 360 model 91 at the Columbia University Computer Center and then converted into analog form at the Bell Telephone Laboratories. 07:45 01:00:32 18.   Irv Teibel, "Tintinnabulation (Contemplative Sound)" from Environments (New Concepts In Stereo Sound) (Disc 2) (1970 Syntonic Research).  One side of the record is a rare work of purely electronic computer music in a series that otherwise consisted of natural ambient sounds. It used computer-generated bell sounds, falling back on Teibel's experience processing sounds on an IBM 360 mainframe computer at Bell Labs. The record was promoted for meditation. A sticker on the cover read, "A Sensitizer for the Mind." From the liner notes: “As an illustration of the possibilities currently under examination, Syntonic Research decided to experiment with bell sounds as an environmental sound source. . . . Tintinnabulation can be played at any speed, from 78 to 16 rpm, in full stereo. At different speeds, the sounds change in tone and apparent size, although the harmonics remain unchanged. The effect, unlike real bells, is fully controllable by the use of your volume, bass, and treble controls.” 30:10 01:08:16   Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations. Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.

Wie ein kristallines Mobile an silbernem Faden dreht sich ihre Musik in sich selbst und aus sich heraus. Die Komponistin Catherine Lamb arbeitet mit reiner Stimmung und kreiert multidimensionale harmonische Klangräume. Ein Studienaufenthalt in Indien hat Catherine Lamb die Ohren geöffnet. Dhrupad gilt als ältester Gesangsstil der nordindischen klassischen Musik und inspiriert die künstlerische Entwicklung der noch jungen Komponistin. Zurück in den USA beginnt Catherine Lamb ihr Studium bei James Tenney, einem Schüler von John Cage und Pionier in der Erforschung der mikrotonalen Harmonik und Akustik. Von Tenney lernt sie das Konzept des Harmonic Space, des harmonischen Raums, kennen. Schliesslich beginnt Catherine Lamb mit reiner Stimmung (engl.: just intonation) zu experimentieren. Reine Intervalle, von der Obertonreihe abgeleitet, bestimmen seit über 20 Jahren ihre künstlerische Forschung. Seit 2013 lebt die US-amerikanische Komponistin in Berlin und tüftelt mit gleichgesinnten Musikerinnen und Musikern im Harmonic Space Orchestra an den Möglichkeiten der reinen Stimmung, des Harmonic Space und an kollaborativen künstlerischen Prozessen.

Episode 146 Chapter 07, Computer Music Basics. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music  Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes. This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text. The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings. There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast. Let's get started with the listening guide to Chapter 07, Computer Music Basics from my book Electronic and Experimental music.   Playlist: Early Computer Synthesis     Time Track Time* Start Introduction –Thom Holmes 01:30 00:00 1 Max Mathews, “Numerology” (1960). Direct computer synthesis using an IBM 7090 mainframe computer and the Music III programming language 02:45 01:32 2 James Tenney, “Analog #1: Noise Study” (1961). Direct synthesis and filtering of noise bands at Bell Labs' facilities. 04:24 04:04 3 Lejaren Hiller, “Computer Cantata” (third movement) (1963). Direct computer synthesis using an IBM 7094 mainframe computer and the Musicomp programming language. 05:41 08:28 4 Jean-Claude Risset, “Mutations I” (1969). Used frequency modulation. 10:23 14:06 5 Charles Dodge, “The Earth's Magnetic Field” (Untitled, part 1) (1970). Used an IBM mainframe computer and the Music 4BF programming language to convert geophysical data regarding the Earth's magnetic field into music. 14:00 24:28 6 Laurie Spiegel, “Appalachian Grove I” (1974). Used the Groove program at Bell Labs. 05:23 38:22 7 Curtis Roads, “Prototype” (1975). Used granular synthesis. 06:11 43:48 8 John Chowning, “Stria” (1977). Used the composer's patented FM synthesis algorithms. 05:14 50:00 9 Jean-Baptiste Barriere, “Chreode” (1983). Granular synthesis using the Chant program at IRCAM; computer-controlled organization of material—a grammar of musical processes prepared with IRCAM's Formes software. 09:24 55:10 10 Barry Truax, “Riverrun” (1986). Composed using only granulated sampled sound, using Truax's real-time PODX system. 19:42 01:04:30   Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations. Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.

In this episode we are joined by co-authors Lillian-Yvonne Bertram and Nick Montfort to talk about their new publication Output: An Anthology of Computer Generated Text, 1953-2023. We learn about their path into digital poetry and the process of putting together this anthology.ReferencesBertram, Lillian-Yvonne. 2019.Travesty generator. Noemi Press.Bertram, Lillian-Yvonne and Nick Montfort. 2024.Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953–2023. The MIT Press.Gysin, Brion and Ian Sommerville. 1960.Permutation Poems.H. Yngve, Victor. 1961.Random Sentences.Knowles, Alison and James Tenney. 1967.The House of Dust.Lutz, Theo. 1959.Stochastic Texts.Montfort, Nick. 2017.The Truelist. Counterpath.Montfort, Nick and Noah Wardrip-Fruin. 2003.The New Media Reader.Nish-Lapidus, Matt. 2020.Work, Life, Balance.Richardson, Leonard. 2013.Alice's Adventures in the Whale.Stiles, Sasha. 2021.Technelegy. The Black Spring Press Group.Strachey, Christopher. 1953.Love Letters.

A lo largo de la historia de la música el sistema de afinación no siempre ha sido el mismo. En la música occidental la escala actual divide la octava en 12 partes o semitonos iguales. Sin embargo, existen otras realidades de sistematización sonora._____Has escuchadoHyperchromatica. Orbital Resonance (2015) / Kyle Gann. Tres pianos Disklaviers. Other Minds (2018)Just Constellations. I. The Opening Constellation: Summer (2016) / Michael Harrison. Roomful of Teeth. New Amsterdam Records (2020)“Ombak Atarung”. PADMA (Ako and Shiroshima). YouTube Vídeo. Publicado por Padma Balinese Gender Wayang, 24 de marzo de 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqoh4ELiKoQPrisma Interius VIII (2018) / Catherine Lamb. Harmonic Space Orchestra. Sacred Realism (2020)“Superposición de ondas. 2 (batidos o pulsaciones)”. YouTube Vídeo. Publicado por Física-No me salen, 5 de noviembre de 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvlp7Fv9NkMTres danzas para dos pianos preparados. Primera danza / John Cage. Atlantic Piano Duo (Sophia Hase y Eduardo Ponce). Grabación sonora realizada en directo en el tercer concierto del ciclo Matemática Musical en la Fundación Juan March, el 30 de noviembre de 2011_____Selección bibliográficaBOSANQUET, Robert H. M., An Elementary Treatise on Musical Intervals and Temperament. Hansebooks GmbH, 2020FONVILLE, John, “Ben Johnston's Extended Just Intonation: A Guide for Interpreters”. Perspectives of New Music, vol. 29, n.º 2 (1991), pp. 106-137*GANN, Kyle, The Arithmetic of Listening: Tuning Theory and History for the Impractical Musician. University of Illinois Press, 2019*GILMORE, Bob, “Changing the Metaphor: Ratio Models of Musical Pitch in the Work of Harry Partch, Ben Johnston, and James Tenney”. Perspectives of New Music, vol. 33, n.º 1-2 (1995), pp. 458-503*GOLDÁRAZ, J. Javier, Afinación y temperamento en la música occidental. Alianza Editorial, 1992*GRIBENSKI, Fanny, Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music Science & Politics 1859-1955. University of Chicago Press, 2023JOHNSTON, Ben, “Maximum Clarity” and Other Writings on Music. University of Illinois Press, 2007*KEISLAR, Douglas, “Six American Composers on Nonstandard Tunings”. Perspectives of New Music, vol. 29, n.º 1 (1991), pp. 176-211*NARUSHIMA, Terumi, Microtonality and the Tuning Systems of Erv Wilson. Routledge, 2019*PARTCH, Harry, Genesis of a Music: An Account of a Creative Work Its Roots and Its Fulfillments. Da Capo Press, 1979*SABAT, Marc, “Pantonality Generalised: Ben Johnston's Artistic Researches in Extended Just Intonation”. Tempo, vol. 69, n.º 272 (2015), pp. 24-37*WANNAMAKER, Rob, The Music of James Tenney. University of Illinois Press, 2001*WERNTZ, Julia, “Adding Pitches: Some New Thoughts, Ten Years after Perspectives of New Music's Forum: Microtonality Today”. Perspectives of New Music, vol. 39, n.º 2 (2001), pp. 159-210*WOOD, James, “Microtonality: Aesthetics and Practicality”. The Musical Times, vol. 127, n.º 1719 (1986), pp. 328-330*YOUNG, Gayle, “The Pitch Organization of Harmonium for James Tenney”. Perspectives of New Music, vol. 26, n.º 2 (1988), pp. 204-212* *Documento disponible para su consulta en la Sala de Nuevas Músicas de la Biblioteca y Centro de Apoyo a la Investigación de la Fundación Juan March

Estilo de música minimalista definido por el uso de sonidos, notas o motivos repetidos cíclicamente. Las notas sostenidas o pedal se mantienen durante toda la pieza sin variaciones armónicas proporcionando una sensación envolvente y de trance._____Has escuchadoCathédrale de Strasbourg (2016) / Charlemagne Palestine. Charlemagne Palestine, órgano. Erratum (2016)For Organ and Brass (2016) / Ellen Arkbro. Johan Graden, órgano; Elena Kakaliagou, trompa; Hilary Jeffery, trombón; Robin Hayward, tuba. Subtext (2017)Monoliths & Dimensions. Big Church (2009) / Sunn O))). Southern Lord (2009)The Deontic Miracle: Selections from 100 Models of Hegikan Roku (1976) / Catherine Christer Hennix. Catherine Christer Hennix, oboe, electrónica, generadores de sonidos; Peter Hennix, oboe, sarangi; Hans Isgren, sarangi. Blank Forms Editions (2019)_____Selección bibliográficaBOON, Marcus, The Politics of Vibration: Music as a Cosmopolitical Practice. Duke University Press, 2022*CHRISTER, Catherine Hennix, Poësy Matters and Other Matters. Blank Forms, 2019*DEMERS, Joanna Teresa, Listening through the Noise: The Aesthetics of Experimental Electronic Music. Oxford University Press, 2010*DONGUY, Jacques, Charlemagne Palestine. Editions Adam Musicae, 2022GILMORE, Bob et al., Phill Niblock: Working Title. Les Presses du Réel, 2012GLOVER, Richard, Music of Sustained Tones. Tesis doctoral, Universidad de Huddersfield, 2010LUCIER, Alvin, Eight Lectures on Experimental Music. Wesleyan University Press, 2018ROBIN, Purves, “Subject of the Drone”. Metal Music Studies, vol. 6, n.º 2 (2020), pp. 145-159STRAEBEl, Volker, “Technological Implications of Phill Niblock's Drone Music, Derived from Analytical Observations of Selected Works for Cello and String Quartet on Tape”. Organised Sound, vol. 13, n.º 3 (2008), pp. 225-235*TORVINEN, Juha y Susanna Välimaäki, “Nordic Drone: Pedal Points and Static Textures as Musical Imagery of the Northerly Environment”. En: The Nature Music of Nordic Music. Editado por Tim Howell. Routledge, 2019WANKE, Riccardo D., Sound in the Ecstatic-Materialist Perspective on Experimental Music. Routledge, 2022*WANNAMAKER, Robert A., “The Spectral Music of James Tenney”. Contemporary Music Review, n.º 27 (2008), pp. 130-191 *Documento disponible para su consulta en la Sala de Nuevas Músicas de la Biblioteca y Centro de Apoyo a la Investigación de la Fundación Juan March

As his new album Letter(s) to Erik Satie is set to be released, the French pianist Bertrand Chamayou talks to presenter Tom Service about the connections he sees between the visionary composers it features, including John Cage, James Tenney and Erik Satie, and how the project took him to places he'd never been before. He tells Tom how collaborating with the soprano Barbara Hannigan opened the door for this Satie project, about the unpredictability of the recording process, and how he'd like classical music performance to become more like visual art. Tom travels to Bristol's The Galleries shopping centre, home of Bristol's Eye Hospital Assessment centre, to visit a new installation featuring the testimony of 100 voices from across 12 NHS hospitals - including doctors, porters, nurses, consultants, and patients - which have been curated into an hour-long immersive experience. Providing a therapeutic space for contributors to express themselves, and an opportunity for audiences to contemplate the lived experience of hospital communities, Tom learns how the project's composer, Hannah Conway, and librettist, Hazel Gould, created four arias around common themes they encountered, and hears how they've become creatively projected into a bespoke structure that will tour Bristol, London, Preston and Addenbrooke over the coming weeks. With contributions, too, from Manager at NHS Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, Dipa Dave, and Head of Arts at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Natalie Ellis. Also today, as the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble prepares to perform a concert including Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Carter at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London this weekend, the violinist Michael Barenboim tells Music Matters how, despite the situation in the Middle-East, the collaborative principles behind his father's and Edward Said's orchestra – which seek to bring together Arab, Palestinian and Israeli musicians – are more important than ever. And the composer Jack van Zandt - author of a new book, Alexander Goehr, Composing a Life - speaks to Tom about the ongoing teacher-pupil relationship he's developed under the tutelage of Alexander - Sandy - Goehr, and how Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, and among others, Richard Hall, have in turn provided tuition and inspiration across Sandy's musical life.

Join Rain on LaunchLeft today as they welcome Oscar-nominated Son Lux to kick off Qasim Naqvi's launch. Tune in for an engaging conversation with Ryan, Ian, Rafiq, and Qasim Naqvi as they discuss their unique experiences and creative processes in music-making. This versatile group excels as a live band, studio recording artists, and composers, embracing various aspects of the art they cherish. As a special treat, you'll have the privilege of hearing Qasim Naqvi's captivating performance of "The Curve" at the end of the episode. -----------------  LAUNCHLEFT OFFICIAL WEBSITEhttps://www.launchleft.com  LAUNCHLEFT PATREON https://www.patreon.com/LaunchLeft  TWITTER https://twitter.com/LaunchLeft  INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/launchleft/  FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/LaunchLeft  --------------------- LaunchLeft Podcast hosted by Rain Phoenix is an intentional space for Art and Activism where famed creatives launch new artists. LaunchLeft is an alliance of left-of-center artists, a curated ecosystem that includes a podcast, label and NFT gallery. --------------------- IN THIS EPISODE: [02:23] Ryan tells how he and Rafiq came to collaborate.  [08:25] Ian explains how they became composers for Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.  [10:26] Rafiq shares what they have been working on recently.  [12:39] Ryan comments on the reward versus the work and how the work won out.  [17:42] Qasim Naqvi reveals how he met the members of Son Lux, and they all reflect on their times together.  [25:02] Ryan talks about how their music is visual, and Qasim Naquiv discusses the modular synthesis while they land on making music with what they have.  [40:03] Listen to “The Curve” by Qasim Naqvi.    KEY TAKEAWAYS:  The difference between performing on stage and recording in a studio is night-and-day. When you find like-minded artists who appreciate each other's talents, you have a winning combination. Sometimes it’s the accident that makes the music. It’s called working with what you have.   BIOGRAPHIES::  SON LUX BIO: From the start, Son Lux has operated as something akin to a sonic test kitchen. The Academy Award® and BAFTA-nominated band strives to question deeply held assumptions about how music is made and reconstruct it from a molecular level. What began as a solo project for founder Ryan Lott expanded in 2014, thanks to a kinship with Ian Chang and Rafiq Bhatia too strong to ignore. The trio strengthened their chemistry and honed their collective intuition while creating, releasing, and touring six recordings, including Brighter Wounds (2018) and the triple album Tomorrows (2021). The result is a carefully cultivated musical language rooted in curiosity and balancing opposites that largely eschews genre and structural conventions. And yet, the band remains audibly indebted to iconoclastic artists in soul, hip-hop, and experimental improvisation who themselves carved new paths forward. Distilling these varied influences, Son Lux searches for an equilibrium of raw emotional intimacy and meticulous electronic constructions. Son Lux has most recently scored the new Daniels film for A24, Everything Everywhere All at Once (March 2022). The full score album features new collaborations with Mitski, David Byrne, Randy Newman, and Moses Sumney, among others. Based in New York, Rafiq Bhatia is the first-generation American son of Muslim immigrant parents who trace their ancestry to India through East Africa. Early influences such as Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, and Madlib—as well as mentors and collaborators including Vijay Iyer and Billy Hart—prompted him to see music as a way to actively shape and represent his own identity, not limited by anyone else’s prescribed perspective. When Ian Chang describes his creative process, the phrase "third culture” keeps coming up. Born in the colony of Hong Kong in 1988, Chang has lived a nomadic life. Stationed out of New York for ten years and since relocated to Dallas, Texas, he built an impressive roster of progressive pop collaborators such as Moses Sumney, Joan As Policewoman, and Matthew Dear, among others, all while performing internationally and recording as a member of Son Lux and Landlady. Ryan Lott makes his home in Los Angeles but grew up all over the United States. Music was the one constant in his formative years spent at the piano. In addition to an extensive career writing music for dance, he has become a sought-after composer for advertising, television, and film. Lott’s feature film credits include The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (2014), Paper Towns (2015), and Mean Dreams (2017). He has co-produced and co-written music for and with Woodkid, Sufjan Stevens, and Lorde.   BIOGRAPHY: QASIM NAQVI  Qasim Naqvi is a drummer and founding member of Dawn of Midi. Outside of his role in D.O.M., Qasim works on various projects, from electronic music to composing for orchestras, chamber groups, dance and film.  His concert music has been performed/commissioned by The BBC Concert Orchestra, Jennifer Koh, The London Contemporary Orchestra, Stargaze, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Crash Ensemble, The Now Ensemble, The Erebus Ensemble, yMusic, The Helsinki Chamber Choir, Alexander Whitley, Cikada, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra(MusicNOW Season) and others. He has been a featured composer at the Musica Nova Festival in Helsinki, the Spitalfields Festival in London, Ultima Festival, Southbank Centre and the Rest is Noise Festival in Holland.   Qasim's soundtracks for the film have appeared on HBO, NBC, PBS, Showtime, New York Times Op-Docs, VICE Media, at The Tribeca, Sundance, Toronto, Rotterdam and London Film Festivals, at dOCUMENTA 13 and 14, The Guggenheim Museum, The Tate Britain (Turner Prize 2018), MOMA P.S. 1, IDFA, Berlinale and others. He has worked with such notable filmmakers as Laura Poitras, Mariam Ghani, Marc Levin, Naeem Mohaiemen, Smriti Keshari, Prashant Bhargava and Erin Heidenreich. Acoustic trio Dawn of Midi has released two albums. Their most recent Dysnomia was acclaimed by Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Spin, The Guardian and the New Yorker. Radiohead personally picked Dawn of Midi as their support band for two sold-out concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden for their Moon Shaped Pool tour.    Qasim earned his B.F.A in performance from the New School Jazz and Contemporary Music program and his M.F.A in composition and performance from California Institute of the Arts. He studied drums and performance with Andrew Cyrille, Joe Chambers, Reggie Workman, Buster Williams, Ralph Peterson Jr., Charlie Haden and Rashied Ali and composition with Wolfgang von Schweinitz, James Tenney, Morton Subotnick, Marc Sabat, Wadada Leo Smith, Michael Jon Fink and Anne LeBaron. He is a 2016 N.Y.F.A Fellow in Music and Sound and has received other fellowships and awards from Chamber Music America, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Mid-Atlantic Arts Council, Harvest Works, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, S.T.E.I.M. and Art OMI. Presently, Qasim lives in Brooklyn, New York and works on various projects as a freelance composer and drummer. He is represented by Erased Tapes Publishing.   RESOURCE LINKS Podcast - LaunchLeft   SON LUX LINKS: Son Lux Music - Website Son Lux - Instagram Son Lux - Twitter Son Lux - Facebook Son Lux - YouTube Son Lux - Soundcloud   QASIM NAQVI LINKS: Qasim Naqvi - Website Qasim Naqvi - Instagram Qasim Naqvi - Twitter Qasim Naqvi - Bandcamp  

In this episode Alec & Nick revisit the periodic Musician's Friend series with a Drum Edition. Considering “drum” as an instrumental category that encompasses much of contemporary musical sound, aesthetics and cultural orientation, the episode navigates various histories and practices across a spectrum of percussive sound, recording and musical philosophy and inquires into the meanings of percussion in the 21st century. Topics include global historical reckonings with resonance, Sarah Hennies' composition and notion of queer percussion, James Tenney's “klang” concept, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, exoticism in Western art music, the rhythmic properties of harmony, sample packs, electronic drumming workflows and more.

Blue, 42. Hut. In this 42nd episode of Flavortone, Alec and Nick delve into the analytic imaginaries of Fantasy Football. Having recently joined a friendly fantasy league, they reflect on recent W's and L's and the characteristic fantasy sport experience of a speculative, detemporized form of spectatorship. The discussion revives a favorite Flavortone question — “How are sports NOT like music?” — in considering the role of chance, ephemerality and stochastic models of probability in the aesthetic experience and in the forms of sport and avant-garde music. Discussion includes gestalt psychology, James Tenney's “Meta+Hodos,” the stochastic compositions of Iannis Xenakis, the debate between Cage and Feldman over indeterminacy vs. ephemerality, narrative contingency in Dungeons and Dragons, Jacques Attali's notion of Ritual, the new Alex G record and more.

Jesse Stewart is an award-winning percussionist, scholar, composer, artist, writer, instrument-maker and community activist. In 2012 he founded “We Are All Musicians” founded on his belief that music is a fundamental human right, through which he helps create opportunites for people to make music regardless of age, musical training, socio-economic circumstance and ability. During the conversation he demonstrates how any object can be used to create interesting music, and we also get to hear him improvise on a waterphone, as well as with me on my violin, with a unique instrument which he explains. I do hope you'll find Jesse to be as inspiring and interesting as I do! Below are timestamps for all the topics we covered. The video is close-captioned and the transcript will be published soon, at the same link on my podcast website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/jesse-stewart-e13-s2-percussionist-composer-community-activist-artist-writer-instrument-builder Jesse Stewart website: https://www.jessestewart.ca/home.html Please help me with a tip? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman photo credit: Michele McMillan Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:50) percussion (03:48) waterphone (07:06) discussion of Pulse water dripping on drum head (09:18) intersection of visual art and music, Reinhard Reitzenstein, Gayle Young, Suzy Lake (12:09) building a vibraphone (14:31) Glacialis ice music (16:43) exploring boxes and balloons, and different instruments in teaching orchestration (26:28) studies in composition and ethnomusicology James Tenney, David Mott, Rob Bowman (32:07) recovering from brain surgery, making videos of many different instruments and found objects like canoe paddles (37:35) demonstration of different found objects (42:20) snare drum compositions with demonstration of sonic exploration with wrenches (46:06) Community activism: We Are All Musicians (49:16) Adaptive Use Musical Instrument, Pauline Oliveros (56:38) improv with violin, waterphone and the gongs with the AUMI (01:100:32) Ajay Heble and upcoming book about the pedagogy of musical improvisation (01:07:38) improv with dancers, cellist Peggy Lee, Propeller Dance, Natasha Bakht (01:11:56) notating the drum studies, discussion of jazz drumming, Elvin Jones (01:20:43) fond memories of playing with Kevin Breit, Matt Brubeck, David Mott, William Partker, playing for the Dalai Lama --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leah-roseman/message

William Winant is a percussionist who describes himself as a technician of the sacred. Spin Magazine describes him as "the avant-elite's go-to percussionist for more than 35 years". In 2014, William was nominated for a Grammy.  He has performed with some of the most innovative and creative musicians of our time, including John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Keith Jarrett, Anthony Braxton, James Tenney, Cecil Taylor, George Lewis, Steve Reich and Musicians, Yo-Yo Ma, Frederic Rzewski, Ursula Oppens, Joan LaBarbara, Annea Lockwood, Joelle Leandre, Oingo Boingo, Mr. Bungle, Sonic Youth, and the Kronos String Quartet.

In this August 2019 conversation with Tim Daisy, William Winant talks about the similarities between improvised and composed music, crossing musical genres, and interpreting pieces by James Tenney and Roscoe Mitchell.

Enjoying the show? Please support BFF.FM with a donation. Playlist 0′00″ Sunlit Water (live 6/24/84) by Arthur Russell on Sketches for World of Echo June 25 1984 Live At Experimental Intermedia (Audika) 10′59″ Spectral CANON for CONLON Nancarrow by James Tenney on Cold Blue (Cold Blue) 14′32″ Cello Constellations by Clarice Jensen (with Michael Harrison) on For This From That Will Be Filled (Miasmah Recordings) 28′20″ Below Diorite Waters by Joey Largent on Below Diorite Waters (Dragon's Eye Recordings) 53′48″ Au revoir l'Ami by Beatriz Ferreyra on Canto+ (Room40) Check out the full archives on the website.

Ashkan Tabatabaie returns to discuss James Tenney's piece "Critical Band" and the intersection of science and music.

This Episode: When Computer Music was Experimental, 1951-1971 Early Recordings of Computer Synthesis Playlist Tones from Australia, 1951. All produced using the CSIR Mark 1 computer built at the CSIR's radiophysics division in Sydney. Alan Turing's computer music. 1951. Recording made of tones generated by the mainframe computer at the Computing Machine Laboratory in Manchester, England. Snippets of the tunes God Save the Queen, Baa, Baa Black Sheep, and Glenn Miller's swing classic In the Mood. Plus the voices of computer lab members listening to the sound as it was recorded. Original acetate recording from 1951 restored by University of Canterbury composer Jason Long and Prof Jack Copeland. Incidentally, synthesizing music …. Beat Canon (1960) by Dr. J. R. Pierce. From the album Music From Mathematics, Bell Telephone Laboratories. Numerology (1960) by Max Mathews. From the album Music From Mathematics, Bell Telephone Laboratories. Noise Study (1961) by James Tenney, from Music for Mathematics, Bell Labs, 1961 expanded edition. Bicycle Built For Two (Unaccompanied and Accompanied versions) (1963) From the demonstration record Computer Speech - Hee Saw Dhuh Kaet (He Saw The Cat), produced by Bell Laboratories. Computer Cantata, Prologue to Strophe III (1963) by Lejaren Hiller. From the album Computer Music From The University Of Illinois (1963). This work employed direct computer synthesis using an IBM 7094 mainframe computer and the Musicomp programming language. Lyric Variations For Violin And Computer (1965-1968) by J. K. Randall. From the record A Mitzvah For The Dead For Violin And Tape / Lyric Variations For Violin And Computer on Vanguard Records. Permutation of Five Sounds (1967) by Pietro Grossi. From the album GE-115 - Computer Concerto on the Italian General Electric label. Realized at Studio di Fonologia musicale di Firenze (Italy). Distributed in 1967 as a New Year's gift by Olivetti company. Mixed Paganini (1967) by Pietro Grossi, also from the album GE-115. HPSCHD by John Cage and Lejaren Hiller (1967-1969). The piece was written for Harpsichords and Computer-Generated Sound Tapes. January Tensions (excerpt) by Peter Zinovieff. Computer performed and composed in his private studio outside of London. Synthesism (1970) by Barry Vercoe. From the album Computer Music released on Nonesuch. Realized in the Computer Centers of Columbia and Princeton Universities using MUSIC 360 for the IBM 360 mainframe computer. Vercoe authored this musical programming language. Wishful Thinking About Winter (1970) by Wayne Slawson. From the album Voice of the Computer: New Musical Horizons (1970). Produced at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Eight-Tone Canon (1970) by J.R. Pierce. From the album Voice of the Computer: New Musical Horizons (1970). Produced at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Computer Suite From "Little Boy" (1970) by Jean Claude Risset. From the album Voice of the Computer: New Musical Horizons (1970). Produced at Bell Telephone Laboratories. The Earth's Magnetic Field by Charles Dodge (1971). From Nonesuch Records. Every sound in the piece was computed into digital form using the IBM/ 360 model 91 at the Columbia University Computer Center, and then converted into analog form at the Bell Telephone Laboratories. Computer says farewell, Music from Mathematics (1960).   The Archive Mix in which I play two additional tracks at the same time, to see what happens. Capriccio N. 5 (1967) by Pietro Grossi. From the album GE-115 - Computer Concerto on the Italian General Electric label. Computer synthesized sound. Pitch Variations (1960) by Newman Guttman. From the album Music From Mathematics, Bell Telephone Laboratories. From the album Music From Mathematics, Bell Telephone Laboratories.   Read my book: Electronic and Experimental Music (sixth edition), by Thom Holmes (2020).  

Enjoying the show? Please support BFF.FM with a donation. Playlist 0′0″ She's The Star/I Take This Time by Arthur Russell on World of Echo (Audika) 6′8″ Till Victory by Patti Smith on Easter (Arista) 9′39″ Evangelist by Ut on Peel Sessions 2/2/1988 (BBC) 11′25″ She Was a Visitor by Robert Ashley on Automatic Writing (Lovely Music) 17′9″ Cellogram by James Tenney on Postal Pieces (New World) 24′22″ Fresh Snow by Suzanne Ciani on Music from Denali (Finders Keepers) 28′45″ Movements of a Visionary by Tangerine Dream on Phaedra (Virgin) 35′55″ III by Miguel Flores on Lorca: Lost Tapes (1989​-​1991) (Buh Records) 43′14″ Little Darling Pal of Mine by The Carter Family on Les Triomphes De La Country Music (Habana) 46′50″ Loving You, Loving Me by Lee Hazlewood on For Every Solution There's A Problem (City Slang) 49′45″ Dress Sexy At My Funeral by Smog on Dongs of Sevotion (Drag City) 55′9″ Clementine by The Western Front on Orygun 7" (Whizeagle ) 59′6″ I Found My Way by Dusty Springfield on Dusty In Memphis (Atlantic) The next World of Echo is on Monday, September 7th at 7:00 am. Check out the full archives on the website.

Good Morning, This is Louise. Episode 70 - songs about youwith music by Mother Nature, Flo Milli, City Girls, CHIKA, Roy Kinsey, Mereba, Madlines, Jean Deaux, Tinashe, Ari Lennox, Kali Uchis & Rico Nasty, Kamaiyah, Deetranada, Mulatto, Zilo, and Pivot Gang also featuring music by King Tubby, Arvo Pärt, Tōru Takemitsu, and James Tenney with ambient field recordings by Rambalac programmed and produced by rhan small ernst Thank you for listeningNamo Guan Shi Yin Pusa

#HOMEPLAYING - Piattaforma di socialità musicale a distanza Venerdì 10 aprile 2020, ore 18 – diretta facebook Tempo Reale Electroacoustic Ensemble, In a large noisy space (2020) Musicisti: Agnese Banti, Francesco Canavese, Daniele Carcassi, Simone Faraci, Francesco Giomi, Andrea Gozzi, Giovanni Magaglio, Damiano Meacci, Matteo Pastorello, Leonardo Rubboli, Mattia Loris Siboni, Andrea Trona Liberamente ispirato a “In a large open space” di James Tenney (1934-2006) All'interno del progetto #Aundici, in collaborazione con Ambient-Noise Session, Biodiversità Records, Fango Radio, NUB Project Space, Oltrarno Recordings e PHASE. Info qui: https://bit.ly/39arYAJ

Welcome to the premiere episode of COMPOSER CONVERSATIONS WITH DAVID COSCINA on CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO. —- Note from David Coscina: The idea of this show was born out of discussions with Erik Woods and some film composer friends of mine revolving around the concept of shop talk between musicians. I’ve re-visited Facebook messages and emails I’ve traded with these amazingly talented folks and enjoyed the level of candidness that sometimes eludes them in formal press interviews. There is often a lot more that goes into the craft of writing and producing music for media than many are aware of. I’ve always wanted to hear more about the process these successful composers apply on a daily basis to provide the exhilarating, dynamic, moving music they come up with. Hopefully, this show will explore these kinds of avenues and more. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy! —— On the premiere episode of COMPOSER CONVERSATIONS, David chatted with IFMCA Award-winning composer, Christopher Willis (Veep, Mickey Mouse, The Death of Stalin) whose critically acclaimed score to THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD was released back in January of 2020.  The film made its rounds at film festivals in 2019, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2019. The film received its theatrical release in the UK in January and will be making its way to North America in May. Enjoy the show! And when you are done leave David comment below to let his know how much you enjoyed the show. —— ABOUT DAVID COSCINA: David grew up with music in his home and was exposed at an early age to a broad spectrum of music genres but it was orchestral music, specifically soundtracks, that resonated most with him. At 10 years of age, David began playing the piano and composing. In high school, he played in several concert bands and jazz orchestras that led him to pursue music at York University in the late ‘80s where he studied under David Mott for jazz theory and James Tenney for composition. While at York. David scored several student films and became more focussed on music for film. Upon graduating, David provided more music for friends’ films and was one of two composers considered for scoring Paris, France (1992). The decade also saw the composer provide orchestral arrangements for rock/pop songs. In 1998, David scored 3 short films for Toronto independent filmmaker David Sutherland including “My Father’s Hands” which met with great critical reception. The composer’s score was also nominated for a Golden Sheaf Award later that year. David also scored Marilyn Grey’s “Vicious Cycles” later that year. In 2004 David was a finalist in the Yamaha Music Production Contest in the Film Scoring category judged by Matrix composer Don Davis. In 2008 David was awarded Finalist in the Notion Realize Music challenge in the Professional Composer category with his “Musashi Suite for Orchestra”. The panel of judges included the renowned concert composer John Corigliano and film composer Carter Burwell. Of late, the composer has been concentrating on concert pieces and providing music for Cinematic Sound Radio and has enjoyed the diversity it has afforded him stylistically. David’s style, while admittedly eclectic, leans towards early to mid-20th-century orchestral music with a touch of jazz harmonies. The composer has been actively involved in electronic music since 1985 when he purchased his first synthesizer. David’s film music influences are John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Lalo Schifrin, John Barry and Elliot Goldenthal. His orchestral influences are Mahler, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel and minimalist composer John Adams. Hear some of David's music during this episode http://www.cinematicsound.net/in-the-spotlight-five-awesome-composers-who-need-to-be-scoring-hollywood-films/.  You can also read about David created the CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO themes by going to http://www.cinematicsound.net/composer-david-coscina-talks-about-creating-cinematic-sound-radios-themes/. And you can hear more of his music by going to https://soundcloud.com/user-970634922 —— Cinematic Sound Radio Web: http://www.cinematicsound.net Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cinsoundradio Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cinematicsound Cinematic Sound Radio Fanfare and Theme by David Coscina https://soundcloud.com/user-970634922 Bumper voice artist: Tim Burden http://www.timburden.com

durée : 01:01:01 - En pistes, contemporains ! du dimanche 01 décembre 2019 - par : Emilie Munera - Musique = Clapping de Steve Reich Voix = Coco Bonnier - réalisé par : Claire Lagarde

Artist Cindy Bernard initiated sound. at Angels Gate Park in San Pedro, California, in 1998. This concert series eventually evolved into the Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound—better known as SASSAS—a small Los Angeles organization fostering exciting new site-based work at the intersection of experimental music and contemporary art. The episode features performances from two CD compilations of early sound. concerts: James Tenney (performing John Cage), Solid Eye, Nels Cline and Gregg Bendian (performing John Coltrane and Rashied Ali), Philip Gelb and Pauline Oliveros, Extended Organ, and Voice of the Bowed Guitar.

Composers Recordings, Inc (also known as CRI) was founded in 1954 by Otto Luening, Douglas Moore and Oliver Daniel. The label's mission was the discovery, distribution and preservation of the finest in contemporary American music. Hundreds of American composers had their first recording released on CRI, making the label a mainstay of career development for several generations of composers — over 600 full-length recordings were released by CRI on LP, cassette and CD. CRI was also particularly successful in recording important talents early in their careers: of the thirty-seven Pulitzer Prize-winning composers on the label, twenty-seven were recorded by CRI before they won the prestigious award. The episode features: Charles Dodge, The Serpent, Space Guitars, James Tenney, Alice Shields, Priscilla Mclean, Earle Brown, Christian Wolff and Frederic Rzewski.

Ever-ascending love, walls of bass, deep listening on the Northern line. The London-based composer/experimental turntablist discusses three important compositions.

Programme de DEAN ROSENTHAL pour webSYNradio : MATHEMATICAL MUSIC avec les sons de Tom Johnson, James Tenney, Samuel Vriezen , Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Byrd, Machaut, Bartok, Olivier Messiaen, Dean Rosenthal, Seth Horwitz, David Victor Feldman, Richard Glover, Luiz Henrique Yudo, Brian Parks, Harry Partch, Iannis Xenakis, Dave Seidel, Conlon Nancarrow, Hanne Darboven, Christopher Adler.

Sarah Davachi meets with Marc Kate for the 36th episode of Why We Listen to listen to and discuss: Dennis Wilson – ‘Mexico’ James Tenney – ‘Critical Band’ John Frusciante – ‘Untitled #11’ and ‘Untitled #12’ Sarah Davachi is an is a Canadian electronic musician. Listen to the podcast on the player below, or download HERE. […]

This week's Relevant Tones focuses on composers who have tried to step outside the box, redefine their definitions of music, and start over without limitations. We'll be examining the works of Alvin Lucier, Chris Preissing, James Tenney, Lou Harrison, and more. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Jesse McQuarters Alvin Lucier: I am sitting in a room (excerpt) James Tenney: Cellogram, William Jason Raynovich, Cello Lou Harrison: Cornish Lancaran, Musicians of the Gamelan Si Betty, Berkeley Chamber Singers Colin McPhee: Tabuh-Tabuhan, Toccata for Orchestra Eastman/Rochester Symphony Orchestra-Hanson Harry Partch: Delusion and the Fury: A Ritual of Dream and Delusion (excerpt) Christopher Preissing: Pales Angela DiOrio, ClarinetLive in WFMT Studio Steven Mackie: Indigenous instruments Eighth Blackbird

Programme de Shayna Dunkelman pour webSYNradio : Music curated and mixed by Shayna Dunkelman Nov 2011 in Brooklyn, NY avec Zeena Parkins, Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson, Kevin Shea Adams, Ferrante and Teicher, Toru Takemitsu, James Tenney, Maryclare Brzytwa, Matt Marks, Preshish Moments, The Norman Conquest, Peter B, Slow Children, Wiener Kids, Ches Smith And These Arches, People Like Us and Wobbly, Cornelius, John Zorn, Caleb Burhans, Theresa Wong, Ayako Kataoka, Ikue Mori, Prefuse 73

Playliste de William Winant pour webSYNradio Avec des extraits de Kathy Acker, Kenneth Anger, Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Alvin Curran, Richard Foreman, Anthony Braxton, Mauricio Kagel, Kipper Kids, Anna Lockwood, Alvin Lucier, Richard Maxfield, Gordon Mumma, Zeena Parkins & Chris Cutler, John Zorn, Xenakis , Varèse, Frederic Rzewski, James Tenney.

New World Records We will be featuring New World Records in today's episode. New World started in 1975; they were given a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation with a mandate to produce a 100-disc anthology of American music. New world continues to preserve neglected music of the past and support the creative future of American music with over 400 recordings, representing up to 700 American composers. Rick Benjamin from "Black Manhattan: Theater and Dance Music of James Reese Europe, Will Marion Cook, and Members of the Legendary Clef Club" (New World Records) Buy at iTunes Music Store More On This Album Theater and Dance Music of James Reese Europe, Will Marion Cook, and Member of the Legendary Clef Club The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra Rick Benjamin, director The Clef Club of New York City, Inc. was a fraternal and professional organization for the advancement of African-American musicians and entertainers; all of the composers on this recording were members or closely affiliated with the Club. The "Clef Club" was founded toward the end of 1909 in New York by James Reese Europe and his associates. Their mission to highlight the value, dignity, and professionalism of African-American performers was a great success and did much to change racial attitudes at all levels of white society. It quickly became a "who's who" of early twentieth-century black music and show business. With its reputation for reliability, gentility, and quality performances, the Clef Club soon gained the favor of the loftiest of New York's white society; it became the very height of fashion to announce that one had secured a genuine "Clef Club Orchestra" for an upcoming social event. The composers featured on this revelatory recording represent the cream of Black Bohemia's musical life-the movers and shakers who paved the way for the music of the better remembered "Harlem Renaissance" of the 1920s. And while their names are obscure today, all once enjoyed national reputations in white America as well, feeding its burgeoning interest in black music, theater, and dance. Taken altogether, the talent, persistence, cooperation, and courage of these pioneers is an amazing American story that deserves to be better known. The recording features nineteen works by ten composers and is accompanied by a 40-page booklet. In addition to those by Europe and Cook, highlights include works by Will Vodery, an acknowledged influence on Ellington, and the first instrumental rag ever published, Sambo: A Characteristic Two Step March (1896), by Will Tyers. Tom Varner from "Tom Varner: Window Up Above" (New World Records) Buy at iTunes Music Store More On This Album The Window Up Above: American Songs 1770-1998 Tom Varner, French horn; Pete McCann, guitar; George Schuller, drums; Lindsey Horner, bass; Mark Feldman, violin; Dave Ballou, trumpet; Steve Alcott, bass; Thirsty Dave Hansen, vocals "I wanted to do something different for this record. Instead of playing my own compositions, I wanted to simply explore a variety of songs that have an inner resonance, whether from family, religion, nation, or culture. " - Tom Varner What Tom Varner has attempted on The Window Up Above is nothing less than a survey of the whole American song book, a millenium review of the last three centuries-and he succeeds brilliantly. Every song he has chosen has that American "thing," and his approach to every song is patently jazz, even where he chooses to play the melody "straight" to let its qualities shine through. Highlights abound: The witty, off-center de- and reconstruction of the Revolutionary and Civil War smash hits "Stone Grinds All," "When Jesus Wept," "Kingdom Come, " and "Battle Cry of Freedom" will forever change the way you hear them; his understated, heartfelt renditions of "Lorena," "All Quiet on the Potomac," and "There is a Balm in Gilead" would make a stone weep; to say nothing of his splendid reimaginings of standards like "Over the Rainbow" and "When the Saints Go Marching In." Even Bruce Springsteen gets the treatment, his "With Every Wish" joining George Jonesís "The Window Up Above," Hank Williams's "Ramblin' Man,"(check out Mark Feldman's and Varner's hair-raising solos and closing duet) and Tammy Wynette's "Till I Get it Right" from the country canon. In Varnerís unique arrangements, every song on this collection emerges freshly minted. Once heard, not soon forgotten. Music Amici, Charles Yasskyfrom "Ben Johnston: Ponder Nothing"(New World Records) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Amazon MP3 More On This Album Ponder Nothing, Septet, Three Chinese Lyrics, Gambit, Five Fragments, Trio Music Amici Ben Johnston's (b 1926) music shows the confluence of several traditions of music-making that have flourished within the United States. In the 1950s his output was characterized by the neoclassicism of his teacher Darius Milhaud. In the 1960s he explored serial techniques and, at the end of the decade, indeterminacy. From 1960 onward the overriding technical preoccupation of his music has been its use of just intonation, the tuning system of the music of ancient cultures as well as that of many living traditions worldwide. The six works represented on this disc span Johnston's journey through atonality, neoclassicism, serial technique, and finally, his pioneering use of just intonation. Septet (1956-58) for woodwind quintet with cello and contrabass, marks the height of Johnston's early neoclassic period. Debts to Stravinsky recurring structural figures, ostinatos that repeat pitches in unpredictable rhythms-are obvious. The more direct influence of Johnston's first important teacher, Darius Milhaud, is apparent in the bitonal textures. In his 1955 Three Chinese Lyrics, scored for soprano and two violins, Johnston has set three poems by the Chinese T'ang dynasty poet Li Po (701-762) in translations by Ezra Pound (his early mentor Harry Partch already had set seventeen of the poems; Johnston set the remaining three). Commissioned by choreographer Merce Cunningham, Gambit (1959) is scored for twelve instruments and consists of six movements, three of which-Interlude 1, Prelude 2, and Interlude 2-use twelve-tone rows. Gambit, a mixed-genre work, precipitated the crucial decision of Johnston's career, his switch to extended "just intonation." For most composers, just intonation implies tonality, but Johnston is unique for his works that fuse pure tuning with the twelve-tone system including Five Fragments (1960). Fragments 1, 2, 3, and 5 modulate systematically from one twelve-tone row to another and, here and in general, Johnston's early just intonation counterpoint moves carefully among consonant intervals. A much later work, Trio for clarinet, violin, and cello (1982), is a gem of Johnston's mature style, rhythmically engaging and harmonically subtle. Phrases return, sometimes with altered continuations, or transposed to different pitch levels, or using an undertone scale rather than an overtone scale. As a result, and typical of Johnston's late work, the Trio's lithe counterpoint falls sweetly on the ear; the complexity is below the surface. Ponder Nothing (1989), is a set of solo clarinet variations on the traditional French hymn "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence." If the hymn gives voice to Johnston's Catholicism, the title, taken from the hymn's third line-"Ponder nothing earthly minded"-refers to his interest in the no-mind meditation of Zen. Malcolm Goldsteinfrom "Malcolm Goldstein: a sounding of sources"(New World Records) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Amazon MP3 More On This Album Malcolm Goldstein, solo violin; Radu Malfatti, trombone; Philippe Micol, bass clarinet; Philippe Racine, flute; Beat Schneider, violoncello As a composer/violinist/improviser Malcolm Goldstein (b. 1936) has been active in the presentation of new music and dance since the early 1960s in New York City as a co-founder with James Tenney and Philip Corner of the Tone Roads Ensemble and as a participant in the Judson Dance Theater, the New York Festival of the Avant-Garde, and the Experimental Intermedia Foundation. His "Soundings" improvisations have received international acclaim for having "reinvented violin playing," extending the range of tonal/sound-texture possibilities of the instrument and revealing new dimensions of expressivity. Since the mid-1960s he has integrated structured improvisation aspects into his compositions, exploring the rich sound-textures of new performance techniques within a variety of instrumental and vocal frameworks. Goldstein has been labeled an "improviser" and a "composer-violinist" (or merely a violinist). What this CD once and for all shows is that he is indeed those things, but encompassing them all is the fact that, profoundly, he is a composer. As he points out, "At the core of Baroque music was the integration of composition and improvisation," and Goldstein brings the perspective and focus of a seasoned performer to this undertaking. In this way his music represents a further evolution of that compositional-improvisational dialogue begun in the early 1950s in the aleatoric, "chance" pieces of composers like John Cage, Earle Brown, Christian Wolff and Morton Feldman.