Asymmetry Music Magazine » S-T

Some Shapiro CDs

michaelkarman — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:27:08 +0000

Madeleine Shapiro, one of the founding members of the New Music Consort, plays on two Mode discs with that ensemble in pieces by Anne LeBaron (“Rana, Ritual & Revelations” and The Musical Railism of Anne LeBaron). Except maybe for Lamentation/Invocation on the Rana, Ritual & Revelations disc, these CDs are not something to get to hear Madeleine play. They’re nice discs, interesting collections of pieces by a composer likes to try a bit of everything. For hearing Shapiro’s technique and versatility well, Judith Kellock’s Albany CD, East Meets West, is better, as it has prominent cello parts in two pieces, Chen Yi’s As In A Dream and Lawrence Moss’ Three Chinese Poems for Cello and Soprano. And the new Naxos CD of Gen Gan-Ru’s string quartets, Fall of Baghdad. Best, of course, is Madeleine Shapiro’s solo album on Albany, electricity, six widely differing pieces for cello and electronics, and the SEAMUS disc (Vol. 18) that includes Paul Rudy’s Vastly Shrinking Space, written for Shapiro.(...)
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Madeleine Shapiro

michaelkarman — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:39:31 +0000

Asymmetry: You’ve been involved with new music since your college days. How did all that get started?

Shapiro: I was introduced to new music as an undergraduate at the State University of New York at Stony Brook by Paul Zukovsky, who was my mentor. I don’t know why he thought I would be interested, but he just said “You might want to play something new. I’ll choose and help you with it.” And he chose an amazing piece, which could have been a crazy choice but turned out, I guess, to be a brilliant choice for me. He chose the Davidovsky Synchronisms No. 3. (...)
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Spirit Journies

michaelkarman — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:17:31 +0000

The five pieces on Barry Truax’s most recent CD are all from this century, 2001 through 2006. Given the similarity of dates and the thematic unity suggested by the album title, one might unwarily conclude that these five are similarly similar. They’re not. If I wanted to give someone a fair idea of Truax’s range, I could do much worse than simply hand over this CD.(...)
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Truax Miscellany

michaelkarman — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:01:31 +0000

Pacific Fanfare(1996)

Like all such, Pacific Fanfare is a short piece; unlike other fanfares, this one has no stirring licks by the trumpet section. Instead, there are some very nice foghorns, as befits the Pacific part of the title.

Sadly, short here means three minutes, which is not just way too short generally, but way too short for this piece, which promises many more minutes than it delivers. Oh well, it is a delightful three minutes, full not only of coastal sounds but various train and other mechanical sounds as well as some wild bells, ringing out. (Edition RZ 290405)

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(Pacific Fanfare is also available on Soundscape Vancouver: Cambridge Street Records CSR 2CD-9701 and on Islands: Cambridge Street Records CSR CD-0101.)(...)
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Air Lift, Lilt with traffic

michaelkarman — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:56:12 +0000

Portland, Oregon residents who have not been to Czech Republic recently to see and hear installation artist Dan Senn’s Huffa Puffa can see a version of this at the Autzen Gallery of Portland State University through February 7. Entitled Air Lift, Lilt with traffic, the Portland installation uses the same ideas of audio and subaudio frequencies as Huffa Puffa, the subaudio to pump up the air bags, the audio to deflate them (and to give us something to listen to).

And the something to listen to is quite seductive. The note on Senn’s site, which you’ve doubtless just read, which says that the piece “is best appreciated over an extended period of time. Hours. Days” is literally true, but doesn’t suggest why this should be so: it is because if you let it, the piece will mesmerize you, will be something that you will not want, will hardly feel able, to walk away from.

You can, as some people at the opening did, walk in, walk around, and walk out again. But if you stay, you may find that you want to stay longer and longer. Perhaps days may be hyperbole. Hours is definitely not!(...)
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Nels Cline & Devin Sarno, Buried on Bunker Hill

michaelkarman — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 21:20:47 +0000

“Swinging ” – A noisy, minimal, slow-moving wash of gritty sound…, with tunes. It’s true; every once and awhile some of the electronic sounds are pitches, lined up just like pitches in a melody. It doesn’t happen very often, but it’s fun when an actual little tune appears out of the mix. It’s largely electric guitar noise, so why not let some pitches in from time to time?

“Hydrofoil” – Slow rumbling and throbbing noise, with some classic musique concrète techniques, including playing the tape backwards. Only that part was so smooth and melodic going forwards (it’s plain), it’s smooth and melodic going backwards as well.

“A knot in the wrist” – Another long and slow-moving piece and, perhaps, most excruciatingly beautiful piece on the disc. All the tracks are pretty beautiful (not pretty), but “A knot…” is a really lush and rich kind of beauty. There’s plenty of grit and squeals, don’t get me wrong, and though it ends very softly, it gets really cranked until right before the end. It’s a fascinating piece, my favorite of a very interesting set.

“Only peace” – Oh, so now I have to convince you that “Only peace” has merit even though it’s not my favorite of the four. Well, forget all about favorites. Though sharing certain similarities—of instrumentation and of aesthetic—these are four quite different pieces, each with its distinct beauty and shape.

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Joel Stern & Michael Northam, Wormwood

michaelkarman — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 21:29:34 +0000

Five tracks, all labelled “Untitled.” Makes it easy to listen to this as one piece—in five movements. Certainly the overall sound of the thing changes very little from “movement” to “movement.” Nor does the basic aesthetic change much either. In other words, it’s a consistent piece from start to finish fifty-two minutes later.

If it sounds like I’m describing something that doesn’t change much, not to worry. It’s as various as anyone could desire. It’s a feast of clattering, whirring, plucking, tapping, clanking, droning loveliness. A mess of electronic noise will suddenly give way to a completely acoustic sound, either instrument or voice or some sound from a field recording, a sonic photograph as it were from one or other of Joel’s travels. The effect is startling, of course. The “natural” sound sounds newly strange coming in a context of “unnatural” electronic noises.

Not that Wormwood is at all about startling us. This music is about small sounds (some amplified so they’re quite loud), which clink and hiss and whine in a world of constant activity, with very little repetition, but which always sounds like itself and nothing else.

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