Record Roundup: Music for One, Two, or More
Recent adventures featuring solos, duos, and ensembles from small to large.
My editorial policy, such as it is, runs on instinct. Which is why when I became convinced that the 13 albums below needed to be contained in one post, I was stubborn enough to stick with it and serve it up to you only when it was done. Buy the ticket, take the ride…
Solo Excursions
Sarah Saviet - Spun Over five works for solo violin, this Berlin-based artist demonstrates her commitment to realizing the visions of disparate composers. Liza Lim’s The Su Song Star Map opens the album with an assay through guttural tones and high-pitched detail work, while Lisa Streich’s Falter demands the gentlest of touches - “like a Lepidoptera” - between bow and strings. Listen keenly, like an entomologist tracking butterflies at night, and you’ll hear a wealth of imagination. And so it flies through works by Evan Johnson, Arne Gieshoff, and Lawrence Dunn, providing an excellent introduction to a fabulous musician who is bound to become only more familiar.
Madison Greenstone - Resonance Studies In Ecstatic Consciousness I shy away from calling music “experimental,” having taken to heart Edgard Varése's well-worn adage, "I experiment before I make the music; then it is the listener who must experiment,” since I first read it in 1982 or so. But on her debut solo album, Greenstone - familiar to me and others through her work with Tak Ensemble, Switch Ensemble, et al - definitely seems to be experimenting while she makes the music. The clue is in the word “studies” in the title, with each track being an exploration of the possibilities of resonance created by the Bb clarinet, within which she seems to seek an ecstatic state, or at least total immersion. The results occupy a provocative mid-ground between the European avant garde and free jazz. Now, as Varése noted, it’s your turn.
Meredith Bates - Tesseract Over these six long tracks - the title piece is over 45 minutes - this visionary from Vancouver builds up cinematic layers of sound with her violin, electronics, voice, and found objects. As rich and deep as a night sky, and occasionally as overwhelming, the effect lands with the weight of dark ambient and the architecture of an Allan Pettersson symphony. Tesseract is not an experience to be sampled (although I did feature an excerpt on my podcast!) but one to which you must commit for the full ride.
Claire Chase - Density 2036 Parts VI, VII, and VIII Taking its title from Density 21.5, the groundbreaking work for solo flute by Varése (him again!), Chase’s 24-year project seeks to radically expand the repertoire for her instrument. This latest raft of entries arrived at my door as a handsome three-CD set that seemed to make the achievement of the contents even more impressive. Comprising works by many of the leading lights of the day, including Olga Neuwirth, Pamela Z., Phyllis Chen, Sarah Hennies, Matana Roberts, Wang Lu, Anne Cleare, and Liza Lim, taken as a whole the works provide an inspiring overview of contemporary composition. Chase’s family of flutes, from piccolo to contrabass, is joined by percussion, electronics, and other contextualizing elements, such as clubby beats in Wang Lu’s Aftertouch, a typewriter in Neuwirth’s Magic Flu-Idity, and Chase’s own voice, chopped and collaged, in Pamela Z’s Louder Warmer Denser. Scott Johnson would have enjoyed that. Beyond her voice, Chase’s body is the subject of Chen’s Roots Of Interior, which includes the musician’s heartbeat, and Hennies’ Reservoir 2, which separates her breath from the flute. The instrument is, like all winds, a transformer of breath and there’s no one better than Chase at enacting that alchemy.
MIZU - Distant Intervals Ever since I caught up with this glorious album, I see her name - or her former name, Issei Herr - in many places that were right under my nose, playing cello in this context and that. But this is her first solo album and it really is remarkable. The way she layers her cello into massed walls of sound, or combines various multi-textured strands is not only a sound to lose yourself in, but one that seems to hold you up. Beautiful stuff, and recorded in her closet! On one song she’s joined by on vocals by Maria BC, who also has a great album on the way, but the rest is all MIZU, which is more than enough.
Twofers
AndPlay - Translucent Harmonies Last year, AndPlay violinist Maya Bennardo released Four Strings, her first solo album, which introduced me to the music of Kristofer Svensson, whose work I praised for its “folk-like simplicity,” and “overall warmth that will call you back home, wherever you're from.” Included here is Svensson’s Vid stenmuren blir tanken blomma, which takes the ideas of the earlier work even further, extending the lines and architecture of the 40-minute piece to the point that it’s a little like discerning a crop circle from the ground instead of the air. But that captivating sense of engagement with nature is still there in a wondrous piece that rewards your attention. The Svensson is also the perfect companion piece to Catherine Lamb’s Prisma Interius VIII' (Melodic Duo), all long glassy lines that gradually intertwine. Bennardo and violist Hannah Levinson are more than up to the deep concentration required by these pieces, turning in lucid performances that shine brightly in this glorious recording.
Dana Jessen & Taylor Brook - Set Jessen’s solo bassoon album, Winter Chapel, was a highlight of 2020 and Brook is someone I’ve had an ear out for since at least 2016 (don’t miss his Dichroma for Guitar and A.I. from earlier this year). The combination of the two of them on this album-length work takes you through moods that can unsettle, resettle, and reassemble the listener as the bassoon goes through its paces, surrounded by electronics that often include simulacra of itself. Fascinating, atmospheric stuff.
Jon Nelson & Tom Kolor - Secret Messages The secret of the University Of Buffalo is definitely out with this prismatic array of works for trumpet (Nelson) and percussion (Kolor) by composers incubated at that institution. The musicians, who are on faculty at UB, are game for whatever composers Moshe Shulman, Dave Ballou, Jeffrey Stadelman,Danis Prieto, and Emil Harnas 2 dish out. This ranges from playful - Shulman’s water bottles - to pensive - Ballou’s suspended chords and tones - and beyond as in Harnas 2’s otherworldly electroacoustic Ice Fishing In Kanona. Now we know what goes on when you’re snowed in up there!
Byrne:Kozar:Duo - It Floats Away From You As I noted on my podcast, soprano (Corinne Byrne) and trumpet (Andy Kozar of Loadbang, etc.) might not seem such an obvious duo, even wondering if being a couple led them down this path. But the fact is, with Alexandre Lunsqui, Beth Wiemann, Li Qi, Lei Liang, Vid Smooke, Jeffrey Gavett, Christian Carey, and Chris Cresswell writing for them, this is no mere lark. Kozar’s trumpet, whether emitting gleaming, held notes, busy figures, or muted passages, provides a perfect foil for Byrne’s plangent voice, which is sometimes producing vocalise and at others singing words. Between the commitment of the players and the creativity of the composers, consider this concept proven.
Ensembles Assembled
Wet Ink Ensemble - Missing Scenes I called the last album by this invaluable group “a nearly overwhelming infusion of pure creativity,” and this one is just as good. Like some kind of beneficent black hole, Wet Ink manages to suck in mass quantities of New York’s finest musicians on top of the already excellent core group of Ian Antonio, Mariel Roberts, Kate Soper, Josh Modney, Erin Lesser, Eric Wubbels, Alex Mincek, and Sam Pluta, whether Julia Den Boer (Yarn/Wire) on piano, Greg Chudzik (Talea Ensemble) on bass, Rane Moore (Talea, The City Of Tomorrow) on clarinet, or Michael Clayville on Trombone (Alarm Will Sound). Then consider that there are mind-bending composers embedded in the ensemble, represented here by works from Pluta, Mincek, and Soper. Pluta’s Actuate/Resonate is an electro-acoustic banger, Mincek’s Point, Point, Point, Point begins in fragments before lurching into a near concerto for orchestra, and Soper’s title piece is a showcase for her mutable voice, from wry spoken word to world domination via Soprano. All the works are witty, filled with creative fluency, and brilliantly performed and recorded. Get to this before the ink dries any further.
Switch Ensemble - Christopher Chandler & Heather Stebbins: Roots Mysteries abound in this stellar collection of electro-acoustic compositions by Chandler and Stebbins, all of which take full advantage of Switch’s readiness for anything. The sounds created by Madison Greenstone (clarinets, sax), TJ Borden (Cello), Zach Sheets (flutes), and Lauren Cauley (violin) are shaped and molded by the composers, sometimes literally, as in Chandler’s Strata, which was recorded using “asynchronous recording sessions and telematic improvisations” that he then carved into the final piece in the editing process. In his Still Life, the players duet with their own recorded ghosts in samples manipulated by Chandler via software of his own design. Stebbins’ Among Arrows has a theatrical flair, defining its space through rustling percussion, booming bass drops, and the dialogue of the instruments. All of the works here are deeply absorbing, demonstrating a wonderful unity of purpose by the players and composers. I had the pleasure of seeing some of these works live at Shapeshifter a few weeks ago (with Laura Cocks sitting in on flutes) and feel lucky indeed to enjoy repeat listens on this marvelous album.
Pathos Trio - Polarity The first album by this trio of two percussionists and a pianist made waves in my life last year, when I noted the rich recording and their bold engagement with composers, all of whom were commissioned for the project. Their sophomore release may be even more exciting, with percussionists Marcelina Suchocka and Felix Reyes, now being joined by pianist/composer Will Healy, who has stepped in for Alan Hankers. Whether it’s that change in personnel or simply a matter of the composers they’re working with this time, the sense of freedom - perhaps even from their original conception of what Pathos could be - is palpable. Kicking off with Ian Chang’s fragmented, witty Mega Cicada, the change announces itself immediately, with electronics masterfully integrated with the percussion. I was stoked to see Phong Tran here and his Split is a wild ride indeed, with colorful synth passages at the forefront. Pity, by Andrew M. Rodriguez, touches on jazz with its constant forward motion and Vincente Hansen Atria’s Monolito pushes into some discomfiting areas of distortion, repetition, and off-kilter rhythms. Works by Paul Mortilla and Clara Warnaar are equally fascinating, firmly establishing Pathos as a group with adventurous taste and the skills to follow through on wherever that may lead them.
Rachel Barton Pine - Dependent Arising Featuring two concertos performed by a true virtuoso with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Tito Muñoz, this album finds orchestral music in rude health in 2023. First up is Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 77, which Pine dispatches in fleet fashion. While the dance rhythms felt a little less springy than my go-to featuring Dmitri Sitkovetsky, this is still an exciting and characterful interpretation. Pine’s approach is informed by her love of heavy metal and the connection she finds between Shostakovich’s explosiveness and that genre. The second piece, a world-premiere recording of Earl Maneen’s first violin concerto, for which the album is named, makes that link more explicit. Maneen navigates worlds of classical and hard rock in his creative life and manages to imbue his piece with some truly head-banging sections while keeping one foot firmly in the orchestral tradition. Pine leans all the way into his conception, seeming to delight in wild dynamics and distorted tones he dishes out. Rock the heck on, RBP!
From the archives:
Record Roundup: Solos, Duos, Ensembles
Record Roundup: New Music Cavalcade
Record Roundup: Contemporary Kaleidoscope
What a great roundup! Checking out AndPlay's album right now.