sound expanse

1) In the very (very) near future, I will be adding an entry to my links page: Steven Kazuo Takasugi. There's one piece I love the most, but I'm not even going to tell you which. They are all astonishing.

Included at the end of his bio are instructions for listening:

Laptop (Computer) to Headphones = Not Ideal!
Laptop (Computer) to Stereo Amplifier to Headphones = Good!
(Volume and physicality of sound are of utmost importance)
Lights out.

2) I didn't know Jem Finer was a founding member of the Pogues when I came across Score for a Hole in the Ground. Now I want to go to this forest in Kent.

Finer is also involved in a thousand-year-long, multi-continental composition/trust/graphic score/assemblage of Tibetan bowls called Longplayer.



3) Eric Wubbels' excellent review of Nature/Culture, Peter Evans' latest solo CD.

4) One of the most interesting thinkers (and doers) in the sound arena shows up in the mainstream media. I was not expecting that. I'm not so sure that David Dunn would classify himself as an avant-garde composer as the subtitle does, but the content of this article, Beetle Mania, in The Atlantic is just fine, and actually quite funny at points.

5) A surprisingly engaging review in the LA Times of a Monday Evening Concert called "Mostly Californian."

6) A ticket. Boston to London, where I'll hear ELISION play a great program titled Terrain (after the Ferneyhough piece, which is included). Also on the program are works by Liza Lim, Aaron Cassidy, Bryn Harrison, Mary Bellamy, and James Dillon. Then from London on to Berlin for MaerzMusik, whose program has just been announced today.

I've been thinking of starting a new "finds" category here on sound expanse--sites, pages, videos, resources, etc. that are mostly self-explanatory. I have a good cross-section now--a list that has been waiting and growing for some time.

1) Piano Repertoire Project.

This is a research project that aims to document much of the newest repertoire for solo piano as part of a Northwestern University doctoral thesis. The specific goal is the creation of a reference guide to solo piano music written by composers born since 1970.

For reasons of scope, the project is limited to American composers and those living or studying in the United States. (Maybe someone will want to do a similar project in another country in the future.) I know a lot of interesting composers who have submitted their work, and I know Jonathan Katz is approaching the project in a committed and responsible way.

The deadline for submission is February 1st, 2010. That's soon, so if you're interested, now is probably a good time to act on it. There's a thorough description and FAQ section on the site.

2) Available online is an experimental music series curated by Jason Brogan called calculations. I'll say for practical reasons that there is quite a lot of silence involved. So if you don't hear anything on a track for some time there's not likely a problem with either your speakers or the site. There's some very fine work on there, often with pdfs, videos, and links to more information available. The idea of an online, curated space for experimental music is great too. I'd be really pleased to see more of them.

3) Michael Pisaro has written a long and wonderful history (also available in German) of the wandelweiser group. (Take a look through the rest of the content on erstwords as well.) I love reading about how this international collective has emerged, developed, and thrived over time.

4) I wrote over a year ago about Laurence Crane's Come back to the old specimen cabinet John Vigani, John Vigani, part 3. Since then, I've come across a video of a different performance of it by plus-minus, with the same cellist, Alex Waterman.

And here's the link for the second video, to finish the piece.

In looking up plus-minus I found a whole treasure trove of videos and recordings I hadn't seen or heard before, including pieces by Ablinger, Ashley, Bailie, Cardew, Crane, Harrison, Ligeti, Parkinson, Reinholdtsen, Saunders, Shlomowitz, Stockhausen, Torvund, and Trunk.

5) Phil Minton's Feral Choir. This is brilliant. I won't say anything more.

6) Last year I wrote about Wet Ink's Peter Ablinger concert in New York. They have released two videos from the concert:

Verkündigung by Peter Ablinger from Sam Pluta on Vimeo.

Cecil Taylor (from Voices and Piano) by Peter Ablinger from Wet Ink Ensemble on Vimeo.

Enjoy!