Olivier Messiaen/Arnold Schoenberg - split release
All music on LP performed by Domaine Musicale Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Boulez
Other performers on "Seven Haikai":
Yvonne Loriod - piano
Strassbourg Percussion Ensemble
SEVEN HAIKAI
This work was written in 1962, following a trip to Japan. Although no poems are included in it, the title HAIKAI denotes that the seven pieces are short, like the Japanese poems bearing that name. The dedication, on the other hand, is long, but bears citation:
"TO YVONNE LORIOD, TO PIERRE BOULEZ, TO MME. FUMI YAMAGUCHI, TO SEIJI OZAWA, TO YORITSUNE MATSUDAIRA, TO SANDAU BEKKU AND MITSUAKI HAYAMA, TO THE ORNITHOLOGIST HOSHINO, TO THE LANDSCAPE, TO THE MUSIC, AND TO ALL THE BIRDS OF JAPAN."
Here is a brief analysis of each of the seven pieces:
I - INTRODUCTION
Cencerros, bells, trumpet, trombone and metallic percussion introduce Indian rhythms dedicated to the three Shakti. The piano and woodwinds play a retrograded rhythmic canon. The xylophone and marimba play a Metabole of the Tala Simhavikrama (force of the lion) and of Tala Micra-Varna (mixture of colors). The violins then play a melodic phrase, of which we hear only the first strophe (the second strophe is heard in the seventh piece).
II - THE PARK OF NARA AND THE STONE LANTERNS
The Nara region in Japan. Four Buddhist temples in a park. Does and stags roam about freely. The sun's rays play among the Cryptomerias along the main path. 3,000 stone lanterns press together and out of view.
III - Yamanaka - CADENZA
The birds singing in this place were heard in the forest near Lake Yamanaka at the foot of Mount Fuji. They are almost the same birds heard in the sixth piece, but one must add Misoszai, a Japanese Troglodyte portrayed by the xylophone, and Aka-Hara, a red-sided thrush, portrayed by the English horn. Aoji, a Japanese masked bird and Oruri, a blue Japanese fly eater were observed at Subashiri. The three piano "cadenzas" portray successively:
(a) first cadenza: KIBITKA, a narcissistic fly eater;
(b) second cadenza: HOAKA, a grey-headed bird and Hibari, a Japanese meadow-sparrow;
(c) third cadenza: KURU TSUGUMI, a Japanese blackbird.
IV - GAGAKU
GAGAKU is the noble Japanese music of the VIIth century. It is still performed at the Imperial court. We hear only the two main timbres of this music: SHO (mouth organ), replaced by an ensemble of 8 violins, and HICHIRIKI (primitive oboe), replaced by trumpet.
V - MIYAJIMA AND THE TORII IN THE SEA
This is perhaps the most beautiful spot in Japan. It is a mountain island covered with dark green Japanese pines and maples that turn red in autumn. A Shinto Temple, white and red, with a great red portal opening onto the deep blue sea. To all these colors, the musical harmonies of woodwinds, brass, violins and bells (and also the resources of CROTALES, piano and triangle) add other combinations: grey and orange-gold, silvery red, lilac and violet-purple.
VI - THE BIRDS OF KARUIZAWA
The birds singing in this piece were heard in the vicinity of Karuizawa, in a mountain and Japanese pine setting. Some were heard in the woods, near a gorge and a small stream not far from the Asama volcano, where bright-red azaleas flourish. Some of the main birds are:
(a) UGUISO, a Japanese songbird that has two songs: the first is a long, swelling note, followed by a victorious, rapidly descending trill and continuing in a third, interrupted and repeated many times, slowing progressively. UGUISO is represented by the trumpet and woodwind ensemble. (b) HOTOTOGUISO, a small grey-headed cuckoo that sings an odd fanfare of five or six notes. HOTOTOGUISO is represented by trombone, bassoons and clarinet.
(c) KIBITAKI, a narcissistic fly eater whose song is of repeated strophes, sometimes quite numerous. Its plumage is yellow-orange and black, a great yellow brown, great white spots on the wings. KIBITAKI is played by four clarinets, as well as xylophone and marimba.
(d) ORURI, a blue Japanese fly eater. Its head and coat are blue, and the belly white, throat and breast black.
(e) AOJI, a Japanese masked bird, whose song consists of rapid, separated leaps.
(f) SAN KO CHO, another fly eater with head and throat of violet-black, white belly, a reddish-brown coat, and a pale-blue circle around each eye, with a very long tail. SAN KO CHO is played by xylophone and marimba.
(g) KURO TSUGUMI, the Japanese blackbird, whose varied song differs from that of the European blackbird.
(h) MEJIRO, a bird of tender green plumage with white circles about its eyes. In the piano cadenzas we hear BINZUI, Hodgson's songbird, and O-YOSHIKIRI, a reddish oriental bird. There are at least a dozen other Japanese birds heard in this work.
VII - CODA
Given by the CENCERROS, bells, trumpet, and metallic percussion, a suite of Indian rhythms, dedicated to the three SHAKTI. Piano and woodwinds again take up the retrograded rhythmic canon of the first piece. The sequence is reversed, however, and the violins play the conclusion, or second strophe, of the melodic phrase heard in the first piece. (Olivier Messiaen)
CHAMBER SYMPHONY OP. 9 (1906) for fifteen solo instruments
The CHAMBER SYMPHONY, composed in 1906, is years ahead in concept and content. Although the romantic heritage of Brahms, Mahler and Wagner is not to be denied, one may already discern the forces which were to emerge fully in the mature Schoenberg. The form itself reveals a compactness: the different parts of a symphony in one unit, a device favored by the Vienna school, particularly by Alban Berg. The symphony corresponds to the following scheme:
I - Exposition of two themes, with a repeat of the principal theme and transitional segments between each.
II - Scherzo and trio with repeat.
III - Development (in three parts)
IV - Slow movement
V - Repeat of the thematic material of the first part in a more elaborate form, modified and in the nature of a Finale.
THREE PIECES FOR ORCHESTRA (1910) for an ensemble of instrumental soloists
The THREE PIECES were only discovered in 1957 among some papers left by the composer. Dating from 1910, a year before Schoenberg wrote the Six Little Pieces for Piano, op. 19, they reflect the composer's preoccupation with extreme economy of means and maximum concentration of form. It also illustrates the principal of non-repetition, emphasizing variability, asymmetry, and plurality, shedding new light on this aspect of Schoenberg's thought. (Jean-Claude Eloy)
Tracklisting:
Side 1 (All tracks by Olivier Messiaen)
1. Seven Haikai: I. Introduction {1:50}
2. Seven Haikai: II. The Park of Nara and the Stone Lanterns {1:30}
3. Seven Haikai: III. Yamanaka-Cadenza {3:39}
4. Seven Haikai: IV. Gagaku {2:57}
5. Seven Haikai: V. Miyajima and the Torii in the Sea {1:24}
6. Seven Haikai: VI. The Birds of Karuizawa {5:33}
7. Seven Haikai: VII. Coda {1:53}
Side 2 (All tracks by Arnold Schoenberg)
1. Chamber Symphony, Op. 9 {17:08}
2. Three Pieces for Orchestra {1:55}
(1)
John Cage/Christian Wolff - split release
I posted this LP a couple of years ago which was a gift from one of this blog's visitors. Apparently the link in the original post is dead. Since I managed to obtain a copy, I decided to use my copy for reposting as my copy from the original post is buried somewhere in my archive of CD-Rs. If you got this from the original post you may want to get it from this repost as liner notes and photos from the record jacket are included this time.
The title, CARTRIDGE MUSIC, derives from the use in its performance of "Cartridges," phonograph pick-ups into which needles are inserted for playing recordings. Contact microphones are also used. These latter are applied to chairs, tables, waste baskets, etc.; various suitable objects (toothpicks, matches, slinkies, piano wires, feathers, etc.) are inserted in the cartridges. Both the microphones and cartridges are connected to amplifiers which go to loud-speakers, the majority of the sounds produced being small and requiring amplification in order to be heard. The dials of the amplifiers affecting volume and tone are controlled by the performers.
...
The sounds which result are noises, some complex, others extremely simple such as amplifier feed-back, loud-speaker hum, etc. (All sounds, even those ordinarily thought to be undesirable, are accepted in this music.)
...
Following the suggestion of David Tudor, the recording is the superimposition of four performers by the two of us. This is within the spirit of the directions given which accompany the material supplied ("there may be any number of performers equal at least to the number of cartridges and not greater than twice the number of cartridges"), and it takes advantage of physical possibilities in a recording studio which are not available in concert performance. (John Cage)
These are performances that happen to have been recorded under very good conditions.
The three pieces are all written in such a way that no two performances are likely to be the same. The way the instruments coordinate and the fact that the players constantly have options of what to play (say, one of three pitches, any pitch at a fixed loudness, any loudness at a fixed timbre) brings this about. The coordination - how the players play together - is not, in turn, for the most part, related to fixed time, of a beat or of the clock. The players are given indications of when to play simultaneously, one immediately after the other, overlapping, or alone. A situation is indicated, but not when one is to enter into it, nor, necessarily, for how long one is in it. Durations of individual notes may be indicated as relatively short, long, or free, or they may be determined by the requirements of a situation. For example, it is indicated that two players play simultaneously for a free duration. One of the two, whoever decides to do so first (without prior agreement), starts to play. The other, hearing this, must join immediately. Both play. One of the two, whoever does so first, stops playing. The other must stop immediately. The sound may have come at any point of time and may have been of any duration, as the players played, either one of them deciding and the other according with the decision as he heard it, each at each juncture (beginning, alteration, and end) of the sound.
Each of the pieces are made up of parts of varying lengths which can be repeated any number of times: they will tend to be different at each repetition. The continuity of the parts within a piece, then, is up to the players. Each can decide to play where he can begin a part, and the others must follow. It may happen that the players lose their way when, for example, two start different parts simultaneously, or one starts a part (which he indicates by making the first sound in that part) and the other mistakes that sound for another. That is part of the piece. The players, once they are aware of what has happened, stop and make a new beginning. A piece lasts as long as the players wish to continue it. I chose performances that would fit on the record. (Christian Wolff)
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. John Cage - Cartridge Music {19:44}
John Cage and David Tudor - cartridges and contact microphones
Side B
1. Christian Wolff - Duo for Violinist and Pianist {5:04}
Kenji Kobayashi - violin, David Tudor - piano; composed in August 1961
2. Christian Wolff - Duet II {7:55}
Howard Hillyer - horn, David Tudor - piano; composed in January 1961
3. Christian Wolff - Summer {9:08}
Matthew Raimondi and Kenji Kobayashi - violins, Walter Trampler - viola, David Soyer - cello; composed in August 1961
(1) (2)
various artists compilation - History of Music in Sound Vol. I: Ancient and Oriental Music
2-LP set released in 1966
This 2-LP set is the first in the History of Music in Sound series of volumes in conjunction with The New Oxford History of Music that surveys and discusses musical history. This series began in the late 1950s. Each volume includes a book in The New Oxford History of Music and the companion LP-set each including a booklet. According to the listing of titles in the booklet from this set, there has been 10 volumes. All volumes except Volume I: Ancient and Oriental Music focus on Western or European music. My copy once belonged to a high school library as the cover bears the stamps of the school and the pocket for placement of a circulation sheet. I do wonder how often this was either checked out or used at all by high school students and teachers. I wonder if high school libraries (or school library media centers) today have CDs of Eastern music.
Volume I of The History of Music in Sound may be regarded as an introduction to the main series of records devoted to Western music from the Middle Ages to the present day. In addition to the few examples of ancient Greek music which have come down to us, the volume comprises a selection of recrds from the Middle and Far East.
Oriental music, apart from some zither compositions and the ceremonial music of China and Japan, is transmitted orally from generation to generation. We have, therefore, no means of giving an historical survey of the music of any country represented in this volume. Some of the music, particularly the examples of sacred, ceremonial, and ritual chant may go back to a remote date and may have been handed down to us practically unchanged; others are of more recent date, while others again - for example the songs from Madagascar and Tahiti - are obviously influenced by European music.
The greatest difficulty for the Editor arose from the fact that the selection for this volume had to be made from the musics of peoples infinitely greater in number and variety than those of Europe, to whom all the other volumes in the History are devoted. The choice of examples, therefore, has had to be restricted to those which either supplement our knowledge of the origins of western music, such as the examples of Greek, Jewish, and Arabic music, or are most characteristic of their kind, such as the few examples of Indian, Chinese, and Japanese music.
In listening to music from the Islamic countries one should remember the main difference between our Western conception of music and that of the East. The western composer aims at expressing himself in a concise, clear form. The mind of the Eastern musician works differently; he makes music which flows in an unending stream. Different as the music of the various peoples may be in character; it has in common the endless repetition of a pattern which impresses itself on the audience and is often of a hypnotic nature.
Most of the examples from these countries, therefore, give only a small fragment of the whole chant or instrumental piece - in some cases longer in the LP than in the 78 r.p.m. version. There are some pieces in which the repetition and variation of the same pattern can be heard, but even in these examples the hypnotic effect of this kind of music cannot be fully experienced, for actually the singing, drumming, and dancing goes on for hours.
There is one feature of Far Eastern singing which seems strange to us: the Chinese operatic singer produces his tone with cramped throat muscles. To the West, singing is a sort of glorified speech and the singer is taught to avoid shrill notes; to the Far East, the art of voice production consists in singing with strained vocal chords, to make song as different from speech as possible.
Eastern music is mostly homophonic; part-singing in our sense is unknown though one does find that primitive part-singing which we call heterophony. Since the skill of the Eastern composers is concentrated upon one line, the melodic nuances are much richer than those of Western melodies, and so are the rhythmic patterns.
The differences in tuning and the variety of scales, which often include quartertones and even smaller intervals, make it difficult and in many cases impossible to transcribe Eastern music into our system of notation. Scholars have worked out methods of indicating quarter-tones by special signs or by figures, giving the number of vibrations; but such a notation is useless for practical purposes. We should bear in mind also the fact that unskilled singers frequently sing 'out of tune' and that it is purposeless to notate deviations from the scale which would not occur with trained singers.
Finally a word must be said about the quality of the records. Those of Arabic music go back to the Congress of Arabic Music held in Cairo in 1932; those from the Far East were mostly made in the countries whose music they represent, often under the most difficult conditions. Some of these are of unique musicological and ethnological value and it would be impossible to record them today. After listening to a great number of records made in recent years, the Editor has chosen those which he thought to be representative, though some may not be technically as perfect as we expect H.M.V. records to be, because they give a better idea of the character of music than the modern recordings do. Contact with European music through the gramophone, the radio, and particularly through the cinema, has left its traces on the music of the Eastern world; it has also influenced the technique of singing and playing. The majority of the records in this collection are therefore chosen deliberately from those made at a time when the impact of Western music was hardly felt. (Egon Wellesz)
Tracklisting:
Side I
(all tracks on Side I from China)
1. Louis Chen - Three Ancient Melodies: Tzuey Ueng Charn {0:48}
2. Louis Chen - Three Ancient Melodies: Lanq Taur Sha {1:35}
3. Louis Chen - Three Ancient Melodies: Nan Jinn Gong {2:02}
4. Orchestra of the Classical Theatre of China - Instrumental and Dramatic Music: The Poet Rides {3:15}
5. Ja Fuhshi - Instrumental and Dramatic Music: Meihua San Nonq {0:43}
6. Ching Yu-feng and T'ang Kuei Fang with orchestra - Instrumental and Dramatic Music: Duet from Sheau Fanqniou {1:45}
7. Shang Hsiao-yun with orchestra - Instrumental and Dramatic Music: Excerpt from Muudan Tyng {1:02}
8. Tu Chin-fang with Orchestra of the Classical Theatre of China - Opera: Excerpt from Bair Sheh Juann {2:25}
9. Hsiao Tsung-i with Orchestra of the Classical Theatre of China - Opera: Excerpt from Wuu Jia Po {1:28}
10. Hsiao Tsung-i with Orchestra of the Classical Theatre of China - Opera: Excerpt from Yuanmen Jaan Tzyy {5:51}
11. Chao Wen-kuei with Orchestra of the Classical Theatre of China - Opera: Excerpt from Tsao Chyau Guan {3:17}
Side II
(tracks 1-3 from Tibet; track 4 from Cambodia; track 5 from Madagascar; tracks 6-9 from Laos; tracks 10-12 from Bali; tracks 13-14 from Tahiti)
1. [uncredited artist] - Lamaist Instrumental Ensemble {1:10}
2. [uncredited artist] - Lamaist Chanting {1:49}
3. [uncredited artist] - Hymn by Two Nuns {1:16}
4. Mme Nouy with instruments - Bampe {2:59}
5. [uncredited artist] - Raivo {1:21}
6. Thao Nenh - Song of a Nam-Ngum Bargeman {0:43}
7. Thao Nenh - Mengphoutomdok {0:50}
8. [uncredited artist] - Laoh-Tenh {1:48}
9. [uncredited artist] - Thoum {1:05}
10. [uncredited artist] - Tjroektjoek Poenjah {1:41}
11. [uncredited artist] - Excerpt from Tjalonarang {3:01}
12. [uncredited artist] - Excerpt from a Gamboeh {2:23}
13. [uncredited artist] - Paoa {0:49}
14. [uncredited artist] - Aue Aue {1:04}
Side III
(tracks 1-3 from Japan; tracks 4-14 from India)
1. Shinichi Yuize - Gagaku (Court Music): Dance of the Great Peace {1:30}
2. Shinichi Yuize - Rokudan (Nos. 1, 3, and 6) {2:40}
3. Shinichi Yuize - Chidori-no-Kyoku {3:58}
4. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Rice-transplanting Song (Western Ghats) {1:02}
5. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Harvest Processional Song (Western Ghats) {1:16}
6. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Toda Song (Nilgiri Mountains) {1:08}
7. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Death Wail (Cape Comorin) {0:43}
8. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Afridi Song (Khyber Pass) {0:59}
9. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Marathi Weaver's Song (Hyderabad) {0:53}
10. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Bhajan (Marathi Villagers' Prayer) (Hyderabad) {2:08}
11. Vasanta Koakilam - Classical Music: Sundari Nann'indarilo (Telugu) (Carnatic Devotional Song) {1:35}
12. Khan Saheb Hamid Hussain - Classical Music: Pahadi (Dhun) (Sarangi with Tabla) {2:00}
13. Hirabai Barodekar - Classical Music: Kankariye ji na Maro (Hindi) {1:00}
14. Ali Hussain and party - Classical Music: Raga Kedara (Shannai) {5:29}
Side IV
(tracks 1-3 Jewish music; tracks 4-5 ancient Greek music; tracks 6-8 music of Islam: Near East; tracks 9-10 music of Islam: Iraq; tracks 11-13 music of Islam: The Maghrib)
1. Cantor Jacob Goldstein - Lamenasseah al Haggitit (Psalm 8) {1:05}
2. Cantor Jacob Goldstein - Moholel Kol Wehol Johol (Hymn for Hasha'na Rabba) {2:11}
3. Cantor Jacob Goldstein - 'Al Naharot Bobal Hosehoh (Paraphrase of Psalm 137) {1:03}
4. Arda Mandikian - First Delphic Hymn {3:26}
5. Arda Mandikian - Epitaph of Seikilos {0:38}
6. S. S. Alami - Muezzin's Call to Prayer {1:35}
7. Maulawiyah Atrak - Taqsim Bayati (Turkish) {1:09}
8. [uncredited artist] - Bedouin Song (from El Fayum) {1:23}
9. [uncredited artist] - Tahher Fouadaka Bil-Rahat {2:27}
10. Muhammad Efendi el Qabbanji - Ya Naees el-Tarfe {1:58}
11. Muhammad el Shuwaikah - Oomri Alayki (Moroccan) {2:04}
12. Muhammad ibn Hasan - Alhazo Zabi (Tunisian) {1:32}
13. Al-Hajj el-Arabi ibn Sari - Fah el-banafseg (Algerian) {1:17}
(1) or (1) (2) or (2)
NEXUS - Toccata
The 1995/96 concert season was the twenty-fifth year of performances together for the five members of NEXUS. It was a year highlighted by a tour of Europe and Scandinavia, a Silver Anniversary series of concerts in Toronto broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and a twenty-fifth anniversary celebration concert in the Eastman School of Music's historic Kilbourn Hall, the venue for the very first performance by NEXUS on May 20, 1971. In the early years of the group's existence, concerts consisted almost entirely of improvisations on percussion instruments collected by the individual members of NEXUS. Many of these instruments were from non-Western musical cultures and were not associated with the classical and popular music already familiar to the conservatory-trained percussionists. The instruments were mostly bells and gongs of Asian origin, although there were also wooden instruments, drums, and various home-made percussion instruments, and they invariably sounded pitches that fell in-between the notes of the European tempered scale system. Since there were no existing compositions for this unusual collection of instruments, the music was created in spontaneous improvisations, with no advance planning at all. Spontaneity has always been a major part of NEXUS' approach to performing its repertoire, and improvised pieces, such as Kichari, Reunion, and Toccata were featured in the NEXUS anniversary season programs. In these pieces, the listener will find the musical heart of NEXUS. Eric Robertson, the Toronto-based virtuoso organist, joins NEXUS in Toccata for some serious improvised fun. (Bill Cahn)
Members (performers all on percussion): Bob Becker, Bill Cahn, Robin Engelman,
Russell Hartenberger,
John Wyre
Tracklisting:
1. Kichari {15:00}
live at Studio 10, Berlin, Germany - October 6, 1995
2. Tongues {5:05}
live in the CBC Glenn Gould Studio, Toronto, Canada - June 11, 1996
3. Reunion {12:06}
live in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York - February 20, 1996
4. Toccata {22:56}
live at St. Paul's Anglican Church, Toronto, Canada - May 11, 1996; with Eric Robertson - organ
(1)
various artists compilation - New Music for Chamber Orchestra
SOME WORDS ABOUT WORDS ABOUT MUSIC by Carman Moore
The attempt of words and symbols to explain the subject of music represents so pure a history of failure that it might be regarded as itself a thing of perfection. The implications of the "sighing" Mozartean score, for example, with such an adjective as "female" thrown in has the makings of poetry but leads us away from the intellectual rigor - no matter how involuntary - represented by Mozart's music. And the term "chamber orchestra" may send the mind galloping off into the four winds. We may know that the "chamber" in question asks that you date and place it - a palace lounge in 1810? a South Rampart Street brothel in 1910? a New York City recording studio in 1970? Must an "orchestra" employ strings?
Even the score must be viewed as a program note, endeavoring to make the sonic journey seem more business-like and less physically hazardous than it really is. Nonetheless, while word and symbol may be imposters, they may also serve music with honor. For they function as that body of expectations over against which the truth of sound as organism performs its magic. The composer has profound need of these expectations, for taking the ear - even his own - by surprise (by storm) lies at the heart of his craft.
Iannis Xenakis - the architect, the mathematician as composer, to many listeners the man representative of all that is inscrutable in modern music (if you can't read his score, how can you presume to respond to his music?) - represents a prime example of the contemporary symbol-vs.-music tension. His very name at the head of a program note may cause the experienced reader-listener to expect a visually beautiful chunk of score and mathematical jargon. Yet the name when thought of relative to most of his works will probably call up memories of vast sonic textures and unforgettable psychic experiences. In his Achorripsis (1957) the Xenakis characteristic of overtly dramatic sound coupled with elegant formal proportions is already central to his style. Almost analogous to this fact, who can avoid noticing how the relatively civilized dryness of the pitched-instrument counterpoint is clubbed again and again into submission by big, primitive smacks from the bass drum? Xenakis's music seems to refuse the term "chamber," and rather transports the ear outdoors onto a rugged landscape. Yet in its juxtapositions of woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings as agglomerate color families Achorripsis slyly reminds us of its debt to the Baroque concerto grosso.
Through Aldo Clementi's little "Triplum" (1961) and the even tinier Three Pieces (1910) for chamber orchestra of Arnold Schoenberg the point of broad expressive power within short time span is made and seems to deepen the mystery of how music works. "Triplum" presents fragile colors which is slipping away from each other seem to touch hands. Mobile pitch lines and densities seem to pause for re-coloring from time to time and then rush or slide away. It's all over in four minutes.
Ruggedly dramatic in another sense if Bo Nilsson's Szene III (1961). As if it has given way to total savagery after early attempts to conform to what a mad era insists is civilized, the closing measures of the work become a stretch of unrestrained tumult led into by a shattering crescendo on the tam-tam. Mr. Nilsson on side B shows another aspect of his expressive range through the elegant little Frequenzen (1956). With traditional Western percussion augmented to include jazz drum set, guitar, vibraphone, and xylophone the eruption promised by this heavily-batteried instrumentation never really occurs. Tightly organized of duration, pitch, and the like, it interestingly enough indicates dynamics by number 1-10 (pppp to ffff). Conductor Francis Travis expresses the basically low profile, and the beauty of this performance seems to prove it a sensitive work and performance.
Schoenberg's amazing "Three Pieces" recorded here for the first time (Darmstadt Festival, 1961), is little over 2 1/2 minutes and 28 measures long, but its powers to transport the listener are extensive indeed. Pieces I and II are sections completed by the composer, and Piece III is unfinished. Composed after the "Chamber Symphony" (1906), the "Gurrelieder" (1901: orchestrated 1911), and the "Five Orchestral Pieces" (1909), this work, relatively so slight of means, was obviously undertaken as a study in terse statement and perhaps as a shadow piece to the "Five Pieces." In the next decade or so Schoenberg was to ardently begin and then abandon many works, so it is not so strange perhaps that "Three Pieces" should end suddenly in mid phrase. What is both strange and remarkable is the fact that the third piece, from measure 5 to the end, sounds so like a work that was to be published and performed three years later - Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." And for anyone seeking a precedent for Anton Webern's still, aphoristic style of composition there is the second piece - eight measures and three fermatas long.
Wlodzimierz Kotonski's Canto (1961) for chamber orchestra indicates a dynamic marking for every note, with a range from ppp to fff. From rhythms, almost all of which are long-held notes, the composer evokes, nonetheless, a true sense of momentum. Careful coloration and sensitive pitch choices make of the work a strange kind of high adventure.
As if to combine all of the impulses to formal precision presented in the above-mentioned works, Yuji Takahashi's brutally-difficult Six Stoicheia (1969) for four violins is totally written out and specific about pitch, for example, to the point of indicating "+=1/4 tone sharp" and "*=3/4 tone sharp." But it is the composer's creative imagination and the uncompromising brilliance of Paul Zukofsky (heard here on all four parts) which reveal this tight-looking score to be in reality a full-blooded sonic experience - an experience not at all out of place on a chamber orchestra recording.
These have been words and post-expectations of value to me. Perhaps they will function as an analogy to what each listener might bring to his own first and repeated relationships with these seven extraordinary compositions. It is to be done shamelessly. Just as nature has its still-life, it appears that music will always have its verbiage and symbols - as the last outposts of the outer world before the leap into the dimension of all sound and all form is made.
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Iannis Xenakis - Achoripsis {5:39}
Performed by Hamburger Kammersolisten, Conducted by Francis Travis
2. Aldo Clementi - Triplum {3:57}
Performed by Severino Gazzelloni - flute, Lothar Faber - oboe and Guy Deplus - clarinet
3. Bo Nilsson - Szene III {5:36}
Performed by Internationalen Kranichsteiner Kammer-Ensembles, Conducted by Bruno Maderna
4. Arnold Schoenberg - Drei Kleine Stucke {2:42}
Performed by Internationalen Kranichsteiner Kammer-Ensembles,
Conducted by Bruno Maderna
Side 2
1. Wlodzimierz Kotonski - Canto {5:07}
Performed by Internationalen Kranichsteiner Kammer-Ensembles, Conducted by Bruno Maderna
2. Yuji Takahashi - Six Stoicheia {6:22}
Performed by Paul Zukofsky - violin (recorded on four separate tracks)
3. Bo Nilsson - Frequenzen {4:01}
Performed by Hamburger Kammersolisten,
Conducted by Francis Travis
(1)
Harry Partch - The World of Harry Partch
Harry Partch is an American visionary and stubborn individualist. . . . He has built his own musical world out of microtones, hobo speech, elastic octaves and percussion instruments made from hubcaps and nuclear cloud chambers. Recently. . . . an army of young music lovers stormed New York's Whitney Musuem to hear Harry Partch and his thirteen disciples produce a music that was totally personal and eclectic in the best sense. African polyrhythms, and ancient Greek modes, bits of Babylonia and the pulse of the American diesel engine all gathered into a richly erotic, primitive, fresh and stirring drama of sound. (Newsweek)
DAPHNE OF THE DUNES
Harry Partch - adapted viola
Other performers: Frank Berberich, Gary Coleman, Dean Drummond, Richard Lapore, John McAllister, Robert McCormick, Todd Miller, Emil Richards, Michael Ranta, Linda Schell
Instruments heard on this recording: Adapted Viola, Kithara II, Surrogate Kithara, Harmonic Canons II and III, Chromelodeon I, Cloud-Chamber Bowls, Spoils of War, Gourd Tree, Diamond Marimba, Boo (Bamboo Marimba), Bass Marimba, Pre-recorded Tape (Note: No more than four instruments are used simultaneously.)
DAPHNE OF THE DUNES is here recorded for the first time live. Originally the sound track for Madeline Tourtelot's film WINDSONG, Partch recorded it alone, by the process of overdubbing. The film, a modern rendering of the ancient myth of Daphne and Apollo, is a classic of the integration between visuals and sound. Partch explains his approach to the score:
"The music, in effect, is a collage of sounds. The film technique of fairly fast cuts is here translated into musical terms. The sudden shifts represent nature symbols of the film, as used for a dramatic purpose: dead tree, driftwood, falling sand, blowing tumbleweed, flying gulls, wriggling snakes, waving grasses."
BARSTOW
Eight Hitchhiker Inscriptions from a Highway Railing at Barstow, California
Harry Partch and John Stannard - voices
Other performers: John McAllister, Danlee Mitchell, Michael Ranta, Linda Schell Instruments heard on this recording: Surrogate Kithara, Chromelodeon I, Diamond Marimba, Boo (Bamboo Marimba)
BARSTOW, begun in 1941, is a setting of eight hitchhiker inscriptions copied from a highway railing on the outskirts of Barstow, California. This work shows Partch's style with language, as well as his approach to harmony and structure. Each inscription is stated, then humorously expanded, sometimes sung, other times intoned. Tonality is strong but ever-shifting. The over-all harmonic effect is quite smooth, as it would be in just intonation, with tones resolving to others by a subtle few vibrations as well as larger leaps. A masterpiece of Americana in song, it is more than that; it is musical dramatic narrative. Partch calls it his Hobo Concerto. As the word hobo itself is an American word, so is the music of Harry Partch an American music - probably the first truly American music since the American Indian.
CASTOR & POLLUX
A Dance for the Twin Rhythms of Gemini from Plectra & Percussion Dances
Performers: Gary Coleman, Dean Drummond, John McAllister, Danlee Mitchell, Emil Richards, Michael Ranta, Linda Schell
Instruments heard on this recording:
CASTOR
1. Leda and the Swan (Kithara II, Surrogate Kithara, and Cloud-Chamber Bowls)
2. Conception (Harmonic Canon II and High Bass Marimba)
3. Incubation (Diamond Marimba and Low Bass Marimba)
4. Chorus of Delivery From the Egg (All the foregoing instruments)
POLLUX
1. Leda and the Swan (Kithara II, Surrogate Kithara, and Low Bass Marimba)
2. Conception (Harmonic Canon II and Cloud-Chamber Bowls)
3. Incubation (Diamond Marimba and High Bass Marimba)
4. Chorus of Delivery From the Egg (All the foregoing instruments)
CASTOR & POLLUX is a dance-theater work with a beguiling program. It is structured in two large sections, each section comprised of three duets and a tutti. The first section is entitled CASTOR, the second, POLLUX. The first duet of each section is titled Leda and the Swan (insemination); the second, Conception; the third, Incubation; and the tutti, Chorus of Delivery From the Egg. By its contrapuntal texture, CASTOR & POLLUX shows well the melodic capabilities of the instruments, and the two tutti section grand finales to the glory of birth. In the liner notes to PLECTRA & PERCUSSION DANCES, first issued by Partch on his own GATE 5 record label, he relates the story:
"It begins with the encounter of Zeus, the male swan, with the beautiful Leda, and ends with the hatching of the fertilzied eggs - first Castor, then Pollux. From the moment of insemination, each egg uses exactly 234 beats in cracking. All of the right heavenly houses are in conjunction, and misfortune is impossible. Pairs of instruments tell the story in characteristic ways."
(Notes by Danlee Mitchell)
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Daphne of the Dunes {16:53}
Side 2
1. Barstow {9:06}
2. Castor & Pollux {15:50}
(1)
Daniel Scheidt - Action/Réaction
A number of factors combine to influence the nature of the work represented by this disc. An interest in process, a respect for improvisation, and a fascination with systems realized in software have led me to the development of computer programs designed to interact with performers in real time.
Each piece presented here involves an instrumental soloist performing with an interactive computer system. The software that defines each composition is designed to accept acoustic input from the performer and produce electronic responses. The compositions included in this collection evolved during extensive rehearsals with the individual musicians and would not exist without their contributions. Each recording represents the documentation of a studio "performance" - there has been very little studio editing.
The improvisational nature of the performer's role is an important aspect of this music. In making the decision to allow the performer to improvise, I have relinquished aspects of compositional control in exchange for a more personal contribution by each musician. An improvising performer works within his or her own set of skills and abilities (rather than those defined by a score), and is able to offer the best of his or her musicianship. Once having become familiar with a system's behavior, the performer is free to investigate its musical capabilities from a uniquely personal perspective.
Another feature of this work is the performer's relationship to the musical feedback loop created in conjunction with the computer. The performer provides source material used by the computer system, while at the same time responding to the system's ongoing audio output. Any gesture made by the performer in response to the computer immediately becomes new source material for the computer to use and can influence subsequent output. One performer has referred to this model as an "idea expander".
Part of my attraction to this work is an interest in software as a compositional medium. Working with software offers extreme flexibility while at the same time requiring the articulation of creative intent in precise and unambiguous terms. The ability to develop, test, revise, and extend a computer program makes software a remarkably malleable medium for experimental artistic creation.
I find the design of compositional structures intended for interactive exploration during performance to be an extremely intriguing approach to music making - one in which I am able (perhaps forced) to investigate new relationships between composition and performance. (Daniel Scheidt, January 1991)
Tracklisting:
1. Obeying the Laws of Physics {16:20}
(1987) for electronic percussion and interactive software; Trevor Tureski - percussion
2. A Digital Eclogue {12:47}
(1986) for clarinet, bass clarinet and interactive software; Claude Schryer - clarinet, bass clarinet
3. Stories Told {12:30}
(1989) for soprano and interactive software; Robin Dawes - text; Catherine Lewis - soprano
4. Norm 'n George {20:17}
(1990) for trombone and interactive software; George Lewis - trombone
5. Squeeze {10:50}
(1990) for bass clarinet and interactive software; Lori Freedman - bass clarinet
(1) or (1)
Moods Gateway Recordings - Tropical Rain Forest
On this Sunday of environmental/nature sounds Sundays, it's time for another trip to the rain forest.
Rain pelts the leaves, bouncing in endless random patterns as it falls gently to the soft floor below. . . The water fills the underbrush creating a thousand little streams. . . Birds punctuate the ambiance as you meditate in your tropical rain forest.
Tracklisting:
1. Tropical Rain Forest {22:01}
Note: both sides of the cassette are the same.
(1)
Iannis Xenakis - Four Compositions by the Contemporary Greek Innovator
Atrees (Hommage a Pascal) for 10 instruments
Performed by Paris Instrumental Ensemble for Contemporary Music, Konstantin Simonovich, conductor
Atrees (Hommage a Pascal) received its first performance in Paris, in 1962. Under the direction of Konstantin Simonovitch who leads the performance heard on this recording. Written for ten instruments, Atrees is in five parts and utilizes the stochastic program of ST/10, an earlier work of Xenakis.
The composition of both pieces required use of the IBM 7090. This particular equipment - developed for the electronic computation of calculus - enabled the composer to establish the timings essential to his musical idea. It also served to advance his thesis and goal of creating ". . . a form of composition which is not the object in itself, but an idea in itself, that is to say, the beginnings of a family of compositions."
Morisma-Amorisma
Performed by Georges Pludermacher - piano; Jean-Claude Bernede - violin; Paul Boufil - cello; Jacques Cazauran - double bass; Konstantin Simonovich, conductor
Again using the program of ST/10, Xenakis composed Morisma-Amorisma for the instrumental combination of piano, violin, cello and double bass. It was first performed in Athens, 1962, under the direction of Lukas Foss. The title is derived from "Moros": meaning fate of death. Morisma refers to that which occurs as an act of fate and Amorisma (with the private a added), signifies that which happens without the interference of fate. "Today," according to Xenakis, "the theory of probabilities refines and clarifies the ancient idea of fate, destiny, choice, causality and determinism."
ST/4
Performed by The Bernede String Quartet (Jean-Claude Bernede & Jacques Prat - violins; Bruno Pasquier - viola; Paul Boufil - cello
ST/4, for string quartet, was also programmed in the manner of ST/10. The complete title, ST/4-1.080262, signifies: ST for stochastic (music), 4-1 for the fact that it is Xenakis' first work for four instruments, and 080262 for the eighth of February, 1962, the date on which calculations were completed on the IBM 7090. As in the case of Nomos Alpha, listeners will note that Xenakis has written for strings in the style which he first introduced in 1954 for Metastasis; primarily featured are such treatments as glissandi with the bow, or in pizzicati, or in col legno, tapping on the back of the instrument. ST/4 was premiered in 1962, by the Bernede String Quartet, in Paris.
Nomos Alpha
Performed by Pierre Penassou - cello
Nomos Alpha is Xenakis' second composition for solo instrument, being preceded by the earlier Herma for solo piano. Radio Bremen commissioned the work for cellist Siegfried Palm, who gave its first performance in 1966. According to the composer, "Nomos" signifies "rules, laws" but also in music, "special, particular melody" and sometimes "mode." Nomos Alpha was written "to render 'hommage' to the lasting work of Aristoxenus of Tarentum (fourth century B.C., student of Aristotle), musician, philosopher and mathematician-founder of the theory of music; to Evariste Galois, mathematician-founder of the theory of groups; and to Felix Klein, his distinguished successor." (Harry Neville)
Note: The first 4 and a half minutes of "Nomos Alpha" has rough crackle that I was unable to get rid of. If I ever find another copy in better shape, I'll re-rip that track.
Tracklisting:
Side One
1. Atrees (Hommage a Pascal): 1st Part {4:29}
2. Atrees (Hommage a Pascal): 3rd Part {5:54}
3. Atrees (Hommage a Pascal): 5th Part {2:21}
4. Atrees (Hommage a Pascal): 2nd Part {1:37}
5. Atrees (Hommage a Pascal): 4th Part {2:54}
6. Morisma-Amorisma {11:38}
Side Two
1. ST/4 {12:56}
2. Nomos Alpha {17:34}
(1)
Lejaren Hiller, Robert Baker and John Melby - Computer Music
Lejaren Hiller and Robert Baker - Computer Cantata (1963)
Performers: University of Illinois Contemporary Chamber Players; Helen Hamm, soprano; Jack McKenzie, conductor
We wrote the COMPUTER CANTATA in 1963 to illustrate what we could do with the relatively few subroutines we had at that time.
The five main strophes are stochastic settings of five successive approximations of spoken English. These texts were generated by Professors Hultzen, Allen, and Miron of the University of Illinois as an experiment in speech research. The music is correlated to these texts and goes from a state of great disorder in Strophe I to some degree of order by Strophe V. The Prologs and Epilogs, in contrast to the Strophes themselves, are concerned with rhythmic organization for percussion, total serialism and scales of 9 to 15 tones per octave realized by a simple sound synthesis scheme devised for the CSX-1 computer. We deliberately left this synthetic sound crude.
Much nonsense has been written about computers 'thinking' and 'creating'. After all, a computer is really nothing more than a complex array of hardware. It can be tremendously useful hardware, however, but only if you know the limitations of programming logic and how to ask sensible and precisely formulated questions.
Should a person listen to this piece as he might 'ordinary music'? Yes, I think, but with this important qualification: It is much more didactic than expressive compared to most music. This piece is truly experimental because it is concerned with revealing process as well as being final product. It is an embodiment of objective research results. It is a laboratory notebook. Sometimes the results surprise us because a compositional routine seemed less effective than expected, sometimes more so. If I had deleted everything that disturbed me esthetically, I would have falsified the research record. So, at that time, my objective in composing music by means of computer programming was not the immediate realization of an esthetic unity, but the providing and evaluaton of techniques whereby this goal could eventually be realized. (Lejaren Hiller)
John Melby - 91 Plus 5 (1971)
Performers: Brass Quintet and Computer Contemporary Brass Quintet (Elin Frazier, Daniel Orlock, Edward Curenton, Robert Moore, Jonathan Dornblum) conducted by Roman Pawlowski
91 PLUS 5 (the title refers to nothing more than the fact that the piece is scored for an electronic tape realized on an IBM 360/91 digital computer and five brass instruments) is a composition in nine sections which combine to form one continuous movement. the first through eighth sections form a large arch-form, with the first related to the eighth, the second to the seventh, etc. The ninth section serves as a 'coda'. Each pair of related sections emphasizes a different aspect of the basic rhythmic/pitch materials. In addition, the related sections correspond in terms of tempo relationships, 'timbral' considerations, etc.
Composers who make use of digital computers in their pieces can be divided into two general categories: 1) those who use the computer as an aid to composition and 2) those for whom the computer serves as an incredibly flexible performing medium. My use of the computer falls into the latter class. In 91 PLUS 5 (and in all my other works for digital computer, either in combination with live performers or alone), the computer is programmed to produce a digital tape that contains a series of numbers which, when changed through the digital-to-analog conversion process, produce fluctuating voltages. These voltages, when recorded on an ordinary magnetic tape and amplified, produce musical sounds. Thus, while the computer is actively involved in the performance of the work, it is not involved in the compositional process. The great precision inherent in computer performance makes it possible to produce effects (such as accurate rendering of passages in simultaneous different tempi) which are impossible, or at best very difficult to achieve, with live instrumentalists. In addition, the unlimited 'timbral' possibilities offer much room for experimentation. In the case of 91 PLUS 5, I have purposely limited myself to relatively simple sounds in the computer part; this is due to a desire to obtain sounds which contrast with the 'richness' of the harmonic spectra of the brasses.
91 PLUS 5 was composed in late 1970 and early 1971. The computer tape was realized, using the MUSIC360 sound synthesis sprogram written by Barry Vercoe, at the Princeton University Computer Center, with digital-to-analog conversion at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey. The composition was first performed in April of 1972, by the performers on this record, at the National Conference of the American Society of University Composers in Baltimore, Maryland. (John Melby)
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Lejaren Hiller and Robert Baker - Computer Cantata: I. Prolog to Strope I; Strope I {6:25}
2. Lejaren Hiller and Robert Baker - Computer Cantata: II. Prolog to Strophe II; Strophe II {2:02}
3. Lejaren Hiller and Robert Baker - Computer Cantata: III. Prolog to Strophe III; Strophe III; Epilog to Strophe III {5:34}
4. Lejaren Hiller and Robert Baker - Computer Cantata: IV. Strophe IV; Epilog to Strophe IV {3:11}
5. Lejaren Hiller and Robert Baker - Computer Cantata: V. Strophe V; Epilog to Strophe V
Side 2
1. John Melby - 91 Plus 5 {19:49}
(1)
various artists compilation - The Contemporary Contrabass
Performers:
Bertram Turetzky - contrabass
Nancy Turetzky - flutes (side two, track 1)
Ronald George - percussion (side two, track 1)
The performer of today's new music isn't simply someone who picks up his instrument in the studio and plays through invariant material ("learn your Haydn sonatas and you're in the money"). The works presented on this record are the result of close and extensive collaboration at a variety of levels, from the interactions of the improvisation asked for in Pauline Oliveros' Outline to the intricate technical problems in engineering required by Ben Johnston's Casta Bertram. What you hear, therefore, is virtuosic at every level, in realization, performance, recording, and electronic treatment, collaboratively.
...
The recent spate of recordings of the music of John Cage seems to have largely ignored his instrumental compositions. One of the major contemporary string works, 26'1.1499" for a String Player, written in 1955, is one of these; it is to be hoped that this premiere recording of the work will bring it the attention it deserves from string players. Cage's notes on the work are important:
26'1.1499" for a String Player is graphed like 59 1/2" for a String Player . . . but in actual time, the amount of space equalling a second being given at the top of the pages. The compositional means were complex involving both chance operations and observations of the imperfections in the paper upon which the piece was written. . . . The rhythmic structure is 3, 7, 2, 5, 11. This piece may be segmented at structural points indicated by dotted lines and the segments superimposed in any way to make duets, trios, quartets, etc
...
Pauline Oliveros, for many years one of the moving forces in the San Francisco Tape Center, is also most prominently represented on recordings by electronic music, to the unfortunate neglect of her instrumental compositions. Miss Oliveros' years of work with improvisation, both as performer and as teacher, are reflected in Outline, which, in her words, "presents performers with an opportunity to improvise in several ways: to choose pitches according to the given contour, to make rhythms in the spaces provided, and to improvise without directions within a given time length. The written material provides the influence for the style of improvisation." The work was written in 1963 for Mr. Turetzky and his wife Nancy, and premiered in May of that year by the Turetzkys at Yale University. Miss Oliveros, a colleague of Mr. Turetzky's on the UCSD music faculty, worked with the performers and the engineer to assure the authoritative quality of this recording.
...
Casta Bertram [by Ben Johnston] is a realization of Casta* (the first of 4 Do-It-Yourself Pieces [1969]; the other three are Recipe for a*; Conference, A Telephone Happening; and Knocking Piece II). The score for Casta* as provided below also requires a circuit schematic which may be devised by the performer working with his own engineer or may be obtained from the composer in the version used for the premiere.
.
Choose 4 stage locations: (1) to record; (2) (elevated) to type, with voice mike and contact mike for typewriter; (3) (spotlighted) to perform live against tape loops recorded earlier in performance; and (4) to record (technician with 3 tape recorders, minimum 3 loudspeakers, 3 tape loops, mixers, 3 mikes as described, earphones for technician and performer). Prepare sound and score components: (1) 4 segments, 45 seconds each, of vocal and instrumental noises, at leadt 1/3 vocal, many scatological; (2) a list of these noises clearly identifying each; (3) 25 standard repertory excerpts, from very brief to a phrase or two in length, many virtuosic.
Sequence of events: (1) Record segment 1 on loop 1. (2) Record segment 2 mixed with segment 1 on loop 2. (3) Record segment 3 mixed with mixtures of segments 1 and 2 on loop 2. (4) Record segment 4 mixed with mixture of segments 1, 2, and 3 on loop 1. (During above sequence, repeat last sound of each segment until next is set to record.) (5) After segment 4, go to typewriter while repeating final sound. (6) Type on file cards 25 of the sounds listed, while humming, whistling, and otherwise travestying your repertory excerpts. (During [6], technician records 45 seconds of it on loop 2. He also takes out one second of loop 3 and splices it into loop 1.) (7) Go to spotlight area, shuffling file cards, while technician begins to play back loops. (8) Perform repertory excerpts one by one. After each, perform noise on top file card, throwing card into audience. After excerpt 24 throw away score of excerpts also. (During [7] and [8], technician begins loops one by one, building volume until last 45 seconds drowns out performer.) (9) Technician escorts performer, still playing excerpt 25, from stage. On first bow he turns off sound. Duration: 10 minutes maximum. *Substitute one of your names here.
(Barney Childs)
Tracklisting:
Side One
1. John Cage - 26'1.1499 for a String Player {16:05}
Side Two
1. Pauline Oliveros - Outline {14:02}
2. Ben Johnston - Casta Bertram {10:34}
(1)
Jerry and Norma Stillwell - Bird Songs of Dooryard, Field and Forest Vol. 3
The songs on this record of western birds were selected from hundreds of recordings made during three spring and summer seasons of travel across prairies and deserts, up mountains and down canyons, back and forth from the Great Plains to the Pacific - nearly 50,000 miles of travel. Western bird populations are less dense than eastern, and the extremes of altitude and rainfall contribute to many variations in the best singing seasons of various species of birds.
Out of more than 160 species of birds recorded in the west, 45, or their close relatives, may be heard on Volumes 1 or 2. These are not included on this record simply because limits of space prevent showing minor variations between eastern and western songs. The 68 species here included were selected because of wide range, prevalence, vocal ability or special interest. Several individuals or several song patterns (tunes) are given for those species which have versatility. (The Stillwells)
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. track A1 {5:22}
Western Meadowlarks, Great-tailed Grackles, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Hooded Orioles (Arizona), Bullock's Orioles, Scott's Orioles
2. track A2 {4:57}
Cactus Wrens, Rock Wrens, Canyon Wren, Gambel's Quail, California (Valley) Quail, Scaled (Blue) Quail, Mountain Quail, Mearns's (Fool) Quail
3. track A3 {5:48}
Lark Bunting, McCown's Longspurs, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Horned Larks, Western Warbling Vireos, Audubon's Warblers, Lucy's Warblers, Orange-crowned (Lutescent) Warblers, Pileolated (Black-capped) Warbler, Painted Redstarts
4. track A4 {5:46}
Mountain Chickadees, Plain Titmice, Verdin, Arizona Cardinals, Pyrrhuloxias, Brown (Canyon) Towhees, Spotted Towhees, Wren-tit, Varied Thrushes
Side B
1. track B1 {5:50}
California Thrasher, Curve-billed (Palmer's) Thrasher, Bendire's Thrasher, Sage Thrashers, Steller's Jays, California Jays, American Magpies, Gila Woodpeckers, California (Acorn) Woodpeckers
2. track B2 {4:57}
Phainopepla, Western (Arkansas) Kingbird, Cassin's Kingbird, Derby Flycatcher, Vermilion Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Say's Phoebes, Western Wood Pewee
3. track B3 {4:53}
Lazuli Bunting, House Finches (Linnets), California Purple Finches, Lawrence's Goldfinch, Green-backed Goldfinches, Arkansas Goldfinch, Pine Siskin
4. track B4 {6:33}
Desert Sparrows, Black-chinned Sparrow, Brewer's Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Western Fox Sparrows, Green-tailed Towhees, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeaks
(1)
various artists compilation - Afghanistan: Music from Kabul
LP recorded in August 1972
Afghanistan, whose previous name was Ariyana, was so named about a century and a half ago by King Ahmad Shah. Afghanistan shares borders with China, India, Pakistan, Iran and Asiatic Russia. In ancient times these borders were crossed many times by the routes of commerce and conquest. Now Afghanistan is about to become the air route link between the western world and China. Thus Afghanistan is an important link in the chain of cultures binding Europe and Asia together.
Musically, the link can be heard by listening to pieces from various regions of Afghanistan. The western and northern music is dominated by Near Eastern or Central Asian styles, while Eastern Afghan music is heavily Hindu oriented. The musical instruments also show this interlocking of cultures.
Afghan instruments are basically simple, made up mainly of strings and drums. The string instruments most frequently used are the tanbur, a plucked, fretted lute with drone strings, the rebab, with three pairs of melody strings and ten sympathetic strings, the sarinda, a bowed, three stringed lute, and the delruba, similar in shape to the Indian sitar but smaller and bowed. The drums of Afghanistan can be divided into two groups: single membrane instruments of Persian origin with a goblet shaped body called zerbaghali, and double membrane instruments of Indian origin like the tabla, or the two-headed dhol which is an Afghan originated instrument. There is also a vertical flute with six fingerholes called the tula and the Afghan dotar, a three stringed lute which is plucked.
Afghanistan, with a total population of between 16 and 17 million, has two official languages: dari, from old Persian, and Pashtu which is an Afghan language. Around 8 to 9 million inhabitants speak Pashtu and all of the songs on this record are in the Pashtu language from the province of Nangahar which is approximately 75 miles southeast of Kabul. (from the liner notes)
Tracklisting:
SIDE 1
1. Gholam Nabi and Malang - Delruba and Zerbaghali {4:02}
2. Ustad Mohammad Omar and Ghulalahm - Rebab and Dhol {6:01}
3. Ghulam Haidar and Malang - Tula and Zerbaghali {2:11}
4. Abdul Majid and Malang - Tanbur and Zerbaghali {3:08}
5. Ustad Gholam Nabi and Mohammad Asef - Delruba and Tabla {3:26}
SIDE 2
1. Gholam Hassan and Faiyaz Mohammad - Sarinda and Dhol {3:14}
2. Kamar Gul Zakhail - Typical Love Song {5:07}
3. Kamar Gul Zakhail - Jalalabad Wedding Song {5:02}
4. Kadim and Malang - Dotar and Zerbaghali {2:03}
5. Mohammad Zakhail and Ghazi - Love Song from Nangahar part 1 {2:46}
6. Nahmattullah - Love Song from Nangahar part 2 {3:24}
(1)
Tama Walo - Keepers of the Talking DrumThe Walo Walo are the descendents of the ancient Wolof kingdom of Walo, the delta region of the Senegal river, in northwestern Senegal. According to oral tradition, Walo existed for 625 years before the French colonized it in 1866. Some claim it is the oldest of the five Wolof kingdoms.
Unlike other Wolof, who traditionally play sabar drums, the Walo Walo have specialized in the Senegalese talking drum, or tam (TAH-mah). For as long as anyone knows, Walo Walo drummers have cultivated a unique style of dance music on five tamas and a bass drum called the lambe (LAHMB). According to some Wolof drummers, the Walo Walo may have played the tama for as long as three and a half centuries, though not always with a bass drum.
Cultures in other West African countries play similar drums, but with different styles of music.The Drums
The tama has a wooden shell which is shaped like an hourglass. Each end is covered with the skin from the belly of an iguana. The skins are laced together with string. The drummer changes the drum's pitch by squeezing the strings with his arm.
The Walo Walo play four types of tama. From largest to smallest, they are the bopp, bal, nder bal, and nder. Traditionally, a troupe has two nder, for a total of five tamas.
The lambe - which is closed at the bottom and covered with a goat skin on top - is also used in sabar. Oral tradition holds that the lambe and tama are older than the other types of sabar drums.
The bal is the principal solo drum. The other drums usually play supporting parts, but they may also take turns soloing.
Each rhythm has four supporting parts, which interlock. Usually, two of the tamas - and sometimes more - play the same part. Each rhythm also has its own dance.
Tama Walo
The members of the troupe Tama Walo all come from Walo, but like a fifth of all Senegalese, they have moved to Dakar. There, they perform for wedding receptions, weddings, child-naming ceremonies, and informal dance parties among the many Walo Walo who have also moved to Dakar.
The troupe consists of the principal soloist, tama player Ousseynou "Papa" Thiam (CHAHM); tama players Mamadou Thiam, Abdoul Rakhmannne Gueye (GAY), Ibrahima Mboup, Abdou Boy Samba, and Diebril Dieye (jee-BREEL JAY); lambe player Seni Mboup; and singers Fanta Fall, Awa Thiam, and Fatou Manganne. Only five of the tama players play at a time.
The drummers in the troupe all come from families that have played the tama professionally for generations.
Drum Talk
The Walo Walo say the tama can talk because its wood and skin used to be alive. Walo Walo drummers use rhythms extensively to represent words. The audience knows by convention what the rhythms represent.
For example, while soloing, a drummer might praise someone in the audience by playing the drum strokes ran dan dan gan dan, ran dan dan gan dan ta xin dan, ran dan gan dan dan to represent the words Lo dé ti xalat (Don't be sad); Fi kofi guénou douleur geunne (Nobody here is better than you); Lo dé ti xalat (Don't be sad). Or for example, listen to the soloist represent English words (borrowed from American recordings) in track 10 at 1:18.
A drummer's solo can consist entirely of such phrases. (from the liner notes)
Recorded in Pikine Tally Icotaff, Senegal, in 1997.
Released by Village Pulse in 1998.
Tracklisting:
1. Ganass [1] {10:15}
2. Bak [1] {2:09}
3. Pithiémé Samba {2:28}
4. Awounalène {4:41}
5. Ganass [2] {5:00}
6. Dagagne {5:44}
7. Bak [2] {2:46}
8. Leumbeul {5:57}
9. Tagoumbar {1:51}
10. Bak [3] {3:43}(1) or (1) (2) or (2) [links coming back soon, maybe (1/24/2012)]
