Chauveau, Sylvain “Nuage” [Type]

Music written for the Sebastian Betbeder???s films ???Nuage??? and ???Andrea???s Hands???, spread over 20 short tracks.

The music is uncomplicated: stark noodlings on the piano, occassionally accompanied by slowly drawn out strings. The whole affair has the non-urgency of Satie???s music.

Rainy day music if ever such a thing existed.

And if you were to ask for a disparaging idea of what the films may be about? Picture a Wes Anderson flick with all the quirk removed and all that remains is a messed up family and a suicidal Wilson brother.

–Cujo, KFJC, Nov 2008

Akerlund, Lars “Ur/Volt” [fylkingen]

Akerlund is a Swedish creator of sounds, in residence at Stockholm’s EMS. Both of these long tracks are remixes of his own earlier works. These were written for a dance project.

UR
It begins with a steady pulse hammered out by drum beats. I take it back ??? the whole piece is really about this pulse. It???s too slow to be tribal yet too fast to be a heartbeat. The rhythm doesn???t change but the beats get more complex. Around the 5-minute mark a foghorn interrupts the proceedings. From there some very high-register maracas-type noise is the center of attention. As you strive to make some sense of the endless tambourine chimes, you realize that the pulsing is never far. The drum beats and the foghorn will make subtle reappearances in the farthest sections of the mix.

VOLT
Lars is not afraid to toy with many minutes of near silence with this track. Cicada hums rule the day and he makes some sloooow work with them. He???s not afraid to let them drift into silence for minutes at a time. Getting used to the acute ringing of the noise may be the deal-breaker for you listeners — relief in the form of some bass doesn???t come until near the very end of its 36 minutes.

–Cujo, KFJC, Nov 2008

Golijov, Osvaldo / Berio, Luciano “Ayre” [Deutsche Gramophon]

Ayre is a medieval spanish word for melody. Golijov???s 11-song cycle is supposed to represent the melting pot (Christians, Jews, Muslims) that 15^th century Spain was before Isabella wreaked her havoc. As such, at worst you might describe this as a befitting soundtrack to a Mediterannean-trotting Bourne movie or to your latest Starbucks trip. At best, though, like Bourne or that marble mocha macchiato, this can pack some wollop. The moments of pulsing excitement bring a rush.

This piece was heavily hyped when it premiered in 2004 (all sorts of Top-10 lists, and the national tour stopped locally at Lively Arts and Cal Performances). This CD cashes it in for DG; star supporting players include David Krakauer, Erik Friedlander, Gustavo Santaolalla, and Jeremy Flower???s laptop beats. But how does this piece rise above the mediocrity that you might expect of a glorified mish-mash of ancient melodies and laptop, of Klezmer and Bedouin? To a degree, there is a casual modestness to Golijov???s pastiche. But above all, it???s Dawn Upshaw (most recently heard on KFJC on Gorecki???s 3^rd). Her singing is captivating, and never ceases to blow my mind.

The pairing with Ayre is Berio???s Folksongs from 1964. Already you know it???s good (Because it???s Berio). You???ll recognize the first two songs (part of the canon thanks to the right honorable John Jacob Niles), but Berio soon heads off to France and Italy, and finishes in Azerbaijan with a wicked love song.

–Cujo, KFJC, Oct 2008

Kagel, Mauricio “Alles wechselt, All things change” [Winter & Winter]

Picked up at the Streetlight penny pitch mere days before Kagel???s death.

Quirinus??? Liebeskuss is an interminable affair wherein the chorus, singing ancient monosyllabic German poetry, trades blows with the chamber orchestra. Not recommended.

Serenade is a trio wherein MK attempted to challenge the inherent ???serenity??? or ???evening??? of the situation. The players bounce from scene to scene, really picking up steam at the 10-minute mark. The flute dominates early, and the hurdy-gurdy wails pretty good towards the end. The exotic instruments are nice enough, but it???s the episodic nature that really sells this piece. It ends with a typically irreverant Kagel fluorish ??? a random two-chord guitar cadence.

Doppelsextett is for string and woodwind sextets. Apparently something of a dialogue between the two elements, like the first piece. But this time the voices are thicker and more intertwined, and the result is much more enjoyable. I???m thinking Kagel may not write as well for voice…

–Cujo, KFJC, Oct 2008

Masaoka, Miya “While I was walking, I heard a sound…” [Solitary B]

This gets my mildest recommendation. Budding buzzing apiarist Masaoka unfurls a wordless a capella choir of drones and clusters and whoops and hollers. In the last movement the vocal techniques expand to include some wonderful whistling. The qualities that keep this from the resale bin are Masaoka???s local improv SF connections, not overstaying its welcome at 30 minutes long, & that playful 4^th movement.

–Cujo, KFJC, Oct 2008

Kim, Ha-Yang “Ama” [Tzadik]

Four works presented by NY cellist Kim.

SAMTAK is played by Kim and percussionist Nathan Davis, together known as the duo Odd Appetite. As the first third of the piece played I feared Tzadik had caved and recorded some New Agey cello & chimes artists. Fortunately this wasn???t the case, as the middle third features some yodelling on the cello and the last third features an memorable Asturias-tinged groove. Alert: scordatura!

LENS is the highlight of the disk and is the only solo offering from Kim. Her cello is amplified and equipped with distortion and wah-wah pedals. The electronics serve to enhance the cello???s sound, and do they ever. Her improvisation morphs into a Teva-tapping Tuvan tanze.

METASMATTER is a small ensemble piece. I didn???t care for it; I blame the writing for woodwinds.

OON is the second meal for Odd Appetite. This time Davis gets more of a chance to shine.

–Cujo, KFJC, Oct 2008

Note: she???s playing at Stanford on Oct 18 as part of the Meredith Monk show.

Tenney, James - “Selected Works: 1961-1969″ - [New World]

James Tenney (1934-2006) was deeply entrenched in all things musical && stochastic && perceptual && electronic && American. His star will continue to rise, to the point that generations from now he???ll be recognized as a pioneer if not in composition, then certainly in compositional attitudes and theory. This is a reissue of a 1992 Frog Peak/Artifact Recordings release. To give you an idea of Tenney???s influence, here are just some of the KFJC-friendly names responsible for the original remastering and release: Tom Erbe, John Bischoff, Chris Brown, and Larry Polansky.

Collage #1 (???Blue Suede???): Tape collage of the signature Elvis number put together at the University of Illinois in 1961. At this time, the only places in the world you could produce something like this were San Francisco (Subotnick), Illinois (Hiller), Columbia/Princeton (Sessions/Babbitt/Luening/Ussachevsky), Koln (Stockhausen/Eimert), and Milan (Berio/Maderna). Like spinning a radio dial in a city populated only with Blue Suede-airing radio stations, some of them playing with echo, some in reverse. This has a nice dramatic arc to it, and it sounds sweet.

Analog #1 (???Noise Study???)
Dialogue
Phases (for Edgard Varese)
Music for Player Piano
Ergodos II (for John Cage)
The above five pieces are the result of Tenney???s 2.5 year tenure as composer at Bell Labs in New Jersey — as the first composer to turn to and dedicate oneself to computer music! Follow Polansky???s extensive liner notes carefully and in these 5 pieces you can trace the development of both Max Mathews??? MUSIC IV program???s abilities and Tenney???s stochastic processes. Try to listen along as Tenney stops defining parameters like timbre, pitch, and timing absolutely, instead giving them statistical values of mean, range, and standard deviation. This also happens moving up hierarchically, so things like phrases and sequences and even entire pieces have their own such freedoms.

It???s of note that Tenney had a well documented relationship with player piano king Nancarrow (see the liner notes to the Wergo complete Nancarrow studies release, and also Tenney???s piece Spectral CANON for CONLON), but the piece included was punched before they had known of each other.

Fabric for Che: Inspired by the sounds of tunnel traffic, this sounds like a motorcycle racing diary. Lots of whizzing and noise and possibly stereo effects?

For Ann (rising): clever application of Risset scales results in shimmering Tinkerbell lights. Let your mind wander… marvel how your focus fades between following tones up the scale and the illusion as a whole. Strangely optimistic.

–Cujo, KFJC, June 2008

Saariaho, Kaija - “Graal Theatre / Solar / Lichtbogen” - [Ondine]

Welcome to the fiercely delicate world of Saariaho???s music. This is KFJC???s first addition of the Finn???s music (and our first from Ondine). Given her love of mixing acoustics and electronics nurtured by an early 1980s stint at IRCAM, there may be more worthy additions yet to come. I believe it???s also our first add from a ???spectral??? composer.

Graal theatre. A violin concerto originally written for Gidon Kremer, so you know this is serious business. In this version, the violin part is intact and tackled by John Storgards, while the orchestra is pared down to chamber orchestra. I have heard Kaija giving a few of her works this kind of treatment, including the Nymphea quartet. Clearly, it makes the music more marketable. Anyhow, it???s a great piece and the tumultuous violin part engages well, especially in the 2^nd part.

Solar. It???s beautiful, but nothing engaged me as I listened. Even the liner notes skip over it.

Lichtbogen. A work based on the results of computer analysis of a particular cello harmonic (this is the ???spectral??? element), but equally inspired by lichtbogen (Swedish for aurora borealis). It???s scored for nine musicians and live electronics, but the integration is practically seamless. There is alien beauty here, fragile and icy. The chiming glockenspiel stays with you long after the coda.

–Cujo, KFJC, June 2008

Messiaen, Olivier - “Turangalila-Symphony ” - [Deutsche Grammophon]

The most brilliant display of the symphony orchestra ever put to record? For over an hour, my ears did that cartoon eye-popping tongue-unfurling gimmick. Bright highs, strong lows, new sounds, exotic orchestration, explosions of virtuosity, tsunamis of Tristan-esque drama… all at once a love song, hymn to joy, time, movement, rhythm, life, and death. In his own words: ???superhuman, overflowing, dazzling, and abandoned???

All the complicated hallmarks of Messiaen???s pre-total serialist style are here with none of the turnoffs. Through the fancy octatonics, rhythmical and tonal symmetries, and atypically catholic spiritualism emerge a shockingly tuneful and engaging poem.

This is the definitive recording ??? overseen by Messiaen, the prominent piano part played by Messiaen???s wife Yvonne, and the prominent Ondes Martenot part played by Yvonne???s sister Jeanne (professor of the Ondes Martenot at the Paris Conservatory), conducted by honorary Parisian MW Chung.

Say Yess to the Mess!

–Cujo, KFJC, September 2007

Gorecki, Henryk - “Symphony No. 3 ” - [Electra/Asylum/Nonesuch]

By 1992, go-RET-ski was nearing 60 years old, and his 3rd symphony was 15 years old. Gorecki hadn???t achieved any composing fame, except among the choicest circles. This symphony marked a turn towards a more traditional/tonal and less forward-thinking/avant-garde feel, much like compatriot Penderecki did at the same time. It draws on medieval modal tonalities without reverting to medieval rules. It???s mournful like Mahler but without any of the bombast. The Polish subtitle is unsatisfactorily translated as ???Symphony of Sorrowful Songs???, but it???s as accurate a translation as we could hope for. Dawn Upshaw rips your heart out with maternal laments while Gorecki???s strings draw out painfully slow canons. The texts are mournful: laments to Mary, a prayer to Mary found written on a concentration camp wall, and Mary???s words to her son as he hung dying. Some find redemption in the last movement, I just find more sorrow. In 1992 this disk was released and inexplicably sold nearly one million copies in two years, becoming the most successful album by a 20th century ???composer???. Naturally, the critical reception has never been so warm. Critics are never right. This is sublime.

The freak of the industry.

–Cujo, KFJC September 2007

Bartok, Bela - “6 String Quartets ” - [Deutsche Grammophon]

You can be sure that between 100 and 60 years ago, if KFJC had been around, that Nozmo King would have invited the Waldbauer-Kerpely Quartet to play Bartok on his show. That quartet was formed to premiere Bartok???s first quartet in 1910, and went on to premiere the next 3 as well. Back in the day, this was very forward-thinking stuff, and it???s my hope that for KFJC
fans it can still be a challenging and rewarding listen.

Bartok???s set of 6 quartets are the next pinnacle of the genre after Beethoven???s. Most of the typical formal constraints (four movements and sonata form) are for the first time successfully shucked, allowing for the assimilation instead of novel instrumental techniques (like the Bartok pizzicato), folk tunes, folk rhythms, folk dissonances (including quarter-tones). Strangely, they draw just as much a lineage from folk tradition and 20th century innovations (musical and technological) as they
do from traditional classical rules, just slightly translated. It???s as if Bartok invented his own powerful grammar. Like a musical Elfish or Esperanto.

A Bartok set is the modern litmus test for string quartet excellence. This 1988 Emerson set is fine indeed. Cellist and bay area native David Finckel, by the way, is the force behind the annual Music At Menlo series that just wrapped up a month ago.

–Cujo, KFJC, September 2007

Tudor, David - “David Tudor: Music For Piano ” - [Edition Rz]

They say history is written by the winners. Music history appears to be written by forces of personality. The post-war piano has seen no greater force than David Tudor.

Back in the 1950s, the course of the piano was in doubt. To go serial or
not? To go indeterminately or not? There were other compositional paths to
follow (music is boundless), with their own proponents and acolytes, but
have since fallen into obscurity. What happened? Pianist David Tudor
happened. So influential was he that composers stopped writing for piano,
and began instead writing ???for David Tudor???. Here Editions-RZ has culled German radio archives for 1950s/60s Tudor recordings of the choicest indeterminate works,
wherein the composers have given the perform free interpretive right within
some boundaries (often mathematical or graphical). John Cage is of course
extremely well represented with various sparse Musics For Piano (his major
aleatoric work that followed Music of Changes) and Variations II (hardcore
piano & electronics) and tickling his own sets of ivories. Popping up also
are Christian Wolff, Morton Feldman (in a piece for 4 pianos), and Sylvano
Bussotti. Tremendous documents worthy of release, I do wish they had found some more European representation.

Ironically, and probably inevitably, Tudor could only handle Cage???s ego-less indeterminant compositional paradigm for so long. His own ego got the better of him and he eventually abandoned performance for composition (and not as successfully, I might add).

In turn, I urge you to shed your egos and welcome your new indeterminate overlords.

–Cujo, KFJC, September 2006

Fucked Up - “Year of The Pig EP ” - [What’s Your Rupture]

Truly, not as fucked up as I expected.

Though on a new label (What’s Your Rupture?), FU continues to release albums 2 songs at a time.

The 18-minute title track, a twisted punk waltz, is the meat of the release. A girly doll voice alternates with lead singer’s throaty warble for dominance of a gentle 6/8 waltz. The 6/8 signature gives them the standard room to play with hemiolas (cross-rhythms, for those of you who skipped music appreciation in high school). the singer wants so badly to have one of those soulless hardcore rasps but is really too chained to the melody to succeed at fully alienating. The juxtaposition of innocent female & corrupting male vox builds to a frenzy, where the tension is ratcheted by diminution (two- or more-fold reduction in speed, for those of you who skipped music appreciation in high school; a favorite technique of Brahms and Philip Glass). From the slowdown they close out the last half mostly instrumentally in some 4/4 chords.

There’s no fancy guitar work - just pounding chords and drums. So why release this? I think it has to do with the lyrics, which I can’t understand too well. If you pay close attention you can figure them, but I doubt they’re pleasant. My best guess is that the evil guy wants to skin and roast the innocent girl. There are some bad words: “whore” early on, “shit” near the end.

The 4-minute 2nd track, “the Black Hat” is more straight ahead common time rock. A “bitch” is let out about 10 seconds before the pieces fades out — just fade early if you’re afraid of the b-word.

*Fucked Up plays the Hemlock Tavern on July 4th*

-Cujo, KFJC, June 2007

Chacon, Raven - “Beesh Naalnishi ” - [Dineyazhe]

Look this youngster up and see what others have found to say about him (member of the Navajo Nation), his projects (Kleptones?), and his pedigree (Tenney, Subotnick, Mosko?); his own information, including this disc, is cryptic if not cryptographic (symbols? white-out? hand-written?).

This is woodwind-driven chamber noise, extra heavy on the flutes. Most of all, this is all very stop-and-go. Instruments play, pause, play, pause in varying degrees of purposefulness. One aleatorish extreme is on track 2, the other mechanical extreme is on track 5, which is like someone turning the volume dial rapidly on and off on a Charlemagne Palestine-like string quartet drone. Except I think it???s conducted/performed that way, not dialed.

This is a unique vision indeed, and I’m still rassling with myself as to whether I enjoy it. Certainly it’s deserving of our library. Those seeking to clear out the room of normal life should turn to track 5.

1. Solo alto. Possible flute doubling
2. Solo flute with supporting players
3. Cymbals and tamtams showpiece. No voices actually, as indicated by the title.
4. The whole chamber ensemble stops and gos.
5. Nails on a chalkboard.
6. The flute???s back! Multiple false endings.
7. Longer chamber group, with a little more direction.

-Cujo, KFJC, June 2007

Nono, Luigi - “20 Jahre Inventionen V ” - [Edition Rz]

If the wealth of recent KFJC library acquisitions (Guaccero, Berio, Maderna, Scelsi, Patrucco, etc and further back to Casavola and his futurist ilk) hasn???t convinced you yet that writing for the female voice is an innate ability for Italians, this one will. Don’t forget that 100+ years ago, their females ruled the airwaves: Verdi, Mascagni, Puccini… And don???t you forget that it was the Italians that started the whole fad of dramaticizing human conflict through singing (especially by women!) in the first place ??? point your browsers to Monteverdi and the Concerto delle donne. I proudly present another phenomenal disc of Luigi Nono???s music mostly featuring the female voice.

Quando Stanno Morendo (diario polacco no.2) (37:25): ???When They???re Dying (Polish Diary #2)??? for five female voices, bass flute, cello, and live electronics. A protest piece from 1981 reworking the first polish diary from 1969. Divine singing eventually yields to instrumental and electronic rustling.
Canciones a Guiomar (9:47): for solo soprano, 6-voice female choir, and instruments. More radio-friendly, but only for reasons of length.
Omaggio a Emilio Vedova (4:53): Nono’s first purely electronic composition, realized in 1960 at Milan’s Studio Fonologica (founded by Berio & Maderna). A fine listen, one that lets you appreciate how masterfully Nono would come to combine electronics with instruments and protests in the 1980s.

The singing overall is of a fuller quality than the Voices Of Protest Nono disc, but just as engaging, unsettling, and ultimately enrapturing. All other instruments, tape sounds, and electronic manipulations fade seamlessly and purposefully in an out like the best character actors.

-Cujo, KFJC, June 2007

Berio, Luciano - “Complete Sequenzas & Alternate Sequenzas & Solo Works ” - [Mode]

Luciano Berio (1925-2003) wrote 14 tour-de-force solo instrumental works for 14 different instruments between 1958 and 2003. Some of them were reworked into alternate versions for different instruments. They are modern, technical, emotional, theatrical, and canonic. He called them Sequenzas. On this Mode set (DG and Naxos also have sets) they are prefaced by matching couplets of Italian poetry by Berio’s friend Sanguineti. Mode also has the keen insight to include all alternate versions plus complete non-voice solo works. Mode has also seen to it that three of the Sequenzas are performed by those musicians that Berio actually wrote them for (viola - Knox, trombone - Dempster, cello - Rohan).

I cannot speak highly enough of Berio and/or the Sequenzas. Why don’t you try below….

-Cujo, KFJC, May 2007

Fjellestad, Hans - “Snails R Sexy ” - [Accretions]

You know that moment when you’re on an airplane taxiing out of an airport and it pauses at the beginning of the runway for just a few seconds before taking off, when all the turning and rolling noises stop and all that’s left is the corporeal, mechanical, strangely periodic humming of the jet engines?

This album is that precise moment blown up and musicified on a magnificently large scale.

Slowly swirling synthesized doppler shifts (some krafty work) combine with the pulsing, throbbing, testes-tingling vibrations. Later on, occassional control tower communication glitches and humanoid sine wave complaints invade your headphones. Even later on, things get spacier, as if your fuselage is now orbiting a synthy Saturn and the glitchy complaints coming from Houston are all the more frantic and abrasive.

Can’t figure out yet how the dreamy toy-piano track “Ex Vivo” fits into this analogy…

-Cujo, KFJC, May 2007

Habarigani - “Two ” - [Hat Hut Records Ltd]

What’s the news? KFJC has finally acquired Habarigani’s 2nd release (also on HatArt) from 1995 (recorded in 1990). The personnel are the same:

Hans Kennel, trumpet & flugelhorn
Roland Dahinden, trombone (we just added the Mode disc of his string quartets in December 2006; click HERE to read Thurston Hunger’s review)
Thomas Eckert, clarinet & bassclarinet
Hans Hassler, accordion & clarinet & bassclarinet

The concept is the same: only compositions by the band members, with the exception being made for the Monk cover/contrast (Kennel’s pointillistic “So Evidently”), and a tight balance across the disc between the hazy, breathy soundscapes of a pneumatically-driven quartet and cooler jazz bops and riffs. I must warn you, though, as is the nature with brass & woodwind ensembles, if you stop paying attention this can become a drab wind-blown drone that goes in one ear and out the other. Fortunately, if you do pay attention, you Mats remember that the bass clarinet is awesome, and you will gain a deeper respect for how critical a role an accordion can play in a chamber environment. A few notable moments:

*accordion fantasy on Eckert’s “Games”
*dueling bass clarinets on Eckert’s “Sabina and Piselli”
*flugelhorn ballad on Hassler’s “Kein Schnee” (no snow)
*finger-snappin’ trombone solo in Kennel’s “Hoi Hoi”
*avant-klezmer on Kennel’s “Extra Goodies”

-Cujo, KFJC, May 2007

Ungvary, Tamas - “Ite, Missa Est ” - [Fylkingen Records]

Tamas Ungvary is a Hungarian who settled in Stockholm decades ago and has been making the Electronic Music Studio there his home.

Melos No 3 (1982): Rimma Gotskozik of Tashkent is the funerary violinist who travels to Sweden and takes a tour of Ungvary’s murky electronic music studio.?? She drowns in his drones.?? Who will play at the funerary violinist’s funeral?

Interaction No 2 (1979): Torsten Nilsson of Stockholm is the native mad organist who duels with Ungvary’s tape sounds for indistinguishability.?? The first in several of Ungvary etudes blending/expanding the organ.

Traum des Einsamen (1974): Do ring modulators dream of electric sheep??? Here is a picture of the lonely Ungvary working at EMS, which surely must inhabit a dark room 10 stories below the Stockholm Central Station.

Ite, missa est (1982): The most cohesive and even narrative offering on this LP.?? The low rumbling and oscillations are still present, but there are warmer layers offered, sliding around like trombones, or like dedicatee Rudolf Maros (Ungvary’s teacher?) calling from the afterlife.

Deo Gratias!?????? -Cujo, KFJC, May 2007

Forward Energy Trio - “FE3 Oakland ” - [Edgetone Records]

This is the followup to their Where Are They? CD, except ‘they’ don’t include the guests from the earlier effort, and this is an all-instrumental all-improvized affair. Stephen Flinn on drums, Scott Looney inside and outside the piano, and Jim Ryan on winds. Most of this album has a pretty fantastic manic energy to it. Imagine it being the soundtrack to the ever-bustling basement Acme mailroom, with those cool pneumatic tubes and whatnot. The resulting music approaches mechanical motion - Looney’s tinkering and Flinn’s drums combined approach a fascinating Nancarrow-ian effect. I know it’s difficult to play that way on the piano, much less improvise it (much less on the drums or sax). The prime example is on track 9 of 10, Meatloaf. Unfortunately, Ryan’s flute that appears on a few tracks is really flat and energy-draining and retracts from my fullest endorsement of the album. Nevertheless - you try and keep up this energy and precision for 60 minutes.

Mush Mush! Forward Energy!

-Cujo, KFJC, March 2007