Playlist

Live

June 1, 2013


Zuzana Zahradnikova

The 8th Annual Harry & Myrtle Olson International Music & Organ Festival
University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle
Rastislav Adamko, violin; Zuzana Zahradnikova, organ and piano; David di Fiore, organ

Concerto in a-minor - Vivaldi- Adamko, Zahradnikova
Wer nur den lieben Gott läst walten, 8 and 9 - Friedrich Christian Mohrheim - Zahradnikova
Dumky for Violin and Piano - Ján Levoslav Bella - Adamko, Zahradnikova
Gottvertrauen  (Wer nur den lieben Gott läst walten) - Bella - Zahradnikova
Song Without Words - Bella - Adamko, Zahradnikova
Sladké okovy lásky (The sweet chains of love) - Peter Eben - Adamko, Zahradnikova

Rastislav Adamko

Our guests from Slovakia play with a not unattractive flat affect - no histrionics, no distracting faux showmanship - all concentration goes into the sound. This throws the rhythmic, pitch, and figurational structures into strong relief. If it isn't latent in the score you're not going to get it. This worked especially well in the Vivaldi, stripping away layers of encrusted effusion to leave a lean and luminous essay in balance and grace.

Mohrentanz - Tielman Susato - Di Fiore
Grande Pièce Symphonique - Franck - Di Fiore
Variations sur un Noël - Marcel Dupré - Di Fiore
Etude in c# minor (Octaves) - Jeanne Demessieux - Di Fiore

David Di Fiore

It has been quite a few years since David last performed Franck's seminal organ symphony. I'm not deeply familiar with its direct descendants in the organ repertoire, but what struck me more than anything were the carefully accumulated constructions of articulation over huge time spans - more like Bruckner or Sibelius than of what I know of Widor or Vierne.

Recorded

June 2, 2013
Banned Sectional 8 KEE NWM - (June 1985, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Meyer)

Beginning with funmaker and acoustic guitar, the first 35 minutes or so are about as focused and composed as Banned Rehearsal ever gets. It disintegrates toward the end, and although that is not without its interest it never finds a new place to hang. 

June 4, 2013
Banned Rehearsal 36 - (June 1985, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Meyer)

Overdriven and brutal. At the time we were processing a distinction, in real time, between making a tape and recording an improvisation. The former faction (not always the same folks) seized the tools of the occasion, treating all the parts of the tape-making mechanism as fair game - microphones included. Although I have somewhat come to terms with this over the years, my general objection hasn't changed. In the context of free improvisation, if an activity has the effect of completely or largely obscuring the activity of another participant then an implied social contract has been violated. Arguably fabulous results are hardly the point.

June 5, 2013
Banned Rehearsal 37 - (June 1985, Aton, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Meyer)

More of same, with some added subtleties of aggressive and passive-aggressive behavior. Not quite as overtly gritty.

June 6, 2013
Banned Mixer 1

Step two in building the banned day (a mash of the first 24 hours of banned rehearsal) is to mix two mixes of two. One of eight.

In Session at the Tintinabulary

June 3, 2013
Gradus 227 - Neal Meyer

I spent the session continuing to think about the structure of the social dynamic in music, and in Gradus as an example in particular. To that end I played with various diagrams, identifying pertinent nodes through which that social dynamic flows. Currently:

N=Neal

K=Keith

G=Gradus (the score)

I=Interface (everything that moves in producing the sound, including parts of Neal and parts of the piano)

M=Mechanism (everything that makes the sound: the hammers, strings, and soundboard)

R=Room (the physical-acoustical space)

S=Signal (the sound that was made)

A=Ambience (the sounds from outside the system)

 

Upcoming

Saturday, July 6, 2013 - 8:30 PM
Peterman, Your Mother Should Know, Pouch
Victory Lounge, 433 Eastlake Avenue East, Seattle