May 19, 2012
Madama Butterfly - Puccini
Seattle Opera - McCaw Hall, Seattle
I love how this opera focuses inward, opening into the vastness of a single human soul. In Paris of 1906 Americans and Japanese were both exotics. But for those of us living on the West coast, after 100 years of immigration and travel, after Pearl Harbor, after the Internment Camps, after the bomb, this is a picture of us, of our common family, taken long ago by a man in a land much more distant and foreign to Seattle than Nagasaki.
May 24, 2012
New Pieces by S. Eric Scribner
Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle
Soundscroll 7 - Bruce Greeley, bass clarinet; Natalie Mai Hall, cello; Mike Sentkewitz, string bass;
Four Places on Planet Earth - Keith Eisenbrey and Matt Kocmierowski, percussion/found objects
Ukiyo-e - S. Eric Scribner, piano
Soundscroll 7 was played at the last Salon, and it is still a lovely thing to be with. I'm not in a position to comment on how Four Places sounds, since I was busy performing it. Steve had four stations around the space, each containing a collection of objects categorized by material. As pre-recorded sounds were played through the speakers, we would putter with the objects at one of the stations for a minute or so, then strike a gong softly and consult a field guide, which would instruct us (based on a code in the score) which station to putter at next. I hope it was as pleasant and interesting to witness as it was to participate. Ukiyo-e consists of four piano pieces of various lengths and age. The third piece was the shortest - brief fragments of figuration plashing up to shimmer in sunlight - but my hands-down favorite was the last, a focused exploration of shadows and weight.
May 25, 2012
John Cage: Music for Solo Performers (and an Ensemble Composition)
Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle
Sonata for Clarinet (1933) - William O. Smith, clarinet
One7 ("For Any Way of Producing Sounds")(1991) - Neal Meyer, voice; Jake Thompson, sound technician
In a Landscape (1948) - Melissa Walsh, harp
Solo for a Sliding Trombone (1958) (from Concert for Piano and Orchestra) - Stuart Dempster, trombone
Four6 ("For Any Way of Producing Sounds")(1992) - Stuart Dempster, trombone; Neal Meyer, voice; William O. Smith, clarinet; Melissa Walsh, harp
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| Thunderclap in Alphabits Stickers |
A thunderclap event in a blue sky day. Not business as usual. Even after all these years a seriously engaged and sympathetic presentation of Cage's music speaks volumes about how concert music persists as a social object of uncertain value.
Committed performances all around. Melissa lifted us into the delicate In a Landscape, Stuart's clowning has rarely been so deadly serious, and William O.'s lyricism continues to shine more brightly the more outlandish the sounds he makes. All of this was glorious but none of it was as much of a jaw-dropping joy as Neal's minutely nuanced performance of One7. I have heard Neal perform text works for decades (and seeing him do so in front of a harp brought an image forth: a thin young man in a white three-piece suit in 1982 ". . . pop bottles füget mir NNNNNNNN . . . ") but the intense focus of this performance blew me away. It is as though he has been working at getting this right for 35 years - and now he nails it. Bravo! And another big bravo for all the work done to put this fabulous thing together.
Recorded
May 20, 2012
Banned Rehearsal 239 (December 1990 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt)
Furiously fast desperate scratching morse. Incessant. The Speaker of the House in some of its finest moments.
May 22, 2012
Banned Rehearsal 579 (July 2000 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Anna K, Neal Meyer)
Mr. Roger's Neighborhood in a gentle bell kit with small drums.
Department of Forensic Morphology Annex (June 2005 - Isaac Eisenbrey, John Eisenbrey, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey)
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| Department of Forensic Morphology Annex (2004) - Cris Bruch |
BF Autoharp, Barang, Clay Drum, Frame Drum, Gong, Kora: Amended - Keith Eisenbrey
Six of 12 seven-minute long tracks, with some reverb and such, for eventual use in the electro-acoustic theatrical piano concerto Blood and Fire, Hallelujah. Clay Drum, Frame Drum, and Gong parts are pretty spectacular all on their own.
In Session at The Tintinabulary
May 20, 2012
Your Mother Should Know recording an alternate vocal for What's Wanting For? - this time with Karen all sultry & all.
May 21, 2012
Banned Rehearsal 814 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Meyer
Upcoming
Saturday June 23, 2012 concert begins at 8:00 PM
Keith Eisenbrey - piano recital at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle
music by Emily Doolittle, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, and J. K. Randall
Saturday October 20, 2012 concert begins at 8:00 PM
Keith Eisenbrey - piano recital at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle
Preludes in Seattle Part 4: Preludes by Ken Benshoof, Keith Eisenbrey, Lockrem Johnson, and Greg Short
