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September 4, 2014

Canals of Venice

The Spencer Glenn Band

Your Mother Should Know

Rendezvous - Seattle

Canals of Venice

 

The orchestration of Canals of Venice is gelling nicely. They were shy their trumpet player, which is a shame, but the gluey duo string harmony of viola and cello is an effective foil to Rob and Emily's duo of vocal timbres. That and all the parts, or each separately, can operate as adjuncts to the deliciously subtle drums. Both Rob and Emily have strong stage presences and are blessed with complementary levels of garrulousness. In short, a tremendously interesting and musically ambitious band that is fun to hear and re-hear.

 

The Spencer Glenn Band

The Spencer Glenn Band checks in as among the most exquisitely balanced ensembles I've heard in awhile. Spencer has a lovely light tenor that floats easily into falsetto, a bit (but just a bit) as though Simon could lift into Garfunkle and ease back. The arrangements are delicate and tight, free of showboating, everybody playing the song, rather than their axe.

 

Playing last, late on a Thursday night, the crowd had thinned out considerably by the time Neal & Karen took the stage. The set has been stripped down to just the rockers and moved along at a lively clip. Those who had to leave missed a honey.

Your Mother Should Know

 

And I would like to give kudos to Zach, the stage-manager and sound-person. He took great care that everybody sounded good, and did a fine job of both being clearly in charge and making everyone feel welcome. If the ghost that haunts the venue would like to return the two kick-drum feet that dropped into the void (one on the way in, one on the way out) Karen would be most appreciative.

 

September 5, 2014

Seattle Composers Salon

Angelique Poteat

Jessika Kenney

Jim Knapp

Paul Gillespie

 

From Subterranea - Poteat

 

where we start is our stability and our return

where we go is tied to where we start

we return tied - elastic

 

Didn't catch the name - Kenney

 

whisper presence among voice

rooted :: up- or re- ??

circuit ritual a canon unwinding into

presence whisper air

 

Two Tunes  - Jim Knapp

 

The strength (and weakness) of jazz is one and the same with the strength (and weakness) of Bach: It is a language for solving problems posed, and it is always possible to find a way out from within itself, but the out it finds is illusory, a trick of mind, since it is still itself. I didn't catch the pianist's name, but he was fabulous.

 

Woodwind Trio - Gillespie

 

If this were a short story the words would be small, the sentences brisk, and the plot cabalistic.

 

Recorded

 

September 2, 2014

O tenebroso giorno - Gesualdo - Consort of Musicke, Anthony Rooley

 

Each line, or set of lines, is set in an increasing complexity of imitative overlay, elision, and interfolding. Thoughts thicken, turn, and feed upon themselves. It ends because things end, but there is no resolution.

 

Konzert in G BWV 1048 - J.S. Bach - Festival Strings Lucerne, Rudolf Baumgartner

 

Pericope and Sermon. All derives from one, over and again. The universe is floriated, not cross-associated, not integrated.

 

Sonata in A Wq. 48 #6 - C.P.E. Bach - Bob von Asperen

 

Larded with discursive footnotes and comments. Worldly, scholarly, glossed and cross-bred.

 

September 3, 2014

Quartet in B-flat Op. 1 #1, Haydn - Tatrai Quartet

 

Solid. No nonsense here.

 

Symphony in D K111a(120) - Mozart - Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood, Jaap Schroder

 

Complete in its knowledge of what an orchestra is for, but doesn't have a clue as to what it might be capable of.

 

Sonata in C-sharp minor Op. 27 #2 - Beethoven - Gieseking

 

Just how little resonance can one get away with? Studied hesitation to clarify the melody, restrained throughout - except for a moment or three in the last movement when the earth shakes.

 

Symphony in D (String Symphony #2) - Mendelssohn - English Bach Festival Orchestra, William Boughton

 

In Session at the Tintinabulary

 

September 1, 2014

Zuckermann 140901 - Keith Eisenbrey

 

An improvisation on clavichord.

 

Gradus 250 - Neal Kosály-Meyer

 

A session cut short by a family emergency, happily it all ended well.