A set of dialogue tapes on the relationship between Music & Nature, performance practice, and the liberation of musical thought...

THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE, a new way of looking at Music, Poetry & Dance, based on movement

This is a little improvised dialogue circle tape on improvisation. What makes this recording a bit different is that it’s intended mostly for those who tune in regularly to my New Music, Poetry & Dance performance project, THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE. It includes quite a bit a natural sound which, up here on wilderness’ edge where I’m doing photography climate crisis fieldwork at the moment, the calls of Mother Earth are pretty much always a part of our recordings. A few Flickers are featured. No, these are not any of my Dutch friends singing along in Amsterdam’s Gay Pride parade, but, Norther Flickers (Colaptes auratus), a wonderful resident species of woodpecker here at HEARTBREAK MEADOW basecamp. 

And my good friend, Simone de HAAN, puts in a brief 3-fold appearance as well, with that wonderfully resonant sound of his, recorded at St. Paul’s Church in Freo, Australia, some 15,000km away from where I now sit. Distance. A sign of these uncertain times, yes, yet vibrant with such spectacular new opportunity. Distance...yes, I can’t thinking of my little basecamp village in the Alps, and the wonderful sounds of Alpine Horns, Not the Hollywood secondhand cliché, but the real thing, the true instrument, made of real Sprucewood, filling up an entire valley with its sound.

As I mention in the introduction to the dialogue, the theme of improvisation is approached negatively, that is, entirely by addressing what improvisation IS NOT, in my view. So we’re looking at improvisation from the widest possible circles possible, those of philosophy & consciousness.

IMAGE: April Glacier Lilies (Erythronium grandiforum), right now. These are some of the most beautiful and wildly abundant of what are called “spring ephemerals.” They appear directly after snowmelt. They are perennial. They are highly edible. Not a survival food, but think more of a fine salad at a five star French restaurant in Paris. One of Mother Earth’s most delicate improvisations...

THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE no. 1, “On Improvisation,”  w/ Simone de HAAN on “Alpine horn”

THE POSTER I refer to in the dialogue tape is here http://cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_12-concepts.html Or download as pdf here http://cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_12-concepts.pdf

SEE ALSO an INTRO to the shape of change... https://soundcloud.com/cliff-crego/intro-understanding-the-shape-of-change-12-primary-concepts

THE RECORDING OF Edgard Varèse quoted in the dialogue tape is on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/cliff-crego/ionization-crego-conducts-var

IMAGE: The COMPLEMENTARITY POSTER top right is here http://cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_difference.html Or download pdf here http://cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_difference.pdf

THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE no. 2, “On Difference, “ w/ Simone de HAAN, trombone

THE POSTER I refer to in the dialogue tape is here cs-music.com/features/cards/pos…r_12-concepts.html Or download as pdf here cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_12-concepts.pdf

SEE ALSO an INTRO to the shape of change... Cliff-crego – Intro-understanding-the-shape-of-change-12-primary-concepts

THE RECORDING OF Edgard Varèse quoted in the dialogue tape is on Soundcloud Cliff-crego – Ionization-crego-conducts-var

IMAGE: The COMPLEMENTARITY POSTER top right is here cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_difference.html Or download pdf here cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_difference.pdf

THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE no. 3, “On Difference, part II,” w/ Simone de HAAN, trombone

THE POSTER I refer to in the dialogue tape is Understanding the Shape of Change: 12 Primary Concepts bit.ly/1Lo5vQE pdf bit.ly/1ESMhhx Music, Poetry & Dance as movement...

SEE ALSO an INTRO to the shape of change... Cliff-crego – Intro-understanding-the-shape-of-change-12-primary-concepts

THE RECORDING OF Edgard Varèse quoted in the dialogue tape is on Soundcloud Cliff-crego – Ionization-crego-conducts-var

IMAGE: The COMPLEMENTARITY POSTER top right is here cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_difference.html Or download pdf here cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_difference.pdf

THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE no. 4, “On Difference, part III” w/ Simone de HAAN, trombone

THE POSTER I refer to in the dialogue tape is Understanding the Shape of Change: 12 Primary Concepts bit.ly/1Lo5vQE pdf bit.ly/1ESMhhx Music, Poetry & Dance as movement...

SEE ALSO an INTRO to the shape of change... https://soundcloud.com/cliff-crego/intro-understanding-the-shape-of-change-12-primary-concepts

THE RECORDING OF Edgard Varèse quoted in the dialogue tape is on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/cliff-crego/ionization-crego-conducts-var

IMAGE: The COMPLEMENTARITY POSTER top right is here http://cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_difference.html Or download pdf here http://cs-music.com/features/cards/poster_difference.pdf

THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE no. 5, “On Movement, part I”

IMAGE: Where this talk was recorded, doing climate crisis fieldwork, South WALLOWAS, OREGON, at 2200 meters...

The soundpoem we listen to in the middle of the INTRO is THINKING LIKE A STONE Is at https://soundcloud.com/cliff-crego/cage-prepared-stonepin-m4a

The STONEPINE SONATA project, with a violin to be made of whitebark pine wood, harvested right here where I am recording perhaps, is at https://soundcloud.com/cliff-crego/stonepine-sonata-for-violin-piano-allegro-nightmusic-for-young-performers

INTRO: The MIMOS horn quartet, pantomime & dance project...

Composer. Writer. Photographer. Former conductor & founder of the ASKO ensemble.

On a bike/ski/hike trek of the Pacific Northwest studying native plants & climate breakdown 🌲 from sagebrush sea to whitebark pine. Composing off-grid the whole way.

#Sun2Sound 🌕 on Bluesky

THINKING LIKE A STONEPINE, a soundpoem manifesto https://vimeo.com/844665859

“LOVE & WATER, three thought poems w/ coda, PHAROS for small orchestra, “Nightwind”” https://vimeo.com/847079690 

CURRENTLY on mt bike/ski/climbing trek through Pacific Northwest, working on a photobook about WHITEBARK PINE COLLAPSE and CLIMATE CRISIS. BASES in the WALLOWAS | AMSTERDAM | ALPS. 

WEEKLY photo/poetry updates at www.picture-poems.com & THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE new music, poetry & dance performance project at www.cs-music.com

ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT for progressive, tech-savy, instrumental virtuosi interested in dialogue & collaborative undertakings.

CONTACT cliff@picture-opoems.com
Or on SKYPE or FACETIME @cliffcrego

MUSIC? The one thing humans do,
that makes the rest of nature jealous.

INTRO: The MIMOS horn quartet, pantomime & dance project...

Cliff Crego