Daily Pep-TAK 4/4/2020: mesmerizing just intonation chamber music.

1. Ellen Arkbro - Chords for Guitar
2. Harry Partch - The Rose (Partch Ensemble)
3. J.S. Bach - Ciaccona in Just Intonation (Joshua Modney)
4. Catherine Lamb - Frame (Christine Tavolacci)
5. Charles Curtis - Unfinished Song
6. Pauline Oliveros - Deep Listening Ione (Oliveros, Dempster, and Panaiotis)
7. Nicola Vicentino - Madonna il poco dolce (Johannes Keller)
8. Marc Sabat - Plainsound Duet (Jennifer Ames Alexander and Colin Alexander)
9. Yoshi Wada and Tashi Wada - Reed Modulations
10. Michael Harrison - Mureed (Del Sol Quartet)
11. Bill Daugherty - Eidos (Ekmeles with Yarn and Wire)
12. Chris Otto - Violin Octet
13. Monteverdi - Adoramus te, Christe (Exaudi)

mesmerizing just intonation chamber music - Daily Pep TAK Playlist

Frame -  Catherine Lamb

Revelation is a 72-minute work for solo piano in a "just intonation" tuning created by the composer. This excerpt is from Section “X. Tone Cloud III” and includes “XI. Finale,” from the album “Revelation” (Cantaloupe Music, 2007), with the composer at the piano.

Copyright 2007 Michael Harrison Music

Michael Harrison: https://www.michaelharrison.com/
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Revelation - X. Tone Cloud III (excerpt), XI. Finale

The premiere performance of Just Constellations by Michael Harrison, commissioned by Roomful of Teeth and performed at Mass MoCA.

Copyright 2016 Michael Harrison Music

Michael Harrison: https://www.michaelharrison.com/
Roomful of Teeth: https://www.roomfulofteeth.org/
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Just Constellations, premiere by Roomful of Teeth at MASS MoCA

Composed by Michael Harrison based on a traditional Indian vocal composition
Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, Indian classical vocals
Kimball Gallagher, piano
Anirban Roy Chowdhury, tabla
Aaron Shragge, tanpura
Produced by Michael Harrison and Ryan Streber

Copyright 2016 Michael Harrison Music

Michael Harrison: https://www.michaelharrison.com/
Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan: https://www.mashkooralikhan.com/
Kimball Gallagher: http://kimballgallagher.com/
Anirban Roy Chowdhury: https://www.anirbanroychowdhury.com/
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Jaunpuri (Rendition of a Raga)

Sanhita Nandi, vocals
Michael Harrison, just intonation piano, tanpura
Payton MacDonald, just intonation vibes 
Ashley Bathgate, cello

Mixed by Sam Torres
Copyright 2014 Michael Harrison Music

Michael Harrison: https://www.michaelharrison.com/
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Yaman Tone Cloud

innova 974
https://www.innova.mu/albums/sophia-subbayya-vastek/histories

SOPHIA S.V. - SHE IS ASLEEP

MICHAEL HARRISON - JAUNPURI

I'm exploring polyphonic raga.  Typically polyphony is reserved for Western music, and is generally thought to be anathema to the Raga system, but in fact it can work, as shown by the brief harmonizations of my Gurus, the Gundecha Brothers.  La Monte Young and Michael Harrison have also done much work in this area, and this track was inspired by my ongoing relationship with Michael and his ideas about polyphonic raga.

Polyphonic Malkauns Demo

“The Traps” was a collaboration commissioned by New Music USA for Mugiyono Kasido and Talujon percussion. This piece emerged from material developed in high-energy improvisations between Mugiyono and Nick in Central Java in 2013. The work explores frenetic addictions to change and the culture of the “cut”. Mugiyono writes about the work: “Orang takut untuk berhenti, waktu selalu berjalan dan kehidupan tidak bisa ditebak” (“People shudder to stop, time just passes, and life is unguessable”). 

For the work, Nick constructed attaché case gamelans, an orchestra in a box, each tuned to one of the 6 modalities of central Javanese gamelan. Each modality is associated with a time of day, and as the piece progresses, the different tonalities accumulate. The orchestration is inspired by the “traps”, boxes used for silent film sound effects, as well as the Javanese dhalang tradition, where knockers held by hands and toes create a makeshift foley. Though Javanese gamelan is only somewhat audible here, the piece takes a cue from the sampak, the fastest structure in gamelan, used for fight scenes in the shadow puppet plays. In tempo with Mugiyono’s breakneck shifts, the music is built on gestures that repeat compulsively, break, then re-form.

The Traps

Excerpt of Josh Modney's reinterpretation of J.S. Bach's "Ciaccona" in Just Intonation, as performed by Modney on "Engage" (New Focus Recordings)

http://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/josh-modney-engage/

J.S. Bach: Ciaccona (1720) with Just Intonation (excerpt)

Ellen Arkbro - CHORDS(SUB029)
VINYL pre-order: https://ellenarkbro.bandcamp.com/album/chords

With ‘CHORDS’, the Stockholm-based musician and composer Ellen Arkbro returns to Subtext, following her acclaimed debut album ‘For Organ and Brass’.

This new longplayer sees Arkbro adopt a more minimalist approach, focusing on the immediate qualities of sound and elegantly expanding the tonal capacities of acoustic instruments using precise, subtle synthesis.

Composed of a carefully selected combination of tones, ‘CHORDS’ stretches, extends and obscures the timbral character of the instruments it is performed on.

Across both tracks, Arkbro examines the sonic materiality and harmonic quality of chords. She considers how the compositions occupy space rather than time – transposing theoretical possibilities into the phenomenal realm.

As a part of Arkbro’s systematic investigation of harmonic sound, ‘CHORDS’ proffers a divergence from conventional ways of listening. This work allows for a form of listening which goes beyond the mere reception of outer stimuli in letting the listener experience their role as active, and as embodying the sound itself. Space rather than time becomes the primary locus of listening as subtle movement of head and body reveals the inner complexities of ‘CHORDS’.

@ellenarkbro

CHORDS

Pre-order

Ellen Arkbro - CHORDS For Guitar

Charles Curtis: Performances & Recordings 1998-2018 (SLT-005)

Saltern presents its fifth release, Charles Curtis: Performances & Recordings 1998-2018, the first comprehensive collection of recordings surveying the career of renowned, American cellist Charles Curtis. Selected by Curtis and Tashi Wada from recordings spanning the past two decades, the collection offers a broad, inclusive view of Curtis's activities across the diverse worlds of music he inhabits, containing rare, unreleased recordings, and never-before-released music by Terry Jennings, Richard Maxfield, Éliane Radigue, Alison Knowles, and Curtis. The wide-ranging scope of this release speaks not to a musical restlessness, but to a genuine spirit of inquiry, as these areas of activity for Curtis have existed concurrently in dialogue, not simply in succession, for decades. Over two hours of music by composers and artists with whom Curtis is closely associated including Éliane Radigue, Guillaume de Machaut, Tobias Hume, Silvestro di Ganassi, Terry Jennings, Morton Feldman, Anton Webern, Olivier Messiaen, Alison Knowles, Richard Maxfield, and Curtis himself. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu with liner notes by La Monte Young, Spencer Gerhardt, and Tashi Wada. Custom packaging and screen printing by Alan Sherry.

Performances & Recordings 1998-2018

Charles Curtis – Unfinished Song (1998)

Winner of the 2021 Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Composition Competition, "Second City Strut" is an exploration in the hybridization of jazz with that of Western Art music. Constructed from a section of non-literal counterpoint in constant similar rhythmic motion, the incidental harmonies create a layer upon which other melodies, chords, and harmonies are presented - and continually interrupted by spastic flurries of sound.

"a strong and unique work" - Michael Harrison, Composer and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient

"Second city strut is truly a nightmare. But I love it." - Noah J. Nethery, Florida State University

"The sad thing is, I like it!" - Dennis J. Meacham, Northern Illinois University

"A jazz infused work for orchestra that is uncompromising, serious, evidencing exceptional skill in its use of the ensemble and in its understanding of style and instrumental effect. A remarkable melding of modern techniques of orchestral composition with familiar jazz licks, it sounds like little else I know. Deserving of many performances, although it is not easy, except, as a listener, to grasp and appreciate." - David Katz, The American Prize

___________________________________
*Personnel

Piccolo & Flutes - Sarah Holmes
Oboes - Jenny Charles
Horns (1 & 2) - Mark Robinson
Horns (3 & 4) - Kate Swope
Trumpets - Derek Detzler
Trombones - Jenny Young
Tuba - Dennis Meacham

Clarinets, Bassoons, Percussion, Timpani, Vibraphone, Piano, Harp, and Strings - Vienna Symphonic Library 

*All recorded parts were doubled (and in some locations overtaken) by the Vienna Symphonic Library

Recording Engineers - Tom Hapeman & Mark Robinson
Producer, Editor, MIDI Sequencer, Mixer, Talent Scout - Craig Peaslee

Second City Strut

Mureed composed by Michael Harrison
Performed by Del Sol String Quartet

From Harrison's upcoming album: Seven Leading Names
Recorded and produced by Adam Abeshouse
Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

Michael Harrison: https://www.michaelharrison.com/
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Mureed signifies the birth of desire, the motivation needed to direct the will, “I desire for something.” – From the album notes and Nature's Hidden Dimension by W.H.S. Gebel

Mureed performed by Del Sol String Quartet

Recorded by the Syracuse Singers under John F Warren.

Verdigris Ensemble ION Composer Competition Winner (2021).
1st prize in Warren County Summer Music School's Composer Competition (2022).
3rd prize in The Choral Project's Composition Competition (2020-2021).
Selected for the SCI Summer Student Mixtape (2020).

Mureed performed by Del Sol String Quartet

Michael Harrison

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