Kali Ensemble Live @ KM28 2023.11.23

Kali Ensemble: İdil Yunkuş (violin), Giuseppe Sapienza (clarinet), Guillermo Arnedo Frías (clarinet), Beste Yıldız (cello), Joel Gester Suárez (synth), Nirantar Yakthumba (harmonium)

a history of the domino problem (live excerpts)

to kill a monarch (test audition)

Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut 
(excerpts from forthcoming recording)

in honor and memory of George Floyd

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I started writing this piece with the intention to set readings of excerpts from the book Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut written by Kenneth Scott and published by the American Numismatic Society in 1957. I was intrigued by the stories and the dry, austere nature of Scott's accounts.

My original intentions were transformed by two major crises that occurred during the development of this piece: the Covid-19 pandemic and protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man brutally murdered by police. I decided to add the possibility of complementing readings from the Scott compendium with readings of texts reflecting my experience during the time in which the piece was written.

I was reluctant to connect George Floyd with counterfeiting and colonialism. Floyd was being arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill and his murder, as well as the pandemic, clearly demonstrated that inequalities accepted in colonial times have persisted. As such, the use of texts about counterfeiting in colonial America acquired a whole new meaning and gravity. However, these coincidences and connections are actually quite apt. The systems enforced and perpetuated by governments today in 2020---capitalism, democracy, communism---are counterfeit. They are fraudulent implementations of ideas manipulated to satisfy greed but traded as currency for the ``good" of the people; far more dangerous than the relatively benign act of passing (perhaps unknowingly) a counterfeit $20 bill. In a more humane system, George Floyd would still be alive and a pandemic would demonstrate the resilience of our society rather than expose systemic inequalities within it.

The music of this piece was written using a coin press as a central metaphor. The underlying variables in the computer program that generates the piece vary slightly within and between each section, like variations and errors in the minting of coins.

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performers:
Elliot Simpson - guitar, bass, reader of excerpts from Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut;
Gemma Munoz - piccolo;
Michael Winter and Mandy Toderian - readers of auxiliary texts related to recent events: i.e. Floyd and the pandemic.

score: 
https://unboundedpress.org/scores/counterfeiting_in_colonial_connecticut_score.pdf

Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut (excerpts)

a chance happening...

@ the wulf. - 11.13.2010
Matthew Barbier, Paul Rivera, Evan Spacht - trombones; Anna Robinson, Zara Teicher - horns; Christine Tavolacci - flute; Casey Anderson - saxophone; Daniel Corral - accordion; Orin 
Hildestad - violin; Cat Lamb - viola; James 
Klopsleisch, Laura Steenberge - basses; Eric 
Clark, Corey Fogel, Liam Mooney, 
Gary Schultz, Mark So - triangles

pedal, triangle machine, and (perhaps) coda

Approximating Omega (Los Angeles)

with Bastien Pouillès , accordion

score: https://unboundedpress.org/scores/dawning_redux_score.pdf
video excerpt: https://vimeo.com/786305143

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This piece was written in consideration of the general metaphor of dawning. As in... to dawn (verb). As in... the cosmic dawn: during which primordial elements coalesced to form the first stars---and thus first light---of the universe followed by a continual cycle of renewal as elements from the death of one generation of stars fuse and give birth to the next generation of stars. The piece begins with a prelude/introduction. Patterns and motives slowly arise out of a rhythmically nebulous texture built on a four note pitch gamut. A series of interpolations/modulations follows. Patterns continually evolve into one another by a process in which measures from the current pattern are slowly replaced by measures from the successive pattern. Rhythmic and melodic repetitions serve an exploration in timbral heterogeneity by exploiting an idiosyncracy of the accordion where each note can sound in one of three ways: strictly from the left reed bank, strictly from the right bank, or both simultaneously. The piece concludes with a relative spare coda that lays bare the atomic elements and fundamental essence of the piece. The timbral exploration is reduced to just one pitch class such that listener has the possibility to hear distinct timbral combinations for extended periods of time.

dawning (redux)

berger (live excerpt)

robinson (live excerpt)

penrose (live excerpt)

ammann (live excerpt)

kari (live excerpt)

jaendel (live excerpt)

from seeds and ledgers 1 - 3
for string quartet
dedicated to lucie, cat, and ira, respectively

seeds and ledgers 3 (optional coda)

from seeds and ledgers I, II, and III
for string quartet
dedicated to lucie, cat, and ira, respectively

Note that for seeds and ledgers 3 (except for the optional coda), durations are determined by the performers based on how the current chord contrasts with other chords in the piece. The generating program favors simple chords in some sections and relatively complex chords in others. The performer could, for example, highlight a chord that seem particularly simple or complex by allowing it to sustain for an extended period of time (potentially much longer than 1 to 2 seconds) before initiating the next tone. That is, the piece in performance will be significantly longer.

seeds and ledgers 3

seeds and ledgers 2

seeds and ledgers 1

for hyperorgan

recorded by Lucie Nezri at Orgelpark, NL

varilude (without electronics)

seeds and ledgers 3 (without coda)

compact sets 3 - rise/yitgadal (electronic audition)

compact sets 2 - everything in between (electronic audition)

compact sets 1 - in the beginning/b'rey'sheet (electronic audition)

Rise I (from 4 Ascents for James Tenney)

@ the wulf. 04.26.2014
for 2 recordings, 2 sine tones, and sustaining instruments
casey anderson - saxophone; christine tavolacci - flute; marcus rubio - violin; michael winter - harmonica; andrew young - clarinet

partition and gate

for Sol LeWitt

lower limit

@ CalArts - 05.03.2004
The New Century Players

Fission

@ REDCAT - 05.09.2005
The New Century Players

Commas

musical letter to Greg Chaitin about preliminary reactions to the readings of Leibniz. 
score including the letter is available here:
www.unboundedpress.org/scores/preliminary_thoughts_score.pdf

preliminary thoughts

score available at http://www.unboundedpress.org/scores/4_computer_music_studies_score.pdf

code available at http://www.github.com/mwinter80/4_computer_music_studies

4 Computer Music Studies

score available at:
http://www.unboundedpress.org/scores/ostinato_and_interrupt_score.pdf

ostinato and interrupt (audition)

variations 2101000 (@ 0'00"), 0111211 (@ 4'20"), 2321111 (@ 8'40"), and 3231110 (@ 13:00) from

a lot of tiles (trivial scan)

4096 variations on 256 tiles dedicated to Chaim Goodman-Strauss and Omar Lopez 

a performance-installation

score: http://www.unboundedpress.org/scores/a_lot_of_tiles_trivial_scan_score.pdf

code: https://www.github.com/mwinter80/a_lot_of_tiles_trivial_scan

Michael Winter

Pinned to spotlight

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