This is a live recording of the premiere of Eric Lyon's new work Chameleon for wood block and electronics. This was recorded at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall on 6/18/14 during the 2014 Summer Institute of Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP)

Chameleon

Nasenflügeltanz (Wings-of-the-Nose-Dance) was originally written as the third scene, Lucifer’s Dance, from the opera Samstag aus Licht (Saturday from Light). In this scene Lucifer (Saturday represents Lucifer’s day, the day of chaos, within the seven-opera cycle of Licht) conjures up a giant human face, c.10 meters high, on the stage, upon which a large symphonic band is divided into ten groups. The groups are seated vertically on five tiers above one another and represent ten parts of the giant human face. A percussionist with his “shooting gallery” sits in the nose. He plays Nasenflügeltanz as a solo, accompanied by the symphonic band. The percussionist is allowed to add “extra sounds”, for examples amplified spring coils, and samples.
During this scene the different sections of the face perform their individual dances. In these dances the instrumentalists not only play their instruments but also make movements and gestures that therefore make the different parts of the face move. None of the sections move with any other section. Each eye, each ear, the lower lip, the upper lip, the cheeks, and the nose are all separate, never moving together. This is an allegory to human existence. As Lucifer, portrayed by a solo bass-baritone, explains, if all the different sections of the face, or indeed one’s life, are in constant struggle, tranquility and enlightenment cannot be reached.
In 1988 Stockhausen extracted Nasenflügeltanz from the opera and re-orchestrated it to be performed as a solo percussion piece, or a duo for percussion and synthesizer (the percussion part stayed the same, the synthesizer part was derived from the wind instrument parts located around the nose). In addition, the percussionist now sings the vocal part of Lucifer. The text is as follows:

Nasenflügeltanz 					Wings-of-the-nose dance
(jux! 	hux!	 pang!	 tasch!	 pau!	 va ke ta ke 	prrrrr!	 hey!	 haa!)
Nase gegen Backe					Nose against cheek 
	Und							and
Gegen Auge und Braue				Nose against eye and brow
Protest ha ha!						Protest ha ha!
Obernasenflügeltanz					Upper-wings-of –the-nose dance
Nase gegen Lippe					Nose against lip


Stockhausen Complete Edition - Compact Disc 79 Percussion - Electronic

Nasenflugeltanz

Gestural Resonance

This is a track off the forthcoming album "Esther's Memory" to be released this spring on Acourant records. I collaborated with Turkish guitarist/composer Erdem Helvacioglu (www.erdemhelvacioglu.com) on this album. This record was realized through two days of improvisation at the CARA studios in Atlanta.

Stuart Gerber

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