Viol Trio GZ - vdg ; Verena Kronseder - vdg ; Bernd Mahne - violone
recorded 2005

Conference Of The Birds (Dave Holland)

Galleon

Newly released EP with 3 songs, arrangements vo Erik Satie´s Pièces Froides for Modern Broken Consort.
Music with viols used to be played in ensembles called  consort – it seems the  16th century British musicians couldn´t pronounce the French word concert – either Whole Consort, only viols, or Broken Consort, in combination with other instruments. “Modern” music as GZ lives in the 21st century, uses acoustic and electric viols in combination with electronic effects and percussion, and a certain polyphony.
For these recordings, all parts were played without metronome ( the click from the computer that produces  music without mercy), unlike most of the modern transhumanist music that can be heard today. A music today reduced to produce either sorrow or dance (as Swiss singer Stefan Eicher said in a recent interview ), while many more nuances of emotions and consciousness levels can be manifested by music, which, contrary to modern understanding, is an art that lives only through its humanity.

The project is meant for 3 to 6 musicians, it will have to find investors, and this is why this music already exist through recording. To better communicate his way of making music, covering the music from other composer is a plus. GZ, having worked in the past on J.S. Bach, has now chosen Erik Satie´s music, already known to the public. The current project will therefore present in the course of the year one piece every month - all Gnossiennes in particular - to end with a complete CD, obviously also aiming at the interpretation of these arrangements in concert. These first three pieces are arrangements of Erik Satie´s Cold Pieces for piano, composed in 1897. Here GZ decomposed and distributed harmonies on several violas, using all possible sounds, played with finger or the bow, and completed with electronic effects. Rather than being played just once originally, these dances are repeated here twice with a middle part using the harmonies as a basis for improvisation. Rüdiger Maul (Faun) plays on a frame drum derived from the bodhran. GZ played all viols & everything else (arrangement, mix and production).The pitch used is A = 432 Hz. The EP is available on http://gilleszimmermann.bandcamp.com/album/the-wind-cries-satie-ep


Danses De Travers - Crossed - Up Dances - Part 03 - Mp3 - 320

Danses De Travers - Crossed - Up Dances - Part 02 - Mp3 - 320

Danses De Travers - Crossed - Up Dances - Part 01 - Mp3 - 320

Béla Bartók (1881-1945) - Duos, Sz.98

Rutén Kolomejka.’ No.35 
Oláh Nóta ‘Wallachian Song,’ No.7
Tót Nóta ‘Slovakian Song,’ No.8
Szentivánéji ‘Midsummer Song,’ No.4
Gyermekrengetéskor ‘Cradle Song,’ No.11
Menetelö Nóta ‘Hungarian March,’ No.18
Minuetto, No.3
Mese ‘Fairy Tale’, No.19
Burleszk ‘Burlesque,’ No.16
Lakodalamas ‘Wedding Song,’ No.13
Magyar Nóta ‘Hungarian Song,’ No.25
Párnás Tánc ‘Pillow Dance,’ No.14

Commissioned by German violinist Erich Doflein, Béla Bartók composed his 44 Duos, Sz.98 in 1931 as a series of pedagogical pieces not unlike his Mikrokosmos (1926-1939). Bartók draws from a variety of Eastern European folk melodies & dances as per his youthful ethnomusicological travels with colleague and composer Zoltán Kodály, representing music of many eastern European oral traditions: Hungarian, Romanian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Ukrainian, and more. The exquisite quality of the counterpoint, as well as the timbral contrasts, harmonies and melodies make these works ideal for translation to the transparent colors of violas da gamba.

Performed by @EricAMiller-1 & @PhillipWSerna February 3, 2019 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church of La Grange (www.emmanuel-lagrange.org) as part of @ViolMedium's program Façades & Duplicities - Beguiling Curiosities & Excursions for Dueling Gambas, Copyright © 2019 ViolMedium. https://youtu.be/Yh7eUGARp_o

Founded by gambists Eric Miller & Phillip Serna, the viol is the medium through which we bridge contemporary & historically-informed performance with experimental and innovative programming for violas da gamba – ViolMedium!

For more information on ViolMedium and gambists Eric Miller & Phillip Serna, please visit www.violmedium.org.

Galleon

Timothy Vajda

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