for three glassbottle players and tape
players: Hanna Eimermacher, Genoel von Lilienstern, Ali Gorji
Heidelberger Biennale für Neue Musik 

Transparenz 2002/03 for three glassbottle players and tape

Wooden Cities performing Lukas Foss's "Paradigm" (1968) live at Pausa Art House, October 26, 2013. Performed by Brendan Fitzgerald (percussion,  conductor); Michael McNeill (piano); Zane Merritt (electric guitar); Evan Courtin (violin); TJ Borden (cello).

Lukas Foss - Paradigm (mvmt 4)

Piece for solo guitar, with semi-microtonal scordatura. Originally written for Magnus Andersson, this performance is played by Zane Merritt, in a version updated especially for him.

Gerard for solo guitar (2011) - Zane Merritt Version

O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden
for ensemble   
commissioned and recorded by Ensemble SurPlus for their 20th anniversary concert at the E-Werk Freiburg, on December 8, 2012


An excerpt from the program note:

In O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, written for and dedicated to Ensemble SurPlus on their 20th anniversary, the players are given performance directions and interpretation strategies to work through five J.S. Bach chorales. Each player navigates through one of the four individual Soprano, Alto, Tenor, or Bass contrapuntal lines of the chorales, and each of their lines have been augmented, distorted, expanded, and given indications to extend expressivity through a wide variety of performance techniques – all while the players read from the same four-voice SATB Bach chorale.

To further intensify and complicate matters, there is no conductor, and each player is given a flexible, uncoordinated tempo to work through, only occasionally taking cues from the pianist or violinist. In this way, the antiquated Baroque rhythmic grid of the Bach chorales has been rendered fluid and unpredictable, with each contrapuntal voice rising and falling as waves of interpretive virility and spontaneity flow through each of them; transforming them into liquid, as if cast over water.

O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden

Wooden Cities is both an ensemble and a collective of performers and composers seeking to help increase the performance and awareness of contemporary music in the Western New York area through unique, educational presentations. Formed in July 2011, the group served as a vehicle for director Brendan Fitzgerald to present John Zorn's game piece Cobra. Since that time the group has grown to include over a dozen performers and is constantly seeking new works by new composers while continuing to present works by some of the essential, yet underrepresented composers of the 20th Century.

Lukas Foss - Paradigm (mvmt 4)

Wooden Cities

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