An excerpt of Sunday evening’s performance of December 1952 will be played tonight on Matt Testa’s Coda show on WOWD-LP, Takoma Park’s community FM station. Tune in at 6 PM on 94.3 FM or stream at takomaradio.org. (And if you aren’t already a regular listener of Matt’s show, you really should be…)
In the new issue of Perfect Sound Forever, I have a piece on composer Makoto Nomura’s Root Music–its concept, execution, aesthetic, and what it’s like to realize it. (My recording of one version of the piece can be heard here. That performance is part of a current project of recording works for solo double bass by contemporary experimental composers.)
photo by Yamamoto Tadasu, Aomori Contemporary Art Center, Aomori Public University.
Exfoliage and The Sloth Ensemble, setting up for The December 1952 Project during the final night of the 2018 Sonic Circuits Festival. Shown from left to right are Tom Wall, baritone saxophone; Patrick Crossland, trombone; Billy Pizzaro (mostly hidden), electronics; me; Pat Gillis, electronics; Jim Adams, electronics & composition. That’s Jimmy Ghaphery in blue, reaching for something off camera.
With thanks to everyone who played and listened.
Photo by Chris Videll.
Tonight at 7:15 PM The December 1952 Project will be performed during this concluding evening of the 2018 Sonic Circuits Festival. The precis:
December, 1952 saw the coincidence of two incongruous and presumably causally independent events: Earle Brown’s composition of the classic graphic score December 1952, a work within the larger set of unconventional scores Brown titled FOLIO, and the alleged acquisition by flying saucer contactee George Adamski of a communication in Venusian script. In the spirit of objective chance, The December 1952 Project conjoins these two signs of their times with a realization of December 1952 by the wind and string ensemble Exfoliage, followed by J. S. Adams’ Sloth Ensemble’s performance of a new work for sound and projections inspired by Adamski’s Venusian text.
Exfoliage is Jimmy Ghaphery, flute; Jeff Kahan, oboe; Will Robin, alto saxophone; Tom Wall, baritone saxophone; Patrick Crossland, trombone; Robin Hayward, tuba; Daniel Barbiero, double bass and arrangement.
For more about the genesis of the project, listen in to the 19 September episode of WOWD-LP’s Coda program, at the station’s online archive.
That’s tonight at 7:15, at Rhizome, 6950 Maple Street in Takoma Park DC. Silver space suits optional.
Many thanks to Avant Music News for making Transparent Points on Four Axes a pick of the week.
For a limited time, my guest appearance on WOWD-LP’s Coda show will be available from the station’s online archive. Matt and I talked about the upcoming Sonic Circuits Festival, The December 1952 Project, and more.
Tonight I’ll be the guest on the Coda show on WOWD-LP, Takoma Radio. Host Matt Testa and I will be talking about The December 1952 Project, graphic scores, the upcoming Sonic Circuits Festival (have you gotten your tickets yet?) and whatever else occurs to us. Tonight, 6:00-8:00 PM on WOWD-LP, 94.3 and streaming at takomaradio.org.
