A home for new and unusual music from all corners of the classical genre, brought to you by the power of public media. Second Inversion is a service of Classical KING FM 98.1.
Second Inversion presents new and unusual music from all corners of the classical genre… and we mean NEW. Sneak Peek Audio Leak is your chance to stream fresh sounds and brand new music of note with insights from our team and the artists.
Imagine you’re here. It’s the largest and northernmost region of Finland, known as Lapland. Only 3.4% of Finland’s population lives here and the population has been declining for the last 25 years. Peaceful, serene, remote.
Now imagine you’re here recording an album in a remote cabin for one week only. Start to finish, Jon Buckland and Andrew V. Phillips had this very experience, and the fruit that bore is Pale Ground. They had no formal, thematic, or stylistic plans, but rather set with intentions to reflect and react upon the landscape, the vastness, the distance, and their emotions that came with it.
(Streaming through Second Inversion’s SoundCloud has closed, but you can stream and purchase via Bandcamp!)
Beginning with “Close In,” Buckland and Phillips perfectly depict the snowy landscape, the Pale Ground, in all its expanse. Slowly unfolding harmonic and melodic ideas strike feelings of contemplation, longing, and searching. A sparkle, the sound of a sleigh bell, emerges amidst the grey backdrop. It’s a subtle nod to the season, and to hopefulness of finding one’s way through the never ending landscape.
Bell-like tones ring throughout “Nautical Twilight,” evoking twinkling stars and a dreamlike state. By the end, it gives way to a demon, emerging at first with gentle persistence. This “night terror” fights with intensity, but only for a brief two minutes, through “The Machine,” and releases its tension into “Skull Beneath The Skin.” By this point, the album has established an ebb and flow that keeps this listener on her the edge of her seat to hear what unfolds next.
After one week, I don’t know if I’d have cabin fever or would want to stay there forever, but I’m glad to have been transported there for 30 minutes with this music. Whether your day-to-day surroundings are vast or compact, I encourage you to immerse yourself in the simulation of space by way of Pale Ground and travel to this virtual winter wonderland of mystery, discovery, and hope.
Philip Glass, Arthur Kampela, and Claude Debussy all in one place? A momentous occasion, to be sure—or rather, a momentous quartet.
The Momenta Quartet’s debut album “Similar Motion” features works by all three of these influential and idiosyncratic contemporary composers. And while on the surface these composers have almost nothing in common, hearing their pieces in succession reveals surprising connections. Each composer creates his own unique and utterly mesmerizing sound world from relatively minimal musical materials.
Additional connections are revealed through the mission and vision of the Momenta Quartet, which takes its name from the plural form of momentum—suggesting four individuals in motion toward a common goal. The group is comprised of violinists Emilie-Anne Gendron and Adda Kridler, violist Stephanie Griffin, and cellist Michael Haas.
Known for its eclectic and adventurous programming, the Momenta Quartet is committed to celebrating and broadening the repertoire and responsibilities of a 21st century string quartet. They accomplish this not only through championing contemporary works, but also through collaborating with living composers, serving residencies at schools around the country, advocating for the musical avant-garde of developing nations, and most recently, through their newest annual tradition: the Momenta Festival.
The quartet’s new album is another manifestation of this mission, highlighting the depth and breadth of contemporary classical sound worlds too seldom explored.
The first of these sound worlds is Glass’s 1969 composition “Music in Similar Motion.” Originally composed for his band, the Philip Glass Ensemble, “Music for Similar Motion” is an open score which can be performed by any group of instruments—on this album, Momenta presents the first ever all-string recording of the iconic work.
For a composer who once spent three years studying counterpoint with the French music instructor extraordinaire Nadia Boulanger, Glass does something surprisingly counterintuitive in this piece: he has all five parts moving in the same direction, and in constant rhythmic unison. Violinist Cyrus Beroukhim joins the Momenta Quartet to bring the piece to life in all its shimmering string glory.
Informed by his interpretation of rhythmic structure in Indian music, the score consists of 34 numbered melodic fragments with an indeterminate number of repeats cued by one of the performers—thus allowing a flexible duration and a refreshing sense of freedom for the musicians to lose themselves in the dizzying trance. Momenta performs the work with precision and drama, crafting an infectious 15-minute homage to the master of minimalism.
The piece is followed by a much more thematically complex (though much lesser-known) work: Kampela’s 1998 composition “Uma Faca Só Lâmina” (“A Knife All Blade”). Originally composed as part of Kampela’s doctoral dissertation at Columbia University, the piece’s title takes its name from a poem by the Brazilian constructivist poet João Cabral de Melo Neto.
Kampela expresses the visceral urgency and poignant sorrow of this famous poem through his use of extended techniques and cluttered musical textures. The piece is something like organized chaos: claustrophobic, overwhelming, and inescapable—but at the same time unimaginably meticulous.
In fact, the score for the piece begins not with the music itself but with three pages of detailed performance notes. Within the piece’s five continuous movements, Kampela leaves no musical idea unexplored: quarter tones, harmonics, extended techniques, bouncing bows, left-hand pizzicato, percussive elements, metric modulation, and a whole array of new articulatory techniques make up just a few of the piece’s musical idiosyncrasies—and Momenta doesn’t miss a beat.
Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10 provides a melodic reprieve from the intensity and rhythmic showmanship of Kampela’s piece, though the piece is no less virtuosic in its textural effects. Written in 1893, the piece was one of Debussy’s first major successes as a composer, showcasing his unparalleled ear for timbral color. With a mere four string instruments, he manages to craft a shimmering soundscape filled with glistening colors and vivid textures.
And although each of the four movements takes on a different character, all of them are connected through reoccurring musical themes and broader influences, such as the art of the French Impressionists and the music of the Javanese gamelan. Momenta is equally at-home in these softly blended sonic landscapes, gliding through each movement with graceful fingers and heartfelt expression.
In the end, Glass, Kampela, and Debussy represent three very different realms of classical music. But as contemporary innovators and artists, each composer crafts his own enigmatic and idiosyncratic sound world, fully immersing the listener in the music of the moment.
“The Seattle Symphony dances with precision and grace through the dense textures and intertwined solos of the first movement, the delicately colored timbres and haunting lyricism of the second, and finally the convulsive rhythms and fascinating orchestration of the third.” – Maggie Molloy (on Symphony No.2)
Roomful of Teeth’sRender (Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance)
“The last piece on the album is the title track, also composed by Brad Wells, which was inspired by David Eagleman’s short story ‘Search.’ The ensemble’s voices ebb and flow in soft waves, gracefully gliding in and out of near-silence to create a serene and mystical sound world.” – Maggie Molloy
“It goes without saying that the performance quality on this disc is top-notch, no less fine than any of eighth blackbird’s past albums. You’re luxuriously free to focus solely on the compositions themselves, all of which are worth contemplating at length. In an age when most albums’ connecting filaments are somewhere between ultrathin and nonexistent, it’s a pleasure to listen to a set of pieces with such close ties.” – Jill Kimball
Julia Wolfe’sAnthracite Fields (Best Contemporary Classical Composition)
“Anthracite Fields is not an easy listen, but I don’t think Julia Wolfe wanted it to be. We Americans tend to gloss over unpleasant parts of our history when, in order to make peace with our past, we’d do better to confront it. In telling these miners’ stories through vivid music, Wolfe has brought an important but often ignored chapter of our country’s story to the forefront…. You’ll learn a little about life in late-1800s Pennsylvania, you’ll contemplate energy usage and workers’ rights, and if you’re like me, you’ll have a good cry.” – Jill Kimball
Anna Thorvaldsdottir’sIn the Light of Air (Producer of the Year, Classical – Dan Merceruio)
“As a composer, Thorvaldsdottir is known for creating large sonic structures that reveal a vast variety of sustained sound materials—and both of these pieces are a perfect example of her visionary style. Throughout the album, her subtle timbral nuances, poetic textures, and lyrical gestures immerse the listener in austere, somber, and utterly spellbinding soundscapes.” – Maggie Molloy
“‘ZOFO Plays Terry Riley’ proves that the musical magic of piano extends far beyond a pianist’s 10 fingers. Through their exploration of Riley’s works, Zimmermann and Nakagoshi paint a vivid and colorful picture of the immense textural, timbral, and stylistic possibilities of piano duets. After all, it’s amazing what a pianist can do with an extra hand or two.” – Maggie Molloy
Anythony de Mare’sLiaisons – Reimagining Sondheim from the Piano (Producer of the Year, Classical – Judith Sherman) “Having just a vision’s no solution, everything depends on execution. Anthony de Mare’s work on this project has, bit by bit and piece by piece, amounted to a thoroughly enjoyable collection that sounds like thirty-six composers having a musical conversation with America’s preeminent composer of musical theatre. Liaisons offers up something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone.” – Rachele Hales
Lara St. John is well-known and well-praised for her catalog of previous releases, much of which have focused on Bach. Her latest release, Shiksa, is a collection of music from Eastern Europe with a focus on the Jewish Diaspora. It seems like an odd choice for the Canadian artist until one learns that she’s been collecting music from Armenia, Russia, Serbia, Greece, Palestine, etc since her first trip to Hungary as an 11-year-old girl. The selections on this album have imbued her spirit from a young age and her joy for the culture is obvious on this recording.
Shiksa (the Yiddish for a female gentile) kicks off with “Czardashian Rhapsody,” a mashup of Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” and Monti’s “Czardas.” St. John commissioned the eyes and ears of Martin Kennedy for the new interpretation and writes, “He made the violin part for “Czardashian Rhapsody” as preposterous as possible, expecting me to nix nearly everything. Instead, I kept it all, added some, and asked him to make the piano part even more prominent, because… Matt Herskowitz.” Kennedy’s creation is an energetic showpiece for both performers and a delight to listen to. In fact, St. John and Kennedy stopped by our studios to record this piece live!
Rhapsody soon turns into a downright brawl in track 2’s “Bar Fight (Variaiuni),” which was heavily inspired by a traditional Romanian hammer dulcimer tune. St. John and Herskowitz set their version in the Old West. At St. John’s website you’ll find a great music video of this piece wherein the feud turns into a free-for-all and even Herskowitz gets a punch in… while still playing the piano!
Quentin Tarantino fans may recognize Yuri Boguinia’s arrangement of “Misirlouri,” a traditional Jewish folk song that was covered in Pulp Fiction. Boguinia has built his version around the scale of the tune rather than the tune itself, but none of the distinctive vigor present in most Jewish folk music was lost in this interpretation.
Perhaps the most recognizable piece on the album, Herskowitz himself folded the traditional Jewish folk song “Hava Nagila” (Let Us Rejoice) inside his own original melody to create “Nagilara.” The original pokes its head out, but the high-octane arrangement wrapped around it will addle your mind in the best of ways, leaving you dizzy and giddy from all the rejoicing going in in these 8 minutes. Herskowitz writes, “The familiarity of the melody opened up the prospect of new ways of delivering it. I decided to create the effect of a conversation by dividing the tune between the two instruments, with one completing the melodic phrase started by the other – a game of ‘follow the tune.’”
This reviewer’s favorite track is “Oltenian Hora,” a traditional piece loosely based on a song St. John heard on an old scratchy record in Romania. It sounds largely improvised and my hand to heaven she’s hitting notes on that violin that only dogs can hear. It’s zippy, animated, and packed to the hilt with “improvised Romanian violin tricks, twists and turns.” With respect to Herskowitz, it’s St. John’s fierce shredding of the violin that makes this piece a standout.
St. John has carried some of these melodies with her from childhood, others she picked up from barflies and scratchy records heard in her travels. Classical with a bit of gypsy flair, Shiksa has St. John and Herskowitz delivering heritage music with passion, furor, and spectacular extemporization.
Second Inversion presents new and unusual music from all corners of the classical genre… and we mean NEW. Sneak Peek Audio Leak is your chance to stream fresh sounds and brand new music of note with insights from our team and the artists.
Loop 2.4.3 has been producing percussion and electronics-driven music since 2004. Founder Thomas Kozumplik guides the ensemble, varying in size from solo to octet (but most often 2-3 performers), through his vision of exploration and freedom. The group’s name comes from a place near and dear to Thomas’ heart – Powers Hall 243 at Central Michigan University, where he and a “Loop,” of close friends spent countless hours making music together.
Time-Machine_music is an entirely solo composition and performance venture for Thomas. This 6-track collection has juxtaposing acoustic and electronic textures in every pore and fiber of the 36 minutes. Thomas’ electro-acoustic percussion set-up includes Chinese tom-toms, Indian bells, crotales, log drums, tambourim, bass drum, percussion sample pad, tape echo, and delay. The fun doesn’t stop there – he also plays marimba, vibraphone, Thai gongs, piano, Wurlitzer, steel drum, kalimba, and uses vocal samples.
(this album is no longer available for streaming via Second Inversion, but you can visit Music Starts from Silence to order your copy!)
As the name of the album implies, time is of the essence, and explores manipulations of time through a cathartic journey. Thomas goes on to elaborate that Time-Machine_music, “explores the vast and tiny spaces, the worm holes, or the connections between points in time, and even singular points of time where an overwhelming multitude of thoughts, ideas, and emotions occur simultaneously. It acknowledges that brilliance and sagacity may come from a place that is entangled with conflict, controversy, emotional instability, and the surreal, hyperreal, hallucinatory receptors of the mind. It explores the illusion of the individual trapped in the phalanx of society, moving forward, backward and sideways all at once. It is an overwhelming cry for life and freedom, an escape from a world trapped under its own weight.”
Loop 2.4.3’s sound is rooted in classical chamber music, but with psychedelic rock, jazz, and improvisation influences, stemming from Thomas’ upbringing playing in garage bands, metal bands, thrash bands, and jazz bands in Michigan. I might describe it as minimalism meets heavy metal meets techno DJ beats. “Art music” is how Thomas best describes it, and goes on to say, “It’s definitely longer listening than pop music. It takes time to build, but then you get the reward. I suggest you turn it up really f*ing loud (laughing).” Agreed! The opening track, “Out to War,” is anything but a subtle introduction. The opening throaty, dark, repetitive “Mind Control” chanting hearkens back to acidic rock from the past, but soon breaks free to ambient piano, steel drums, and textures that are beautiful, calming, and serene.
The use of human voice is eerie and captivating throughout the disc. Events in Thomas’ life inspired the lyrics, but tie into broader topics. Stay tuned for the full scores with lyrics which will soon be available from MusicStartsFromSilence.com. Voice sampling opens “MK Ultra,” unfolding in a long form to cascading, pattering, sounds of the marimba that interweaves with the voice and flow back into the keyboard percussion. The title track, clocking in at a significant length of 12 minutes, was the genesis for the body of work and holds the foundation of instrumentation, sounds, and approach. The voice is presented differently here, in single-word, echoing samples from this poem by Thom:
“Stories of power, control, love, and enlightenment are a constant in the history of man. Our idea of TIME is shaped by personal and cultural events.
The history of man floats in the ether of deep SPACE. We must venture there, to learn the secrets of our elders.”
While much of the material in this work has a rather dark quality, “Moving Finger of Time” has a lighter feel to it – more straight-ahead in form and with a bit of humour. The final track in the collection, ironically called “Prelude (for Sophia)” brings the distortion of time full circle. The dedication to Sophia means something to Thomas, like much of the other music here “is open for immersive experience and interpretation.”
Ultimately, I was curious about Thomas’ goal with Time-Machine_music. His response? “I’m not sure it’s about a specific accomplishment. The need to create and express things is most important. I suppose I hope to share it with people. Maybe the biggest accomplishment would be keeping my sanity by spending time working through things and being absorbed in the music. I hope that people will listen to it and know that it’s okay to feel things…to confront the darkness but also to see the beauty. Sometimes the world makes you want to scream… and sometimes maybe you should.”
Whether you scream, cry, laugh, it’s always better out than in. Go forth and express!
