ALBUM REVIEW: Michael Gordon’s “Dystopia”

Posted on March 9, 2015 by maestrobeats

Of all the modern late 20^th and early 21^st century repertoire out there, it can take a lot to stand out. Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon’s Dystopia succeeds, particularly in two of the areas Second Inversion loves to focus on – rethinking the past and paying homage.

The title track is one of many collaborative projects between Michael Gordon and filmmaker Bill Morrison. They all encapsulate the aura of cities (Los Angeles as the focus here) and in all of these works the music is composed first and the film is conceptualized to fit the score. Bill’s video combines new and old footage from the streets of Los Angeles, as far back as some 1898 footage by Thomas Edison! Here’s an excerpt, courtesy of Cantaloupe Records:

Even without the film, Dystopia provides a “choose your own adventure” visual experience. I recommend you press play, close your eyes, and let the expansive color palette create a journey – whether it’s 90mph traffic ride through LA, a ride on a New York City subway, a motorcycle ride on winding mountain roads. The possibilities are endless.

It truly is a ride that is full speed ahead for eight and a half solid minutes, winds down for a few minutes, and revs back up, ebbing and flowing (like traffic and bumps in the road that slow us down. Flat tire? Overheated engine? We’ve all been there..) throughout the piece.

Gordon combines sounds and textures that offer freshness to the orchestral repertoire. He “explores the gray areas between harmony and dissonance,” which comes to me as enhanced, nuanced, and varied sounds for the orchestra. It’s the most exciting and engaging 30 minutes of music I’ve experienced in a long time.

Many composers pay tribute to those who have inspired or taught them. Gordon says, “Beethoven’s brutish and loud music has always inspired me… At the time it was written, it was probably the loudest music on the planet.” Rewriting Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony was a commission from the Beethovenfest Bonn in 2006 and Gordon utilized one element from each of the original symphony: “From the first movement, I couldn’t resist working with the huge barbaric opening chords. From the second movement, I took the divine and other-worldly theme, adjusting it slightly so that when it ends, it is in a key one half-step higher. The theme continues to cycle around and slowly spirals up. From the third movement, I lifted the background accompaniment and brought it to the foreground. From the fourth movement I used the main theme.”

This homage to Beethoven is so curiously engaging. The retained elements are very apparent from the first chord, which is totally a “fooled ya!” moment as it meows down to dissonance. Throughout the entire piece, the push & pull and transformation of the themes and harmonies fight my ears to hear Beethoven’s original in Gordon’s re-write. It’s as if the notes were tossed up in the air with excellent care, floating and mingling with one another, crisscrossing to land in brand new worlds of musical excitement. I highly recommend this mind-bending piece for an eyebrow-raising, intriguing listening experience.

For a Michael Gordon bonus, I would be remiss without redirecting you to our in-studio performance by Bang on a Can All-Star, Ashley Gordon:

NEW VIDEOS: Jherek Bischoff and Scrape

Posted on March 4, 2015 by maestrobeats

Jherek Bischoff recently co-curated the Bang on a Can marathon here in Seattle. Part of this epic, six-hour new music extravaganza included a collaboration between Jherek and the local string ensemble Scrape, who stopped by our studios for a video session of some awesome original tunes!

NEW VIDEOS: Ashley Bathgate from Bang on a Can All-Stars

Posted on February 25, 2015 by maestrobeats

What a treat! Ashley Bathgate from the Bang on a Can All-Stars stopped by our studios before the epic Bang on a Can Marathon at The Moore.

Michael Gordon’s “Light is Calling” was originally written for violinist Todd Reynolds. It juxtaposes an acoustic sound against an electronic track with pulses that are actually being warped backwards. This piece is a response to what happened on September 11, 2001.

Of Jacob Cooper’s “Arches,” Ashley says this is almost like a modern-day prelude to a Bach suite. It’s very pure and simple in its form – a lot of arpeggios and oscillations between the strings. It could be played as an acoustic work, but Jacob designed a max patch that Ashley’s sound goes through, so it’s actually going through an interface into her computer. There’s a gradient delay effect that happens and the piece itself is many small arches within one large arch. It’s a beautiful work and one of her favorite pieces to play.

LIVE CONCERT SPOTLIGHT: February 13-15

Posted on February 12, 2015 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Molloy

Messiaen, new music marathons, and more are bound to make your Valentine’s Day weekend memorable!

Seattle Symphony’s [untitled 2]

(Photo Credit: Brandon Patoc)

Get into the Valentine’s Day spirit this weekend with an intimate late-night contemporary music performance in Benaroya Hall’s breathtaking Samuel and Althea Stroum Grand Lobby. Seattle Symphony musicians will be performing the second installment of this season’s [untitled] series, a unique musical sequence which presents new and contemporary music in a more casual concert setting.

This Friday’s performance features Jacob Druckman’s avant-garde “Synapse” for tape as well as his virtuosic “Valentine” for solo double bass. The program also includes Vladimir Martynov’s timeless “Schubert-Quintet (Unfinished)” and John Adams’ dynamic String Quartet, a piece which restlessly explores elements of minimalism, folk melodies, and more.

Here’s a great interview feature produced by Seattle Symphony!

The performance is this Friday, Feb. 13 at 10 p.m. in Benaroya Hall’s grand lobby.

Bang on a Can Marathon

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(Photo Credit: Peter Serling)

An entire marathon of new music is coming through Seattle this Sunday—literally. Six full hours of new music, to be exact. This Sunday the New York-based contemporary classical music collective Bang on a Can is taking over Seattle’s Moore Theatre to present a wide variety of new musical works by local, national, and international artists.

One of the evening’s highlights includes the electric chamber band Bang on a Can All-Stars and red fish blue fish performing the Seattle premiere of Steve Reich’s masterwork, “Music for 18 Musicians.” You can also look forward to a performance of Brian Eno’s ambient classic, “Music for Airports” and a musical set by Seattle’s own experimental hip-hop duo Shabazz Palaces. The jam-packed program also includes an indie-orchestral collaboration featuring Seattle composer Jherek Bischoff with Scrape Ensemble and Jim Knapp, a piano-percussion duo featuring Gust Burns and Greg Campbell, signature works by Bang on a Can co-founders, and so much more!

The marathon kicks off this Sunday, Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. at the Moore Theatre. Doors open at 3 p.m.

Simple Measures Presents “Messiaen Around with Time”

What classical music enthusiast doesn’t love a good music pun? Fill your weekly corny music joke quota this weekend at Simple Measures’ “Messiaen Around with Time.”

Celebrate 20^th century French composer Olivier Messiaen as Seattle artists bring to life his enduring eight-movement masterpiece, “Quartet for the End of Time.” Messiaen wrote and premiered the piece while in a prisoner-of-war camp in Görlitz, Germany in 1940. The piece combines birdsong and beautiful imagery to create poignant and powerful music. Simple Measures will share the full story behind the piece before clarinetist Sean Osborn, violinist Cordula Merks, pianist Mark Salman, and cellist Rajan Krishnaswami perform it.

The performances are this Friday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford and this Sunday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. at Town Hall in Seattle.

ALBUM REVIEW: Maya Beiser’s “Uncovered”

Posted on September 8, 2014 by maestrobeats

by Jill Kimball

One of classical music’s worst faults is its superiority, all too often on display. Many of those who perform and listen to classical music believe there is nothing more beautiful, more sacred. Some even believe everything else is noise.

Perhaps that’s why cellist Maya Beiser felt guilty and a little dirty after she heard rock music for the first time. As a child growing up in Israel’s Galilee Mountains, she listened to classical music and practiced on her cello diligently. But “the first time I heard Janis Joplin I felt shaken to the core,” she told her recording label, Innova. “Somehow her unique, raw expression snuck its way into the inner shrine where, until then, only the likes of Bach and Schubert were allowed to enter. It felt so sacrilegious that I was giddy with guilt.”

It was that feeling that inspired the cello diva’s latest album, “Uncovered.” It’s ten tracks of beautifully deconstructed classic rock songs, as spectacular a find for die-hard Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd fans as it is for those who know absolutely nothing about classic rock.

Beiser has never shied from experimental music and has in fact made cross-cultural genre-bending her mission. She’s worked with the likes of Philip Glass, Tan Dun, Brian Eno and Steve Reich on new compositions. She’s the founding cellist of New York’s Bang on a Can. Her hometown was a cultural melting pot of Christians, Jews and Muslims, and she was born of a French mother and Argentinian father. With that kind of background, it’s no wonder her music resonates with people all over the world. (Her TED talk has been translated into 32 languages.)

“Uncovered” is another excellent chapter in Beiser’s genre-defying book, proof positive that traditionally classical instruments don’t always have to sound prim and polished. In the Nirvana cover “Lithium,” for example, Beiser’s cello scrapes rudely across the strings to channel Kurt Cobain’s gritty, slightly out of tune singing voice. She bends the notes perfectly to capture Jimi Hendrix’s essence in “Little Wing.” And she does a hell of a good AC/DC electric guitar impression on “Back in Black.”

Channeling, rather than imitation, is really what she’s going for in this album, and thank goodness: straight-up covers are often mocked, panned and condemned for their lack of creativity. The covers that everyone remembers are those that shed completely new light on a song, like Janis Joplin’s bluesy take on the Gershwin classic “Summertime.” That track inspired Beiser’s own cover, where she shreds and wails on the cello to create a melody that so accurately imitates Joplin’s raspy vocals.

Other tracks seek to imitate the mood of the original song rather than the vocal quality, such as the balladic “Wish You were Here,” a Pink Floyd cover, and the mournful “Epitaph,” by King Crimson.

In short, the cello diva has done it again. Without giving up her own originality, cellist Maya Beiser captures every rasp, every scream, every bit of edginess and ugliness…everything that made these rock songs so legendary. “Uncovered” is the ultimate homage to the perfect imperfection of rock music.