Tag Archives: Ted Hearne

Rising Star Seth Parker Woods’ “Difficult Grace” is a Classic in the Making


Cedille CDR 90000 019

Every solo artist, regardless of what instrument they play seeks to define themselves. Generally that means setting limits. Some set limits by specializing in an era (baroque, classical, etc.). Some specialize in working with electronics, some with jazz, some with experimental music, some with standard recital repertoire, etc. Seth Parker Woods (1984- ) seems almost unaware of such limits. He plays what he chooses. And, oh, what choices. From standard classics to the leading edge of musical creativity woods is poised at the beginning of a very promising career.

Seth Parker Woods (photo from his faculty page at USC Thornton School of Music)

This album is in fact the musical portions of what was produced as a staged presentation with Woods playing, singing, talking. No doubt something is lost without the staging but Woods’ asserts himself with great clarity on the sonic aspect alone. Think of this as a sort of cast album, though it is more than just a souvenir. It is Woods’ second album and it has this writer enthralled at where he may go next. You will be too.

Parker’s first solo release “asinglewordisnotenough” available on bandcamp reveals his dedication to new and recent music.

I feel privileged to have known this artist via digital media and to have watched with increasing interest his development as a true rising star in the new music world. I only recently acquired his first album via bandcamp. It was released “across the pond” when he was completing his Ph.D. at the University of Huddersfield.

Born in Houston, his father, a jazz and gospel singer, Woods was exposed to a great deal of music. He rehearsed in a home studio and somehow came to a fascination and deep appreciation for a wide variety of repertory.

His affiliations continue to be wide ranging from Peter Gabriel to George Lewis. He has appeared on many recordings but this is only the second disc dedicated entirely to Woods as performer and the first such solo efforts on a US label. Woods is apparently able and willing to tackle music of all eras and genres including the wildly experimental, like his “Ice Cello” homage to Charlotte Moorman and the theatrical, which brings to the the album at hand.

Track listing.

Four of the seven works presented are world premieres. And, despite this being a sort of “cast album” which lacks the visuals, this is a major release that presents a characteristic variety of musical choices and is a fine calling card for the artist. This is one classy production.

Frederic Gifford (photo from composer’s website)

He begins with the title track, “Difficult Grace” by Chicago based composer Frederic Gifford (1972- ). It is a setting of poetry by Dudley Randall subjected to some Cageian mesostic like manipulation. This first track tells us we are dealing with modern music and sort of sets the tone of this project. This is a complex work in concept (lucidly described in the composer’s notes) and involves projections of the texts onto the performer as well as electronics which, by careful use of both the sounds and the spoken text (spoken by the cellist) which then contributes to the musical structure. Photographs in the booklet show some of the striking visual design for this project.

Coleridge Taylor Perkinson (photo from Wikipedia)

Woods follows with what is to this listener a stunningly beautiful piece, “Calvary Ostinato” (1973) by the late, sadly neglected Coleridge Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004), a black American composer (actually represented admirably in a fine earlier Cedille release CDR 90000 087). The Ostinato is one movement from Perkinson’s “Lamentations: Black/Folk Song Suite For Solo Cello” (1973). Woods’ performance is available on YouTube. It’s truly enthralling. One gets the feeling that Woods really gets inside the music he performs and that deep feel for the music is delightfully obvious in this track, the second oldest work on the disc and one that is for the solo cello sans electronics or vocals but using a dazzling variety of extended instrumental techniques, none involving a bow.

Monty Adkins (photo from electro cd website)

Then we hear Monty Adkins’ (y. 1972- ) “Winter Tendrils” (2019) written for cellist who, in addition to playing his instrument, is asked to use his voice and work with electronics, albeit in a different manner than the title track. Adkins worked closely with Woods on the creation of this work. The work essentially an impressionistic piece with clever use of counterpoint to depict fresh fallen snow on the branches of a tree.

Nathalie Joachim (photo from Elysian Magazine)

Nathalie Joachim (1983- ), a Haitian-American vocalist, flautist, and composer, is represented by two works. The first, “The Race 1915” (2019), a work that contributes to the Chicago centered Cedille label by its use of historical quotations from The Defender, a major and influential black newspaper in Chicago. Woods is again asked to use his vocal skills in this work which celebrates efforts to undo social inequalities.

The multitalented Joachim lends her vocal skills to Woods’ performance in Joachim’s second piece on the album, “Dam Men Yo” (2017). The title is Haitian Creole for “they are my ladies”. It is a sort of black feminist peaen celebrating the strength of the women with whom the composer was raised in her native Haiti. (NB: Haiti is the site of the only successful slave revolt in history, a fact that continues to be reflected in their turbulent politics).

Alvin Singleton (photo from Schott website)

In between those two pieces we get to hear perhaps the best known composer in this mix, Alvin Singleton (1940- ). Singleton is represented by “Argoru II” (1970) for solo cello (the Argoru series is a set of pieces for solo instruments akin to Luciano Berio’s “Sequenza” series). The title is from the Twi language (spoken in Ghana) and translates as “to play”. It is a virtuosic piece employing extended instrumental techniques which Woods accomplishes with almost supernatural ease. He does honor to this living elder statesman of American music.

Ted Hearne (photo by Jen Rosenstein from composer’s website)

And here we are back in Chicago now with Maestro Woods’ performance of a work by Chicago born composer Ted Hearne (1982- ), a name which did make it to this writer’s musical radar but one whose work I have just begun to explore. But this is a fine example of one of the reasons for my admiration for Woods’ scope of musical interest. I think he is one of those artists to whom I will turn to look for good new music. His instincts for repertory choices are amazing.

This is perhaps the most unusual entry on this disc as well as one that, if any controversy is forthcoming, it will likely originate with this set of songs to poetry by Keri Alabi. A casual listen to some of Hearne’s music on YouTube suggests a sort of post minimalist ethic but this last work is not discernibly minimal. Like the music that preceded it, this cycle is overtly about politics and equality.

Hearne’s little 6 movement song cycle is a combination of poetry, electronics, cello (of course), and the voice of said cellist. Hearne’s expletive title, “free fucked”, is apparently very much in line with the composer’s assertive and playfully humorous style.

We return in these tracks to the avant garde and complex with which the album opened. Again we have a multitasking role for the cellist demanding his vocal participation and working in a distinctly electroacoustic genre. Hearne lends his voice to the final track of this unusual work.

While political themes and references abound in this release it is as much about black politics and civil rights as well as feminist, gender, and global equality issues. But ultimately this recording is a landmark in the career of this fine young musician who works fearlessly with a variety of composers, poets, designers, political activists, progressive ideas, and new music in general.

Cedille is one of my top favorite new music record labels and has been since they first started in 1987. Their releases (not limited to new music) are consistently well recorded and produced but producer James Ginsburg really pulls out all the stops on this one. From concept to recording, from lucid liner notes to gorgeous package design this has all the marks of a classic and collectible release. I mean, the music is great, but the whole package is something you’ll want to own. That’s right, I’m calling for “collector’s item” status here. Now is the time to get your copy.

Dither, a Unique Guitar Quartet


Dither is a guitar quartet comprised of Taylor Levine, Joshua Lopes, James Moore and Gyan Riley.  The present release is their third album and, like the preceding releases is an adventure in listening.  Their intelligently designed web site has some nice sound and video samples.

A quick look at their recorded output places their performing repertoire clearly in the “new music” category and their work has been granted a kind of serious legitimacy by their inclusion (of their second album) in John Zorn’s wonderful Tzadik record label.  So along comes the truly rising star of New Focus Recordings whose service to new music adds yet another imprimatur to this group’s collective resume.

dither tracks

A quick look at the track list on the back of this gorgeously designed album reveals 9 works spread across 12 tracks (one of the works is in 4 movements) which includes one track from each of the musicians alongside some other interesting new music and, at the end, the gift of one older piece which, though certainly modern in concept is too little known. The only negative is the lack of liner notes both on the album and on their website.

I assure you that I don’t mean to trivialize this wonderful album by calling it “post-psychedelic” but it is difficult to not hear the riffs and effects as having an ancestry in the psychedelic sound.  But for this disc the psychedelic sounds appear to include Frank Zappa, Rhys Chatham, La Monte Young, Brian Eno, as well as Jimi Hendrix, Mahavishnu John Mc Laughlin, and their compatriots.

The first track, “The Garden of Cyrus” (1985) by Eve Beglarian, a much sought after composer who emerged from the downtown New York scene and continues to enthrall with her inventive talents.  This track is generally speaking a sort of post minimalist piece with a rather immediate appeal and serves as a fine introduction to the album. It has a variety of sections with varying degrees of rhythmic complexity and harmonic density. It is sometimes microtonal, sometimes spectral, sometimes antiphonal, sometimes dissonant, sometimes warmly consonant, but always engaging.

Next up is “The Tar of Gyu” (2013) by Gyan Riley.  Gyan is indeed his own man musically who has emerged from the shadow of his famed father Terry Riley in a most gracious manner.  His collaborations with his father continue to be a must see concert event and his work in solo and chamber groups reflect a growing and fascinating identity as a composer and musician entirely in his own right.  The present work makes excellent use of the timbres of the electric guitar and makes for another engaging if rather somber track. This work is largely about sustained tones and timbres and shows a real mastery of composing for this unusual chamber ensemble as well as a side of Riley’s compositional style less familiar to this reviewer.

Paula Matthusen, an associate professor of music at Wesleyan where she became the sort of heir to Alvin Lucier’s Music 109 class (documented so well in Lucier’s book of the same name).  Her music combines electronics with instruments and sometimes recorded sounds.  Her piece, “but because without this” (2009) was written for Dither and continues her unique compositional journey. Without notes it is difficult to say much about this work by a composer who tends to insert herself pretty organically into her compositions.

Jascha Narveson is a name new to this reviewer.  He is another composer deeply involved with electronics as well as acoustic instruments.  Ones (2012) is a four movement work written for the Dither Quartet.  This is basically a set of etudes for the effects pedal.  The four movements, titled “The Wah One”, “The Driving One”, “The Warped One”, and “The Floaty One” are each apparently a reference to electric guitar foot pedals and these minimalist etudes exploit the effect created by the pedal as a compositional device. Really fascinating.

Mi-Go (2012) by the ensemble’s own Joshua Lopes and it is here that the Zappa comparison is most evident.  This piece (the second longest on the album at 9:38) sounds like an aural refugee from Zappa’s “Jazz from Hell” (an album much admired by this writer).  Lopes creates a work of some complexity and many moods utilizing the potential of this instrumentation to great advantage creating a work of almost symphonic dimensions.

Up next is James Moore’s Mannequin (2014), one of the shorter pieces here.  After a loud and somewhat cacophonous opening this piece goes on to explore sustained tones and glissandos.

Candy (2010) by Ted Hearne is the first of only two pieces here that was not written by one of the performers.  Hearned earlier released a fine disc of his own music (also on New Focus). Like many of his peers he wields a tool box of compositional styles that includes jazz as well as contemporary classical techniques. This is certainly one of the more complex pieces here but Hearne’s music communicates well with the audience.

Track 11 is by Dither’s Taylor Levine. Renegade (2013) is a relatively brief piece and one which wanders furthest from my characterization of this album being “minimalist”. It seems to have its roots at least partly in noise bands but its complexity engages and seems to fit the program.

Track 12 is by James Tenney (1934-2006).  His Swell Piece (1966) is actually an early example of minimalism an is part of a series of compositions written on post cards and called, “Postal Pieces”. Tenney spent a portion of his career in California teaching at Cal Arts where he mentored many composers and performers working today,  This is a fitting conclusion, an homage to one of the great experimental composers whose music, thankfully, is now getting fine performances and recordings.

Pictures at a Post-Minimalist Exhibition: Eighth Blackbird’s Hand Eye


handeye

Eighth Blackbird is Chicago’s more than adequate answer to New York’s Bang on a Can and this album is solid proof of that.  The liner notes tell us that this is “a collection inspired by a collection” and these 9 tracks are sonic impressions by the individual composers of an art exhibit.  The end result is very much like the romantic/impressionistic Mussourgsky gem updated to the post-minimalist era.

It is well worth your time to check out the artwork which inspired this music (here) and this writer imagines that this piece could really work well as a film score, a DVD perhaps of these images.  The music invokes various minimalist and post-minimalist composers and styles.  It is almost a sonic tour of post-minimalism.  And apparently there are plans for a multimedia tour of this piece as well.  Sounds like a wonderful idea.

This album is the work of a composer’s collective called Sleeping Giant and consists of Timo Andres, Andrew Norman, Robert Honstein, Christopher Cerrone, Ted Hearne and Jacob Cooper.  Each has chosen a selection of art to which they wrote a piece of music providing their musical impressions.  The result is a remarkably coherent set of pieces which, while each different, seem to flow into a unity.

Casual listeners may be familiar with the names of Timo Andres or Andrew Norman but all these composers are basically new to these ears and it appears to be a talented lot that deserves some serious attention as they may very well be THE ones to watch/listen to in the coming years. They utilize a variety of techniques in their compositions but there is never a feeling of this being experimental or tentative.  These are fully fleshed out works by master composers.

The music is appealing immediately upon first listen.  One hears the influences of Terry Riley here, John Adams there, David Lang, etc.  In short these pieces are informed by the preceding generations of minimalists much as they also address their debt and do honor to their mentors.  It has some of the character of Lang’s “Child” in that this is essentially a suite of pieces of post-minimalist chamber music (though this music has an almost symphonic quality at times).

The recording is superb and up to the high standards of Cedille releases and the musicianship, as always, is superb.  The liner notes by Sleeping Giant along with Tim Munro are lucid and the album design by Karl Jensen is eye-poppingly psychedelic.  This project was funded by the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation for the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Andrew W. Mellon and the Texas Performing Arts at the University of Texas at Austin.