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America Gandelsman IACR023
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This Is America
An Anthology 2020-2021
Johnny Gandelsman (Violin, 5-string Violin, Tenor guitar, Electric Tenor Guitar, Vocals)
Maya Miro Johnson (Narrator)
Wyckoff Forever Chorus
No recording information supplied
IN A CIRCLE RECORDS IACR023 [3 CDs: 233]

Having lived through the Covid 19 pandemic of the past two years, one will have witnessed and experienced a variety of different human reactions: fear, anxiety, feelings of isolation, and reduced optimism for the future. This three-disc programme encapsulates the reactions and sentiments of a group of the most creative musicians domiciled in the USA in music, both in music and word.  Nearly all of the music was written during the pandemic years of 2020/2021.

Johnny Gandelsman is a unique and outstanding violinist. He is no stranger to this forum where his recorded arrangement of the six Bach Cello Suites for violin has been reviewed (review). He is the only violinist who plays all six suites in a single concert without intermission, utilizing a five-string violin for the sixth suite. He similarly also plays the Bach six Partitas and Sonatas for solo violin in a single concert. His recording of the Bach Chaconne from BWV 1004 for solo violin is revelatory and arguably the best currently available. It personifies his rendition philosophy of creating an energy flow, not just replicating the music as it was notated. His performance of the Chaconne can readily be accessed on social media.

Gandelsman is also the owner of recording company, In a Circle Records. Contemplating ways in which one person could make a small difference during the 20/21 period, it occurred to him that in many ways amplifying the voices of others, whether it’s those of past centuries or of today, is an essential part of being a classical musician. He decided to commission new works for violin from American, and American-based composers, asking each to reflect in some way on the time they were now living through. He reached out to presenters across the country looking for commissioning partners. His goal was to try and represent a select group of creative voices that live in the USA, in the broadest possible way.  As a result, twenty-two new works were funded, written and recorded. Coming to the surface were things like loss and uncertainty, but also joy, friendship, gratitude and love. At the time of commissioning, the composers’ ages ranged from 15 to 80. Three works not originally part of the commission are included, and one, the most recent commission, received in 2022, was too late for inclusion. Some perspective on the magnitude of this undertaking can be gauged from the ‘Thank You’ acknowledgements, which includes some 85 names.

Aside from calling upon Gandelsman’s prowess as a violinist, some of the music demanded skills in which he initially felt inadequate. This required the composer’s gentle guidance into this process, easing worries via encouragement, but still allowing him to find an individual way to bring the works to life. He is essentially a violinist, but some of the works required him to play tenor guitar, electric tenor guitar, and sing - all of which he executed with professional competence and aplomb.

While an appropriate word to describe this music might be “eclectic”, to further classify it is challenging. There are strong flavours of western art music, folk music and music which is outside of “tradition” with respect to pitch and rhythm. If your preference is for things to be put in a box, then “avant-garde” may be a safe bet for those specific pieces.

The shortest piece of music presented in this programme is 3:52 (Disc2, 1) and the longest is the multi-movement Dance Suite by Maya Miro Johnson (Disc 2, 2-6) which lasts for 24:21. After repeated listening, and a thorough understanding of the liner notes, it is impossible not to develop an affinity for the music presented. Music extends well beyond the aural senses and this programme makes that conspicuous. High on the list of these gems is Barbary Coast 55 (Disc 2, 12) by minimalist composer Terry Riley. Creative composing is complemented by the superior musicianship of Gandelsman. Did I hear just a momentary echo of lines from Bach’s Chaconne, BWV 1004? Independent of any penchant for five-string folk violin, it is easy to immediately appreciate the lyrical, New  to The Session by Rhiannon Giddens (CD1, 11). I doubt one will ever hear a folk musician play this music with the profound precision heard on this occasion; this is not at the expense of Gandelsman’s renowned kinetic energy applied to interpretation of the music. Embracing a totally different sound is Tardigraves by Nick Dunston (Disc1, 8) Commencing with percussive tapping of the violin body, it quickly emerges into both plucked, and bowed staccato and dissonant sounds. One of the most fascinating tracks is Marika Hugh’s With Love from J. (Disc2, 1). Here, a master violinist takes up the acoustic tenor guitar, and accompanies himself singing and whistling these beautiful lyrics; all is executed with professionalism and much aplomb, despite the requirements sometimes being outside his standard skill set. Bravo for the cross-over musicians.

As one may anticipate from his reputation and previous experience of him, Gandelsman’s performance in these recordings is superb. Some compositions are unquestionably challenging, both musically and technically, but no evidence of that can be audibly detected. Great musicianship and violin playing are complemented by impressive sonic qualities of the actual recordings; sonically, everything has a vital presence.

This anthology is an important contribution to the 21st century violin repertory. Everything about the presentation is pleasurable and rewarding; it should not be missed by those who enjoy new, creative music. In the words of Johnny Gansdelsman: ‘I invite you to stop listening to the pundits, extend your ears, open up your imagination, and trust the music to guide you into a challenging, complicated and thrilling sound world - This is America.’

Zane Turner

Footnote
Few will debate the value of well-written and informative liner notes in augmenting the appreciation of recorded music, especially when the programme is all new. In this recording the most informative liner notes were written by each individual composer. By carefully reading the commentaries, one develops insight into their inspirations and what the music is endeavouring to convey to the listener. Devoid of this guidance, it may be conjectured as to whether or not the appreciation and understanding of the music would be of the same magnitude. To this end, I have provided a brief summary of the notes for each work.

Disc 1
Clarice Assad ‘O’
At the beginning of 2020 Assad was approached to collaborate in a commissioning project. No limits were imposed on the creative process, but there were requirements for the composer to reflect on the time in which they were living. She fixated on a recurring theme, several dramas that would ensue during the year which ironically left many people breathless: oxygen. ‘O’ is a recollection of that fragmented time, understandably filled with sentiments of distress, but also portraying a sense of hope.
Kinan Azmeth Sahra be Wyckoff
Sahra is the Arabic word for party, and Wyckoff is the street in Brooklyn where a few friends met with Azmeth in a creative context. Johnny Gandelsman was one of those friends who participated in the gatherings in which he was involved when first moving to New York city in 2001. This piece is an homage to a place of gathering, and to the spirit of that collective which continues to live on.
Layale Chaker SInekeman
Sinekeman is a study in solitude The sinekeman is an Ottoman ancestor of the violin and the composition invokes sound characterised by its seven sympathetic strings.
Christina Courtin Stroon
Courtin found the 20/21 period devastating for many reasons. Her reaction was to become very quiet and not write music or sing, just read the news with an anxious mind. This commission from the 2021 Vail Dance Festival forced her to get into music again, to try and reconnect with herself, to try and put music to the madness that is still a reality.
Olivia Davis Steeped
Steeped is a personal response to the time in which the composer lives including, but not limited to the pandemic, which has flipped her ‘normal’ life upside down. Through this music the composer uses traditional Italian musical terms to identify each movement. While playing on the meaning of these terms a pathway opens for the composer to ‘steeping’ situations in her world.
Nick Dunston Tardigrades
Microscopic organisms, Tardigrades have amazing survival skills in terms of existence in adverse conditions. Survival often comes at the price of completely shutting down their metabolism and renders them more than just being alive. Dunston recognized the potential to be easily overwhelmed to the point of feeling helpless, perhaps longing for survival skills of the Tardigrades.
Adeliia Faizullina Dew, Time, Linger
This composition is about how Faizullina was surrounded by the pandemic; it represents the first few months she spent alone in Los Angeles when the only people she knew was online, no one personally. The only people she could sense around her were people on the street when she went for a walk or to the grocery store. This piece is about listening to the space where she was; tiny sounds from outside, sirens, the clock, the tap dripping.
Rhea Fowler & Micaela Tobin A City Upon a Hill?
This composition is based on reactions to the events at the Capital on Jan 6. 2021. The main theme centres on the MAGA slogan (Make America Great Again). The sonic dissonance is meant to echo what some consider to be the cognitive dissonance of the far-right movement itself.
Rhiannon Giddens New to the Session
As a neophyte fiddler, Giddens would sit in on an Irish sessions and sometimes feel as if he was in a whirlwind - no more than twice through each tune - and it seemed as if everyone knew everything, except him. Giddens attempted to recreate that feeling with the journey through the melodies.

Disc 2
Marika Hughs With Love From J
Jewlia Eisenberg was a composer singer, bandleader and dear friend of Hughs. Her mission was to make a lovely noise about complex ideas. She died at the age of 49 on March 11, 2021 after a long-fought illness. Hughs wrote this song was for Johnny Gandelsman with her life and ideas in mind.
Maya Miro Johnson Dance Suite
This is the first piece in an intended series relating to the translation or transliteration of movement concepts from Ohad Naharin’s Gaga dance language, into musical and aesthetic forms. Gaga has a fundamentally healing quality to it, in that it exists in the fissured space between mind and body.
Bojan Louis Dolii
Dolii is a poem and solo work for guitar written by Louis for his daughter The words and music are intended to be woven together like a helix strand. Dolii is a blue bird, a guide and bringer of storms.
Dana Lyn a current took her away
This piece describes a lone plankter (singular plankton) drifting along a warmer than usual Arctic current for much longer than expected. These microscopic organisms are the base of the marine food chain.
Angélica Negrón A través del manto luminoso
The synthesised sounds in this music are inspired by audio recordings of a group of ancient stars that were compiled by a research team from the University of Birmingham, UK. The piece is about longing for connection, and especially holding on to the possibility of seeing light in darkness.
Ebun Oguntola    Reflections
This piece is for solo violin. It reflects on the multi-faceted, and chaotic decade commencing 2020. To create a pervasive and contemplative tone, the first section employs fourths repeatedly. These also display total ambiguity and hesitancy of a tonal centre, redolent of how people lost their centre during this difficult time. In the second section the fourths in the music shift to employment of tritones, the resonance reflecting how prior anticipations were misled. In the following sections, there is no grounded resolution of the music, illustrating that the story isn’t necessarily finished yet.
Tomeka Reid Rhapsody
Written for solo violin, this music opens with an intellectual, yet lyrical, statement that returns in various forms through the composition. Throughout, there is a sensation of wheels spinning while stuck in place. The ending is a sort of resolve that is neither sad nor without hope.
Terry Riley Barbary Coast 1955
The composer’s notes on this composition are remarkable; Riley simply offers eleven points of commentary (numbered one to eleven) He describes how, having nothing particular in mind on commencement, he rejected his first two efforts and rewrote the ending three times. The music for five-string violin is about Riley’s impressions of San Francisco in the 1950s. His original attractive South American themed melody was deemed too short and was finally made four times longer. An initial section involving over-challenging double stops was revised, but felt unsuitable to Riley when played by Gandelsman. A revision into a version played in harmonics is what remains.

Disc 3
Matana Roberts Stitched
Roberts makes music to illuminate and support the inner lives of many different types of listeners and sound practitioners. The structure of this piece is a complex representation of hope, joy and sadness that the world has collectively travelled through in the middle of the Covid pandemic.
Aeryn Santillan Withdrawn
This music reflects on the state of society in 2020 through an intimate lens, taking to heart the statement that ‘the personal is political’. Santillan reflected on his own journal entries, past conversations with close family and friends, witnessing their struggle through that past year
Tyshawn Sorey For Courtney Bryan
Included in the inspiration for this music are words such as: American dream, violence, turmoil, disgust, separate, rebel. Also the conclusion that ‘you cannot consume our love without witnessing our pain’.
Anjna Swaminathan Surrender to the Adventure
This music was inspired by very private and personal experiences which have their genesis in the journey of being in love. It also echoes a feeling that values profits over humanity.
Conrad Tao   Stones
On most days of 2020 Tao took a walk north along the Hudson River. Two thirds of the way up is a bank of mysterious stones, stacked on each other, forming elegant gravity-defying piles. Tao felt the presence of someone’s hands, someone desiring to express themselves in a way that was so palpable, and so moving, especially at that time; when it was difficult to connect with others. Through the summer and autumn, he observed changes within the stones; sometimes they would nearly disappear. He later learned that these stones were the work of a local self-taught artist, Uliks Gryka. His music is a love letter to those stones, a note of appreciation for what they provided him during those tumultuous times.
Akshaya Tucker Pallavi - A Meditation on Care
This music is about recovery. It takes inspiration from two sources: the first is a bhajan (devotional song) about the biggest moment of transformation in our lives. The second is based on the Pallivari genre within the Odissi style of Classical Indian dance.
Kojiro Umezaki Breath
Breathing is a most apt theme in consideration of 2020 when this music was written. The twenty modules of ‘breath’ are designed to be resequenced and rerecorded. Any number of them can be played or omitted, depending on the occasion. All the modules on this recording focus on the open strings and natural harmonics of the violin.
 



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