The NYFA Collection
CD-A
1. Annie Gosfield: Don't Bite the Hand that Feeds Back
2. David van Tieghem: Waiting for the Gizmo - No.1
3. Joseph Bertolozzi: "Meltdown" from Bridge Music
4. Lois V Vierk/Anita Feldman: Hexa
5. Bruce Gremo: ScascadeHo
6. Lukas Ligeti: Triangulation
7. Joel Chadabe: Solo
8. Jose Halac: BLOWN 2 Nicolas Maza
9. Samuel Claiborne: Viola Breath
10. Iconoclast: Accidental Touching
11. Elliott Sharp: Cryptid Fragments
12. Stefan Tcherepnin: Ouvretorture
CD-B
1. Meredith Monk, arr. Anthony de Mare: Urban March (Shadow) Anthony
de Mare
2. Annea Lockwood: RCSC. Sarah Cahill
3. John Morton: The Parting
4. Robert Dick: Eyewitness Flute Force
5. Sorrel Hays: On The Wind Andrew Bolotowsky
6. Elizabeth Brown: "Loons" from Isle Royale Shakuhachi
Duets
7. Daniel Goode: Tuba Thrush Flexible Orchestra
8. David Simons: CIPHER Downtown Ensemble
9. JG Thirlwell: 10 Ton Shadow
10. Anne LeBaron, Wadada Leo Smith, Peter van Bergen: An Even
Loan
11. Eric John Eigner: Music for Faucet
12. Monteith McCollum: Flight
CD-C
1. Iconoclast: No Wave Bitte Julie Joslyn, Leo Ciesa
2. Rudresh Mahanthappa: Are There Clouds in India?
3-4. Fred Ho: I Wor Kuen, No Home to Return to. Afro-Asian Music
Ensemble
5. BLOB: Robust Bog. John Lindberg, Ted Orr, Harvey Sorgen, Ralph
Carney
6. Sidiki Conde: Moriba Djassa
7. John Lindberg: Skip. Tripolar
8. Howard Prince: Pipe Dream
9. Newman Taylor Baker: Bosom of Abraham
10. Laura Kahle: Daize
11. BLOB: Mire
12. Augusta Read Thomas: Love Twitters. Nicola Melville
CD-D
1. Andy Teirstein: Rhapsody for Boy Soprano and Strings Interschools
String Orchestra of New York
2. Bora Yoon: g i f t
3. Mary Jane Leach: Night Blossoms. Kiitos
4. Pauline Oliveros: Sound Patterns and Tropes. University of
Wisconsin-River Falls Concert Choir and Percussion Quartet
5. Aaron Jay Kernis: Ecstatic Meditation 4. Volti
6. Paul Motian, arr. Joel Harrison: It Should Have Happened
7. Judith Sainte Croix: Los Pajaros Blancos de la Noche Profunda.
Sonora Trio
8. Ray Leslee: Nocturne. Ashley Horne, Barbara Bilach
9. Roberto Sierra: Cronicas 3; Cancion. Society for New Music
10. Jeff Raheb: Zu Twa Szi 4 Laurel Ann Maurer, Peter Matthews
11. Eve Beglarian: We Two + Corey Dargel, Cristian Amigo
CD-E
1-2. Raphael Mostel: Night and Dawn. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Brass Ensemble; Ivan Meylemans, conductor
3-6. George Tsontakis: Gymnopedies. Concert: nova
7. Randall Woolf: Franz Schubert. Esther Noh, Jennifer Choi, Orlando
Wells, Joanne Lin
8. Jay Anthony Gach: La Vita Autunnale. MONTAGE Music Society
9. Peter Golub: Less Than a Week Before Christmas. Kiev Philharmonic
Orchestra and Chamber Choir
10. Neil Rolnick: "The Gathering" from Extended Family
ETHEL
11-13. Lisa Bielawa: Trojan Women. Miami String Quartet
14. Joan Tower: Tambor. Nashville Smphony, Leonard Slatkin
The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has been giving fellowships
to musicians in New York since 1983, and this 5-disc set collects
52 works by those who have received such fellowships since that
time. While the pieces on these discs are not necessarily those
for which the musicians received their fellowships, they are new
works by these composers. The selection of 52 of the 200 fellows
to date is designed to show the range of music supported by this
program, which goes from “classical” music to jazz, from odd percussion
works to romantic piano, from electronic works to world music.
It’s hard to sum up a collection such as this. Unlike most thematic
compilations, this is nothing more than new music by some well-known
composers and many that are little-known. From one track to the
next it can jump from tonal to atonal, from jazz to 12-tone, from
electronic to acoustic.
Some of the names here are familiar: David van Tieghem, Meredith
Monk, Paul Motian and Joan Tower. A handful of others stand out
as composers who have made names for themselves over the years.
But the majority are names most listeners will be unfamiliar with,
some of whose music is being recorded here for the first time.
It’s hard to judge this set on objective criteria. Most likely,
any listener will find as many pieces here to love as to hate.
There are works that led me to skip to the next track (quite a
few of those), and some that are just ridiculous. There are also
some amazing gems by composers I’d like to hear more from: who
is Jeff Raheb, whose Brittenesque work for guitar and flute,
Zu
Twa Szi, Part 4, pops up on disc four for seven minutes? And
what about John Morton, whose
The Parting, for music box
and electronics, written as “an interlude for a Passover dinner,”
is a uniquely musical and percussive work for an unexpected instrument?
Monteith McCollum’s
Flight, from his film “Hybrid,” is
a modal Glassian work for violin and viola which, in just under
four minutes, creates a dense sound-scape. And Andy Tierstein’s
Rhapsody for Boy Soprano and Strings, a haunting 13-minute
work that was composed for a dance piece, combines Celtic atmosphere
and rhythms with an almost medieval sound.
I could go on. Out of the 52 works present in this set, there
are some real dogs; press the Next button on your remote when
you get to them. But my dogs may be your pearls, so who am I to
judge? I’ll be taking the works that really moved me from this
set and making a playlist in iTunes to listen to them in the future.
Will you want to do the same? If you’re at all curious about new
music, you’ll want to check this set out; it’s chock full of six
hours of music, it’s available at a decent price, and there are
surprises around every turn.
Kirk McElhearn
And a review of four separately available NYFA/INNOVA discs
by Rob Barnett
Newman
Taylor Baker - Drum - Suite – Life
Singing' Drums, Percussive Voices
Red Brush Blues [8:26]
WB 1 [3:55]
Thank You, Ms. Jones, Hold On! [7:52]
Bosom of Abraham [7:43]
Which Train? [7:33]
Andrew, Milford, and Rashied [5:01]
Marchin' David [5:29]
Handpeace [3:54]
INNOVA 238 
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Drum-Suite-Life is part of Newman Taylor Baker's Singin' Drums
project which reflects a long cherished desire to have the drum
set accepted as a solo instrument. There’s no denying that Baker
is a most skilled and inventive musician. Red Brush Blues is
all shushed hush, very delicate, almost ominous and certainly
mysterious in its wire-brush swish and patter. WB 1 is more
assertive but still stronger on atmosphere than on narrative.
Bosom of Abraham has a hard military determination and side-drum
rolls and taps. Which train? Is suggestive of the Harlem renaissance
yet with gentle texturing. Marchin’ David links the marching
band tattoo tradition with a dash of African rhythms. Handpeace
is very quiet and highly skilled. We are assured that there’s
no overdubbing or special effects.
BLOB
Earphonious Swamphony
Humidity [3:21]
Leaps and Bulls [4:07]
Blue Trees [2:30]
Muck [4:34]
River Mouth [3:23]
Robust Bog [1:43]
Mire [3:20]
Splash [5:01]
Trickles [3:24]
Sweat [6:35]
Lagoon [3:54]
Heavy Droplets [2:51]
Wind Woods [4:47]
BLOB: John Lindberg: Double Bass, Effects Devices Ted Orr: Electric
Guitar, Axon MIDI Guitar Harvey Sorgen: Drums With Special Guest
Ralph Carney: Clarinets, Bass Saxophone, Tuba, Bass Trombone,
Flute
INNOVA 237
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
I am not sure what to make of this. It claims that it is a “psychedelic
jam band” getting “mucky”. The sounds to be heard are pretty
much in line with the titles. It’s music of the nigh-time swamp
with frog noises and shudders and heaving birdsong. You are
also confronted with the grinding and grumble of jazzy dissonance
and drum-set melee. Blue Trees features primeval creature pulses
while Muck plays with cicada noises and wah-wah effects. In
River Mouth frogs make ‘ribbit’ noises. Robust Bog creaks and
has the tuba as a lyric voice. Mire has some spiffing watery
noises – including one that is reminiscent of the sound of extracting
a welly from deep mud. Trickles has a grumbling soliloquy for
bass sax and yet more ‘ribbit’ noises. Sweat takes us back to
those nocturnal mangrove noises while Lagoon is fraught with
warbling and wibbling – just a hint of The Creature from the
Black Lagoon. Heavy Droplets is rife with strange atmospherics.
This is music of the Everglades – alligators, exposed roots,
writhing snakes, mudflats and high humidity.
Anne
LeBaron 1,2,4,3 - The harp in Improv Land
Heat Wave 1 Anne LeBaron [4:42]
Succulent Blues Anne LeBaron Wolfgang Fuchs Ronit Kirchman
Torsten Mueller [10:12]
Rippling with Leroy Anne LeBaron Leroy Jenkins [8:21]
Mirage Anne LeBaron Leroy Jenkins [6:59]
Deleuzion Anne LeBaron Torsten Mueller Chris Heenan Paul
Rutherford [10:50]
Principles of the Rhizome Anne LeBaron Wolfgang Fuchs
Torsten Mueller Paul Rutherford [4:02]
Make a Map, Not a Tracing Anne LeBaron Torsten Mueller
Chris Heenan Paul Rutherford [5:48]
Heat Wave 2 Anne LeBaron [3:42]
Intermezzo Anne LeBaron Wolfgang Fuchs Ronit Kirchman
Torsten Mueller [3:00]
Wake Anne LeBaron Georg Graewe John Lindberg [12:31]
Stream Anne LeBaron Georg Graewe John Lindberg [12:04]
Sukkulaoi Scream Anne LeBaron Kristin Haraldsdottir Nathan
Smith [9:09]
Into Something Rich and Strange Anne LeBaron Kiku Day
Kanoko Nishi [7:28]
Submerged Cavern Anne LeBaron Kiku Day Kanoko Nishi [1:41]
Song of Marble Anne LeBaron Kiku Day Kanoko Nishi [8:10]
Funeral Bells for Harry Partch Anne LeBaron Kiku Day
Kanoko Nishi [9:00]
Full Fathom Funayurei Anne LeBaron Kiku Day Kanoko Nishi
[3:05]
Lagniappe: Hourglass of Stars Anne LeBaron Leroy Jenkins
Earl Howard [9:08]
Anne LeBaron, Chris Heenan, Earl Howard, Georg Graewe, John
Lindberg, Kanoko Nishi, Kiku Day, Kristin Haraldsdottir, Leroy
Jenkins, Nathan Smith, Paul Rutherford, Ronit Kirchman, Torsten
Mueller, Wolfgang Fuchs
2 CD set
INNOVA 236
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Anne Lebaron and friends rejoice in this generous selection
designed to abjure the harp’s usual territory. The music is
variously delicate, bluesy with a hip-slaloming spatter of notes
from harp and percussion. Sukkulaoi scream is a thing of shreds,
squeaks and tendrils. Later tracks introduce flickering textures
and breathily-blown wind instruments. Submerged Cavern is richly
minimal but not at all iterative and the variegated effects
include sounds that emulate the noise of sucking through a straw.
In other tracks the harp eschews luxury and restricts tself
to a monotone and wooden tapping noises before surrendering
to shivery desiccation. Lagniappe cannot be heard without recalling
the sound of the shamisen.
Barton
McLean - Soundworlds
Concerto: States of Being Barton McLean Petersburgh Electrophilharmonia
[14:32]
Ritual of the Dawn Barton McLean Linda Green E. Michael
Richards Barbara DeChario Keith Notrab [15:36]
Demons of the Night Barton McLean [6:48]
Magic at Xanadu Barton McLean [8:53]
Ice Canyons Barton McLean [8:23]
Rainforest Images II Barton McLean Priscilla McLean;
Panaiotis [20:03]
Barton McLean Barbara DeChario Bart's Home E. Michael Richards
Keith Notrab Linda Green; Panaiotis; Petersburgh Electrophilharmonia;
Priscilla McLean
INNOVA 234
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Of the four Innova discs this was the one that held the greatest
attraction for me. Ice Canyons is a fantasy in which the simulation
of a string orchestra is heard to intensely romantic effect.
Rainforest Images II bristles with dripping condensation and
birdsong - actual birdsong sampled in the rainforests of Peru
and Australia. It is dense with activity. Concerto: States
of Being is in three movements. The first is sheerly lovely
with the tinkling complexity of harp and piano. The middle movement
makes free with melodic strands of DNA and manic little gurgles.
Ritual of the Dawn was written at the MacDowell Colony. It is
a piece of Debussian warmth written for a chamber ensemble of
six. Demons of the Night uses electronic gurgling capering and
is suitably melodramatic. Magic at Xanadu is a live studio track
with keyboards and computer - more of a pizzicato and gurgle
job.
Rob Barnett
