Liner Notes
Cat. No. NWCRL336
Release Date: 2010-11-15
Tison Street, violin; Frances Uitti, cello; William Hellermann, guitar; Giuseppe Selmi, cello; Giorgio Ravenna, cello; Guido Mascellini, cello; Michele De Luca, cello; Luigi Lanzilotta, cello; Anamaria Mastromatteo, cello; Salvatore De Girolamo, cello; Giancarlo Mori, cello; Angelo Persichilli, flute, alto flute, piccolo; Michele Incenzo, clarinet, bass clarinet; Massimo Coen, violin, viola; David Saperstein, piano; Noriko Hiraga, piano
William Hellermann writes:
“On the Edge of a Node is a fabric of forgotten memories in which the notes have a lot to do with a reworking of received material mostly Bach (another time in fragments). More importantly, all the instruments are 'clipped' — that is, their strings are 'prepared' with paper clips (why are only pianos prepared?) which give artificial 'nodes' that emphasize pitches in varying degrees of distant relation to the fundamental stopped pitch. Each note played then becomes a timbral event in itself made up of a family of pitches at a variety of amplitudes. What I especially like about clipping the strings is that it makes the surface of the sound particularly evident (your ear can 'feel' the scrape of the bow).
Martin Bresnick writes:
“B.'S Garlands was composed for the outstanding cellist Bonnie Hampton and her gifted pupils. The eight parts are independent, but graded in difficulty such that while the first 3 parts are virtuosic the last 2 are relatively simple.
“The work itself is a divertimento — music for Johannesnacht, the German equivalent of our Midsummers' Night. As in Wagner's Meistersinger, the night watchman may be heard now and again, and the work observes Wagner's indication at the end of Act II 'Auf dem Horn, sehr lang' (On the horn, very long) ...
George Edwards writes:
“In Exchange-Misere a dense complex of linear, motivic, and harmonic associations and relationships is embedded in a language which is both drastically simplified in its intervallic procedures and rich in means of elaborating a harmonic region or moving from one such region to another. In a sense, then, it represents an attempt to regain some of the expressive and structural possibilities of tonal music, but without allowing any single tone or sonority to be as ultimately stable as a tonic would be. Instead, cadential harmonies are only locally stable, the cadences themselves weakened by not coinciding with major structural goals or turning points. Only at the very end, in a long and unexpectedly expansive coda, is the pervasive chromaticism of the piece subsumed into a relatively diatonic context; yet even here, the sense of completion results less from any tonal resolution than from arriving (at last!) at new and fresh territory.
This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Full liner notes are accessible via the link above.
William Hellermann writes:
“On the Edge of a Node is a fabric of forgotten memories in which the notes have a lot to do with a reworking of received material mostly Bach (another time in fragments). More importantly, all the instruments are 'clipped' — that is, their strings are 'prepared' with paper clips (why are only pianos prepared?) which give artificial 'nodes' that emphasize pitches in varying degrees of distant relation to the fundamental stopped pitch. Each note played then becomes a timbral event in itself made up of a family of pitches at a variety of amplitudes. What I especially like about clipping the strings is that it makes the surface of the sound particularly evident (your ear can 'feel' the scrape of the bow).
Martin Bresnick writes:
“B.'S Garlands was composed for the outstanding cellist Bonnie Hampton and her gifted pupils. The eight parts are independent, but graded in difficulty such that while the first 3 parts are virtuosic the last 2 are relatively simple.
“The work itself is a divertimento — music for Johannesnacht, the German equivalent of our Midsummers' Night. As in Wagner's Meistersinger, the night watchman may be heard now and again, and the work observes Wagner's indication at the end of Act II 'Auf dem Horn, sehr lang' (On the horn, very long) ...
George Edwards writes:
“In Exchange-Misere a dense complex of linear, motivic, and harmonic associations and relationships is embedded in a language which is both drastically simplified in its intervallic procedures and rich in means of elaborating a harmonic region or moving from one such region to another. In a sense, then, it represents an attempt to regain some of the expressive and structural possibilities of tonal music, but without allowing any single tone or sonority to be as ultimately stable as a tonic would be. Instead, cadential harmonies are only locally stable, the cadences themselves weakened by not coinciding with major structural goals or turning points. Only at the very end, in a long and unexpectedly expansive coda, is the pervasive chromaticism of the piece subsumed into a relatively diatonic context; yet even here, the sense of completion results less from any tonal resolution than from arriving (at last!) at new and fresh territory.
This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Full liner notes are accessible via the link above.
Music from the American Academy in Rome
| MP3/320 | $13.00 | |
| FLAC | $13.00 | |
| WAV | $13.00 | |
| CD-R | $13.00 |
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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On the Edge of a Node
William Hellermann
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Buy
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B.'s Garlands
Martin Bresnick
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Buy
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Exchange-Misère
George Edwards
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Buy
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Pièce Mouvante
Jeffrey Jones
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Buy
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