Lots of distractions at present... I am preparing a post about three of the lesser-known items from the maestro's vast discography, but it seems to be taking me ages to get that together. In the meantime, McClintic Sphere just tipped me off about an important new announcement: a free concert in Washington, D.C. on March 8th. Naturally, I shan't be able to attend personally, and (encouragingly) the event "sold" out very quickly in any case. Still... major event!
The programme features an all-star ensemble playing two pieces from the back catalogue, and concluding with the US premiere of the new Thunder Music system. Exciting news, I am sure you will agree... Of the players, pretty much all of those names will be familiar to most BraxtonHeads: speaking for myself, the only name with which I was not immediately familiar is that of vocalist Nick Hallett - but it turns out that he was part of the group which recorded the fabulous GTM (Syntax) 2017... as for the others, some may be surprised to see big names missing*, but the participants include James Fei, Katherine Young, Carl Testa, Anne Rhodes and Tomeka Reid - rest assured that every name on the list represents a musician already skilled in interpreting B's music. We can presume that Comp. 100 will be played by the whole group, perhaps with the maestro conducting; Comp. 222, which was itself premiered in 1998 in the very same concert hall where it will be played this time around, will presumably be a duet for notated-music** expert Cory Smythe and either Jean Cook or Erica Dicker.
As for the climax of the concert - well, the mysterious Thunder Music name has been batted around for a year or more already without most of us having any great sense of what it entails, although I was previously under the impression that it was a strategy for multiple singers and instrumentalists; admittedly, there will be at least three singers present in March. But what we are now discovering is that all players will be able to influence the electronics - "to control the live electronic modulation of sound as well as the sound of thunder". A system which combines elements of Diamond Curtain Wall Music and of Echo Echo Mirror House Music, then? - or perhaps nothing of the sort, but the comparisons seem irresistible... whatever it turns out to be, the salient point to remember is that approaching the age of eighty, B. is still pushing forward into territories new and unexplored. (Not that we would expect any different, of course.)
I am simultaneously envious of those who will attend - the music is to be preceded by an interview / conversation with the ensemble - and simply happy that such a joyous occasion is to take place at all. Not everything is joyous at the moment, is it? - and many of us suspect that things will get worse before they get better. However, news like this provides a much-needed cause for cheer and (cautious) optimism, reminding us that while there is breath, there is hope. Oh, and as McC also pointed out, B. is bound to get a big kick out of the fact that his donation of his papers and recording archives to the Library of Congress made it into their Top 5 list for 2024, alongside bequests representing Liszt, the Kronos Quartet, Burt Bacharach and The Wizard of Oz (!). Now, if that doesn't raise a smile...
* THB and Mary Halvorson are both pretty busy in their own right these days, and were maybe just unavailable - Ingrid Laubrock? Jacqui Kerrod? - we could go on, but this isn't really a time to focus on who is not going to be there.
** Smythe is mainly known in these parts as an interpreter of the formidable solo piano work Comp. 30, and is (apparently) a specialist in New Music - i.e. contemporary notated music; in this capacity he was one of four such specialists who balanced out the four improvisers in Nate Wooley's fascinating 2021 project Mutual Aid Music.
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