I mentioned a few weeks ago - feels like longer, somehow! so much has happened, both locally to my household and within the UK (to say nothing of the world at large) - that I was practically dribbling with anticipation at the prospect of being able to order a copy of Kobe Van Cauwenberghe's Ghost Trance Septet double-CD... and once we had moved house, I did indeed order a copy. Unfortunately, at time of writing, I have still not actually received said item - I've not yet had any reply to my emails, either, and I'm really not sure if the album (release date June 2022, according to the website) is even out yet. (I'm also not overly impressed by the label's customer service so far, alas...)
... but in the meantime, I did look a little more into the Belgian guitarist's pedigree, and discovered that at some point in the fairly recent past he had played with Wet Ink Ensemble. I actually knew next to nothing about these guys, either, but a couple of years back, I did stumble across a recording online of their playing B's Comp. 227, a file which carried the cryptic (to me) description National Sawdust - at the time, I played the thing a few times, but of course I was well into my "mainly-dry" phase and didn't look any more deeply into - well, any of it. The name of the group meant nothing to me and although it was still pretty reassuring to know that (presumably) younger musicians were interpreting the maestro's work from time to time, I sort of left it at that.
Coming across the name again from a different angle made me look a bit harder - and besides, by this point I was fully "reawakened and thirsty" again. So, Wet Ink is a New Music group based in NYC, with a shifting personnel that seems to centre around pianist Eric Wubbels and violinist Josh Modney (although their website lists these two and six others as artists/co-directors, some of whom played on that recording). Evidently they were named “The Best Classical Music Ensemble of 2018” by The New York Times: now, whether or not the NY Times' opinion on such matters is worth airing, I can only guess, but it certainly sounds like a strong vote of confidence.
An internet search of Wet Ink + Braxton still brings up that same recording, among a few others. The file is permanently available via Soundcloud, whence I have now learned that the performance was part of an "Anthony Braxton Portrait Concert", given on January 20th, 2016 - National Sawdust would appear to be the NYC venue, although I'm still not sure about that (it could have been some sort of festival for all I know). The ensemble, on that occasion, comprised twelve players, although some of them were "guest collaborators": those, for sure, will at least have included the extraordinary trumpet section of Peter Evans and Nate Wooley (both already regarded by then as leading voices on their instrument). Other names familiar to me are trombonist Jacob Garchik (who has played in the septet and octet incarnations of Mary Halvorson's group), tubist Dan Peck and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck: the latter pair have of course played with B's groups, Peck with the ZIM 'tets especially and Schoenbeck with the semi-legendary 12+1tet. Whether any of those three were part of the ensemble at the time, or drafted in as guests, I really don't know. (Cellist Mariel Roberts, who impressed me so much a month or so ago with her solo rendition of a George Lewis composition, is also much involved with the group these days, as is Sam Pluta, an electronics man slightly familiar to me through his association with Evan Parker; neither of them was present on this occasion, though the ensemble did include an electronics performer (electronicist?), Jeff Snyder.)
The group's rendition of Comp. 227 - previously recorded by a Braxton trio as one half of a double-CD on Leo Records - lasts just over twenty minutes, which (I'm beginning to conclude) is more or less par for the course with younger musicians' interpretations of the GTM territories; odd, really, since B's own explorations seldom last(ed) much under an hour, sometimes longer. Of course, I haven't had the benefit of looking at the scores (and I'm not saying I would understand how to read them if I did). We already know that they must include many spaces for improvisation, and that they can assimilate - once they are properly underway - the interpolation of (themes/elements from) any previous Braxton composition. Whether the "acolytes" don't tend to feel confident to explore these spaces much, or whether there is some other reason, I don't know, but it is intriguing to me to wonder whether large parts of the score are being omitted in these shorter renditions, or if there is some other explanation entirely..?
Anyway, the music is well worth a listen, or several listens - in my case, even over the course of twenty minutes I seem to hear it slightly differently each time. Comp. 227 is (I believe) second species GTM, with accelerandi factored into the theme, and the group really seems to enjoy attacking it. I have not succeeded yet in finding anything to single out from the performance, but I would definitely recommend checking it out.
(This post will spawn a "Pt.2" sometime soon...)
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