Ingram Marshall DVD and Release Concert Announced by Starkland

Ingram Marshall's haunting, elegiac music and Jim Bengston’s stark, striking photographs, created for their joint multimedia work Alcatraz, are featured on a new Starkland DVD, set for release on Oct. 29. The work explores this forbidden island and its famous prison, which once held the most notorious criminals in the US.

The DVD also presents the premiere recording of the complete audiovisual presentation of Eberbach, their followup work, that focuses on an impressive, abandoned German monastery, Kloster Eberbach. Marshall’s seductive music reflects the spacious acoustics, and Bengston’s photos capture the striking architecture. In addition, the DVD adds immersive surround sound mixes for both works, newly created for this release by Marshall

Marshall and Bengston will introduce their 2 works at a surround-sound release concert at New York’s Spectrum (121 Ludlow), set for 12 pm noon on Sunday, Oct. 27.

John Adams has commented:

“Alcatraz, a multimedia installation done with the photographer Jim Bengston, uses a famous San Francisco site with a long complex history to evoke that special sense of dream and melancholy that is so characteristic of his [Marshall’s] work.”

And Bill Morrison writes:

“Ingram Marshall and Jim Bengston, in their remarkable pair of collaborations, Alcatraz and Eberbach, create movement with music out of still images that elegantly redefine the film-music relationship.”

In the early 1980s, Marshall and Bengston jointly created Alcatraz, in an unusual arrangement where both the music and visuals were equally important from the start. Equipped with tape recorders and cameras, they explored this austere island in the San Francisco Bay. After exchanging slides and cassettes between San Francisco and Norway for several months, the final interwoven work emerged as a series of evocative still photographs with live, electronically processed music.

Ingram Marshall (L) and Jim Bengston (R) returning from Alcatraz in 1983

Bengston and Marshall performed Alcatraz and Eberbach at various venues, including the Henie Onstad Art Center (Oslo), The Museum of Contemporary Art (Ghent), the new music festival at Bourges, The American Center (Paris), The Art Institute of Chicago School, and Carnegie Recital Hall (New York). In 2009, Bengston and Marshall had a residency at The Montalvo Art Center (Saratoga, CA), where they performed and held talks about both pieces. Concurrently, Alcatraz was shown on monitors in the public spaces of Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles.

© Jim Bengston

about Ingram Marshall

Marshall studied at Columbia University and California Institute of the Arts, and lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1973 to 1985. During that time, Marshall developed a series of “live electronic” pieces such as Fragility Cycles, Gradual Requiem, and Alcatraz in which he blended tape collages, extended vocal techniques, Indonesian flutes, and keyboards. In recent years, Marshall has concentrated on music combining tape and electronic processing with ensembles and soloists. His music has been performed by ensembles and orchestras such as the Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and the American Composers Orchestra. Marshall has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Recent, larger works include Dark Florescence (a concerto for two guitars and orchestra premiered by the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2005), Orphic Memories (premiered by the chamber orchestra Orpheus in 2007 at Carnegie Hall), and Psalmbook (premiered by the vocal ensemble Lionheart and the American Contemporary Music Ensemble at Stanford University in 2012). His music can be heard on the Nonesuch, New Albion, New World, and Starkland labels. Since 2005, Marshall has been a Visiting Lecturer at the Yale School of Music.

about Jim Bengston

Jim Bengston attended Lake Forest College (where he met Ingram Marshall), entered graduate school at Princeton University, and shortly thereafter left to join the Army, where he developed an interest in photography. After serving as an Associated Press photo editor in New York, Bengston moved to Norway, and since 1975, he has been a freelance photographer in Oslo. Bengston’s work is represented in the collections of several museums, including MoMA, Art Institute of Chicago, Walker Art Center, National Museum of Art, Architecture & Design (Oslo), The Museum of Photographic Art (Denmark), The Finnish Museum of Photography, and the Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris). He has published three books: Afterwords (self-published, 1978), Slow Motion (European Photography, Germany, 1986), and Empty Landscape (Lillehammer Art Museum, 1996). Winner of first prize in the Nikon International Photo Contest in 1970, Bengston has had his work featured in shows at MoMA, 1978; International Center of Photography, New York, 1987; Berlinische Galerie, 1992; a one-person show at Lillehammer Art Museum, 1996; Drammens Museum, Norway, 2007; and Risør Foto Festival, Norway, 2009. Since 2010 he has been working on a new series of scenes and street pictures from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pre-Order this DVD at Amazon.

Read more about Starkland.

NPR Features Phillip Bimstein's "Bushy Wushy" Piece

The World Series has prompted NPR to rebroadcast a Hearing Voices show which features Phillip Bimstein's aural portrait of "Bushy Wushy," who sold beer in Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, for more than forty years. If you missed the broadcast, you can listen here. Other segments offer Barrett Golding spending a season with the Rookie League and singer/playwright Terry Allen defining the many meanings of Dug-Out.

There's also now a Bushy Wushy video at YouTube.



Bimstein began the piece by visiting Busch Stadium, recording the crack of the bat from behind home plate, the ball slamming into the catcher's mitt, and other baseball game sounds. He then combined these sampled sounds with stories told by the charming Bushy Wushy, all tied together with a score for wind quintet performed by the Equinox Chamber Players.

Other aural portraits on this Starkland CD feature the harmonica player and storyteller Larkin Gifford, and the Las Vegas dice-caller Tom Martinet, who offers insights into the superstitions and psychologies of gambling.

In the CD's Introduction, John Adams writes, "Like their composer, the pieces on this album communicate a generous and good-natured spirit that is tempered with wry wit and a special sense of the western landscape and culture that he so loves."

In The New York Times, Steve Smith commented that "The irresistible charm of Mr. Bimstein's music has less to do with technology than with his uncanny knack for finding the music of everday life." Read the full review.

And Stereophile called Bimstein "an American original" whose "stunning and heartwarming" CD offers "quirky, moving, and delightful musical journeys." Read the full review.

This "Larkin Gifford's Harmonica" CD is available at Amazon, iTunes, CD Baby, etc.

Phillip Bimstein: "Larkin Gifford's Harmonica" CD: now digital

Phillip Bimstein's "Larkin Gifford's Harmonica" CD is now digitally distributed. Here are a few links:

iTunes: Phillip Bimstein: Larkin Gifford's Harmonica
Amazon: Phillip Bimstein: Larkin Gifford's Harmonica
eMusic: Phillip Bimstein: Larkin Gifford's Harmonica
MySpace: Phillip Bimstein: Larkin Gifford's Harmonica

John Adams wrote the CD's Introduction, stating: "Like their composer, the pieces on this album communicate a generous and good-natured spirit that is tempered with wry wit and a special sense of the western landscape and culture that he so loves."

The title piece presents a poignant portrait of the elderly Larkin Gifford, who offers vibrant stories, which include his lifelong love of playing the harmonica. Another portrait features the delightful, funny Robert Logan, known as "Bushy Wushy the Beer Man." Bushy Wushy sold beer in Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, for more than forty years. Casino focuses on both Las Vegas and veteran dice-caller Tom Martinet, who discusses superstitions, insights, and fascinations associated with gambling.

The CD also offers two instrumental works: Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa (with singing canyon tree frogs, howling coyotes, and chirping crickets) and "Rockville Utah 1926" (based on the melodic material from Bimstein's Garland Hirschi's Cows).

A passel of fine reviews has appeared, including:

"An engaging introduction to... his quirky electro-acoustic compositions... The irresistible charm of Mr. Bimstein's music has less to do with technology than with his uncanny knack for finding the music of everyday life."
- The New York Times Read full review

"an American original... [Bimstein] has evolved into a singular musical entity... [the CD is] stunning and heartwarming... quirky, moving, and delightful musical journeys."
- Stereophile Read full review

John Adams concludes:

"Listening to this album of Bimstein's compositions makes me feel like I've taken a slow drive through a western landscape, meeting along the way everyone from Georgia O'Keeffe to Tony Hillerman, Mark Twain, Neal Cassady, Raymond Scott, Kurt Weill, Aphex Twin, and some of those grizzled geezers that populate the novels of Annie Proulx."

Read more about this CD.

Surround Sound Grammy

It’s especially fitting that this year’s Surround Sound Grammy went to a recording where the title work was indeed composed for surround sound. It’s the first time that’s happened.

The main work, On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams, is a musical commemoration for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. The composition is neither an official public memorial, nor a personalized response, but Adams describes it as "a memory space – a place where you can go and be alone with your thoughts and emotions." To enhance the atmosphere, the composer specifies that the audience be surrounded by multichannel playback of “prerecorded city sounds (quiet traffic, voices, footsteps, etc.) and the reading by many different voices of the names of the victims.” John Rockwell has commented:

"The emotional kick is the juxtaposition of the orchestra and the sound collage. You couldn't have done that 50 years ago and had it considered classical music. His acoustic, amplified acoustic and electronic blend adds a contemporary element to him."

The hybrid SACD also offers works from Samuel Barber, John Corigliano, and Jennifer Higdon (who also picked up a Grammy for her Percussion Concerto). The sound of the surround sound SACD has been called “spectacularly clear and atmospheric” (All Music Guide).

Congratulations not only to John, but also to sound designer Mark Grey, surround engineer Michael Bishop, and surround producer Elaine Martone. The label is Telarc, known for high quality sound and originally founded by classical musicians. (Unfortunately, in 2009 most of the key staff was eliminated.)

Amy X Neuburg in LA

Amy X Neuburg continues to perform The Secret Language of Subways in cool concert settings. This time, she's part of the LA Philharmonic's West Coast/Left Coast festival.

Today in his blog, festival director John Adams writes:

"Those of you in the Los Angeles zip code are urged not to miss the spectacular Amy X Neuberg, who with her Cello ChiXtet will be performing tonight at Zipper Hall (right across the street from Disney Hall)... Don’t miss her show. She’s the best thing to come out Oakland since Jack London."

A CD of The Secret Language of Subways, released by MinMax earlier this year, already has pulled in some impressive reviews. Recently, Audiophile Audition wrote Amy's CD is "like Laurie Anderson joining up with Philip Glass or Annie Sofie Von Otter collaborating with Steve Reich."

This CD is available at Amazon.

CD Baby also has Subways in stock.

And it can be downloaded at iTunes.

NPR to air music from Phillip Bimstein Starkland CD

NPR will air Phillip Bimstein's “The Bushy Wushy Rag” on Hearing Voices, beginning the week of Oct. 21, 2009. The excerpt (over 7 minutes) will lead off a lineup of baseball stories on this “Home Team” show from the Public Radio Hall of Fame. Their description:

“The sounds of a St. Louis Cardinals’ baseball game are combined with the echoes of Scott Joplin's ragtime and the distinctive calls of Bushy Wushy the Beer Man. This 39-year veteran beer vendor at Busch Stadium, he shares his love for the game, the crowd, and the communal spirit of St. Louis.”

Hearing Voices from NPR is an hour of The Best of Public Radio: a sixty-minute stream of “driveway moments” connected by a weekly theme, with the help of a guest host. Each episode mixes broadcasts, podcasts, sound-portraits, slam poets, docs, radio dramas, features, and found-sound. The show is aired by over 100 stations.

“The Bushy Wushy Rag” appears on Bimstein’s Larkin Gifford’s Harmonica CD, released by Starkland.

In the CD’s Introduction, John Adams writes:

"Like their composer, the pieces on this album communicate a generous and good-natured spirit that is tempered with wry wit and a special sense of the western landscape and culture that he so loves."

The delightful, funny, and genuine Robert Logan became known as "Bushy Wushy the Beer Man" over the years. Bimstein began "The Bushy Wushy Rag" by visiting Busch Stadium, recording the crack of the bat from behind home plate, the ball slamming into the catcher's mitt, and other baseball game sounds. He then combined these sampled sounds with stories told by the charming Bushy Wushy, all tied together with a score for wind quintet. Listeners will also hear echoes of music associated with baseball and St. Louis, such as The Maple Leaf Rag written about 100 years before by Scott Joplin in St. Louis.

NPR seems to love Bimstein’s music. Appearing on Weekend Edition, he discussed the CD’s title track “Larkin Gifford’s Harmonica.”

The New York Times warmly praised this second Starkland CD from Phillip Bimstein, stating, "The irresistible charm of Mr. Bimstein's music has less to do with technology than with his uncanny knack for finding the music of everyday life." Stereophile calls Bimstein "an American original” who “has evolved into a singular musical entity.” The audiophile magazine adds that this CD is “stunning and heartwarming,” offering “quirky, moving, and delightful musical journeys.”

“The Bushy Wushy Rag” is performed by the Equinox Chamber Players, who premiered the work in their hometown of St. Louis.

Read more about Phillip Bimstein’s Larkin Gifford’s Harmonica CD.

The CD is available at Amazon.

This is not the first time Starkland has homered with a Bimstein CD. His first Starkland release, Garland Hirschi's Cows, was widely praised and triggered hundreds of calls to radio stations around the country. Stereophile wrote that the “brilliantly original” Bimstein is “outstanding in his field” and uses “digital sampling technology to tell wry and moving stories, and to elevate the mundane to the level of high art."

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