Other Minds 2012

The Other Minds 2012 Festival continued its tradition of presenting diverse and unexpected new music. Some highlights for me included:

• Simon Steen-Andersen's Study for String Instrument #2 for cello and whammy pedal;
• Gloria Coates' distinctive, otherworldly String Quartet No. 5 in a steely, committed performance by the Del Sol String Quartet;
• Harold Budd's attractive It's Only a Daydream performed with the fine bassist Keith Lowe;
• The rich, sophisticated sounds emerging from Ikue Mori's laptop; one wished for more of her and much less of the long group improv that followed;
• John Kennedy's rhythmically engaging First Deconstruction (in Plastic) for various recycled objects, such as joint compound buckets, water bottles, yogurt containers, salad bar boxes, etc.;
• Tyshawn Sorey's varied drum set improv, followed by his shift across the stage to perform an accomplished, imaginative, atonal piano improv (not something you see everyday);
• Ken Ueno's Peradam with his effective string quartet music (performed by Del Sol) coupled with some sophisticated video created in real-time by video wizard Johnny Dekam.

L to R: Charles Amirkhanian, Harold Budd, Gloria Coates, Ikue Mori, Tyshawn Sorey

A special attraction of these concerts is that the audience, performers, and composers gather afterwards in the lobby to sip champagne, discuss the new music we've heard, etc. A great idea which I hope continues.

In the Fellowship Concert, which preceded the 3 main concerts and featured emerging composers, I especially liked: Peter Swendsen's Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is for bass drum and digital enhancements; and Jen Wang's Renderings of Things We Couldn't Take Home which uses the apparently uncommon technique of playing tam-tams etc. with tremolo bowing. A sprinkling of John Cage garnished this concert, all of which was expertly and sensitively performed by Rootstock Percussion.

Starkland's new Keeril Makan "Target" CD Now Available at Amazon, iTunes, more

Starkland has released Keeril Makan’s “Target” CD, which is now available at: Amazon, CD Baby, and iTunes. (You can hear previews at both iTunes and CD Baby).



Makan has been described as “an arrestingly gifted young American composer” by The New Yorker, and has already received some impressive commissions, including the Kronos Quartet, Carnegie Hall, Bang on a Can All-Stars, American Composers Orchestra, and the Other Minds Festival. The CD has premiere recordings of four works: 2, Zones d’accord, Target, and Resonance Alloy.

At New Music Box, Alexandra Gardner comments that the music gives "the ears a workout with timbral complexity drawn from a remarkably spare amount of material that sneaks up and delivers a whollop of powerful emotional content," adding "the recording is of excellent quality."

At Sequenza21, Jay Batzner writes, “The quartet of pieces on Target serve as excellent examples of what makes Makan’s compositions approachable and mesmerizing... Makan makes what should be simple and mundane captivating and engrossing.”

At The Glass, Chris McGovern writes, “Keeril Makan is definitely a composer that is destined for greatness, and this recording is proof of that.”

David Lang, co-founder of the Bang on a Can festival and a Pulitzer-winning composer, wrote the CD’s Introduction. He remarks that when he first heard Makan’s music he was “blown away [by works] so strong and so smart.”

The title piece emerged from Makan’s participation in the John Harbison/Dawn Upshaw Workshop for Composers and Singers. Commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Makan collaborated with poet Jena Osman to create Target for soprano and chamber ensemble. Regarding Target’s premiere at Carnegie Hall, The New York Times observed:

“‘Target,’ is a moody, ruminative and volatile setting of a text assembled from poems by Jena Osman and phrases taken from leaflets dropped over Afghanistan in the wake of Sept. 11, scored for mezzo-soprano and four instrumentalists, including a percussionist. It is meant as a stinging political commentary on American military intervention abroad. Mr. Makan responded to the earthy, rich and poignant qualities of Ms. Rubin's voice by writing music thick with sliding, moaning figurations for the voice and all the instruments… she gave a courageous performance of difficult music that clearly speaks to her.”

Lang attended the premiere of the “muscular and terrifying” Target, “a scary, aggressive juggernaut of invention.” He remarks that the disturbing text captures “a kind of violent, psychological damage that takes place deep beneath the surface layer of ordinary words.” The CD’s performance features Rubin and the California E.A.R.Unit.



The CD opens with 2, performed by the Either/Or duo of percussionist David Shively and Ethel violinist Jennifer Choi. 20th Century Music writes, “This was a masterful piece, one of the best heard this year. Far from music in the abstract, 2 is a work-it-out-in-the-raw-sounds kind of piece that revels in its sonic splendors.”

Zones d’accord is performed on the CD by Alex Waterman from Either/Or. Sequenza21 comments, “The virtuosity of Waterman’s right hand is truly stunning… [and he]draws out Makan’s ecstatic emotional arc throughout the performance.”

The CD ends with Resonance Alloy (commissioned by Other Minds), recorded by percussionist David Shively in an astonishing, single, unedited performance of the 29 minute work.

Lang concludes that “the emotionality of it all, the drama, the depth of feeling, percolating way down deep, never boiling over and yet never going away” is “strangely powerful, and all his own.”


Tom Steenland and Keeril Makan (and Louis Andriessen)

All the original recordings were made at high-resolution (24-bit,48k/88.2k sampling) audiophile standards. The three non-vocal works were recorded by the Grammy-winning Silas Brown.

Makan’s only other CD, "In Sound" (Tzadik), received impressive reviews: “Top 10 CDs for 2008” (New Music Box); “An amazing disc” (Sequenza21); “frontiers are crossed in this music” (American Record Guide).

Other Minds wrapup

Some highlights for me at the recent Other Minds festival are:

Louis Andriessen: An excellent performance of his chamber piece Zilver; several smaller pieces reflected a diversity I didn't know about; and his impressive piano improv work with vocalist Cristina Zavalloni.


Louis Andriessen and Tom Steenland

The strongly spatial experience of hearing David A. Jaffe's piece (a tribute to Henry Brant), which used instruments spread throughout the hall, all triggered via Trimpin electro-mechanical expertise.


Henry Brant chimes, deployed by Trimpin

Monica Germino commanded the stage with her excellent violin playing, and at times, singing too.

Agata Zubel displayed amazing extended vocalizations and convincing compositional skills in her Cascando and Parlando works.

Agata Zubel

And pianist Sarah Cahill again reminded us what a special talent she is in her fine performance of Kyle Gann's Time Does Not Exist.

We also heard impressive, virtuosic performances from Bali double-necked guitarist Balawan, jazz pianist Jason Moran, avant guitarist Fred Frith, and the Dutch hyper-drummer Han Bennink.

We are lucky to live in an age of so many prodigiously talented performers.

Other Minds 15

It's a pleasure to report that this year's 15th Other Minds new music festival was a solid success. It's the 14th year I've attended this distinguished series.

In some ways, Carla Kihlstedt was the brightest star at Other Minds. Her piece Pandaemonium, which concluded the festival, was attractive, distinctive, well performed by the always on-top-of-it Rova Saxophone Quartet, and enthusiastically received by the audience. The piece employed 2 narrators describing reactions to previous advances in technology, as well as having the Rovans playing some percussion and haunting harmonicas, all of which worked well. The 30-minute work was commissioned by Other Minds and Rova:Arts; they are surely pleased with the results.

In the opening concert, Carla donned her performer's hat to simultaneously sing and play violin in a virtuoso performance of Lisa Bielawa's effective Kafka's Songs, which, unsurprisingly, was written for this unusually talented performer.

Any electroacoustic or surround sound fans in the audience were riveted by the expert command of the hall's full space by Natasha Barrett. She has extensively studied surround sound, acousmatic music, and ambisonics. The first piece, Mobilis in Mobili, referencing Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, contained recognizable sounds (water, waves, a sea chantey, an organ) that flowed around us.

Natasha Barrett

Natasha's other piece, Kernel Expansion, was more abstract. Composed to premiere at the 43-loudspeaker Klangdome hall at ZKM studios in Germany, the piece uses ambisonics, octophonic panning, and sophisticated Zirconium software. Theory aside, the convincing envelopment and constant motion of sound within the overall space was thrilling. She's a master. The excellent sound emerged from 8 Meyer speakers.

I also enjoyed the piquant harmonies of Chou Wen-chung's The Willows Are New for piano, as well as the moody Epiphora (for piano and pre-recorded media) from Pawel Mykietyn. Both works were superbly performed by Eva-Maria Zimmermann.

Other pieces ranged from pleasant to uninteresting, to be expected at any such festival.

The Other Minds festival is unique; there's nothing else like it. Previous years have featured Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Conlon Nancarrow, Ingram Marshall, Terry Riley, Tan Dun, Laurie Anderson, Henry Brant, Lou Harrison, John Luther Adams, Fred Frith, and many more.

Credit goes to the tireless, hardworking, ever-networking Charles Amirkhanian.

If you care about new music, plan to attend in 2011.