“Over 70 titles chosen from thousands of discs, embracing a huge range of genres, a good exercise to remember the year that is leaving.” – SA

Here is the particular playlist and here is the actual “event thread” if you would like to peruse through each post with the description of works and photos tagging along in some cases.

The first example I call to your attention is painting.  There is no need to recreate a painting, say, in front of an audience for enjoyment.  That analogy directed to composing tends to lead to the generalization of  “its not music, its art.”

To clarify, reproduction of an electroacoustic, sound art, etc., composition via performance is not holding all the properties of a work and simply playing every portion on a separate device individually.  To recreate a work would be to replicate the sounds and mixture of the piece.  If the piece calls for thunder, you must find a thunder sample, but the original is not handed to you.  The original traditional or untraditional instrumentation is fair game to slowing down, speeding up, reversing or whatever the wish of the composer.   It is possible, although, through a mind-numbing, painstaking process to score an EA (etc) piece through diligent documentation and diagrams.   Take this piece for instance.  Imagine reproduction/performance of Christopher DeLaurenti’s “Cocaine.”

Not well known amongst the mainstream classical arts is the fact that the above electronic works sound best when replayed through a sound system which, unless you’re capable of owning a large space for music (a sound installation), you’re not going to hear the best example of an EA (etc) work.  Here in Seattle, my favorite location for EA (etc) is an old chapel with great acoustics where performances are regularly held and, typically, an electroacoustic piece will be presented in the program on any given night. Sometimes the program will be totally void of performers and EA for the full concert. As with a performance via “performers,” there is indeed a unique experience for the listener with a lavish stereophonic setup and nice acoustic space.

The same connection from unreproducible and reproducible art can be made with theater – how that art form led to film.  For instance, great art film is not designed to be reenacted.  The process is too complex and the end result is there to be viewed almost perfectly when prepared by a skilled ensemble.  An ensemble may choose to recreate a film, but there is no way it will be near identical to the first.  The great independent film director, Gus Van Sant, took a shot at the idea of an “updated” exact replica of Hitchcock’s “Psycho” with a lackluster result. There are just too many variables beyond camera angles and dialogue to clone a film.  In that sense, there are too many variables beyond notes and time signatures to recreate an electroacoustic piece.

The idea that all forms of art need “reproduction” via performance to be taken seriously is a flawed notion.  As classical music is ancient, it makes sense that everything about it up until the 20th century was reproducible strictly through human performance (versus machines like stereos, CD players, DVD players, TVs, radios in the world we find ourselves today), with one large exception:  Improvisation.  There was no other way to hear the music beyond the first performance and definitely no way to capture a one-off performance such as an improvisation.  On a related side note, you know that fantasy we all have, about where we’d go if we had access to a time machine?  Personally, just above checking out if Christ rose from the dead would be a visit to Vienna to attend one of Beethoven’s legendary  improvisatory duels.

Not to dismiss notation – Consider the validity of other mediums.

I checked out Paul’s status.  A minimalist composer whose influence is Bach, composes for his church, performs in the local symphony.  I concluded this is definitely an artist worthy of joining the IF team, if not only to counter my temperament but to widen the scope of what ImprovFriday represents.

Paul Muller has worked with IF since late 2009 to really invoke what we are now as an event.  He consistently comes up with new ideas and lends his input on every tiny or significant issue.  Paul also played a large part in organizing the renewal of IF in the second year of our pay to host status and was an instrumental part of the projects, ImprovFriday Vo. 1& 2,  and  For Japan.  He has written several mini-reviews at IF as well – example and started up IF Radio which has turned into a joint project with Jim Goodin.  He also is involved in the project “What’s New at ImprovFriday” with Jim Goodin.

Paul released an ambient work definitely worth checking out titlted “dark sunset.”  Here is a great review.   

Paul is also an author at the Contemporary Composer blog at Sequenza21. 

This week at the event, ImprovFriday, we decided to add links to artist websites via contributors to our playlist and surfing through the links I came upon http://stevemoshier.com//.  And all this time I thought I was the only one to create a set of Bagatelles for piano in my circle of new music friends.  Steve Moshier’s “Unchained Melody – 8 Bagatelles for Piano” are not only outstanding, they represent minimalist compositional prowess. What I hear on a personal level is something akin to Julius Eastman with a touch of more complexity.

Have a listen for yourself:

Unchained Melody – 8 Bagatelles for Piano (1999) [1st Four] by Steve Moshier

“The Chrome Castle and an Overgrown Lawn” is a somewhat eclectic album consisting of improvisation, sound art, ambient music, noise and drone characteristics. Someone once advised that I not use the word “experimental” when describing a work, as apparently some listeners are quickly turned off by the term. So I will say it is “adventurous” and quite fun.

What Jeff Harrington really deserves is credit for rooting for the idea of IF while we were hobbling along Twitter and for using his own site, NNM, to lend a proving ground for how it could work at a central location. I did offer IF to Jeff Harrington when realizing how NNM blossomed with IF, but as the gentleman he is, he declined.

IF is also proud of Harrington in that he won the Calefax Prize in 2010.

David Toub was not only the first member of ImprovFriday; through numerous think tank sessions dating 2009-2010 he was vital to make IF an actual event.  Toub took over the helm of the group New Ensembles and Composers in 2010.

Toub is a gifted composer really worth checking out.   Post-minimalism is his preferred genre descriptor, creating great works in the early 80s and continuing to this day.