The two guest soloists, each skilled in improvisational techniques, performed in New York City on Friday night with cutting-edge chamber music troupe Ensemble Signal.
One soloist was human. Veteran flutist, composer and bandleader Nicole Mitchell is regularly (and rightly) praised by jazz critics for his albums and performances.
A computer program called Voyager allowed another soloist to listen to live performances in real time and improvise responses. First programmed in 1987 by composer, performer, and computer music pioneer George Lewis, Voyager’s discography is slightly less than Mitchell’s, but equally thrilling.
above 1993 CDs On the Avant label, Voyager acted as a real-time improvisational orchestra alongside Lewis’ trombone and Roscoe Mitchell’s (no relation to Nicole Mitchell) saxophone. By the 2019 RogueArt album “Voyage and Homecoming” The Voyager has been updated to play next to the same soloist on a computer controlled platform. disklavier pianoThis allowed Voyager to enter into a distinctive soloist tradition, partnering with orchestras and chamber music groups like Signal.
On Friday, at the Dimenna Center for Classical Music in Hell’s Kitchen, Voyager improvised on the Concert Grand Yamaha Disklavier, sharing the stage with Nicole Mitchell and members of Signal. These forces united to premiere Lewis’ Tales of the Traveler in the United States. lasts until saturday.
Lewis’s material for signals is fully notated. But his score doesn’t give improvisers notes to play. He also does not specify the instrumentation or the number of improvisational soloists. (The composer only gives the soloist entry and exit points.) Lewis only gives the soloist advice on what to do. No What to do when you get into a fight “You should avoid directly imitating melodic or harmonic passages,” he says, referring to what chamber music groups are playing.So what should do it What about improvisers? “Strategies for interacting with written music include blending, opposing or contrasting, and transforming.”
Undoubtedly, this was a lot of work for a 20+ minute performance at the end of one show. But as “Traveller” unfolds, this year’s concerts in New York have proven to be the highlight of his calendar so far.
In large part, this was due to the instrumental writings for Lewis’ chamber music group. With the Voyager out, “Traveller” still sounds bubbly. Full of high-stakes drama and responsive humor. (The 2016 world premiere of the work by London Sinfonietta There was only one human improviser).
Lewis has focused on performing chamber music in particular over the last decade or so. This hot streak includes:will to decorate And “As We May Feel,” and more intimate pieces like “The Mangle of Practice.”
In these works and “Traveller” I often immerse myself in the density of the instrument. A fast rhythmic acceleration and dry sound generating texture. But paradoxically, these moments rarely feel uncomfortable (as in other forms of modernism).
Even as the music stirs up intricate, tumultuous light clouds of competing motifs, quick, fine-tuned shifts in dense activity prepare for changing weather. The music slows down, making room for melody snippets to be sung sweeter. From there, various gradations lead to intermediate states. We find that the suggestion Lewis makes to the improviser in “Traveller”—to de-emphasize imitation and encourage contrast and transformation—is similar to the directive he imposed upon himself when composing.
On Friday, a Disklavier piano was turned toward the audience, and viewers could see the moment Voyager software running on a nearby computer chose to press the Disklavier’s keys.
“It’s alive!” I thought quietly, with the delight of monster movie-goers, when the piano first started playing. But “Traveller” also has a human pianist part in a chamber orchestra, so I had to pay a considerable amount of money. When A visual note to identify which pianist’s choice is Voyager’s.
In all of that technodrama, it was Mitchell who took the early demonstrative lead in improvisation, with some fluid, song-filled sounds that add lyrical depth to Signal’s raucous material. During this stretch, Voyager limited its contribution to the fluttering upper register filigree. And he sometimes chose silence.
But improvisation is also about knowing when to listen, so it wasn’t against the intelligence of the software. The provocation felt right on time when it was decided to play During the applause, there was some laughter when conductor Brad Loveman gestured to both soloists and prompted an ovation for Voyager, but the computer won acclaim for his program. rice field.
This was the kind of performance you would want to hear in your residence every night. Improvisation would be different. And notated music is great for listening to over and over again. But that’s not the world we live in. As such, Lewis duos for live players and electronic partners take place with some frequency, but with many human partners, the Voyager star’s soloist turns are more rare.
Time:Spans should be credited with producing a concert for just one night. Held each August by the Earl Brown Music Foundation, the festival is dedicated to filling just this kind of contemporary music niche. Over the past few years, Time: Spans has been the place where you can find important regional premieres by John He of Luther Adams, as well as lesser-known works of the Vanderweiser school. It’s also a rare festival with members from Freiberg, his SWR experimental studio in Germany.
In addition to Signal’s highly entertaining take on Lewis’ “Traveller,” Time:Spans has already put on some worthwhile concerts this year. In just one week he has enjoyed gigs by his Splinter Reeds quintet, the Argento New Music Project chamber ensemble and the International Contemporary Ensemble known as ICE.
ICE’s set on Saturday had many ties to the Signal show. One of his reasons for that is that there were three of his other works by Lewis. It was fun, but the brightest moment of that concert was a contribution from Mitchell’s pen, The Cult of Electromagnetic Connections. (This concert was entirely for human performers.)
Written for cellist, violinist, flute, percussionist and clarinetist (doubled bass clarinet), the ten-minute piece was often enhanced by a series of duos within the quintet. These vivid episodes were often tied together by a sombre but propulsive motif played by percussionist Levi Lorenzo.
This week we bring you sets from JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire and Talea Ensemble. Tickets are affordable. acoustic ground. That’s why I wander around town in the sweltering heat of midsummer.