Kingdom Come/Machinations

On this CD:

1. Kingdom Come (2 orchestras, organ, 1970)
Composed by Henry Brant
Performed by Oakland Symphony Orchestra / Oakland Youth Orchestra with Henry Brant
Conducted by Robert G. Hughes, Gerhard Samuel

2. Machinations (timpani, chimes, xylophone, glockenspiel, organ, E-b flute, ceramic flute, double ocarina, double flageolet, harp)
Composed by Henry Brant
Performed by Henry Brant

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
In most chronicles of 20th-century music, Henry Brant is given a special place as an innovator whose works explore the "spatial" possibilities of music. In many of his pieces, groups of performers are not only placed in different parts of the hall but are also given strikingly contrasting music, often requiring more than one conductor. The first piece on this disc, Kingdom Come, uses two orchestras. In live performances, Brant asks that one orchestra be onstage, the other in the balcony (for the recording, they were recorded in separate sessions). The first orchestra is a standard symphonic group with organ; its music is tense, dissonant, and played loudly and consistently throughout the piece. The second orchestra is, as the composer says, a kind of circus band, consisting of "slide trumpets, slide whistles, sirens, klaxons, buzzers, electric bells, ratchets, air compressors and a soprano who impersonates a psychotic Valkyrie." This curious assortment of instruments produces a strange merry-go-round music that intermittently clashes in an almost tragicomic manner with the serious, modernist tone of the stage orchestra. This is a fascinating piece, and it suggests layers of meaning far beyond those that the composer discusses in his useful notes.

The second piece, Machinations, is interesting chiefly because Brant, through the miracle of the tape recorder, plays all of the instruments himself -- timpani, chimes, xylophone, glockenspiel, organ, a number of varieties of flute, and harp. The work was improvised in a studio, and in the final mix some of the parts were altered electronically.

Tracks:

Kingdom Come
Machinations

Album Description

In most chronicles of 20th-century music, Henry Brant is given a special place as an innovator whose works explore the "spatial" possibilities of music. In many of his pieces, groups of performers are not only placed in different parts of the hall but are also given strikingly contrasting music, often requiring more than one conductor. The first piece on this disc, Kingdom Come, uses two orchestras. In live performances, Brant asks that one orchestra be onstage, the other in the balcony (for the recording, they were recorded in separate sessions). The first orchestra is a standard symphonic group with organ; its music is tense, dissonant, and played loudly and consistently throughout the piece. The second orchestra is, as the composer says, a kind of circus band, consisting of "slide trumpets, slide whistles, sirens, klaxons, buzzers, electric bells, ratchets, air compressors and a soprano who impersonates a psychotic Valkyrie." This curious assortment of instruments produces a strange merry-go-round music that intermittently clashes in an almost tragicomic manner with the serious, modernist tone of the stage orchestra. This is a fascinating piece, and it suggests layers of meaning far beyond those that the composer discusses in his useful notes.

Customer Reviews:

Music beyond Ives.......2003-11-28

Henry Brant is probably most famous for his explorations of music involving spatially separated orchestras and ensembles. Indeed, many of his innovations in this direction preceded European avant-garde rivals--as the rather strident inlay note points out. This disc showcases another aspect of the composer as well, his unabashed eclecticism.

Kingdom Come, for two orchestras and organ, is an astonishing collage-like creation. The work pits a more conventional orchestra against one with masses of bizarre percussion instruments and a screaming soprano. (The composer compares it to a circus band.) The two orchestras play in largely separate idioms: the conventional orchestra's music generally circling around an idiom somewhat reminiscent of Berg, Messiaen, Ruggles and even late Lutoslawski, while the circus orchestra evokes light music and regularly launches into bizarre percussive episodes, with buzzers, sirens, whistles and other such instruments. In the central section of the work the organ plays a violently dissonant improvisation while the other orchestras go on apparently unaware of the organ's entry. This is music that's as subtle as a blow to the head from a baseball bat, but it's also highly entertaining, even exhilarating, and also more serious than it appears on the surface. The performance (by two Oakland orchestras) brings across the spirit of the work very well, and has a splendid energetic feel to it.

Machinations is a multi-tracked controlled improvisation for timpani, chimes, xylophone, glockenspiel, organ, flutes, ocarina, flageolet and harp, all played by the composer, with electronic modification. Unfortunately, the electronic work mostly consists of varying tape speed, and sounds extremely dated. This is a shame, as some sections of the work are very interesting, and the music has a radically different surface profile compared to Kingdom Come.

Kingdom Come can be thoroughly recommended to those who are fans of Ives and more recent collage works by Schnittke, Berio, Bolcom and others. Once the surface effect has worn off, the work has more staying power than might be expected. Machinations, though, is less recommendable.

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