Microtonal Chamber Music

On this CD:

1. Short Pieces, for small chorus Ave Verum
Composed by Tui St. George Tucker

2. Amoroso, quartertone variations for clarinet
Composed by Tui St. George Tucker

3. Der in Delphi, for voice and piano
Composed by Tui St. George Tucker

4. Herzliebster Jesu, variations on a theme by Crueger, for organ
Composed by Tui St. George Tucker
Performed by Paul Jordan

5. Jakugo, for men's voices & recorders
Composed by Tui St. George Tucker
Performed by Samuel Bartos

6. Happy Birthday, Dear Krzysztof, for recorder, strings & harpsichord
Composed by Tui St. George Tucker
Performed by Edward Brewer, Joanna Jenner, Eugene Moye

7. First Quartertone Lulluby, for 3 recorders
Composed by Tui St. George Tucker
Performed by Tui St. George Tucker

8. Notes From The Blue Mountains, for piano
Composed by Tui St. George Tucker
Performed by Grete Sultan

9. Second Sonata for solo recorder ("The Hypertonic")
Composed by Tui St. George Tucker
Performed by Tui St. George Tucker

Tracks:

Spiral - Oystein Sevag
Circle - Oystein Sevag
Pinehurst - Joanie Madden
Hills Of Ireland - Mychael Danna & Jeff Danna
Funeral - Mychael Danna & Jeff Danna
I'll Carry You Through - John Boswell
The Cloud - Bill Douglas
Hymn Of The Cherubim - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Navigato - Jeff Johnson
Oceanus - Jeff Johnson
Hanwi - Blue Chip Orchestra
Ashes Cold & White - Blue Chip Orchestra
Coils - Robert Rich

Product Description

1. Spiral - Bystein Sevag
2. Circle - Bystein Sevag
3. Pinehurst - Joanie Madden
4. Hills Of Ireland - Mychael & Jeff Danna
5. Funeral - Mychael & Jeff Danna
6. I'll Carry You Through - John Boswell
7. The Cloud - Bill Douglas
8. Hymn Of The Cherubim - Peter Ilych Tchaikosvky
9. Navigatio - Jeff Johnson
10. Oceanus - Jeff Johnson
11. Hanwi - Blue Chip Orchestra
12. Ashes Cold & White - Blue Chip Orchestra
13. Coils - Robert Rich

Format: CD

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing CD.......2007-05-12

I have several of the Hearts of Space Collection discs. I was disappointed with this one. It was dull. The music had no energy to it unlike some of the other HoS discs.

fantastic music.......2001-03-24

I have always been crazy about New Age music, esp. celtic. But this CD indeed surprises me for its variety and near perfection. The celtic part is ever fascinating and the native American part is mesmerizing. I like it. It's another gem in my timeless NA collection.

Average customer rating:

Chamber

Manufacturer: Pitch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Duets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Octets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000AA4KXI
Release Date: 2005-08-30

Average customer rating:

Of Abiding Interest
Not enough
Highly recommended
Personal response is not always judgment
Time to Reconsider

Sound Forms For Piano

Manufacturer: New World Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Canons | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Piano Music

ASIN: B0000030F0
Release Date: 1995-02-28

Tracks:

The Banshee
Aeolian Harp
Piano Piece (Paris 1924)
Sonatas And Interludes: Sonata I
Sonatas And Interludes: Sonata V
Sonatas And Interludes: Second Interlude
Sonatas And Interludes: Sonata X
Sonatas And Interludes: Sonata XII
Sonata For Microtonal Piano: Movement I
Sonata For Microtonal Piano: Movement II
Sonata For Microtonal Piano: Movement III
Sonata For Microtonal Piano: Movement IV
Studies For Player Piano: Study No.1
Studies For Player Piano: Study No.27
Studies For Player Piano: Study No.36

Amazon.com

Three important early pioneers of New Music make tremendous splashes on this anthology of works for the piano. Pianist Robert Miller opens the collection with three of Cowell's distinctive, swirling pieces, bowing the piano strings with a fury for sonic expansion. Miller also engages Cowell's unforgettable chord clusters, with their large, slamming intensity and rich resonance. He also takes on several of Cage's early Sonatas and Preludes for prepared piano and Nancarrow's influential, oddly virtuosic Studies for Player Piano, examining alterations in both pianistic tone and execution. Ben Johnston's lively, Cowell-inspired Sonata for Microtonal Piano rounds out this comprehensive overview of avant-garde 20th-century piano music. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

Of Abiding Interest.......2007-04-20

"Experimental" though they may be, the pieces on this CD meet one of the criteria for great music: they not only hold up on repeated listening, but can inspire additional insights. Cowell's work was almost an end in itself - there wasn't anywhere else to go in that direction, but it now seems inevitable that someone would play the piano in that way. The Cage pieces are delightful, enjoyable on the superficial level yet containing enough substance to maintain interest. The Johnston piece suffers in that the composer may have attempted to do too much at once - not only is it written in a highly complex microtonal scale, it dispenses with conventional sonata form. Either of these by themselves would have been enough. The Nancarrow pieces, representing a fraction of his writing for player piano, are astonishing and must be heard to be believed.

The liner notes are unusually extensive, although given the subject matter, a lesser treatment would not have sufficed - the novice is given a complete introduction to these works. Included is an essay on the history of the piano in America, outlines of each composer's life and work, and discussions of the individual pieces (with an additional one by Johnston himself).

The works presented here are not simply ideosyncratic exercises in oddity - they are profoundly approachable on many levels, and served as an inspiration to later composers. For example, the prepared piano is an indispensable component of Arvo Pärt's "Tabula Rasa."

Not enough.......2006-06-25

I fail to see how Messiaen had anything to do with this music, the American innovators/composers had their own language,a world apart from Europe,in gesture, in content, in source, in development/ Messiaen developed his own sense of rhythm from the East and the seriality of it. With impressive pieces as his "Chronochromie for orchestra" and his piano music was innovative with another content to pursue/ and here the only disappointment is that it is all excerpts except for the Johnston "Suite" a self-contained piece.
The prepared piano,is/was/ where you place nuts, bolts, wood-screws, erasers and pencils inbetween on the internal strings of a piano. It for the record was invented.suggested by Cowell, Cage merely perfected the instrument, and curious how there really is no literature for the instrument after Cage. The Sonatas and Interludes of Cage was a kind of summit for expression,an un-romanticized way, Cage was also interested in proportions,structure that had no dramatic telos somewhat anti-serial,third person, how durations come to inhabit spaces in a live situation. This music is traditionally very gorgeous,spacious and focused and the most beautiful music Cage ever wrote. Much of the prepared piano music had a dramatic purpose and was written for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company largely ignored in the early years of their existence by the "savy?" New York critics.(They also found painter Cy Twombly to be uninteresting) It was not until the Company and Cage was recognized elsewhere(Europe) is when the New York illiterate critics finely saw something innovative.
The Cowell pieces herein, as well are two small examples embark of the utilization of the extended piano, playing with the flesh of the hand on the inner strings of the piano,sometimes the pianist depresses the tones on the keyboard silently then harp like running fingers or plucking the strings, Clusters and percussive like gestures as well were utilized by Cowell. He played all this music also in Europe in the Twenties. I wish there was more that Johnston wrote for the piano, microtonal or otherwise, for the language of just intonation of different tuning systems ,utilizations of different scales all had incredible potential. Johnston also saw the creative paradigm of finding usable musical forms as "containers" for the timbres of just intonation unlike some other practicioners who merely "pour" it into well-known moribund forms as Harry Partch.It still reamins a problem for just intonation music to find equally innovative forms to equal the transfomration of timbre,and how we come to listen. Nancarrow is/was another neglected creator,only in his last years was his music known at all, and here you get small excerpts from the larger "Studies",the first to use musical automata the innovativeness is in rhythm only for tone manipulations and pitches are at a minimum,I really don't know if he could have gone atonal with this rhythmic discoveries.

Highly recommended.......2003-05-16

This is, without doubt, one of the finest recordings of American experimental music ever issued, performed with loving care by the late, great Robert Miller except for Nancarrow's studies. The excellent notes by Charles Hamm should prepare listeners unfamiliar with this musical universe for what they are going to hear.

Although there is a logical connection between the works that imaginative juxtaposition on the disc enhances, Cowell, Cage, Johnston, and Nancarrow arrive at their musical conclusions from completely different directions. This disc is a tribute to the nonuniformity of American experimental music.

Listeners should spend some time at their local music libraries familiarizing themselves with the scores, just to see how the composers get these startling results.

Personal response is not always judgment.......2003-04-29

I have my reservations concerning pure sonority, or intellectual game, or a combination of both as a basis for composition. But I also have reservations about what so many composers have done "on the keys" with sonority and intellectual game - or is it just plain "thinking" or "intuition" or "composition lessions"? Most of it, in any era, is either dismissed or lost, or never comes to light at all (never more true than now).

If one does not share Messiaen's religious viewpoint, his wonderful music can get (let's be gentle) tedious; it certainly borders on the pretentious at times (I know he wasn't that way personally); some might say blasphemous. But what is really his most accessible music besides the romantic and programmatic Quartet for the End.... (with those intellectualized rhythms based on a very personal reading of Indian tala)? All those bird (and bird as the spirit) pieces! Talk about (wonderful) gimmicks!

I guess the reviewer above shares Messiaen's heart/soul and therefore responds fully to the "Vingt Regards." (I like it, too.) But I assume that "new music" for him has to have a postromantic sensibility or surface attraction; has he read criticism/reviews, back to the 18th century, and not seen the pattern of nonacceptance of the new, whether it be sonic, intellectual or both? (Beethoven was "a madman," Berlioz a ringmaster at a noisy circus, et al.)

It's okay if the above reviewer doesn't like the music. The Cowell pieces are novelties, to be sure, but pretty darn important ones - and fun. Cage is in a non-Western place, so take it or leave it (or leave it and listen). Nancarrow's studies are a case of doing one thing, but doing it very well and for most of a lifetime. Those pieces are rhythmically shattering, defying all dance-rhythm expectations - not bad for a player piano. And, finally, my friend Ben Johnston's Sonata; about as radical a microtonal piece as he ever wrote (what is it, 77 nonidentical pitches?) with its interchangeable movements. In its original ordering, I wonder if an openminded ear can hear this without experiencing an expressionistic personal crisis unfolding. Just plain postwar beautiful!
There's room for all of it in this great big CD world....

Time to Reconsider.......2002-01-26

This may not be the place to take on the dominant themes of classical music in the 20th Century, but it is available. These works are imaginative (at least in conception if not execution), radical, and were undeniably shocking to the less-jaded audiences at the times of their first performances. But their limitations are profound. They are all short, mostly under 5 minutes, although some form parts of larger works. Their emotional ranges are narrow, or I would go so far as to say, nonexistent. In the most positive light, they are mere exercises in heretofore unheard sonorities, awaiting future composers who will employ their ideas in the production of new masterpieces. But they are presented as if they are already those masterpieces themselves. This is a grave misconception, and reveals a total misunderstanding of what music, and not just "classical" music, is about. Great music, as all great art, has the power to change our conception of the world. On the emotional plane, it has the power to move us without necessarily resorting to manipulation. The pieces recorded here, for the most part, lack "soul," they are "square" (in spite of their originality) because their challenge to us is purely on the intellectual level. They abandon melody, harmony, rhythm, consonance, and conventional methods of playing merely to showcase clever ideas.

Tracks:

Carter Scholz: Rhythmicon
Lou Harrison: Scenes from Nek Chand
Lou Harrison: Scenes from Nek Chand
Lou Harrison: Scenes from Nek Chand
Lou Harrison: Tandy's Tango
Lou Harrison: Cinna
Lou Harrison: Palace Music
Lou Harrison: Plaint & Variations on 'Song of Palestine'
Lou Harrison: Plaint & Variations on 'Song of Palestine'
Lou Harrsion: Serenado por Gitaro
Harry Partch: Letter from Hobo Pablo
Harry Partch: December 1942
Harry Partch: December 1942
Harry Partch: December 1942
Harry Partch: Three Intrusions
Harry Partch: Three Intrusions
Harry Partch: Three Intrusions
Terry Riley: Harp of New Albion
Terry Riley: Harp of New Albion
John Schneider: Lament

Album Description

This recording features the premiere recordings of works by the late Lou Harrison and the legendary Harry Partch. John Schneider, guitarist and Los Angeles radio personality performs on a wide variety of guitars using such instruments as Partch's microtonal Adapated Guitars, Martin, Gibson and Fender guitars, a National Resophonic Guitar, and other instruments that feature tuneable fretboards for various types of Just Intonation. Lou Harrison (1917-2003) wrote his last guitar piece for National Steel guitar, custom fretted in Just Intonation. The Scenes from Nek Chand uses a six-note mode and is based on the sculpure and architecture of Nek Chand in northern India. Harry Partch worked on the adapatation of guitars in the 1930s, using one for his Barstow: 8 Hitchhikers' Inscriptions (1941) (available on BRIDGE 9041). The opening of Partch's long lost song cycle, December 1942, begins with a setting of the jester's song "Come Away Death" from Shakespearre's Twelfth Night. Three Intrusions (1949) are the first compositions to use Partch's newly invented Diamond Marimba and the Adapted Guitar 2. Both of these works feature Schneider singing and intoning the vocal parts, as well as performing on copies of Partch's Adapted Guitars.

Also available: Just West Coast, John Schneider guitars, BRIDGE 9041

Customer Reviews:

The only record of its kind, and well-done.......2006-01-10

While I too have some criticisms, I can't imagine anyone having the time to do all the unique things that had to be done to realize this album and still have time to get every little thing perfect. This stands beyond many albums in terms of performance and artistry. It is unique and varied. It is definitely a bit jolting in terms of consistency, from the electric-sounding track 1, to the Partch, whereas the rest is more normal guitar playing. But it is all worthwhile. Schneider's singing may not sound like Partch, but his inflection and interpretation are suberb in terms of following the composer's intent. His playing is technically brilliant. It is not fair but to view this as an early recording in a basically yet-to-be-explored field. I hope this album inspires many to build on the ground that Schneider and a few others are working to lay down.

inconsistent, directionless, some great material.......2005-10-15

The reason this recording is important is because it has several important pieces which are on record for the first time, a few by Lou Harrison, a few by Harry Partch. The performances are technically excellent but some truly lack soul. The album is for the most part consistent until we reach the Harry Partch material which seems out of place (this is when it takes a turn and makes the listener cringe), John Schneider sings on the Harry Partch tracks, the singing is very sub-par. He sings about being a hobo and riding a train but the voice sounds far too crisp and clean. But it's hard to complain because these are their first time on record and our only way to hear them. You need to close your eyes and Imagine a gruff, hairy, hobo singing them. Also, the piece written by John Scheider feels a little too melodic and peaceful for this record. This disk has some great material on it, but purchase with an informed mind.

Average customer rating:

Amazing CD at a bargain price !
a virtuoso pianist & composer

Introducing Easley Blackwood

Manufacturer: Cedille
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00004YLF3
Release Date: 2000-09-19

Album Description

The program includes movements from Blackwood's Clarinet Sonata, Op. 31; Twelve Microtonal Etudes; and String Quartet No. 3; movements from Ives' "Concord" Sonata and Elliott Carter's Cello Sonata; and solo piano works by Blackwood, Nielsen, and Casella.

NEW - Special Budget-priced "Cedille Artist" Compilations The four titles in the series showcase the label's most prolific recording artists (Dmitry Paperno, Easley Blackwood, David Schrader, and Patrice Michaels). If you haven't heard these outstanding artists yet, the new, budget-priced Cedille Artist series makes for an easy introduction to these acclaimed, Chicago-based musicians. These generous compilations - all over 70 minutes long - come with many complete works, not just short excerpts. Each is programmed to demonstrate the musician's full range of artistry over a wide variety of music styles.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing CD at a bargain price !.......2003-08-13

Masterful performances and wonderful recordings. There is an abundance of magic on this disc: Artistry , dedication and musical integrity can be felt throughout but in a warm embracing way . You get hit with lots and lots of notes in rapid succession but they are fluid and lyrical and create an impression that remains long after the last note has faded.
Varied and consistently excellent is how I would describe this offering. Very highly recommended. *****

a virtuoso pianist & composer.......2002-02-11

This is a sampling of Easley Blackwood's artistry as pianist and composer. His skill as pianist is remarkable, and he interprets the music of 4 other composers on this disc, as well as 6 of his own compositions. Tracks 4-6, Carl Nielsen's "Three Pieces, Op. 59", out of his "Radical Piano" CD, is great, and in Blackwood's hands sparkles...and the most "modern" selection on this disc, the Moderato from Elliot Carter's "Sonata for Cello and Piano", with Barbara Haffner on cello is another favorite.

Tracks:

Avalokiteshvara
Threnody to the Memory of Oliver Daniel
Sonata in Ishartum
Beverlys Troubadour Piece
Music for Bill and Me
Jahla - in the form of a Ductia to pleasure Leopold Stokowski on his ninetieth birthday
Serenado por Gitaro
Plaint
Variations on Walter Von der Vogelweides Song of Palestine
Serenade for Guitar - Round
Serenade for Guitar - Air
Serenade for Guitar - Infinite Canon
Serenade for Guitar - Usul - little homage to Sinan
Serenade for Guitar - Sonata
Scenes from Nek Chand - The Leaning Lady
Scenes from Nek Chand - The Rock Garden
Scenes from Nek Chand - The sinuous arcade with swings in the arches
Tandys Tango
A Waltz for Evelyn Hinrichsen

Customer Reviews:

Up-beat modernist guitar disc.......2004-06-27

If you don't know Lou Harrison's music that is lively and effusive in its essence try this disc! I have played it many times and find it continually rewarding.

Average customer rating:

Microtonal Compositions

Manufacturer: Cedille
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000009KIL
Release Date: 2005-01-04

Tracks:

Fanfare in 19-Note Equal Tuning, Op.28a
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 16 Notes: Andantino
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 18 Notes: Allegro Volando
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 21 Notes: Ste In Four Movts
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 23 Notes: Allegro Moderato
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 13 Notes: Sostenuto
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 15 Notes: Lento
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 17 Notes: Con Moto
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 22 Notes: Andante Ma Non Troppo
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 24 Notes: Moderato
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 14 Notes: Allegramente
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 20 Notes: Comodo
Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op.28: 19 Notes: Allegro Moderato
Ste in 15-Note Equal Tuning, Op.33: I. Prld (Allegro) - Jeffery Kust
Ste in 15-Note Equal Tuning, Op.33: II. Sarabande (Andante) - Jeffery Kust
Ste in 15-Note Equal Tuning, Op.33: III. Gavotte (Tempo) - Jeffery Kust
Ste in 15-Note Equal Tuning, Op.33: IV. Gigue (Vivo) - Jeffery Kust

Average customer rating:

The Adding Machine

Manufacturer: Cantaloupe
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
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Animal Magnetism

ASIN: B00005UT70
Release Date: 2002-02-12

Tracks:

International Dateline, for strings & percussion
Adding Machine, for strings & percussion
Lapse, for strings, hurdy-gurdy & percussion
House of Twang, for double bass, excited strings bass, thumbnail zither & percussion
Meantime, for double bass, modified electric guitar, violin, percussion & cimbalom

Average customer rating:

I'm sold
truthfully, I haven't heard it...

Rhys Chatham Compendium

Manufacturer: Table of Elements
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000062YAU
Release Date: 2002-04-16

Tracks:

An Angel Moves Too Fast To See (Edit)
Guitar Trio (Edit)
Drastic Classicism (Edit)
Two Gongs (Edit)
Guitar Cetet (Bonus Track Not Contained In Box Set)
Waterloo, No. 2 (Edit)
Die Donnergotter (Complete Version)

Customer Reviews:

I'm sold.......2002-08-10

Rock instruments amassed in orchestral-size forces. It wallows in that strange area where minimalism and classic rock music unconsciously make their closest approaches to each other. Definitely reminescent of Branca.

A couple of times, while listening to this CD, I would think to myself "That was a really interesting piece, but then it ended so abruptly. Why doesn't he ever develop any of his ideas?" Then I would remember that I'm listening to a CD of excerpts. I'll be buying the 3-CD set when it comes out.

truthfully, I haven't heard it..........2002-06-22

...except for the snippets here, which sound great. But I just thought people might want to know that this disc is a sampler for an upcoming box set (three CDs, I think). On the box set, some or all of these songs will be available in versions of greater length.

Average customer rating:

Fantastic!

Animal Magnetism

Manufacturer: Tzadik
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
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The Adding Machine
Renegade Heaven

ASIN: B000003YSM
Release Date: 1995-05-23

Tracks:

Animal Magnetism: Point Rotation
Animal Magnetism: Next Slide
Animal Magnetism
Animal Magnetism: Group Velocity
Animal Magnetism: Side Band
Animal Magnetism: Flashbulb History
Animal Magnetism: Epilogue

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic!.......2000-01-08

This is one of the best peices of music I have ever come across, and yet one of the most newest sounding musics Iv'e heard in a long time, if not thee most. It's inticate simplicity, original, mesmerizing, dissonant, repetitious ringing pulse is SOOO wonderfully moving it can take you to another place(REALLY LOUD IS THE KEY). It has a variety of uniquely arranged instruments, such as the electric guitar which has built in magnetic driver-sustainers for each string and new frets that were installed in a just intonation, and many other cool, original instrument arrangements that really make this sound great and very different (like an acustic guitar outfitted with snares witch is played percussively with sticks, etc). Buy it!

Music Track:

Music Track

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