For the Bold, with OCD; and selected others...
Dr. Christopher Coleman | HONG KONG | 10/20/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Bang on a Can All-Stars fuse Rock with Minimalism in this recording from the turn of the millenium. Whether individual listeners will find the hybrid compelling or simply annoying probably depends on where their tastes fall in the musical spectrum--those who lean more toward the rock side may well be riveted, those toward the classical may be plugging their ears. The pieces are almost exclusively rhythmically driving, hard-edged, non-melodic, with slow or infrequent harmonic shifts; highly percussive, electronic, loud and uncompromising in the extreme. While it may (or for that matter, may not) have an intellectual rigor behind the compositional processes it is not easily intellectualized music. This is music to absorb and overwhelm you; not music to study or even particularly to think about.Arnold Dreyblatt's Escalator is an eleven-minute study in rhythm, working out a slowly changing texture with sudden harmonic shifts in an almost obsessive-compulsive way--very reminiscent of Philip Glass' earlier music. Julia Wolfe's Believing is similar in tone, but more compact and with more texture changes that probably make it more accessible to most listeners. I Buried Paul by Michael Gordon credits Andrew Cotton with sound design--the qualifier "almost" can now be dropped, as a single short figure is driven compulsively throughout the entire 9'39"--this one is particularly tough going for conservative listeners, and program notes might have helped...or not. Movement Within by Glenn Branca comes as a relief from the unrelenting motoric rhythms of the previous pieces--although in another context it might well be the most intense piece on the program! It utilizes instruments designed by the composer playing long sustained tones that glissando slowly in both pitch and timbre (a timbral glissando? but the term is entirely appropriate) throughout musical space. Whether the piece is successful at sustaining interest throughout its sixteen and a half minutes is debatable, but the piece ends well and segues beautifully into the final work. Exquisite Corpses by Phil Kline is the most traditional piece on the CD, having a jazzy feel--the use of the clarinet gives almost a touch of Kletzmer Band--with a more melodic and contrapuntal character than the other works, although the interest in minimalism is still apparent. Kline has an excellent sense of timbre, and the music has a very attractive surface that contrasts nicely with the in-your-face aesthetic of the other works. The All-Stars (Maya Beiser, cello; Robert Black, bass; Lisa Moore, keyboards; Steven Schick, percussion; Mark Stewart, electric guitar; Evan Ziporyn, clarinet) play superbly throughout, in music that is supremely difficult and requires unflagging concentration. Rating this disc is impossible--exactly what some will find its strengths, others will find its weaknesses. I can as easily imagine someone who never listens to this and throws away the CD as I can imagine someone who listens to it on a daily basis. Music that ignites such passion is well worth our attention, even if it isn't universally likeable."
Uneven, but worth every penny
Jeff Sackmann | Astoria, New York, USA | 01/29/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Full disclosure: I'm about as big a fan of the Bang on a Can All-Stars as one can imagine.
Many of their discs (like this one) feature a series of ~10 minute compositions by a reliable stable of composers, such as Julia Wolff, Michael Gordon, Arnold Dreyblatt, and Phil Kline, all represented here. While their work can be considered part of a distinct school, each composer is so unique, pursuing their own directions in post-minimalist music, that moving from one composition to the next can be jarring.
For instance, Wolff's music (such as track 1, "Believing") is intensely rhythmic with a few compelling patterns that crop up throughout her oeuvre. Gordon is often more meditative, though in such a way to prevent much contemplation: his rhythmic hooks are just as aggressive as Wolff's, but where her pieces repeat one or two bars, Gordon's will repeat a 16-bar chunk.
But I oughtn't get bogged down in the details. The trio of Bang on a Can founding composers (Wolff, Gordon, and David Lang) have become increasingly prominent in new-music circles in the last decade, and this disc is perhaps the best introduction to what they do. In a way, finding a piece to dislike is refreshing: BOAC has developed an ethos in which composers are not expected to adhere to any rules--it does mean trying out clunkers sometimes, but it makes the great works (and I find "Believing" to be one of them) all the more satisfying."
Pushing the Envelope
Etienne ROLLAND-PIEGUE | Tokyo, Japan | 03/13/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In the mid-1980s, a generation of composers born in the 1950s emerged with a sense of musical impatience to achieve something new, more immediate and direct. They were attentive to minimalism's accessibility and its creation of new audiences in a pluralistic time but also mindful of the intricacies of academic music which attracted more sophisticated listeners.
These post-minimalist composers matured at a time when European musical traditions had all but lost their privileged status, when recordings or references of non-Western music were more easily obtainable, when there was a rapid development in electronic music devices and techniques, and when jazz and rock had such a profound and continuing effect on American culture.
In 1986, three young composers from New York, Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe founded a new outlet for this music, the Bang On A Can Festival, which, along with its offspring ensemble, the Bang On A Can All-Stars, has continued to be a popular and indiscriminating platform for the new music of the past two decades. The creation of the Cantaloupe record label in 2001 brought some of these exciting new works to a wider audience.
The ambition of Ban On A Can is to sustain the emergence of an avant-garde scene in new music, which would be the equivalent of cutting-edge productions in other art forms: experimental films, abstract sculptures, bizarre installations, or really "out there" theatrical performances. There is already a public, small but dedicated, that is ready to experiment and encourage radical innovations in these domains. The sad truth is that, when it comes to music, this public is more inclined to patron independent rock, experimental jazz or electronic music than to explore modern compositions written for classical instruments.
In a way, this is only a matter of boundaries and of the commercial industry trying to push products into distinct bins and categories. Bang On A Can's performances, as sampled on this album, push these boundaries to their break point. They don't really belong to any genre, and the deliberate absence of cover notes reinforces this sense of strangeness. No amount of information or commentary can dictate whether or not you will like this music. If you want to make your own opinion, there is only one way: just listen!"
Track Listings (5) - Disc #1