SCOTT JOHNSON | PHIL KLINE
Scott Johnson: Excerpts From “How It Happens,” I.F. Stone settings Phil Kline: Zippo Songs, Rumsfeld Songs
» View slideshow of photos from the live concert!
Merkin Hall
at Kaufman Center, 129 W. 67th Street
(between Broadway and Amsterdam)
» Tickets
» New Sounds Live 2004-2005 Concert Season
Some years ago, composer Scott Johnson experimented with the technique of using recorded speech as source material for an instrumental score, with his catchy "John Somebody." He expands on this technique and plays with the unexpected tonal harmony in "How It Happens," a work for sampled voice and electronics based on the unexpected melodic speech cadences of I.F. Stone, and commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. (The late journalist, philosopher, and publisher of his own influential newspaper, I. F. Stone, was known for his unique blend of wit, erudition, and pointed political commentary on such things as U.S. imperialism, and his opposition to the Vietnam War.) "The Clouds," "It Raged" and "Cold War Suite" will be performed by Scott Johnson and Ethel.
Phil Kline's Zippo Songs are provocative and intense, hard-rockin'
music with settings of "poems" inscribed on army-issue Zippo lighters
by American GIs in Vietnam. The questions raised in the Vietnam era
are surfacing once again and make Kline's take on war and the
politics of war all the more poignant. Also on the program are
Kline's "Rumsfeld songs" containing texts from various Pentagon
briefings, all sung by Theo Bleckmann and featuring violinist Todd
Reynolds, percussionist David Cossin, and the composer himself on
guitars.
About Scott Johnson
Scott Johnson (b. 1952): Composer Scott Johnson has been a pioneering voice in the new relationship being forged between the "classical" tradition and the popular culture which surrounds it. Since the early 1980's, he has played an influential role in the trend towards incorporating rock-derived instrumentation into traditionally scored compositions, and has often used taped, sampled and MIDI-controlled electronic elements within instrumental ensembles. His music has been heard in performances by the Kronos Quartet and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and his own ensembles; in dance works performed by the Boston Ballet, the London Contemporary Dance Theater, and the Ballets de Monte Carlo; in Paul Schrader's film Patty Hearst, and in recordings on the Nonesuch, CRI, and Point labels.
Trained in both music and visual arts at the University of Wisconsin, Johnson moved to New York City in 1975, where his first projects included cross-disciplinary sound/visual installations and performances. His early experiments in combining prerecorded tape and electric instruments culminated in John Somebody (1980-82), in which the pitches and rhythms of recorded speech became the source material for an instrumental score; a technique which spread as digital sampling became common in the mid-1980's. Recent efforts in this field include How It Happens, a major work based on the voice of the late journalist I. F. Stone, as well as Convertible Debts and The Value of People and Things, both shorter works combining voice sampling with an electric ensemble.
About
Phil Kline
Composer Phil Kline occupies a singular niche in the new music world. From his beloved boombox symphonies to song cycles and string quartets hailed for their haunting beauty, political subtext, and often wry humor, a Phil Kline work is unfailingly fresh and charged, raw yet classic.
This season alone will see such diverse commissions as a work for string quartet and orchestra written for Ethel and the EOS Orchestra; LOCUS SOLUS, a violin concerto for Todd Reynolds and the Talujon Percussion Ensemble; and AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAZE, a much-anticipated 5.01 surround-sound DVD on the Starkland record label (the first commercially released DVD commissioned and composed specifically for surround-sound). BILITIS, his music-theater collaboration with composer Eve Beglarian, will have its debut at Arts at St. Ann's in January 2005.
Additional Resources:
» Scott Johnson's website
» Phil Kline's website
» New Sounds Live 2004-2005 Concert Season
» Merkin Hall
» Ethel's website
Scott Johnson: Excerpts From “How It Happens,” I.F. Stone settings Phil Kline: Zippo Songs, Rumsfeld Songs
» View slideshow of photos from the live concert!
Merkin Hall
at Kaufman Center, 129 W. 67th Street
(between Broadway and Amsterdam)
» Tickets
» New Sounds Live 2004-2005 Concert Season
Some years ago, composer Scott Johnson experimented with the technique of using recorded speech as source material for an instrumental score, with his catchy "John Somebody." He expands on this technique and plays with the unexpected tonal harmony in "How It Happens," a work for sampled voice and electronics based on the unexpected melodic speech cadences of I.F. Stone, and commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. (The late journalist, philosopher, and publisher of his own influential newspaper, I. F. Stone, was known for his unique blend of wit, erudition, and pointed political commentary on such things as U.S. imperialism, and his opposition to the Vietnam War.) "The Clouds," "It Raged" and "Cold War Suite" will be performed by Scott Johnson and Ethel.
Scott Johnson (b. 1952): Composer Scott Johnson has been a pioneering voice in the new relationship being forged between the "classical" tradition and the popular culture which surrounds it. Since the early 1980's, he has played an influential role in the trend towards incorporating rock-derived instrumentation into traditionally scored compositions, and has often used taped, sampled and MIDI-controlled electronic elements within instrumental ensembles. His music has been heard in performances by the Kronos Quartet and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and his own ensembles; in dance works performed by the Boston Ballet, the London Contemporary Dance Theater, and the Ballets de Monte Carlo; in Paul Schrader's film Patty Hearst, and in recordings on the Nonesuch, CRI, and Point labels.
Trained in both music and visual arts at the University of Wisconsin, Johnson moved to New York City in 1975, where his first projects included cross-disciplinary sound/visual installations and performances. His early experiments in combining prerecorded tape and electric instruments culminated in John Somebody (1980-82), in which the pitches and rhythms of recorded speech became the source material for an instrumental score; a technique which spread as digital sampling became common in the mid-1980's. Recent efforts in this field include How It Happens, a major work based on the voice of the late journalist I. F. Stone, as well as Convertible Debts and The Value of People and Things, both shorter works combining voice sampling with an electric ensemble.
Composer Phil Kline occupies a singular niche in the new music world. From his beloved boombox symphonies to song cycles and string quartets hailed for their haunting beauty, political subtext, and often wry humor, a Phil Kline work is unfailingly fresh and charged, raw yet classic.
This season alone will see such diverse commissions as a work for string quartet and orchestra written for Ethel and the EOS Orchestra; LOCUS SOLUS, a violin concerto for Todd Reynolds and the Talujon Percussion Ensemble; and AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAZE, a much-anticipated 5.01 surround-sound DVD on the Starkland record label (the first commercially released DVD commissioned and composed specifically for surround-sound). BILITIS, his music-theater collaboration with composer Eve Beglarian, will have its debut at Arts at St. Ann's in January 2005.
Additional Resources:
» Scott Johnson's website
» Phil Kline's website
» New Sounds Live 2004-2005 Concert Season
» Merkin Hall
» Ethel's website