#3999: Music In Counterpoint
For this New Sounds, hear works by contemporary composers interested in counterpoint. Counterpoint is the movement of two or more independent musical lines that add up to more than the sum of their parts, and J.S. Bach was an acknowledged genius of counterpoint. Listen to some contrapuntal music by the late Elodie Lauten, a work by Montreal-based Tim Hecker, some of the "Counterpoint" works by Steve Reich, and more.
Sample music by Steve Reich, from his Counterpoint series. For flute, listen to some of “Vermont Counterpoint,” then there’s "Electric Counterpoint” for guitar (and Pat Metheny), and for clarinet, “New York Counterpoint.” (There’s also “Cello Counterpoint” for Maya Beiser.)
Then, listen to music by the late French-born New York-based pianist and composer Elodie Lauten. Hear one of her minimalist piano works, “Cat Counterpoint,” where the piano is played in counterpoint to the electronic and sampled sounds. Also, hear a contrapuntal work from Montreal-based Tim Hecker which incorporates vocals and is based on medieval choral motifs. There's also music for saxophone from Raphaele Riccardi for the sax player Laura Venditti.
Finally, hear some of the music from the massive 12-part work composed between 1976-87, called “The Continuing Story of Counterpoint,” by the keyboardist/composer David Borden, which may be, according to AUDIO Magazine, “the 'Goldberg Variations' of minimalism - a canon of work that defines a style and an era."
PROGRAM #3999, Counterpoint (First Aired: 7/12/2017)
ARTIST: Steve Reich / Ransom Wilson
WORK: Reich: Vermont Counterpoint, excerpt [6:59]
RECORDING: Steve Reich: Eight Lines; Vermont Counterpoint; Four Organs; Philip Glass: Façades; Company
SOURCE: EMI Classics / Warner Classics 5099920662
INFO: Available at Amazon.com
ARTIST: Steve Reich / Pat Metheny
WORK: Reich: Electric Counterpoint middle mvmt [3:21]
RECORDING: Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint
SOURCE: Nonesuch 79176
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Steve Reich / Evan Ziporyn
WORK: Reich: New York Counterpoint, excerpt [3:30]
RECORDING: New York Counterpoint / Eight Lines / Four Organs
SOURCE: Nonesuch 79481
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Laura Venditti
WORK: Raffaele Riccardi: Counterpoint for Laura [3:50]
RECORDING: Electrosax
SOURCE: 4Tay CD4044
INFO: Available at Amazon.com & iTunes
ARTIST: Clair-obscur Saxophone Quartet
WORK: Christian Biegai: Quartet - III. Leicht [2:58]
RECORDING: Berlin Counterpoint
SOURCE: Solo Musica SM217
INFO: Amazon.com
ARTIST: Elodie Lauten
WORK: Cat Counterpoint [3:26]
RECORDING: Piano Works
SOURCE: Reissued in 2010 as “Piano Works Revisited” on Unseen Worlds - #5
INFO: unseenworlds.net
ARTIST: Tim Hecker
WORK: Obsidian Counterpoint [4:59]
RECORDING: Love Streams
SOURCE: 4AD
INFO: 4ad.com and Available on Spotify
ARTIST: David Borden / Mother Mallard, ft. Les Thimmig, reeds; Ellen Hargis, vocals
WORK: The Continuing Story of Counterpoint pt 8 [17:31]
RECORDING: New Sounds Live 3/89
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The work is available on Cuneiform Records | mothermallard.com
