#4120: Music in the Harmonic Series - Loud, Louder, Muted
Hear music in the harmonic series on this New Sounds. It might be from a tuning method called just intonation, (sometimes, “Pure Intonation,” which goes back to Pythagoras), where the frequency of each sound is a whole number multiple of the fundamental (the lowest frequency.) Listen to music by the late composer & guitarist Glenn Branca, which uses this tuning and explores the limits of loudness. There’s also music by composer Michael Harrison for multiple layers of cellist Clarice Jensen and a sine wave generator. Plus, hear a work for eight muted trumpets by La Monte Young, along with percussion music by English music producer Chris Hughes.
Take a listen to one of Glenn Branca’s early works for multiple electric guitars, “Ascension,” which explores alternate tuning systems (just intonation) and the way that these guitars at high volume would play with and against each other, creating overtones and audible beating patterns. (Note: Branca’s definition of “loud” was probably very different from most listeners.)
Then, listen to music by La Monte Young, a composer who works with extreme duration and extreme volume. Hear a piece with similar tunings and similar possibilities for eight muted trumpets from a 1993 New Sounds Live recording, where the notes interact with each other and reinforce each other.
Hear 25 layers of cellist Clarice Jensen (who is also the artistic director of ACME, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble), from her debut record, in a work for solo cello, 25 multi-tracked cellos, and a sine wave generator– “Cello Constellations.” The work was written for Jensen by composer Michael Harrison, and is a vast exploration of the harmonic series. Plus, listen to music by English music producer Chris Hughes (Tears for Fears, Adam & the Ants.) His piece, “Shift”, is based on American minimalist composer Steve Reich’s “Violin Phase,” but is for samples of mallet percussion via sequencer and drums.
PROGRAM #4120: Music From the Harmonic Series (First aired 5/30/2018)
ARTIST: Clarice Jensen
WORK: Michael Harrison: Cello Constellations [1:00]
RECORDING: For This From That Will Be Filled
SOURCE: Miasmah Records 041
INFO: claricejensen.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Glenn Branca (guitar, music), Ned Sublette (guitar), David Rosenbloom (guitar), Lee Ranaldo (guitar), Jeffrey Glenn (bass), Stephan Wischerth (drums)
WORK: The Ascension [13:12]
RECORDING: The Ascension
SOURCE: 99 Records, 1981 LP
INFO: reissued on CD by New Tone Records, felmay.it
ARTIST: The Theater of Eternal Music Brass Band, Ben Neill director
WORK: La Monte Young: The Melodic Version of the Second Dream of the High Tension Line Stepdown Transformer from the Four Dreams of China
RECORDING: New Sounds live, 1993, Merkin Hall
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: melafoundation.org
ARTIST: Clarice Jensen
WORK: Michael Harrison: Cello Constellations [15:27]
RECORDING: For This From That Will Be Filled
SOURCE: Miasmah Records 041
INFO: claricejensen.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Chris Hughes
WORK: Shift - Part III (from Violin Phase) [6:33]
RECORDING: Shift
SOURCE: Decca 001562402
INFO: Reissue of Helium Records HeCD002, Available at Archiv Music
