Listen to music for unusually-constructed chamber ensembles by Mexico-based Gabriela Ortiz, Tyondai Braxton for Yarn/Wire, UK-based Anna Meredith, and Sean Friar for NOW Ensemble. There’s concert music which includes writing for electric guitar, Caribbean steel pan and the pitch shift delay, along with more “conventional” instruments.
Listen to a work by Mexico-based composer Gabriela Ortiz, who works at the nexus of high art, folk music and jazz. Her piece, “Rio de las Mariposas,” inspired by harp music of Veracruz, is for two harps and a steel pan, and was recorded live at The 2021 Ojai Music Festival. There’s also a work by Scottish composer and clarinetist Anna Meredith that combines chamber music and electronic dance sounds as played by veteran English chamber orchestra Icebreaker.
AHear new music from NOW Ensemble, featuring flute, clarinet, double bass, piano, and electric guitar. Written by Rome Prize-winning composer Sean Friar, the work is called Before and After, inspired by the city of Rome, and the way that it just keeps on building on itself, with the centuries of humanity that has come before, right in the midst of new constructions, living in both the past and present.
Then, listen to New York-based percussion and piano quartet Yarn/Wire (two percussionists and two keyboardists) in a pulse-driven work by composer & looping orchestrator, Tyondai Braxton, called “Music For Ensemble & Pitch Shifter/Delay.” Plus, there’s a work by German composer and vibraphonist Sven Helbig, which calls for a string quartet, a trio of French horns, beats by avante-garde Chicaco-based sound designer Surachai, and tuba. That, and more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4571, Unusual Chamber Ensembles (First Aired 12/10/2021)
ARTIST: Yarn/Wire
WORK: Tyondai Braxton: Music For Ensemble & Pitch Shifter Delay [1:03]
RECORDING: Currents Vol. 0
SOURCE: Yarn/Wire
INFO: yarnwire.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: NOW Ensemble
WORK: Sean Friar: Before And After - Cradle [3:09]
RECORDING: Before and After
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: nowensemble.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: NOW Ensemble
WORK: Sean Friar: Before And After - Artifact [1:37]
RECORDING: Before and After
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: nowensemble.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: NOW Ensemble
WORK: Sean Friar: Before And After - Rally [5:51]
RECORDING: Before and After
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: nowensemble.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Sven Helbig
WORK: Repetition [4:56]
RECORDING: Skills
SOURCE: Modern Recordings
INFO: https://svenhelbig.lnk.to/repetition | svenhelbig.com
ARTIST: LA Phil New Music Group: Emily Levin & Julie Smith Phillips, harps; Abby Savell, steel pan
WORK: Gabriela Ortiz: Rio de las Mariposas [9:25]
RECORDING: Live, Ojai Festival 2021
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available
INFO: gabrielaortiz.com | ojaifestival.org
ARTIST: Yarn/Wire
WORK: Tyondai Braxton: Music For Ensemble & Pitch Shifter Delay [8:53]
RECORDING: Currents Vol. 0
SOURCE: Yarn/Wire
INFO: yarnwire.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Icebreaker
WORK: Anna Meredith: The Vapours [6:55]
RECORDING: The Vapours
SOURCE: Rookery Records
INFO: Available at AppleMusic, Spotify, Amazon.com
ARTIST: From Scratch
WORK: Zitherum drones [1:10]
RECORDING: Songs For Heroes
SOURCE: Rattle Records RAT –D002
INFO: genredefying.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: From Scratch
WORK: Pipes & drum stations, & soprano saxophone [1:52]
RECORDING: Songs For Heroes
SOURCE: Rattle Records RAT –D002
INFO: genredefying.bandcamp.com