Thanks to UB for your pm...
Gloria Coates
SQs 2,3,4,7,8 (Naxos):
I had mentioned about my preconceived notions about this music before hearing it, and, well, it does quite well live up to it's reputation, but thanks to God for letting Coates be just a little more original than I had anticipated.
This is certainly the most consistantly alien/other-worlds sounding music I have ever heard (in the conservative sense). Basically, and this I presume is a high compliment, but Coates sounds like Xenakis' good natured wife!; though, her glissandi simply don't remind me of Xenakis at all, it's just that he's the only other one who utilizes them in the same sort of way. Maybe Pendereck + Feldman (for the "tranqulity") + NASA + the '60s + ... well, suffice to say that Coates has one of the most original and recognizable soundworlds ever.
Describing this music will give me a headache, but it really sounds like what REAL aliens might be composing. Considering that this stems from the '60s, I find its' space-age-ishness... I don't know,...disturbing?,...creepy?... it's just pretty perfectly laid out for what it is.
I think the single mvmt. is the key to Coates. Even in pieces with multiple mvmts., some are more successful than others, I thought. There are usually contrasts between mvmts., but not within mvmts. So,
SQ No.8 (2002), in 3 mvmts., had two fairly amorphous mvmts. with one super-BladeRunner alien-chorale that just creeped me out no end (Groovy!).
She comes into her own in the mid-'60s, and by 1972's
SQ No.2 she shows herself to have quite a unique voice in the kaliedoscopic(?) early '70s (Crumb,... well, you know the rest). No.2 is a 6min, one mvmt. distillation, with the most variety of any single mvmt. on this disc. I think it's my favorite so far, simply for its' straighforward show: it's just like one of Penderecki's SQs, but, as if there were an alien intelligence behind the whole thing, as if the sounds actually had meaning, perhaps.
Nos. 3-4 (1975-76) form a nice pair, and it is fun to compare them. They are both 3 mvmts., with each mvmt. treating a particular muse. Honestly, I'm listening right now, and I just can't come up with the words... it's just so... so... literally, if Xenakis wrote music in kindergarten, and that's NOT a cut, it's just that Coates exhibits a certain idiot-savant/primitive quality I like, very naive and innocent and pure. Yes, Coates is one of the purest, that's for sure. Nothing stands in the way of her vision.
I do enjoy those alien/Klingon rhythmns!
Nos.
7-8 are both 9/11 inflected. No.7 is a single, 15min SQ with,... organ!!! It comes the closest to sounding like Xenakis (by default). Christmas tunes make their way through the... I'll just say that this one I had the most difficulty with just because of the whack factor, but I'm sure I'll warm to it. Still, it sounds like Xenakis + Feldman + serious bout of cocaine withdrawl. Much of Coates' music can sound like sea-sickness in space
It's ultimately very tranquil, yet very draining at the same time.
Oy! All these cross-glissandi do not make for a very focused writing mind! I can barely type this out!
(love/hate the new smilies!)
I get the feeling I'm going to want to hear the other disc (1.5.6). Look, what can I say, it's some of the boinkiest music I've ever heard. Will you love it? Will you hate it? Will you care? I can't say. I'm having a very strange reaction to this music, as if it were an embarassing impulse within me all along, and now it has been revealed, and I don't know whether to be proud or embarassed. I get the feeling her symphonies would be cataclysmic, neighbor inhibiting affairs!
The thing is, every now and then, a beautiful sad melody floats by, and then all bets are off...
Either way, kudos to Naxos for yet another "must have" out-of-the-blue five star endeavour. The Kreutzer Qrt. is known for championing rare rep (Gerhard, Finnissy), and this is quite a coup for them. This could've been the Kronos' finest hour, perhaps.
As for Coates being a woman, all I can say is that the avant-garde has been very good to women (Gubaidulina, Saariaho). These three have some of the most unique voices of all. You go gurl!
Basically, if Coates has been on your radar, don't hesitate! Wacky cosmic stuff!
