In-Between: The Microtonal Universe

[torut]

Very nice. I'm intrigued.

I am glad you like it. I enjoyed Benary's Sun on Snow so much that I purchased Philip Corner's A Corner of Gamelan - A Selection of Compositions for Oriental and Western Instruments, expecting something similar to Aural Shoehorning, based on the title, the cover art (piano & gamelan), and the fact that Barbara Benary is featured on two tracks. However, it turned out completely different. It's not like traditional Gamelan (though I don't know it very well), Lou Harrison, Benary, or Alves. Corner's music is more primitive/austere, experimental (Cagean?), minimal, and meditative. I sort of like it and need to listen to his music more.


http://www.amazon.com/Corner-Gamelan-Selection-Compositions-Instruments/dp/B00O4S2RG4
(I couldn't find a CD version.)

[torut]

Ear Garden (American Festival of Microtonal Music, 2007)



http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/pitchrecs4

Johnny Reinhard: COSMIC RAYS - string quartet
Terry Riley: IN C IN JUST INTONATION - Just-fretted guitars, viola, harpsichord, kanon, guitar pulse
Philip Corner: (two) MICROTONAL MELODIES - trombone, theremin
John Cage: TEN - flute, oboe, Bb clarinet, trombone, piano, 2 violins, viola, cello, percussion

I bought this mainly for Riley's In C in just intonation. Probably because of the instrumentation and fewer number of performers, it sounds calm and meditative, reminiscent of the koto version. Very beautiful.

The compositions of Reinhard and Corner are really strange and difficult to me. The extensive use of glissandi caused sort of dizziness. The tags of the album on CDBABY is "Classic, landscapes, instrumental, weird, unusal"

Since I already had another recording of Cage's Ten, it was not my primary interest, but anyway it is a very nice music in 84 equal temperament. Here is a good article by Todd Harrop on Cage's microtonal music.
84ed2 (1): John Cage and Microtonality

[Cato]

Ear Garden (American Festival of Microtonal Music, 2007)



http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/pitchrecs4

Philip Corner: (two) MICROTONAL MELODIES - trombone, theremin


The compositions of Reinhard and Corner are really strange and difficult to me. The extensive use of glissandi caused sort of dizziness. The tags of the album on CDBABY is "Classic, landscapes, instrumental, weird, unusual"

A microtonal use of the theremin is practically guaranteed to be full of glissandi: the instrument is difficult enough with the regular 12 tones, let alone adding more/  Is the work in quarter-tones or third-tones or ....?

[torut]

A microtonal use of the theremin is practically guaranteed to be full of glissandi: the instrument is difficult enough with the regular 12 tones, let alone adding more/  Is the work in quarter-tones or third-tones or ....?

It's difficult to know. To me, it sounds like just gliding up and down continuously. The two movements are called "polymelody" and "harmonic stasis."
I hope this album notes on CDBaby helps.

[...] Besides incisive visual graphics to be interpreted musically, the score offers the following thoughtful designs by the composer:

...they move through glissandi
chasing each other at different speeds.
a play of approaching a unison and hovering on the microtones
teasing by being pushed apart again one leading and the other
following then a change of who chases who sometimes
actually coming completely in tune though never persisting there
staying around as if glued to each other maintaining out-of-
tuneness the smallest ones audible to the ears
often their course slow as to be painfully so but also playful
at times sweeping far away with fast movement.

[Cato]

maintaining out-of-tuneness the smallest ones audible to the ears
often their course slow as to be painfully so but also playful
at times sweeping far away with fast movement.[/i]

According to scientists, 1/12 of a tone is on average the smallest difference distinguishable.  So that gives a clue!

[7/4]

Ear Garden (American Festival of Microtonal Music, 2007)



http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/pitchrecs4

Johnny Reinhard: COSMIC RAYS - string quartet
Terry Riley: IN C IN JUST INTONATION - Just-fretted guitars, viola, harpsichord, kanon, guitar pulse
Philip Corner: (two) MICROTONAL MELODIES - trombone, theremin
John Cage: TEN - flute, oboe, Bb clarinet, trombone, piano, 2 violins, viola, cello, percussion

I bought this mainly for Riley's In C in just intonation. Probably because of the instrumentation and fewer number of performers, it sounds calm and meditative, reminiscent of the koto version. Very beautiful.

I was at that performance! I've never heard the recording. I thought the performance was magic.

[torut]

I was at that performance! I've never heard the recording. I thought the performance was magic.

That is great. It is my favorite version of In C so far, though I have heard only 5 versions.

There are many interesting stuff on AFMM. I want to check them out sometime.

According to scientists, 1/12 of a tone is on average the smallest difference distinguishable.  So that gives a clue!

Average untrained listener? I am not sure if I can distinguish such a difference. Johnny Reinhard, the founder of AFMM, developed "128 tuning" (128 tones per octave). I think it is not equal temperament, but the difference should be much smaller than 1/12 tone. His music is quite esoteric to me, but I found this An improvisation in Reinhard 128 Tuning by Chris Vaisvil is pretty and beautiful, sounding like music from the other world.
https://www.youtube.com/v/CiCRI-i7-gs

[torut]

Robin Hayward - Plateau Square (2011) for Microtonal F tuba plus surround-sound system
https://www.youtube.com/v/pEeXyAHegyI

Robin Hayward: Nouveau Saxhorn Nouveau Basse ~ elegy to a failed instrument (2014)
[asin]B00JJXYVNQ[/asin]

Microtub: Star System (2014)
[asin]B00NHPM9CW[/asin]
(The CD will be released on November 25, but mp3 album can be downloaded now from emusic.)

Robin Hayward is a composer and player of microtonal tuba he developed in 2009. His music is mostly static, in the same vein as Young's music. Nouveau Saxhorn Nouveau Basse contains two solo pieces for microtonal tuba (with loud speakers) and a duo piece with guitar. The title refers to an instrument Adolphe Sax invented. Microtub is a microtonal tuba ensemble consisting of Hayward (microtonal F tuba), Kristoffer Lo (C tuba) and Martin Taxt (C tuba). The musics are very slow and the sounds are intriguingly beautiful.

[torut]

POSTCAGE

Works of Maria De Alvear, Dionysis Boukouvalas, David Kotlowy, Marc Chan, David Beardsley, Sebastián Jatz Rawicz, Walter Horn, David Toub, Sergio Luque, John Prokop, Jürg Frey, Arved Ashby, Robert Moran, Philip Glass, J.R. Dooley

For Feldman

Feldman's early string quartets (1954, 1956) and works of David Beardsley, David Toub, David Kotlowy, John Prokop.

These nice tribute albums contains microtonal music of David Beardsley.

November Test Pattern, the ecstasy of electric trees weeping in the twilight including recumbent bright insects and relevant footnotes (2009) for just intonation sine tones
as beautiful as a crescent of a new moon on a cloudless spring evening (2004) for string quartet

It's really difficult to describe the music. In addition to Cage and Feldman, La Monte Young's influence can be heard, especially in November Test Pattern ..., which gave me a strange, otherworldly feeling. as beautiful as a crescent ... starts like Cage's number pieces (with less silence), but it grows into a very interesting sound world during its long duration.

These are some of my favorite pieces. Many excellent works can be found on the soundcloud site and youtube.

Xouoxno 1 (1995-2000)
https://www.youtube.com/v/GSDlWRMG_Zk

Earth Music As Background To The Bells? (2013)
https://soundcloud.com/biink/earth-music-as-background-to

[7/4]

...and this too:

Venus and a Moon setting in the West, a view through the trees

[torut]

...and this too:

Venus and a Moon setting in the West, a view through the trees

Thank you, I had forgotten that other account of soundcloud. It's very nice dark ambient.

I ordered IDEAS (including Sonic Bloom) which was back-order. Now it's "out of stock" on the site...

[7/4]

I don't know what's up with that, I'll send a note to AFMM and ask.

Sonic Bloom is related to Venus and a Moon, same tuning, same patch.

[7/4]

I recommended it to someone yesterday and they told me the same thing.

[torut]

Thank you very much!

There are also some full albums on Biink! but they are out of print? Any plan of re-releasing, or distributing them through bandcamp etc.?

[7/4]

Thank you very much!

There are also some full albums on Biink! but they are out of print? Any plan of re-releasing, or distributing them through bandcamp etc.?

nah!

[torut]

nah!

I see. I wish they will become available in one way or another.

[torut]

I found myself purchasing music from labels directly or through bandcamp more and more. Recently, I found Andrew McIntosh's Hyenas in the Temples of Pleasure including his microtonal works. I am really glad a full-length album of his works has been released. At first, the music sounded simple, but its effect is mesmerizing. (The scores can be downloaded from Plainsound.)

[Fagotterdämmerung]

Aural Shoehorning (1. Plainsong)
https://www.youtube.com/v/__7AR6nCmKQ

What a fascinating piece, despite being so simple. It and some other pieces posted on this thread have made me realize there's a lot of avenues to microtonality other than just filling in the spaces between B and Bb and suchlike. I'll watch this thread with interest.

[torut]

What a fascinating piece, despite being so simple. It and some other pieces posted on this thread have made me realize there's a lot of avenues to microtonality other than just filling in the spaces between B and Bb and suchlike. I'll watch this thread with interest.

I think microtonality has limitless possibilities. It could be one of the major sources of future music. Yes it is not new, and there are already many tunings of ancient music or non-western traditional music which are not equal temperament, but the possibilities have not been exhausted yet, I suppose. Until recently I didn't know that there are so many composers pursuing microtones/JI, not only just as one of coloring techniques but also to achieve completely new sonic world, and I am sure that there are many more I don't know yet.

[milk]

I think microtonality has limitless possibilities. It could be one of the major sources of future music. Yes it is not new, and there are already many tunings of ancient music or non-western traditional music which are not equal temperament, but the possibilities have not been exhausted yet, I suppose. Until recently I didn't know that there are so many composers pursuing microtones/JI, not only just as one of coloring techniques but also to achieve completely new sonic world, and I am sure that there are many more I don't know yet.

I still want to try to conceive of some kind of pop music with microtones/JI. I agree. I think there is a lot to be done here.