Avant garde songs

[Mandryka]

Enno Poppe's lapidary new cycle Blut -- there is some extraordinary vibrato -- it would be nice to have the texts

https://www.youtube.com/v/YJ_kO1kYdxQ&t=376s&ab_channel=grinblat

[not edward]

I think this disc would fit well here:

[asin]B01AKW1O6G[/asin]

[Mandryka]

I think this disc would fit well here:

[asin]B01AKW1O6G[/asin]

I'm sorry to say that, despite having tried many many times, I just don't appreciate Clare Lesser. One day maybe the penny will drop.

[Mandryka]

Differenz/Wiederholung 15, Bernhard Lang

https://www.youtube.com/v/7XorDxuCuVA&ab_channel=Belanna999

or for those with deep pockets here



I think it's just gorgeous.

If you search Lang on GMG you'll find this comment which seems to me absolutely totally spot on -- though this example doesn't have a huge orchestra, thank gawd.

Lang [Bernhard] (Seems rather pretentious at first. But dammit, those Differenz/Wiederholung pieces with loop generators and turntables accompanying huge orchestras... They work!)

The pretentiousness comes from what he writes. Lang is interested in repetition for reasons I don't understand but which have something to do with Deleuze 

I'd go further than Nathan, I'd say that many of his other pieces work wonderfully too  -- but more of that later.

Here's the note from the booklet of the Kairos CD

Number in the cycle Differenz/Wiederholung is a dramatic inscape comprising works song-like in form. The loop technique pre-sent in the earlier works is taken forward a notch, the aim being to complete a larger song cycle, the Songbooks. The vocal part represents, in an imaginary way, a number of whispered inner voices, ones associated with the uttering of demons, just like those tran-scribed in the medieval "Grimoires". These voices can only be heard in trance, where the subject is in an exalted state of awakened sleep. The writing for the zither is overlaid with an electronic texture and thus takes on a kind of double instrumentation. The work has, as it were, taken on board an exacting and demanding virtual conductor, one who only desists in the third piece. The work was a result of solicitation by Georg Glasl. [BERNHARD LANG; Translation: Graham Lack)

[Mandryka]

Hans Joachim Hespos Canzone. Canzone means song and it's avant garde so here is where it belongs. Good video -- but I'm not convinced that it has a distinctive voice (compared with, for example, Lachenmann)

https://www.youtube.com/v/RPjUADZRjQY

[Mandryka]

I have never tried to read Arno Schmidt as he is by reputation impossible to translate. This is one of two CDs with concerts dedicated to him, and I guess that is testimony to his high standing in the German speaking world. The reason I'm posting here is that it includes a sequence of drop dead gorgeous songs by Robert HP Platz - who is often a rather fabulous composer IMO, and another sequence of modern and sensual songs by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini, a new name to me but evidently someone who knows what to do to make interesting new music.  The Platz for flute and countertenor, the Scartazzini for little ensemble and countertenor, both  do show quite clearly how lieder is far from a museum genre - though I note wryly that neither include piano.

Check this CD out, it's cool.

[Mandryka]

https://www.youtube.com/v/UreUjz3mh5s

The first thing I heard from Thomas Ades were his Elliot landscapes. I'm enjoying returning to them today, an example of an op 1 masterpiece -- maybe all downhill from there with Ades.

[Mandryka]

Ratkje

I prefer Galas to Ratkje. It's extraordinary how the body, visceral music, is such a big deal right now.

https://www.youtube.com/v/EVYW2cTOSYw&ab_channel=queervoicesbook

but not entirely sure if they qualify as songs

If Swing Low Sweet Chariot isn't a song I'll eat my hat.

https://www.youtube.com/v/W-Mm1Nf_PrM&ab_channel=queervoicesbook

[Mandryka]

https://www.youtube.com/v/W-KuJko_aCk&ab_channel=JuanRaRivas

In Rachengold, Gerhard Stäbler sings a song.




Oh and I almost forgot to mention, he does it while gargling.

[Mandryka]

https://www.youtube.com/v/bF4QszdBvl0&ab_channel=WirbNeug


In Tiger Thrush, Ami Yoshida dares to sing in ways which no man has done before. The result is a sort of primal squeak -- as if she has just realised that she is trapped in her body and she's trying to get out.

[Mandryka]

Really nice thing here by Nikolaus Brass called Rose Ausländer lieder for four women's voices

https://www.youtube.com/v/NAYsX-tztYU


https://www.ricordi.com/-/media/Files/PDF/Ricordi/Background-Information/Brass/Website_Brass_Werkbeschreibung_Rose-Ausl%C3%A4nder.pdf

The CD it's taken from has some other interesting looking things, including a long and challenging piece by Mathias Spahlinger.

[Mandryka]

Gaijin is a Japanese word which is used to designate anyone who doesn't look Japanese. Pamela Z lived and studied in Japan. She is an American composer musician, and her piece Gaijin explores her experience of being Gaijin.

https://www.youtube.com/v/lNW7oXfmjl8&ab_channel=PamelaZ

[T. D.]

Gaijin is a Japanese word which is used to designate anyone who doesn't look Japanese. Pamela Z lived and studied in Japan. She is an American composer musician, and her piece Gaijin explores her experience of being Gaijin.

https://www.youtube.com/v/lNW7oXfmjl8&ab_channel=PamelaZ

Cool. I like Pamela Z and her theatrical use of electronics. Enjoyed her segment in Bang on a Can Marathon 2020 (online, saw it live).
It was somewhat similar (at least the apparatus) to this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebxvVJwGWek

[I don't know how to directly post videos]

[Mandryka]

Yes I agree she's very good indeed. When all this nonsense is over I shall try to see her.

[Mandryka]

Interesting song on this one, called fur Johannes Kepler. And the eponymous track, Natural Science is also not without interest, maybe, you have to be in the mood, a song for voice and stings, without any singing.   Christopher Fox is a marmite composer.

[Mandryka]

https://www.youtube.com/v/STKjaE9X2Ok&ab_channel=FranzBannwart

Larry Polansky's For Ben, dedicated to Ben Johnston, presumably using some sort of tuning he was keen on.

[Mandryka]

Is it singing or is it speaking?

https://www.youtube.com/v/W6EUA5-Jtac&t=4s&ab_channel=mondayeveningconcert

(Makes me think of those very early tape loop things by Reich, It's Gonna Rain, where the pitch and rhythm qualities of the voice become evident.

He's released CDs of this stuff, here with Hodges



and here with Knoop

[T. D.]

https://www.youtube.com/v/STKjaE9X2Ok&ab_channel=FranzBannwart

Larry Polansky's For Ben, dedicated to Ben Johnston, presumably using some sort of tuning he was keen on.

I like this! (but then I enjoy microtones and the Polansky music I've heard).
It appears to be part of a three-piece work, For Jim, Ben and Lou [Tenney, Johnston, Harrison]
http://eamusic.dartmouth.edu/~larry/misc_writings/program_notes/for_jim,_ben_and_lou_program%20notes%202011.pdf

[T. D.]

Is it singing or is it speaking?

https://www.youtube.com/v/W6EUA5-Jtac&t=4s&ab_channel=mondayeveningconcert

(Makes me think of those very early tape loop things by Reich, It's Gonna Rain, where the pitch and rhythm qualities of the voice become evident.

For speaking-type works with a political orientation, I like Rzewski's Coming Together. It made a great impression on me when performed live by Eighth Blackbird.

Several performances on Youtube, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfVowwgZuCQ

[Mandryka]

I like this! (but then I enjoy microtones and the Polansky music I've heard).
It appears to be part of a three-piece work, For Jim, Ben and Lou [Tenney, Johnston, Harrison]
http://eamusic.dartmouth.edu/~larry/misc_writings/program_notes/for_jim,_ben_and_lou_program%20notes%202011.pdf

Yes I like it too. I have his CD of it - so far it's the highlight, but that's not to say that the rest isn't interesting