source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 08:37:16 -0800 Subject: Re: Review From: Johnny Reinhard Last evening I had the pleasure of attending the Composers Guild of New Jersey performance at New York University. 3 of the 5 composer/performers were microtonalists. Paul Gallagher sang in just intonation based on a C fundamental and never deviated. The accompaning tape of his "The Kingdom of Mescal" (based on a Mayan story of a young man's quest for vision and knowledge) utilized Opcode's sequencer, Vision, to control the Ensoniq EPS16+ sampler, the Alesis D4 percussion module, and the Yamaha DX7IIFD synthesizer. Mary Platt provided excellent stage direction. Having presented Paul's work on the AFMM, it was quite entertaining to see him "moving" corporeally in his music, rather as a stick figure recitalist. The 20 minute work was roundly entertaining. The JI was most apparent in the taped music, for Paul's standard even vibrato seemed to camaflage its pedigree. Pete Rose the virtuoso recorderist presented several of his improvisation/compositions. SNSI with soprano and sopranino recorders played simultaneously emphasizes beating, glissando effects, an micro-relationships of sound. "Palindrome Over the Low Notes" and "Rapid Shave" allowed for singing in combination with tenor and alto recorders, respectively, to finish the set. Pete does not usually indicated exact microtonal fingerings in his set pieces, preferring jazz forms and humor. However, he is most capable in written works of this kind by other composers. Virginia Johnston's "Sojourns" contained what sounded like 1/8th tone passages (if they were indeed measured) in the context of a trio for flute, bassoon, and clarinet (played by the composer). Ms. Johnston 4th movement "Tale" begins with "mesmerizing clarinet microtones" [from the program notes] and begins an interplay with the flute and bassoon. Seasoned musician composers like Gallagher and Rose are an unfair comparison to a recent graduate, but if Ms. Johnston can break out of academic constraints - like matching already existing styles of composing so that she can truly find her own voice - then we look forward to her next and latest. Thanks go to Dinu Ghezzu who with the NYU Composers Forum presents this collaboration with the the Composers Guild of New York - now in its 15th year. Robert Pollack chairs the NJ group and though he is a pianist, he has truly worked to present an exciting array of concert music. Johnny Reinhard American Festival of Microtonal Music 318 East 70th Street, Suite 5FW New York, New York 10021 USA (212)517-3550/fax (212) 517-5495 reinhard@ios.com Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 14 Feb 1996 22:26 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id NAA15384; Wed, 14 Feb 1996 13:25:42 -0800 Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 13:25:42 -0800 Message-Id: <0099DEB342EE0C94.AA73@ezh.nl> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu