source file: mills2.txt Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 20:13:57 -0800 Subject: Re: TUNING digest 899 From: "Adam B. Silverman" David Jones wrote: >I thought I would post a short message >about a concert of [La Monte Young's] work "Chronos Kristalla" to be >performed Sunday, >Nov. 24, 1996 at 8pm at Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley. Commissioned exclusively >for Kronos Quartet. > >I have no idea what the piece sounds like (this is the West Coast Premiere >of the work), but as someone who had the pleasure of seeing Kronos 7 times >(including the entire "Salome Dances for Peace"), I heartedly recommend it. A great opportunity for me to reminisce about this _great_ quartet! It was commissioned by Kronos, but of course not -exlusively- for them (Kronos' standard exclusive-performance rights are three years). I had the great pleasure of attending rehearsals and a performance of this work, played by the Klangforum Wien Quartet (part of a terrific new-music ensemble, featuring a couple of former members of the Hagen Quartet), in a beautiful and resonant church in early 1995. The subtitle is "The Magic Chord x4," and is based on the "Dream Chords" from the "Well-Tuned Piano", played as natural harmonics of open strings. Very exact JI is required, and a Rayna Synthesizer is provided with the part-rentals. This was Young's first fully-notated work in about 20 years, and it is to me (a classical-person at heart) his most beautiful work. Fans of the Dream House and such computer-driven installations will most likely rejoice in the respiratory phrases of this work, while sacrificing very little tuning precision. A bonus effect, one not intended by La Monte, is the subtle increase in harmonic beating as the 2-hour-plus work progresses, simply due to the settling of strings and changing of temperature in the cold church. -Adam _________________ Adam B. Silverman 153 Cold Spring Street; A3 New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 782-1765 abs22@pantheon.yale.edu Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 05:58 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA16850; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 06:00:19 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA06317 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id VAA12176; Mon, 18 Nov 1996 21:00:17 -0800 Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 21:00:17 -0800 Message-Id: <01IC0CF6CO7695PF50@delphi.com> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu