Modern Classical Music

György Ligeti, Antoinette Vischer

Continuum is a work composed by György Ligeti in 1968. The work was written for harpsichord solo and dedicated to the harpsichordist Antoinette Vischer. A version from 1970, transcribed for barrel organ by Pierre Charial, was the version to enter the top 100 list this year but an older version (1968) recorded by Vischer herself later on scored the majority of points. From what I understand (from comments on YouTube) is that the piece is incredibly difficult to play. In the early 1960s Vischer had commissioned John Cage to compose a work for harpsichord but Cage was hesitant until, in 1967, he saw an opportunity for the harpsichord while on a Visiting Associate-ship at the University of Illinois' Computer Music program led by Lejaren Hiller. The two created a complex composition for seven harpsichords and 52 magnetic tape players called HPSCHD. The premiere at the University of Illinois in 1969 featured Vischer, David Tudor, and Philip Corner, among the seven harpsichordists. The composition is a work to experience, not suited for recording, even though a recording of it made it onto a disc produced by Nonesuch in 1969. I bought that LP this year but the track did not make it onto the 2022 top-100 list. Another work by John Cage did, also from an LP I bought this year, MagnifiCathy: The Many Voices of Cathy Berberian. [1971, Wergo] A Flower and The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs are two compositions by John Cage for voice and closed piano. Bruno Canino plays (taps onto) the closed piano behind Berberian's voice.

John Cage, Cathy Berberian

The great influx of modern classical music was not perpetuated by those two records that I just discussed but rather by a big Iannis Xenakis haul at a local thrift store. One afternoon in the Spring I found no less than five discs by Iannis Xenakis. I bought all five, and all five are really great. One of the five, also a Nonesuch LP (1968), is shared with a contemporary of Xenakis, the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. His Cappriccio for Violin and Orchestra on side B of the shared record comes into the Top 100 2022 as well as Xenakis' Akrata found on side A. Both works, the whole LP, was performed by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Led by Lukas Foss, the famous German-American pianist, composer, and conductor.

Lukas Foss, Krzysztof Penderecki

Iannis Xenakis is represented five times in the list, and is the highest ranking individual this year. Two further (after Akrata) recordings come from an LP on the Candide label, and were recorded by the Ars Nova Ensemble led by Marius Constant, who also founded the ensemble specializing in contemporary music and especially that of Xenakis. The LP is simply called Iannis Xenakis, the recordings are from 1967, and the top 100 titles are Syrmos for 18 strings and Polytope for 4 Orchestras scattered throughout the Audience. A different Polytope and Polla ta Dhina for Children's Chorus and Orchestra (from Album 2—Music Today series, EMI) are the other Xenakis recordings in the list.

Marius Constant, Iannis Xenakis

 

After Ian (anarchy)

Cover of Les Dani de Nouvelle Guinee, Vol. 1 (r) and 2 (l)

Hurricane Ian has been highly disruptive in many aspects of life. Today marks two weeks since it struck just a little north from where I am. Unlike some others I know, I was lucky and only had to deal with a foot of water in my studio and fallen trees. I only got back to work in my studio three days ago. The result above, is based on the cover images of two French research recordings, Volumes 1 and 2 from Les Dani de Nouvelle Guinee. [CRAVA/nordsud music, 2001] A track from each volume is listed in the Top 100 this year. I'll be more specific in a moment but now I'd like to write a few words about my experience with Ian. I learned something about myself these past two weeks, and this is that I'm fairly conservative; I don't like the lawlessness observed since Ian struck; I don't like anarchy. Growing up in the punk-rock era I always applauded the idea of anarchy. Anarchy was leftist revolution, so I thought, but now I see the world reversed. Now that some parts of 70s/80s ideologies have been accomplished, revolutionary ideas have shifted to the right in an effort to undo these accomplishments. I don't like it at all! Regardless of political leaning I see that humanity, in the context of hierarchies, is anarchy at heart. 

As far away from the realities of the aftermath of a natural disaster in the US, is the music of the Dani people of the Western New Guinea (Irian Jaya) province of the Republic of Indonesia. The two volumes of Les Dani de Nouvelle Guinee are filled to the max with gems of ethnographic recordings. From Volume 1 comes, like last year, Cour D’amour, Air Doux, Tiom, a beautiful example of polyphonic singing by men and women, and from Volume 2 Live beetle jew's harp, where a live (and buzzing) beetle is attached to a wooden splinter and is used like a jew's harp. I am mesmerized by this instrument both for its aesthetic charm and the concept of the extension of the human voice by using a live animal. However beautiful the music, it was not the main objective of the three researchers who compiled the cds, but came to study the traditional making and trading of salt. The three anthropologists are Anne-Marie and Pierre Petrequin, and Olivier Weller. Weller was also the photographer on the expedition and I assume he is responsible for the source images for the above painting that appeared on the cover of the cds. I did not paint Olivier Weller but did put Anne-Marie and Pierre Petrequin together in a double portrait. 

Pierre and Anne-Marie Petrequin

Back to States and to the time when the punk-rock atmosphere was still imbuing the minds of young people with ideals of equality, freedom, and other such good things. Pere Ubu came of age during the same period I did too. Mostly active in the 80s the band was a regular high-achieving band in my Top 100 lists of the 90s and both Laughing and Waiting for Mary had been listed during that decade. Laughing, in the classic line-up that I've painted: Tom Herman; Tony Maimome; Allen Ravenstein; Scott Krauss; and David Thomas, is from The Modern Dance [Plan 9, 1978] while Waiting for Mary is a recording from the live TV show Night Music [NBC, 1988-1990] hosted by David Sanborn. In the performance, from 1989, Tom Herman had been replaced by Jim Jones and Chris Cutler, and the band is backed by a slew of renown musicians including Sanborn himself, and Debbie Harry of Blondie.

David Thomas; Scott Krauss; Tom Herman of Pere Ubu

Tony Maimone; Allen Ravenstine of Pere Ubu

There's one more painting that's somewhat new that I need to display and talk about, even though I already did so in the context of the 100 Faces from the Top 100 2022 preview painting from earlier this year. First I'll copy what I wrote on May 11th about the people portrayed: "The record Musica Sveciae: Fornnordiska Klanger means a lot to me as I'm interested in prehistoric art and the origin of music. Professor Cajsa Lund, who produced the record, and her collaborator Äke Egevad are professionals who research bot interests and use archaeological evidence to reconstruct sounds from the prehistoric era. Two tracks from the album are listed in the top 100: the sound of a bull-roarer and a performance on the Kantflöjter (flute)." Only one painting will suffice for the two tracks since there are no other individuals I know of associated with the two works of music-archaeology.

Äke Egevad/Cajsa Lund