Playlist Week of 3-19-11

* Vivaldi: La Stravaganza: 12 Violin Concertos (Arte Dei Suonatori/Podger) (Channel Classics 2SACD)
* Maderna: Quadrivium, etc. (Sinf. des Norddeutschen Rundfunks/Sinopoli) (DG CD)
* Stan Link: In Amber Shadows: Electro-Acoustic Music (Albany CD)
* Andrew Hill: Grass Roots (Blue Note CD)
* Andrew Hill: Dance With Death (Blue Note CD)
* Sun Ra: The Paris Tapes: Live at Le Théâtre Du Châtelet 1971 (Art Yard/Kindred Spirits 2CD)
* Henry Threadgill & Zooid: Stadtgarten, Köln, Germany 11-04-08 (FM CDR)
* Matthew Shipp String Trio: By The Law Of Music (Hat ART CD)
* Matthew Shipp String Trio: Expansion, Power, Release (Hat ART CD)
* John Zorn: The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone (Nonesuch LP)
* George Harrison: Live In Japan (Capitol 2SACD)
* George Harrison: Brainwashed (Capitol CD)
* Grateful Dead: Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL 10-26-71 (SBD 2CDR)‡
* Grateful Dead: Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA 6-21-76 (SBD 3CDR)‡
* Grateful Dead: Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA 6-22-76 (SBD 3CDR)
* Grateful Dead: Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL 6-27-76 (d.1) (SBD 3CDR)
* Love: Forever Changes (Elektra/Rhino CD)
* King Crimson: Discipline (DGM CD)
* King Crimson: Beat (DGM CD)
* King Crimson: Three Of A Perfect Pair (DGM CD)
* R.E.M.: Out Of Time (Warner Bros. CD)
* R.E.M.: Automatic For The People (Warner Bros. CD)
* R.E.M.: Monster (Warner Bros. CD)
* Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots 5.1 (stereo) (Warner Bros. CD/DVD-A)
* Beck: Odelay (Geffen CD)
* Lifeguards: Waving At The Astronauts (Serious Business LP/CD)
* Tool: 10,000 Days (Volcano CD)‡

†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

On Tuesday night, Lizzy and I went to Zeitgeist Gallery to hear a program of electro-acoustic music by our friend, composer Stan Link, who would be there to participate in a discussion session with local critic David Maddox. Although we are notorious homebodies, this was an event not to be missed! The contemporary art gallery is an appropriate venue for Stan’s kind of cutting-edge music and it was a unique opportunity to hear him talk about his work.

The first piece, “In Ida’s Mirror,” for alto flute and tape, was particularly moving. Stan talked about how the title was inspired by seeing Ivan Albright’s painting, “Into The World Came a Soul Called Ida” at the Art Institute of Chicago, and further informed by the video work of Bill Viola and Ridley Scott’s film, Blade Runner. A clip was shown where, just before he dies, the replicant says: “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…All those moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain.” This quotation, explained Stan, was the key to understanding the work’s meaning—and, perhaps, his own personal cosmology. Very interesting…

Sandra Cox (photo) navigated the labyrinthine score with ease, plumbing the mournful depths of the almost atonal melodies. It was an incredibly affecting performance: her warm, breathy tone on the rarely heard alto flute a sensuous, primordial sound projected against the vast cinematic soundscape of voices and electronics. “In Ida’s Mirror” is a profoundly discomfiting meditation on birth, life, death, time and eternity—just the thing I needed to hear during this difficult time, as my mother lay slowly dying a thousand miles away from me—and tragedy unfolds in Japan, where my brother in law is living with his wife and child—and I ponder the meaning of it all. Thank you, Stan, for reminding of the redemptive power of art, its power to express the ineffable.

An excellent CD of Stan Link’s electro-acoustic music is available on Albany Records entitled, In Amber Shadows, which came out in 2006. While “In Ida’s Mirror” is not contained therein, it is still highly recommended as an introduction to this fascinating composer.

More photos from the event can be found here and on my Flickr Photostream (click on the photo above).