Composers Talking: Wyner, Boyce, Bartlett, Karchin

Yehudi showing us all how it is done!

One of the things that I love about working with counter)induction is opportunity for conversations and interactions with other composers.  Our composer members (Kyle Bartlett, Ryan Streber, and myself) are good talkers, but I love to be surprised and engaged with new things that I haven't thought about.  This certainly happened during the conversation embedded below, a conversation among Yehudi Wyner, Kyle Bartlett, Lou Karchin and myself at counter)induction's last concert.

I think it's great the way we all dance around the issue of variety, and particularly American responses to that diversity.  I've written a bit about this issue before, and here I was particularly struck with the ways that the four of us wrestle with and admit to the fact that we don't really know what it is to be an 'American composer:'  even the general idea of 'openness' doesn't capture the back and forth between faction and community that seems to constantly and eternally renegotiated.

Not surprisingly, the best part is when Yehudi stands up and explains it all...

Miranda Cuckson on Friday's show at Bargemusic.

Having a great time with the Wuorinen transcriptions, which he made recently for Tashi. Gorgeous, interesting music- the gently twisting lines of the Josquin and the wild intricacies of the Morley, with its quintuplets and septuplets. We play them over and over and hear new things each time.

Douglas's quartet: a cool mix of his frequent experiments with structured rhythms vs. non- , and some crunchy, head-banging stuff, Jessica wailing while the rest of us punch out rhythms in unison.

Looking forward to work with Lou Karchin and Kyle Bartlett, heading toward concert day... Having played a few pieces of Lou's, I find his Rhapsody very recognizably his... bright harmonies, ornate flourishes, gestures coming off the beat.

I'm really delighted we could put Kyle's new piece for violin and electronics on this program, after some technological issues impelled us to postpone the world premiere at last concert. The electronics are now sounding great- very intriguing and enjoyably strange, conjuring associations with her grandmother, lots of distorted vocal utterances and mechanical noises. Fun to combine pitched violin sounds with this!

Come and hear all this and more on Friday!