AFMM MicroMay '97 - May 16, NYC

Ah, New York, New York. A major international city. Quite a
bit of microtonal activity there. For years, one of the major
organizations performing and promoting the performance of
all kinds of microtonality is the American Festival of
Microtonal Music. Founded by Johnny Reinhard and Jon
Catler in 1981, this years four day MicroMay '97 festival
opened on May 16 at NYU's Loewe Theater.

Johnny led the audience in a ripping version of John Cage's
0'00" (4'33 No. 2): solo to be performed in any way by
anyone, in this case we were asked to play the shortest
possible sound. Following was the first of many world
premieres, Frank Wigglesworth's Twin Songs for meantone
flute, written for flautist Andrew Bolotowsky. The middle
eastern tinged piece was in two movements.

Elodie Lauten's Discombobulations for soprano, electric
guitar, flute, synthesizer and tape was characteristic of the
composer's cyclic rhythms. The piece was in a combination
of Vallotti temperament and just intonation - 5 limit with a
touch of 7. (world premiere)

soprano - Meredeth Borden
electric ji guitar - Jon Catler
flute - Andrew Bolotowsky
synthesizer - Elodie Lauten
lyrics by Steven Hall

Leonardo for bassoon, cello and wrench guitar was
commissioned by AFMM . This composition by Edgar David
Grana included quartertones, multiphonics, extended
techniques and a guitar retuned with it's A string +1/8th tone,
the G string -1/8th tone. At one point Reinhard took his
bassoon apart and played the pieces. Ricci occasionally
fretted notes but mostly used the wrench as a slide. The
composition had a loose improvisatory feel. (world premiere)

bassoon - Johnny Reinhard
cello - David Eggar
wrench guitar - Vito Ricci

Birdhouse performed an extended version of Nightbird. Using
cluster chords, called "manyminor" by composer Jon Catler,
the duo explored the rich splendor of 13 limit just intonation.
Catler used his custom ji guitar with interchangeable
fingerboards (fretless and 49 tone ji) and Meredith Borden
sang like a bird. Music based on birdsongs is part of
Birdhouse's modus operandi.

This group has performed a bit around New York, recently
performing two dates at La Mama la Gallereia earlier this
month with Brad Catler, percussion and Andrew Bolotowsky,
flute. Their debut CD will be released this summer.

soprano - Meredeth Borden
electric ji guitar - Jon Catler

Joseph Gabriel Maneri's Sharafuddin b Yah Yah Maneri was
composed for flute in 72 equal temperament. Exotic and
very eastern, this composition was inspired by a 14th century
Sufi saint, teacher and high priest: a Makdum ul-Mulk.
Composer, saxophonist and clarinetist Maneri is Professor of
Music at the New England Conservatory where he teaches
microtonal music composition and theory. (NY premier)

flute - Andrew Bolotowsky

Arriving from Canada, composer Ganesh Anandan and
composer/Rainer Wiens were held up at the airport and
didn't make the concert. As a substitution, the audience was
treated to a tape of the group New Tokyo Berlin York, playing
Johnny Reinhard's Circle. This piece had an improvisatory
feel using percussion, didjeridu and bassoon.

custom percussion - Yoshiaki Ochi
didjeridu - Ulrich Krieger
bassoon - Johnny Reinhard

A rare world premier of Wendy Carlos's Afterlife featured the
AFMM chorus, violin, cello, fretless bass, conga, timpani and
tape. Using a combination of 12 and 15 tone equal
temperament the piece certainly gave us a taste of the scary
uncertainty of the Afterlife.

The piece will soon be released as part of Carlos's new CD,
Tales of Heaven and Hell.

American Festival of Microtonal Music Chorus:
Meredith Borden, Piera F. Paine, Mayumi Reinhard, Elizabeth
Lee, Brendan Glynn and Gabriel Mendlow
violin - Tom Chiu
cello - David Eggar
electric fretless bass guitar - Brad Catler
timpani and conga - Louis Winsberg

My picks: Nightbird and Afterlife.

Stay tuned for more...

see you all at the next 3 concerts of the festival
on May 21, 22 and 23?

D a v i d B e a r d s l e y .. dmb5561719@aol.com
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