Review

Last evening I had the pleasure of attending the Composers Guild of New
Jersey performance at New York University. 3 of the 5
composer/performers were microtonalists.

Paul Gallagher sang in just intonation based on a C fundamental and never
deviated. The accompaning tape of his "The Kingdom of Mescal" (based on a
Mayan story of a young man's quest for vision and knowledge) utilized
Opcode's sequencer, Vision, to control the Ensoniq EPS16+ sampler, the
Alesis D4 percussion module, and the Yamaha DX7IIFD synthesizer. Mary
Platt provided excellent stage direction.

Having presented Paul's work on the AFMM, it was quite entertaining to
see him "moving" corporeally in his music, rather as a stick figure
recitalist. The 20 minute work was roundly entertaining. The JI was
most apparent in the taped music, for Paul's standard even vibrato seemed
to camaflage its pedigree.

Pete Rose the virtuoso recorderist presented several of his
improvisation/compositions. SNSI with soprano and sopranino recorders
played simultaneously emphasizes beating, glissando effects, an
micro-relationships of sound. "Palindrome Over the Low Notes" and "Rapid
Shave" allowed for singing in combination with tenor and alto recorders,
respectively, to finish the set. Pete does not usually indicated exact
microtonal fingerings in his set pieces, preferring jazz forms and
humor. However, he is most capable in written works of this kind by
other composers.

Virginia Johnston's "Sojourns" contained what sounded like 1/8th tone
passages (if they were indeed measured) in the context of a trio for
flute, bassoon, and clarinet (played by the composer). Ms. Johnston 4th
movement "Tale" begins with "mesmerizing clarinet microtones" [from the
program notes] and begins an interplay with the flute and bassoon.
Seasoned musician composers like Gallagher and Rose are an unfair
comparison to a recent graduate, but if Ms. Johnston can break out of
academic constraints - like matching already existing styles of composing
so that she can truly find her own voice - then we look forward to her
next and latest.

Thanks go to Dinu Ghezzu who with the NYU Composers Forum presents this
collaboration with the the Composers Guild of New York - now in its 15th
year. Robert Pollack chairs the NJ group and though he is a pianist, he
has truly worked to present an exciting array of concert music.

Johnny Reinhard
American Festival of Microtonal Music
318 East 70th Street, Suite 5FW
New York, New York 10021 USA
(212)517-3550/fax (212) 517-5495
reinhard@ios.com


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> It's all played in the rather
> radical 1/3-comma meantone (some people say meaner-than-meantone)
> but it works well for the music. In combination with a minor key
> the character is very heavy and dark though.

"Meaner than meantone" is a cute phrase; I'll have to remember that.

I suppose it's worth pointing out Ivor Darreg's pet peave that third-comma
meantone is essentially identical with 19-tone equal-temperament (or presumably
a 12-toned subset in this case). If I recall correctly, 19 third-comma-flat
fifths fail to close by less than 1 cent!


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> > In combination with a minor key
> > the character is very heavy and dark though.
>
> ... third-comma meantone is essentially identical with 19-tone equal-
> temperament

Oh, I forgot to finish my point there: 19's very accurate rendition of the
minor third might have something to do with that. Clearly third-comma meantone
has a very accurate minor third, since its major sixth is Just by definition,
which was probably Manuel's original point there.


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