review/AFMM/May 8, 1998

To open the second of 2 AFMM concerts, Don Conreaux, New York's resident
gongmaster, put together a ritualistic work _Gong Elegy-Author Unknown_,
to grand effect. David Smith was the
white-clad, powerful baritone that chanted "I am not dead" and "Do not
weep at my grave, I am not there." Pairs of
conch shells and didjeridoos, abetted by the shofar and my responsorial
bassoon playing, added to further by bass flute and cello, and Tibetan
bowls & tiny interval bells, made for a mysterious piece. For the first
time ever, the concert started at exactly 8:00 p.m. for the audience
hushed perceptibly at that time. The bassoon played the role of the
traveller, moving throughout the hall to play intimately with the various
players. The sound was confident and often scintilating.

Rebecca Pechefsky then performed 5 distinct Prelude and Fugues on her rich
harpsichord, chosen from both books of the Well-Tempered Clavier, but
tuned to Werckmeister III. The keys were chosen to reflect the greatest
diversity of intervallic difference from key to key, major and minor, as
well as choosing aesthetically for musical interest in general. Ah, more
examples for my Bach Christmas show. Tapes are better acoustically than
my memory of the sound in the hall.

James Tenney's _Spectrum II_ for alto flute (Andrew Bolotowsky), English
horn (Ron Kozak), Greg Evans (French horn), Michiyo Suzuki (bass
clarinet), and Johnny Reinhard (bassoon) was a right-brain style JI
composition. It sounds ever more beautiful as a recording when you step
away from it a bit. It was timed at 15 minutes, but we gave it an extra
minute, unintentionally. It was played from score and well-balanced
thanks to the idea of placing the French horn under the dome of the
chapel, which is notorious for cutting the sound therein produced. It was
very sensitively played, perhaps too much so for the beginning of the
piece. Though completely written, it has the improv's need to get going
before it really swings.

After intermission, Howard Rovics charmed with the debut of his
_Cozenage_ (which has to do with family deception, in this case a
synthesized quartertone marimba sound along a genuine marimba).
Howard spent much of his sabattical from C.W. Post College composing
this first quartertonal quartet for the AFMM. Flutist Andrew Bolotwosky,
bassoonist Johnny Reinhard and marimba player Judith Hirschman, joined the
composer on synthesizer for a 3-movement neo-classical romp in quartertone
tunefulness. Difficulty in real-time listening in the
hall was a drawback in the fast last movement, so the written out swirl of
sound REALLY swirled.

In a fantasy come true, I had the opportunity to intone _December 1942_
by Harry Partch with John Schneider playing an exact replica of the
original Harry Partch instrument. It's tougher to catch pitch off of
it (compared to the PITCH recording I did with Bradford Catler on
electric slide guitar). But it was worth it, but only after 3
rehearsals together. Withough any amplification, we matched and warmed,
even on such topics as death, unrequited love, and
general despair. Schneider had performed the work in toto in LA a few
weeks earlier and he generously agreed to collaborate in the duo
performance. With full focus on the guitar part, no dynamic, rhythmic,
and timbral attention could be given to good effect.

_Sleeping Beauty_ featuring composer/guitarist Jon Catler was the dessert
at the end of the Micro-Mystery Tour. Skip La Plante played dulcimer on 2
amplifying styrofoam boxes, bringing out rhythms for fretless, and then
13-limit guitar riffing. This is one of Jon's most fully composed works.
The 2 bassoons, introducing Young Ling Chang of Taiwan, more recently from
NYU, blended their Puchner instruments into delicious harmonies that
oftimes doubled a loud undertone line, produced purely by upper string
guitar work. Jon held court with his playing and the ensemble
balanced into the programatic description of the tough time of the
classic story. There's a bit of blues and jazz in this piece, though it
is stylistically in a very special place. So, perhaps was the entire
series.


Johnny Reinhard
Director
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@idt.net
http://www.echonyc.com/~jhhl/AFMM

On Fri, 22 May 1998, Aline Surman wrote:

> Just curious...usually, some of the East Coast guys post reviews of
> gigs in their area. I didn't see a review of the AFMM May concerts (other
> than the Times review)...how come? I'd like to see some
> comments...Hstick
>