AFMM festival

Congratulations to the NY boys, and Reinhard in particular...getting
this music out there is the name of the game, and this sounds like it
was a smash gig. It's interesting to note the difference between the
Times review and Kyle Gann's...I wish there were more folks like Gann in
the media...keep it up. Didn't see any reviews of Schneider's
fest...what happened?
On the Denver front, I've been working on an interesting
project...some folks are putting together a new play for possible
production next year...it is very contemporary in theme, and one of the
main characters is a guitarist who is not satisfied with the 12 tone
system; he replaces his necks (on his guitars), and is moving towards
pure tunings. I get to use my 19 tone guitar, and 2 of my fretless axes
as well...one is tuned to the harmonic series (1/1, 5/4, 3/2, 7/4,
35/32, 21/16), and the other to a spiral of 5ths. The music is an
integral part of the storyline. What's fascinating to me is that this is
happening at all...I hope to see other tunings become part of the
landscape someday, a natural and accepted phemonenon...projects like
this are a step in that direction. We do a reading Friday, and hopefully
will get the goahead to do it...we'll see...Hstick

Neil Haverstick wrote,

>It's interesting to note the difference between the
>Times review and Kyle Gann's

Didn't they review completely different days of the festival?

Paul H. Erlich wrote:

> From: "Paul H. Erlich" <PErlich@Acadian-Asset.com>
>
> Neil Haverstick wrote,
>
> >It's interesting to note the difference between the
> >Times review and Kyle Gann's
>
> Didn't they review completely different days of the festival?

Yep. The Times reviewed the 27th and the Voice - Microthon on the 23rd.

> --

* D a v i d B e a r d s l e y
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The distinction that I believe Neil Haverstick is making between the Voice
and Times reviews is the difference in the predispositions of the critics.
Kyle Gann is a microtonal composer himself, while Mr. Griffiths is decidedly
anti-microtonal based on his previous writings in The New Yorker. Hence,
their different slants regardless of the different concerts they were
covering.

To stay with Paul Griffiths for a moment, he is a serialist which makes the
comment about Rovner finding Mozart harsh and granitic a bit surprising.

Re the choice of space: it is true that different spots present different
listening conditions, as do the choice of ensemble AND their placement. Over
the years I've developed an intimate relationship with spacial concerns and
program accordingly. While I enjoy the magnification that the chapel gives
the microtonal relationships, it might seem overly burdensome to someone that
resents them as "irregular, eccentric or plain wrong."

Incidentally, there is a typo describing Joseph Pehrson's "One Small Step for
Man": it was in eighthtones, not eighth notes.

Oh, and the commentary on the "none too credible" Renaissance polyphony
performed with decisive microtonal dissonances is supported by: "Microtones
in a Sixteenth Century Portuguese Manuscript" by Hoyle Carpenter
(Glassboro/New Jersey). Mr. Carpenter published the score that we used which
he located in the library of the University of Coimbra.

All in all, it was a great review considering Mr. Griffiths liked the
performances despite initial misgivings about the concept of microtonality
itself.

Johnny Reinhard
AFMM

Johnny Reinhard wrote,

>Mr. Griffiths is decidedly
>anti-microtonal based on his previous writings in The New Yorker

Apparently, the most common textbooks on 20th century music are the one (or
two) by Paul Griffiths and the one by Robert Morgan. The two differ widely
in their coverage of microtonal music; while the former contains none (if I
recall correctly), the latter goes into enough depth that even Blackwood
gets a paragraph.

>Oh, and the commentary on the "none too credible" Renaissance polyphony
>performed with decisive microtonal dissonances is supported by: "Microtones

>in a Sixteenth Century Portuguese Manuscript" by Hoyle Carpenter
>(Glassboro/New Jersey). Mr. Carpenter published the score that we used
which
>he located in the library of the University of Coimbra.

I am curious -- are these "microtonal dissonances" a result of meantone
(possibly extended beyond 12 tones) or do they come from some other tuning
schema? The former would certainly qualify a decent selection of Renaissance
and Baroque music as microtonal; even using just 12 tones of meantone, most
augmented and diminished intervals sound "off" to a modern, 12-tET trained
ear.

>From: Neil Haverstick <stick@uswest.net>
Didn't see any reviews of Schneider's
>fest...what happened?

Hey neil!! fancy meeting you here...

In spite of a wonderful year for MicroFest here in LA (two completely
different shows, too! for the first time) we got no press. Just as you
predicted: when it's new, it gets noticed. Too bad, too, cause it was a
great year - with a 15-piece gamelan on night #1, and gamelan influences in
Kraig's night at the Brand Library in Glendale on night #2 with Bill Alve's
beautiful Pelog Suite, and Kraig's own Harrison influenced
Anaphorian/gamelanish delights.
Nest year, I'm hoping to feature re-tuned keyboards, with Lou Harrison's
Harpsichord Sonatas done in three pairs, and Ben Johnston's exquisite Suite
for Microtonal Piano (1977) as featured works.
Yes, we're alive and well and still tuning out here on the Coast.

John Schneider

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