Two works for solo instrumentalists by Baltimore composer Ian Power, both written in 1984: "mahrem bir eser | a private work" using microtonal harmonics and electronic noise, performed by cellist Mariel Robers and recorded in 2016 at Brandeis Univeristy; and "swathe" using overtone and microtone performed by clarinetist Gleb Kanasevich and recorded in NYC in 2019.
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Sample The Album:
Ian Power-composer
Mariel Roberts-cello
Gleb Kanasevich-clarinet
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UPC: 4011778039327
Label: Edition Wandelweiser Records
Catalog ID: EWR 2006
Squidco Product Code: 29829
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: Germany
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Track 1 recorded at Brandeis University, in Waltham, Massachusetts, on December 14ht, 2016, by Joseph Branciforte.
"The last 20 years have brought radical shifts in what is expected and encouraged in the already multivalent vocabularies of composition for soloist. The venerable record label arm of Edition Wandelweiser has been at the forefront of these changing narratives, and Ian Power's debut for the label demonstrates that he is now a force guiding the rapid-fire development of instrumental syntax and its expressive components.
Notions of virtuosity are among those in huge flux. The extraordinary cellist Mariel Roberts is a case in point in taking charge of "Mahrem Bir Esser," a work whose only nod to tradition involves the B-flat that begins and ends the cyclic half-hour travelogue. From the first notes, Roberts varies her tone and its attendant concerns with the skill and ease of a veteran who has transcended mere technique in favor of the expressive depths. It would be easy to chart the piece as a series of moments, easy because we have little formal vocabulary with which to present the minute but absolutely essential details defining the music's path. With what traditional context, as an example, would it be useful to equate the sudden and increasing dynamic surges beginning some four minutes in or the post-Ligetian glissandi coming much later? If structure determines form, those moments are indeed paramount, but exactly how? "They just are, that's all," snarls the parent turned formalist educator in search of a method or dogma, and it's true if not exactly the truth. Each moment, each overtone and microtonal shift away from the fundamental, the emergent and immersive wonders contained in a single pitch, the possibilities within possibilities revealed as a pitch changes and the ultimate return all speak to a journey for the individual listener to which theory needs to catch up! None of this is to address the raw power of harmonic-drenched electronic noise as it almost but never quite obscures Roberts' playing at strategic points.
The fact that new solutions to the conundrums posed by single-tone phrases are possible remains miraculous, as is also the case with "Swathe," performed here by clarinetist and composer Gleb Kanasevich. Again, overtone and microtone guide the music forward, as do dynamic shades and Kanasevich's subtly gorgeous breath control. As tones tremble with emotion, the first half's series of glacial ascents moves toward its apex. The sudden descent is as jarring as it is mystifying, as are the multiphonics entering the sound picture at 24:19. The intersecting worlds of breath, tone and timbre blur and merge as articulation changes with the increasing speed formerly reserved for harmonic motion or melodic disjunction. Here again, we have an absolute mastery of technique in the service of a language that assumes it and demands something beyond.
As with so much in the Wandelweiser catalog, both pieces are brilliant recorded. Note decay, an equally important component of the music, is caught with astonishing accuracy as are the overtones they often contain. Power's music is both at home on the label, with its penchant for alternating phrase and pause, and a boundary-breaker, constituting one of the best things coming from the label in some time. For anyone as yet unfamiliar with Wandelweiser or with Power's music, as was I, there is no better place than to begin exploring."-Marc Medwin, Dusted Magazine
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Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Ian Power "Ian Power is a composer and performer in Baltimore, USA. Power's music is inscrutable, warm, insistent, and performer-driven, and has been performed by ensembles and soloists in the US, UK, Germany, Denmark, Israel, and New Zealand. He released two albums in 2020: Diligence on Edition Wandelweiser Records, featuring long solo works; and Maintenance Hums on Carrier Records, featuring chamber works. Dusted describes him as "a force guiding the rapid-fire development of instrumental syntax and its expressive components." Power is Assistant Professor and Director of Integrated Arts at the University of Baltimore, where he won the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2018. His writing on rhetoric in new music and reviews of CDs and performances are published in TEMPO, and he has lectured at the American Musicological Society, American Studies Association, and universities in the US, UK, and Turkey. Power studied primarily with Chaya Czernowin, as well as with Steven Takasugi, John Luther Adams, Antoine Beuger, Anthony Burr, Bob Morris, and Dana Wilson. He has degrees from Harvard University, UC San Diego, and Ithaca College." ^ Hide Bio for Ian Power • Show Bio for Mariel Roberts ""Trailblazing" cellist Mariel Roberts (Feast of Music) is quickly gaining recognition as a deeply dedicated interpreter and performer of contemporary music. Recent performances have garnered praise for her "technical flair and exquisite sensitivity" (American Composers Forum), as well as her ability to "couple youthful vision with startling maturity". (InDigest Magazine). She holds degrees from both the Eastman School and the Manhattan School of Music, where she specialized in contemporary performance practice while studying with Alan Harris and Fred Sherry. Mariel is a performer of international reach who has played throughout the US and Europe appearing both as a soloist and with ensembles such as Signal, Wet Ink Ensemble, Dal Niente, SEM Ensemble, the NouveauClassical Project, and the Wordless Music Orchestra. Mariel's premeire solo album, nonextraneous sounds, was released on Innova Records in September 2012. The record, consisting of brand new works commisioned by Mariel, received high accolades from sources such as TimeOut NY, TimeOut Chicago, The American Composers Forum, New Sounds with John Schaefer, and WQXR radio." ^ Hide Bio for Mariel Roberts • Show Bio for Gleb Kanasevich "Gleb Kanasevich is a clarinetist, composer, and noise/drone musician. He currently works primarily with feedback and modified instruments, while exploring expressive possibilities in very simple electronic processing. He works in a variety of formats as a soloist and collaborates with many artists, ranging between composers, improvisers, noise musicians, and death metal bands. His blackened noise album Asleep (Unknown Tapes) and the immersive 45-minute Subtraction (Flag Day Recordings) came out to critical acclaim in 2019. His massive drone projects continued in the project If you want to be reborn, let yourself die, released on January 15, 2020. Most recently, he released a new improvisation project for modified recorder and guitar amplifiers Capacity. It came out as a very limited edition of 20 lathe cut vinyl records with unique hand-drawn sleeves in July, 2020. Capacity has been survived by fully composed follow-up works for cello (written for Peter Kibbe, commissioned by NakedEye Ensemble) and bass clarinet (scheduled for a 2021 premiere by Ashley Smith, commissioned through Cultural Council of Australia). Kanasevich continued his drone and feedback experiments in a special new set to be presented by Janus Radio in South Korea. In 2021, he was commissioned by Ensemble Intercontemporain, Callithumpian Consort, and No Exit New Music Ensemble. Since 2013, he has been a core member of Ensemble Cantata Profana - a group based in New York City. In August 2018, he has taken on the duties of the ensemble's Associate Artistic Director after moving to New York City. From 2016 until Spring, 2019, Kanasevich also worked as a curator/video maker for the online new music database and audio/video/score resource ScoreFollower/Incipitsify. In March 2021, he transformed Unknown Tapes from a self-release platform into a recording artist community dedicated to showcasing work by artists with unique approaches to spontaneous music making and improvisation techniques, regardless of genre." ^ Hide Bio for Gleb Kanasevich
11/29/2024
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11/29/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
11/29/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Mahrem Bir Eser | A Private Work 28:50
2. Swathe 25:42
Compositional Forms
Duo Recordings
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
Stringed Instruments
Electro-Acoustic
Sound, Noise, &c.
Boston Area Improvisers
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Solo Artist Recordings
New in Compositional Music
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Edition Wandelweiser Records.