From NY’s Roulette:

HANS TAMMEN & THIRD EYE ORCHESTRA: Anagenesis
Mon Dec 7 – 8:30 PM
Hans Tammen creates music that has been described as an alien world of bizarre textures and a journey through the land of unending sonic operations. Using Earle Brown’s open form composition idea as a starting point to create a large multi-movement piece, thoroughly composed and purely improvised at the same time. He gets his thrill out of exploring the world of sounds, and by superimposing or phasing of multiple rhythms. His new work ANAGENESIS draws from a single repertoire of around 100 pre-conceived musical units. The conductor uses the orchestra as an instrument, while each performer shapes the music through virtuosic improvisation and the individual stylization of musical performance. “Everything about Third Eye Orchestra… indicates mastery and control”

Shaking Ray and Shelley
Tue Dec 8 – 8:30 PM
“Ole’ Timey Avant-Garde” ensemble The Shaking Ray Levis team up with eccentric vocalist Shelley Hirsch for an explosive evening of improvisation. The Shaking Ray Levis were conceived by Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner in 1986, and have since been the first American group be be released on Derek Bailey’s Incus Records. Using synthesizers (analog & digital), MoogerFoogers, samplers, vocals and percussion they achieve an incredibly unique blend of experimental sound with an Ole’ Timey feel.

Jim Staley w/ Ikue Mori & Kyoko Kitamura
Wed Dec 9 – 8:30 PM
Trombonist, composer, and founder of Roulette Jim Staley has been shaking up the downtown scene for over 30 years. Working primarily with improvisation, crossing genres freely between post-modern classical music and avant-garde jazz, Staley has collaborated for many years with other highly experienced improvisers, both dancers and musicians. Tonight, Staley is joined by laptop virtuoso and longtime collaborator Ikue Mori and multilingual, electronics enhanced vocalist Kyoko Kitamura.

INTERPRETATIONS: FLUX Quartet performs David First / Dom Minasi String Quartet
Thu Dec 10 – 8:00 PM
An evening of music by two guitarist/composers, both writing for chamber string ensemble – FLUX, comprised of many of New York’s premiere instrumentalists. “Guitarist and electronic composer David First’s subtle way with drones and other extended tones reveals a musician who successfully controls the barely controllable” (K. Leander Williams, Time Out NY). Tonight, the eclectic composer and punk-era innovator premiers new music for string quartet, performed by the fearlessly dynamic new music ensemble, the FLUX Quartet. Guitarist/composer Dom Minasi offers his own unique take on the concept of a string quartet, fashioning an ensemble that is equal parts chamber music and jazz. Comprised of players with whom Minasi has worked for many years, the music was not simply composed with a specific instrumentation in mind, but each unique player’s personality was embedded into the writing. Minasi’s group will perform music from their recent CD Dissonance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder, featuring Dom Minasi on nylon string guitar, with violinist Jason Hwang, cellist Tomas Ulrich, and bassist Ken Filiano.

Susie Ibarra “Drum Sketches”
Fri Dec 11 – 8:30 PM
Percussionist/Composer Susie Ibarra performs a rare evening of new solos and compositions featured on her solo cd, Drum Sketches on Innova Records. Drum Sketches are mixed with folkloric and contemporary percussive sounds and field recordings which “translate her interpretations of Filipino ambiance” in non traditional ways . “In the past decade, her willingness to step out from behind the kit and embrace non jazz forms- opera, poetry experimental sound, dance-has taken her from that initial buzz from below Houston Street to international reknown as a composer, performer and proponent of folkloric music.” New York Times.

Christian Wolff ROULETTE TV SHOOT
Sat Dec 12 – 8:00 PM
All-Star quintet Joey Baron, Robert Black, Larry Polansky, Robyn Schulkowsky, and Christian Wolff present the music of Christian Wolff both old and new – including a premiere of new long form piece written specifically for this quintet. Christian Wolff studied piano with Grete Sultan and composition, briefly, with John Cage. Though mostly self-taught as a composer, the work of John Cage, Morton Feldman, David Tudor and Earle Brown have been important to him, as well as long associations with Cornelius Cardew and Frederic Rzewski. Tonight marks the filming of the next episode of Roulette TV

Joey Baron ROULETTE TV SHOOT
Sun Dec 13 – 8:00 PM
Avant-garde jazz drummer Joey Baron has worked with an impressive list of musicians, including everyone from Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, and Tony Bennett to John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, Fred Frith, and Tim Berne. His own groups he has led include the “Down Home Group”, Barondown, and Killer Joey and was a member of “Naked City” (with John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith and Wayne Horvitz) and of Zorn’s group Masada (Dave Douglas and Greg Cohen). Tonight Joey Baron presents an evening of solo percussion music for this installment of Roulette TV.

Related articles by Zemanta

• AnyWhen Ensemble + Wayne Horvitz (waywardmusic.blogspot.com)

From the Chicago Reader:

Vox Arcana’s compositions look to three distinct sources of inspiration: the New York School composers (Earle Brown, Morton Feldman, John Cage), early minimalists LaMonte Young and Terry Riley, and key AACM figures Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Leroy Jenkins. On the trio’s self-titled debut the pieces create a productive tension between written sections and wide-open improvisation: rigorously structured, highly kinetic parts dissolve into spontaneous eruptions where lines and textures collide in exhilarating bursts. Lonberg-Holm’s bowing alternates between viscous and delicate, and he sometimes adds heavy electronic effects to his output. Daisy, in other settings a ferociously driving drummer, focuses on color and clatter here; on some pieces he even adds marimba. Falzone is the one player who keeps it simple, his buoyant tone dancing amid the chaos or leaping into his instrument’s upper register for a paint-peeling squeal.

From the Squid’s Ear:

Morris / Voigt / Plsek – MVP LSD: The Graphic Scores of Lowell Skinner Davidson
Wadada Leo Smith / Jack Dejohnette – America
Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto with Ensemble Modern – Utp
Mary Halvorson / Reuben Radding / Nate Wooley – Crackleknob
Christof Kurzmann / Burkhard Stangl – neuschnee
Biosphere – Wireless
Sophie Agnel – Capsizing Moments
Annette Krebs & Rhodri Davies – Kravis Rhonn Project
Ikue Mori – Class Insecta
Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra – Poetics
Morton Feldman – For Bunita Marcus
Juno el Grande – Neo Dada

The DownTown Ensemble puts on a show in New York:

The SoundArt Foundation presents the DownTown Ensemble in
According to Brian
Thursday, June 25, 8pm $15/10

Renee Weiler Auditorium, Greenwich House, 46 Barrow St.

The DownTown Ensemble’s June 25th concert at the Greenwich House Music Schoo; will feature six composers in the great tradition of experimental music pioneered by Charles Ives and Carl Ruggles and more recently typified by John Cage, Earle Brown and Morton Feldman. Two of these composers, Brian Dewan and Yvette Perez will perform World Premieres. Also featured on the program will be specially arranged compositions by Phil Corner, Peter Zummo, and Pauline Oliveros; and pieces by William Hellermann and Mary Jane Leach.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Classical Music/Opera Listings (nytimes.com)
• Fear of music (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Music Review | Red Light New Music: Linking Composers by Contrast and Affinity (nytimes.com)

Hathut is having a HUGE sale at the Jazz Loft, basically, at $3.50 per CD, to celebrate their 35 years in business.

In 1975, Werner X. Uehlinger founded HatHutRecords simply in order to document the artistry of a musician he heard through a chance encounter-saxophonist / trumpeter Joe McPhee. Today, over twenty-five years and more than 300 LP and CD releases later, HatHut stands as one of the most adventurous and important independent New Music labels
in the world. It has grown from an out-of-pocket venture to an established enterprise, from small press runs of black vinyl to a line of beautifully (and ecologically responsible) packaged CD-only releases. From the beginning, the label has shown a high regard for graphic design, cover art, and program notes, striving to create not just a musical artifact but a multifaceted work of art with each new release.

Though HatHut began as a label with undeniable jazz roots (although primarily of the avant-garde variety), its catalogue now boasts such recognized Classical / New Music names as Stockhausen, Cage, Scelsi, Haubenstock-Ramati, and Tenney, and the label has been widely acclaimed as one of the key reasons for the rediscovery and renewed popularity of Morton Feldman because of its many highly praised recordings of that composer’s music. But the label especially prides itself on the many musicians it has documented and grown with, who were lesser known or unknown at the time. Though in this regard HatHut has long been devoted to music far from the commercial mainstream-the jazz or classical mainstream-the label has more than survived, it has artistically flourished.

From WAYWARD MUSIC:

8:00 PM; $5-$15 sliding scale donation at the door (WCF members attend one concert in the Transport series free). Presented by Washington Composers Forum, Nonsequitur, and Jack Straw Productions. WCF’s Transport Series is sponsored by 4Culture.

Pianist Yvonne Lee performs music by modern masters: Anton Webern‘s Variations, Opus 27; Elliott Carter‘s Retrouvailles and 90 ; Morton Feldman‘s Palais de Mari; and Helmut Lachenmann’s Ein Kinderspiel and Serynade. Also, Unsound Grounds by young composer Trevor Gureckis.

Yvonne Lee is a Boston-based pianist and composer. She has recently appeared at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Germany, JD Robb Composers’ Symposium in New Mexico, Banff Centre, Music Academy of the West, Boston’s WGBH studio and Jordan Hall, and the REDCAT space in Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles. As a pianist, Yvonne has been hailed as “particularly forceful” by the San Diego Tribune and “enrapturing” by the Boston Music Intelligencer. Recent collaborations include a recording with violinist János Négyesy of the complete Mozart Violin and Piano Sonatas and performances of Messiaen’s Visions de L’Amen and Stockhausen’s Mantra. Yvonne’s compositions will next be featured in April as part of the SWAN festival in Boston.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Karlheinz Stockhausen, “Klavierstück II” (netnewmusic.net)
• Ives Ensemble honours unsung composer Morton Feldman – Georgia Straight (netnewmusic.net)

On Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009, a performance by The Dream of the Ants, a new chamber ensemble led by guitarist Terrence McManus will take place at New York’s Issue Project Room.

They will performing a new multi-sectional, through-composed work entitled, The Machine. The piece is divided into seven overlapping sections, and is highly influenced by the work of Morton Feldman, Gyorgy Ligeti, and Bela Bartok.

The Dream of the Ants
Thursday, February 5, 2009
8pm
Issue Project Room
The (OA) Can Factory
232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215

The Dream of the Ants
Terrence McManus-classical guitar
Ellery Eskelin-saxophone
Gerry Hemingway-drums

website:

http://weirdtones.com

From The Squid:

Morton Feldman – Turfan Fragments
(Dog w/a Bone)
- Brian Olewnick

Henri Pousseur – Electronic Experimental and Microtonal 1953-1999
(Sub Rosa)
- Brian Olewnick

Christian Wolff – Early Piano Pieces
(Hat[now]ART)
- Brian Olewnick

Robert Haigh – Written On Water
(Crouton)
- Darren Bergstein

Jacob Wick / Andrew Greenwald – 37:55
(Creative Sources)
- Jeph Jerman

FAB Trio – A Night In Paris
(Marge)
- Jeph Jerman

Memorize The Sky – In Former Times
(Clean Feed)
- Jeph Jerman

Boxhead Ensemble – Dutch Harbor
(Atavistic)
- Max Schafer

Christina Carter – Original Darkness
(Kranky)
- Max Schaefer