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Feature Story | 7/31/2008 |
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Minimalism to the max
New Albion Festival opens at Bard SummerScape this Friday |
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| | photo of John Cage, in the CBS Television Studios, 1967 | |
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by Bob Margolis
For those whose tastes tend toward music that demands that a listener really lean in and...well, listen...to the quieter, more lyrical end of the experimental music spectrum, New Albion Records - run by Foster Reed out of a tiny San Francisco space - has been providing new music each year like manna from on high for a small but dedicated cadre of fans. From early recordings by John Adams, Lou Harrison and the Japanese Minimalist Somei Satoh through discs featuring music of the late British Marxist Cornelius Cardew and the Italian contrabassist/composer Stefano Scodanibbio, the label presents archival finds as well as the new generation of artists.
Perhaps more than a few fans and musicians have made summer vacation plans around the New Albion Festival - sort of a scene-within-a-scene at Bard SummerScape's Spiegeltent, which runs August 1 through 10. The nine programs, which celebrate the label's 25th anniversary, feature works by John Adams, John Cage, Henry Cowell, the Deep Listening Band, Paul Dresher, Morton Feldman, Miguel Frasconi, Ellen Fullman, Kyle Gann, Ge Gan-ru, Peter Garland, Erik Griswold, Lou Harrison, Erdem Helvacioglu, Daniel Lentz, Ingram Marshall, Jeffrey Roden, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Somei Satoh, Stefano Scodanibbio, Stephen Scott, Slow Six, Carl Stone, Richard Teitelbaum, Virgil Thomson, Stephen Vitiello and Evan Ziporyn.
Was this music's geographical base similar to the Birth of the Cool and West Coast Jazz? The opening program of the series makes the case that here was a new, laid-back style of appreciating and expressing beauty that stood against the prevailing European-dominated East Coast scene. It includes works by Harrison, Lentz and Feldman; the latter is considered to be the grandfather of the Minimalist movement.
Part of what makes this type of music so amazing is what happens when the smallest detail or change occurs within a piece. This massive difference or change of direction happens, all due to a tiny change in a repeated pattern. At times, a motif will appear, only to vanish quickly. Will it come back later, morphed? Tune in. Great stuff.
For additional information, call (845) 758-7900 or visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu.
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