Our fifth year (how time flies!) as Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Richmond began with a concert in which 8bb collaborated with New York/Berlin-based laptop artist and composer Dennis DeSantis.
Two reviews of the Wednesday night concert have appeared. Clarke Bustard, who was the Richmond Times-Dispatch classical music reviewer for almost four decades, has written a review on his Letter V blog. Here is an excerpt:
By his own reckoning, DeSantis was “unobtrusive” in his sonic additions to “Powerless,” a four-movement piece he wrote in 2001. The composer electronically enhanced echo effects in string and wind instruments’ responses to jazz-inflected piano figures, compounded the density of the piece’s second movement, “Eel,” and enhanced a cello drone in the third movement, “Egis.”
As the program progressed through a set of pieces from eighth blackbird’s Grammy Award-winning album “Strange Imaginary Animals,” DeSantis’ presence grew. He added subtle atmospherics to the already subtle “evanescence” of Gordon Fitzell (a 2004 adaptation of Fitzell’s 2001-vintage “Violence”), and enhanced resonation and underlined instrumental sound effects in Steven Mackey’s “Indigenous Instruments” (1989).
The Richmond Times-Dispatch today printed a very positive review by Walt Amacker. Some excerpts:
Seldom comes the time when a cello and a bass clarinet play accompanied duets one-half tone apart for extended periods without most listeners wanting to tear out their hair. The folks in the University of Richmond’s artists-in-residence sextet eighth blackbird can do it and make you want to hear more…
Pulling from its Grammy Award-winning CD, “strange imaginary animals,” 8bb gave all the tracks to DeSantis and asked him to use them to create a computerized version of the CD. It was remarkable, sounding almost like a dancetrack for something that a Philadanco or an Alvin Ailey could fiddle with. The piece was officially labeled “strange imaginary remix.”…
More worldwide stages graced, more commissions set forth, four CDs and their first Grammy. It hasn’t taken many years, but the hard work is fanatically obvious.
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Posted 19 September 2008
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Today I had the pleasure of driving with Tim from Easton, PA to Dulles International Airport. Overall the drive was uneventful. Tim surfed for NPR broadcasts and eventually ended up playing “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me” podcasts from his iPod.
For those of you just tuning into “Thirteen Ways” I feel compelled to reiterate that Tim is a self-proclaimed classical music tragic. Classical music is the egg in his omelette, the coal in his locomotive, etc. His love for the genre is so all consuming I have found little evidence that he has any idea that other types of music even exist.
Before settling into the podcasts, we happened upon a local classical radio station which was fading in and out of service. The announcer prepared us to listen to a Telemann overture for harpsichord at which point I made a snarky comment about my apathy towards the Baroque period in general. This fell upon deaf ears as Tim listened intently to the recording.
After a few moments passed he said something which both shocked and delighted me. I leave it to you, our esteemed readers to conjecture.
[UPDATE: Of course, the answer is bedpans and self-flagellation. On ya!)
What does the sound of a harpsichord cause Tim to visualize?
- Wigs, bedpans and self-flagellation (42%)
- The Addams Family (36%)
- Rosemary Clooney (12%)
- An afternoon at Harrods (6%)
- A crowded street in Vienna (3%)
Total Votes: 33
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The poll closes on Friday September 19th at 11:59 PM.
Going to bed after a late evening of playing too much Spore post-concert, and time to share some thoughts:
1) Concert went well. I like Lafayette — I’m a fan of any place that asks us to return (we first played here in 2004), but the hall, staff, presenter, and students here are all professional, friendly, and fun. From our end, mixing has gotten so much better in the Reich (go Ryan!), and our new stage/production manager Emily is working out great. (We miss you though, Barbara!) Plenty of rough edges to smooth out as we continue to tour (somehow, we all find the first part of Michael Gordon’s piece very tricky onstage, even after detailed and what felt like successful rehearsals), but for a first concert of the season, I’m pleased. Not as many nerves as I had at the end of last season, so that’s good.
2) The answer to the poll is: c) Sibelius and Bach. I know, I was surprised, too. I admit I didn’t remember Tim’s comment about Saariaho (Thanks to Michael and Kyle for pointing this out), that was just a fortunately believable wrong answer. Hopefully Tim will let us know what he’s gleaning from the J’s in a future post.
3) The fob issue? Still happening. Took five of us trying to get it out tonight. I think I’m running away from any car that has one of these the next few times I’m at a rental agency.
