Рецензии, интервью • Reviews, Interviews

AMERICAN FESTIVAL OF MICROTONAL MUSIC March 27–29, 2015, New York

n March 27–29, 2015 the American lasted ive minutes, yet consisted of an assortment Festival of Microtonal Music took of contrasting sounds. The harmonically static Oplace in New York City at the accompaniment with diatonic minor harmonies “Spectrum” Gallery at 121 Ludlow Street on and motor pulsating rhythms, adjoining the Lower East Side in Manhattan. The festival the minimalist aesthetics, were joined with was organized and directed by composer and long, slow notes played on the violin in the bassoonist Johnny Reinhard, a long-time high register. The diatonic harmonies were enthusiast of microtonal music, who has been discernibly altered by microtonal intervals. organizing the festival since 1981 in New York. These harmonies and textures alternated with The festival has presented works by numerous more abstract, unusually sounding textures, composers from around the world, bringing departing from the predominating diatonic together the most diverse styles, genres and minor harmonies, suggesting a more avant- techniques, including Renaissance and Baroque garde sound-world, along with fast, scurrying music, Classical and Romantic, early and mid passages on the violin and in the electronic part, 20th century, contemporary classical, as well with the pulsating rhythm fading in and out at as ethnic, jazz and rock music. As usual, this random intervals of time. The juxtaposition of year’s festival presented a broad assortment the rhythmically pulsating sounds with diatonic of musical trends, as was manifested in the harmonies, suggesting a minimalist style, and musical works of composers from the United the abstract textures denoting a modernist trend States and many countries of Europe and Asia. formed the main idea of this piece. Altogether On March 27 the irst concert of the this produced a fantastic, intensely expressive American Festival of Microtonal Music took atmosphere. place. The irst concert of the festival began This was followed by the American premiere with Johnny Reinhard’s introductory speech, of the “Fugue” from the Suite “Forecasts” where he introduced his festival and described by Russian composer Alexander Nemtin, his new invention – the 128-note-per-octave written in 1963 for the ANS synthesizer, scale, on which any note played ends up the irst electronic instrument in the Soviet being consonant, and which does not have Union. Nemtin became famous for completing any dissonant pitches. He also introduced Alexander Scriabin’s uninished mystical piece, the composers whose works were about to be the “Prefatory Action” for piano, organ, soloists, performed and the performers who were about chorus and orchestra, which was premiered in to play, some of whom also said a few words 1997 in Helsinki. The 11-minute-long piece about their pieces and their performances, featured a 12-voice fugue, written in the including guitarist from Istanbul, Tolgahan microtonal temperament of 5/6 of a semitone (or Çoğulu, who described his performance of 5/72 of an octave), so that the twelve voices of microtonal music on the guitar, and David the fugue would avoid the static interval of the Galt, who introduced his piece “Garbled octave. After starting with very sparse textures, Music: a Diptych” for didjeridoo. with the individual voices coming in, one at a The irst composition on the program was time, as proper for a fugue, the piece gradually a world premiere of a composition by Richard became thicker and textures, due to the added Carr, “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” for number of voices. Towards the climax of the violin and laptop, with the composer himself piece, the elaborations in its textures involved playing the violin part and supervising the outlandish glissando movements in the middle electronic sounds on the computer. The piece range, while towards the close of the piece the

81 Рецензии, интервью • Reviews, Interviews 2015,3 textures became sparse again, as the voices and more of an improvisatory feel to it. Then, faded out, one by one. after a while, the lengthy introductory passage Austrian composer, currently living in was succeeded by the main section, containing New York, Georg Friedrich Haas presented a faster tempo and the standard combination of his piece for solo bassoon, “For Johnny a melodic line (playing Turkish folk melodies Reinhard,” subtitled “in 128-tone scale, and their virtuosic elaborations) and a lively bassoon solo,” which he wrote in only three accompaniment. days. It was given its world premiere by Johnny “Three Cornered Hat” for theremin, Reinhard on the bassoon. The piece was rather fretless guitar and bassoon, composed by the extended in duration and had a very technical writer of these lines, was given its premiere and cerebral sound to it, featuring a variety of performance byYonat Haftka on the theremin, extended notes of various durations, spaced Michael Hafftka on the fretless guitar and a very short intervals from each other, some Johnny Reinhard on the bassoon. The piece of which contained multiphonics. Despite was written in response to a request by the etude-like features of the piece, the main Michael Hafftka and consisted entirely of objective of which seemed to demonstrate these graphic notation. The performers gave their very small intervals at close proximity of each own personal interpretation of the graphic other, the piece had a certain unusual and curious score, albeit following the instructions in it kind of expressivity and dramaturgy in it, which of when the individual instruments should became discernible upon close and attentive come in or stop playing and when to raise or listening to it. The latter quality was enhanced lower their pitches. Although the performers by the steady rise and fall of the dynamics played in a non-equal-tempered tuning, present in the piece. While the beginning of the they brought a great amount of diatonic piece was all in one register of the bassoon, the harmonies (with microtonal alterations) and middle of the piece included a few spots where folk-music elements to the piece. This was the register was sharply changed, which added counterbalanced by the non-standard textural to the dramaturgical qualities of the music. combination of three unusual instruments, the Towards the end of the piece, ample use was combined blend of which, especially enhanced made of the high register of the bassoon. All by glissandi in the theremin and bassoon and of these features of the piece were splendidly the reverberating chords in the guitar, and the demonstrated by Johnny Reinhard’s superbly orderly way they entered their lines or stopped virtuosic performance. playing provided for the expressive and Two pieces for guitar by Turkish composer dramaturgical qualities of their performance. Aşik Veysel Şaturoğlu – “Kara Toprak” The piece had a mysterious, nocturnal mood (“Black Earth”), presented in an arrangement and an exotic sound world. by Ricardo Moyano, and “Uzun Ince Bir “Neo-Makam” by Tolgahan Çoğulu and Yoldayim” (“I am on a Long and Narrow Johnny Reinhard, was basically a combined Way”) – were performed by Istanbul-based improvisation for guitar and bassoon, lasting guitarist, Tolgahan Çoğulu. The irst piece was about four minutes in duration, loosely moderately fast and had the lavor of Turkish following the style of Turkish makam, albeit in a ethnic folk music for guitar, successfully very free rendition. The performance alternated combining diatonic harmonies with microtonal between those sections where there was a temperaments and a standard melody- predominance of a melody-accompaniment accompaniment texture with incursions of texture, successfully recreating a Turkish ethnic technical, virtuosic quasi-lamenco lourishes. musical style, with other sections, where the The second piece began in a slower tempo, two instruments played freely, not paying close containing a greater share of rubato rhythms attention to each other, attempting to create

82 2015,3 Рецензии, интервью • Reviews, Interviews exotic textures, coming close to depicting would blend in. This resulted in a coordinated sounds of nature. and contrasting performance of an improvised David Galt performed the world premiere piece, albeit containing contrasting musical of his piece “Garbled Numbers: a Diptych” sections. The coordination of the performers on the didjeridoo, the famous Australian folk was so good, that the music ultimately had the instrument, resembling a big tree trunk. The sound of a written-out composition, rather than very appearance of this exotic instrument, as an improvised performance. well as the outlandish sound of it brought in The second concert of the festival on a very colorful atmosphere. The composer- March 28 started with an introductory speech performer was pronouncing words into the by Johnny Reinhard, joined by Skip La Plante, instrument, which were names of numbers. a composer, who is also a builder of original However, due to the fact that they were spoken instruments, for which he writes music. The into the instrument, the pronunciation was concert program opened up with a premiere of distorted and unrecognizable, yet provided for Skip La Plante’s piece for solo viola, called the non-standard type of textural development “Just Viola,” played by Anastasia Solberg, a of the piece, consisting almost entirely of these remarkable violist, who performed throughout sound reverberations of the spoken words. all the years of the festival, beginning with The irst concert inished with the world its very irst concert (on March 7, 1981). The premiere of Johnny Reinhard’s piece “Trip I,” title, obviously, presented a pun, implying that which was performed by an ensemble of Johnny this viola piece was written in just intonation. Reinhard on the bassoon, Richard Carr on the The piece was based on an “undertone violin, Todd Brunel playing several clarinets series,” which is essentially an inversion of alternately, Tolgahan Çoğulu playing microtonal the overtone series. The irst movement of guitar, Michael Hafftka playing fretless guitar, the piece possessed simplistic rhythms and a Jeroen Paul Thesseling on the fretless bass, memorable diatonic melody, altered with non- and Yonat Hafftka on the theremin. This was a standard tunings, possessing the qualities of a joint jam improvisation of all the performers, folk ballad. Its melodic writing almost made the staying within 128 tuning. Johnny Reinhard impression that this was a piece for solo voice. announced that this piece was the irst part of a The latter quality was enhanced to a great degree triptych of three improvised pieces, each one of by Anastasia Solberg’s performance, which which was supposed to be performed on each successfully caught the quasi-vocal intonation of the three concerts of the festival, all of which of the piece. The second movement possessed together were to form a single integral “cycle” a more edgy rhythmic feel to it, albeit, without in 128 tuning. The performance combined the losing its singable diatonic qualities. The third qualities of loose simultaneous playing by movement focused on arpeggiated movement, musicians, not guided by any written musical elaborating on the microtonally altered diatonic score to coordinate them, together with a arpeggios, to which gradually more and more very harmonious blended and rhythmically scalar movement was added. coordinated performance, the instrumentalists The world premiere of Johnny Reinhard’s successfully sensing each other’s playing “Knin Calimari” for microtonal guitar set in and blending in with the ensemble. The latter 128 tuning was performed by Turkish guitarist quality was enhanced by steady pulsating Tolgahan Çoğulu, whom Reinhard met in August rhythms prevailing through the entire 2014 in Knin, Croatia, where he organized a performance, though successfully avoiding tour of his microtonal festival, and for whom the sense of monotony. After certain periods he wrote it. The piece had a contemplative of time one or several players would bring in a mood and, for the most part, sparse textures and new musical idea, to which the other musicians rhythms, consisting essentially of short irregular

83 Рецензии, интервью • Reviews, Interviews 2015,3 rhythmic fragments. It had a very through a certain degree, jazz and spirituals. The text development, very characteristic of a fantasy, narrated a story of a hobo girl named Annie, with continuous successions of heterogeneous who was homeless and who traveled from one rhythmic and harmonic units. At the same city to another, without being able to ind a time, it did not resemble an improvisation for home. The sad mood of the text corresponded the instrument, since its development was a very well to the emotional feeling depicted very coherent one. It made ample use of this in the music. Towards the end of the piece new tuning, since the harmonies successfully the tempo became somewhat faster, and the blended together elements of diatonicism and dynamics got louder, the aim of which was to chromaticism in such a way that the boundary provide a greater pungent quality to the tragic between both was not discernible. story and music. After this, the initial slow Following this, Johnny Reinhard performed tempo and sad mood returned. Georg Friederich Haas’ solo bassoon piece Berlin-based composer Philip Gerschlauer “For Johnny Reinhard” a second time, had three just intonation pieces performed, repeating it from last night. The second titled, respectively, “Mr. P,” “April” and performance had a more conident mood about “October,” with the composer playing the it, and thus the mood of the piece sounded more alto saxophone, Gabriel Zucker playing the balanced. Unlike the previous night, when keyboards, Marty Kenney on the double-bass Reinhard played the piece sitting down, this time and Nathan Ellman­Bell at the drums. The piece he played it standing up. The unusual technical had a constant foundation of accompaniment aspect of piece, consisting for the most part of of double bass and drums, mostly in a regular lengthy notes apart by miniscule intervals, made motor fashion, albeit softly and subtly, while the second performance just about as interesting the saxophone and keyboard provided the and intriguing to hear as the irst, sounding melodic and harmonic development. There almost as a new piece, notwithstanding the was a strong element of jazz, albeit modiied, fact that they were separated only by one day, in the style of the music – this was enhanced and that there was no element of improvisation by the roll of the drums and the glissandos and present here, which would have greatly varied rhythmically agile melodic lies played by the each performance. saxophone. The beginning of the irst piece “The Ballad of Hobo Annie” by “Mr. P” had a sad and morose mood, though Meredith Borden was sung by the composer towards the middle, it became livelier, though (herself an excellent soprano, who regularly not shedding its minor mode color. Towards sings microtonal music), who also played the the very end of the piece the music returned to autoharp. This piece followed the tradition its solemn mood and slow tempo. The second of Harry Partch’s piece “U.S. Highball” for piece, “April” had a very noticeable change of recitation and chamber ensemble, since it key, albeit, also one in a minor tonality, and also was set to a text about a hobo traveling followed just about the same dramaturgical through many cities throughout the United design as the irst movement. It had a States. However, in its mood, the music was most recognizable rhythmically punctured totally unlike the Partch piece, since it was melody, deinitely in a jazz style, which was plaintive and lyrical. Beginning with a sad continuously repeated in sequence and varied. sounding melody in a minor mode, altered The third piece, “October” made use of some microtonally, intermingled with irregular unusual and colorful textures available for arpeggios, the harp part established its this set of instruments. It began with a more accompaniment function, providing chords intensively dramatic mood and harsh textures, to a minor-mode melody sung by the soprano and then switched to more subdued dynamics, in a style resembling American folk and, to regular rhythms and jazz melodies.

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The American premiere of Johnny Gerschlauer on the alto saxophone, Richard Reinhard’s piece “Catalpa” was played by Carr on the violin, Nathan Ellman­Bell Johnny Reinhard on the bassoon, Michael playing percussion, Anastasia Solberg on the Hafftka on the fretless guitar, and Jeroen Paul viola, Gabriel Zucker on keyboards and Marty Thesseling on the fretless bass. This was one of Kenney playing percussion. Trip II started with a series of several pieces by Reinhard named for slow music sounding in a mysteriously eerie trees (after “Oak,” which was performed at the mood, featuring some imaginative instrumental American Festival of Microtonal Music in April textures, with some of the instruments more 2014, and “Elm,” performed in August 2014 in ready to display their prowess than others. Then Croatia). It was built in a historical American gradually the momentum started building up, setting. The music began a serious, austere and more instruments began displaying their mood, albeit containing very colorful textures, soloistic initiative, while blending perfectly which constantly changed and developed, and with each other. In this piece the involvement gradually accelerated to a moderate tempo and of the drums brought along an additional livelier mood, set by a dynamic accompaniment element of dynamic energy, although the of the guitar and a swinging melody in the drummer came in and faded out with delicacy. bassoon. Short musical episodes alternated The bending tone of the wind instruments, with fragments of a text about trees spoken joined with keyboards and some of the strings, alternately by each of the three musicians, produced some reined and exquisite textural sometimes by two of them. effects. Greater initiative was taken by the “Gerga in 128” by Philip Gerschauer bassoon and the violin in terms of playing solo was a very short yet agile piece in which lines. On the whole, this performance kept quartertonal tuning gradually gave way to predominantly subdued dynamics and mood, the 128-note-per-octave scale. Its American rarely rising up to loud or fast music, albeit premiere was performed by Tolgahan Çoğulu keeping a moderately steady motion, perhaps, on the microtonal guitar with Philip Gershauer saving the loudest and most dramatic sonorities on the alto saxophone. This was a jazz piece for almost the very end of the piece, before of a moderately fast tempo, lasting about four gradually fading away to quiet sonorities at minutes, albeit its jazz style was modiied by the very end. the microtonal tunings, as well as by the sparse The third and inal concert on March texture of the two instruments. While the 29 began with Finnish composer Juhani saxophone was employed in full force, playing Nuorvala’s composition “Ruoikkohuhuilu” melodic lines, the guitar part was very sparse, for alto lute and electronics with Stefani Starin and the discrepancy between the middle-high playing the alto lute in just intonation. It was range of the saxophone and the low range of a very impressive piece, being intricately the guitar produced an unusually imaginative textured and subdued, both dynamically and textural palette. emotionally. The expansive landscapes of The second concert inished off with a Finnish forests and lakes could be very well premiere of “Trip II” by Johnny Reinhard heard in this piece, which featured lengthy for an improvising large ensemble of melodically successive notes for the alto instruments, the second piece of the triptych of lute and possessed a diatonically centered three pieces played one each on each concert harmony, accompanied by static, reverberating of the festival. The ensemble of performers electronic sonorities, ranging from non- consisted of Johnny Reinhard on the bassoon, pitched to pitched ones, the latter emphasizing Jeroen Paul Thesseling on the fretless bass, the tonic note spelled by the alto lute, the Tolgahan Çoğulu on the microtonal guitar, latter becoming more and more prominent as Michael Hafftka on the fretless guitar, Philip the piece progressed in its development.

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“Litaniae” by Romanian composer variety of quarter tones and other microtonal Violeta Dinescu, which was performed on intervals. The piece was lyrical in its mood the viola by Anastasia Solberg, featured long and intricately textured. It featured elaborate repeated notes of a single pitch at a core, joined contrapuntal weaving between the two rather at irst by minor-second double-stops, and after independent melodic lines of the piece, as well a while, developing further by having a second as very diverse textures produced by both the voice appear with glissandos up and down, as singer and the lutist. The second movement well as passages of faster, shorter-valued notes. was the shortest and consisted of one note, B, However, the feature of holding onto single reiterated by the singer and lutist at various pitches presenting the roles of drone lines (irst rhythmic durations, dynamic markings and D, then G, then C) continued throughout the ranges. The third movement had the greatest entire piece. Despite its seemingly elementary abundance of microtonal writing and was means, the composition was very imaginative also the most extroversively expressive in the and produced a warm response from the cycle. The fourth movement consisted chiely audiences. of the juxtaposition of short, fast staccato notes “Poplar” was improvised by Yonat Hafftka played on the lute and lengthy notes sung by on the theremin, Johnny Reinhard on the the singer, which contributed to a dynamic bassoon, Jeroen Paul Thessaling and Michael and colorful closing movement for this highly Hafftka on fretless guitars. This piece was imaginative and impressive cycle. inluenced by Johnny Reinhard’s three chamber “Potion Scene” (1931) by the classic pieces named after trees. It started with all the American microtonalist, Harry Partch, was players saying the word “poplar,” continuing performed by Meredith Borden as soprano and the tradition of the pieces inspired by trees. Anastasia Solberg on the viola. The 7-minute Then the music began with irst the fretless bass long piece began with the viola playing in an guitar playing long notes, and then the other unusually low register, possibly, scordatura, instruments joining in one by one with lengthy after which the soprano entered with its vocal static melodic lines, which expanded in their line, presenting elaborate contrapuntal weaving development very gradually, acquiring more with the viola line. The viola had an abundance and faster notes, louder dynamics and mixing of glissandi and adjacently played notes with diverse textures. The theremin and bassoon close intervals, while the singer’s line was (the latter occasionally playing frullato) helped purposely elementary to follow the words of bring in an eerie, mysterious atmosphere, which William Shakespeare, so that the singer could was also enhanced to a certain degrees by the project the words better. The music had a fretless guitar and the fretless bass. Gradually, mysterious, magical atmosphere, presented the music became louder, more dramatic and with a very theatrical manner. The presentation more dynamic, but never reached the stage of of the words and their meaning presented at least being overly loud or hyperactive. After a certain as important a goal of the piece as displaying point, the development of the music gradually the inesse of the microtonal intervals, and the began to subside, and reached a point of slow, latter also made their contribution to expressing soft and static textures at the end. the dramatic situation expressed by the words. The American premiere of “Polsky Strofy” “Bass(soon)” by Jeroen Paul Thesseling, (“Polish Strophes”) by Russian composer played by the composer on the fretless bass Sergei Slonimsky from St. Petersburg, set to guitar with Johnny Reinhard on the bassoon, poetry of Antonij Slonimski, the composer’s preceded the last piece on the program, uncle, was performed by mezzo-soprano virtually without a break. It began with very Meredith Borden and Stefani Starin on the lute. innovatively textured resonant sounds on The piece was in four movements, featuring a the fretless bass guitar, combining lengthy

86 2015,3 Рецензии, интервью • Reviews, Interviews reverberating sonorities in the low register with addition of the other instruments. It began with short pizzicato-like sounds in the high register. a relatively fast and rhythmically deined pace, After a while, the bassoon entered, playing a then proceeded in a bit more moderate tempo stretched out plaintively sounding melodic with great emphasis on the non-standard line with a microtonally altered diatonic minor sonorities available on the instruments, both harmonic center. The music continued to develop separately and blending with each other. After along that line, with the bassoon enriching its a much slower section, the music turned to the timbral palette with adding notes in the high moderately fast tempo of the beginning, albeit register, incorporating frullato, glissandos and with greater emphasis on the exotic sonorities rhythmically recognizable igures. than before, after which it became slower and The third piece of Johnny Reinhard’s faded out towards the end. triptych “Trip III” proceeded immediately Altogether, the American Festival of after Thesseling’s piece, without any pause. Microtonal Music, as organized in March 2015, The players were: Johnny Reinhard on the presented a bright assortment of music from bassoon, Jeroen Paul Thesseling on the different countries and pertaining to different fretless bass guitar, Todd Brunel playing styles and genres, which greatly pleased several clarinets and bass clarinet alternately, the audience attending the three concerts, Anastasia Solberg on the viola, Michael Hafttka expanded the horizons of their perception of on the fretless guitar and Philipp Gerschlauer music and enriched their musical experience by on the alto saxophone. The change of piece exposing them to a rare, high quality trend in was recognizable due to the faster tempo and contemporary music.

Anton Rovner PhD in Music Composition from Rutgers University (New Jersey, USA), Candidate of Arts (PhD) from the Moscow State Conservatory, faculty member at the Department of Interdisciplinary Specializations for Musicologists of Moscow State P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory R

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