Callithumpian Consort: Kagel, Tenney, & Schulhoff

Mauricio Kagel | Match

Program note

When I woke up on the morning of the 1st August 1964, I suddenly became aware of the fact that I had dreamed the complete course of a piece of music, and to an incredibly detailed degree.
      I was still able to remember all the particulars, above all—naturally—the fact that the two cellists were placed near the front of the platform on either side, with the percussion player between them as “umpire.”  The details of performance, with the types of sound, methods of articulation and gesticulation, and above all the markedly “sporting” character of the piece, remained in my mind with the upmost clarity.  At that time I was working on a composition for entirely different forces and with a totally different disposition of the material; I could see no relationship, as regards either content or form, between the sound worlds of the two concepts.  I did not want to give up work on the piece on which I was already engaged in order to bring a dream to materialization.  Nine nights later, however, the dream performance was repeated, with the same clarity of detail as before.  I was perturbed; this time I made notes, and tried to define the elusive time element of the imaginary music in terms of concrete tempi.  On the following morning, I realized that the dream had been repeated, yet again.  This time I laid everything aside, in the belief that fate had knocked three times, and that it was high time to do what was required of me: I wrote this Match in sound within seven days.  The dream has never again been repeated, which is a pity, because I should like to compare it to the finished score. 
      This work is dedicated to Dieter Schnebel and received its world premiere in Berlin on the 22nd October, 1965, when it was presented by the West-German Radio (Cologne) in a guest recital at a studio of Radio Freies Berlin.              
– Mauricio Kagel

James Tenney | Harmonium # 5

Program note

Harmonium #5 is a canon (at the fifth) in three voices.  It has the rhythmic structure 5, 3, 1 ¾, 1 ¼ (expressed in number of measures of 4/4), or 20, 12, 7, 5 (in quarter-notes).  This structure is expressed at the next higher level, as well, as 5, 3, 3 (11-bar segments).  The rhythmic structure at the larger level is articulated as follows: five 11-bar segments, during which the voices enter, one by one, the dynamic level increases from p to f, and the temporal density increases from very low through eighth-notes to groups of 2+3+4 per quarter-note; three 11-bar segments during which the dynamic levels and temporal density remain constant (the only changes in these parameters being in their distribution among the three voices); finally, three more 11-bar segments during which the dynamic levels and temporal density decrease again.  This is subdivided into two “sub-sections” by changes of temporal density (more precipitously than such changes had occurred before).  The harmonic progression—as in all the Harmonia—is a “circle of 5th”.  In this case, the “circle” is incomplete, dissolving into an arpeggiated chord of super-imposed fifths after ten of the twelve chromatic degrees in the cycle have been expressed (E-A-D-G-C-F-B-flat-E-flat-A-flat-D-flat).
        The work was commissioned by the Ontario Arts Council for the Array Ensemble in Toronto.                                               
– James Tenney

"Schulhoff"

Erwin Schulhoff: Hot Sonate

“Schulhoff” is the newest work in Rachel Linsky’s ongoing project series, ZACHOR (remember), which seeks to preserve the memories of WWII Holocaust survivors and victims through dance. To learn more about ZACHOR and see past works created in this series, you can visit: https://www.rachellinsky.com/zachor.html
 

Program note and bio

This work seeks to revive and honor the music of Erwin Schulhoff, a Jewish composer and Holocaust victim. A radical artist of his time, Schulhoff was one of the first European musicians to incorporate jazz into traditional music forms. The Nazis deemed jazz and all forms of modern art a threat to their ideology and sought to completely erase from history the work of Schulhoff and many other artistic trailblazers. This performance celebrates the survival and legacy of Schulhoff’s music while investigating the Nazis' ban on art forms that embraced freedom of expression and created pathways to share new ideas, perspectives, and voices.

Rachel Linsky is a Boston-based contemporary dance artist. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography and a B.A in Arts Administration from Elon University where she graduated summa cum laude. Rachel directs and choreographs ZACHOR, an ongoing project series that seeks to preserve the words of WWII Holocaust survivors through dance. Rachel’s choreography has been presented in national and international dance festivals such as Earl Mosely’s Diversity of Dance “Dance is Activism Film Festival”, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, Prague International Film Festival, and many more. Her work has been awarded funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts, The City of Boston, The Russell J. Efros Foundation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and The Beker Foundation. Rachel has been an artist in residence at the Boston Center for the Arts through their new Dance Maker’s Laboratory Program, and at Chelsea Theatre Works. Rachel was recently commissioned by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Jewish Arts Collaborative to choreograph a new work for their 2021 Hanukkah celebration. Rachel is currently a dancer with KAIROS Dance Theater and The Click Boston. She is on the teaching faculty at Koltun Ballet Boston, Broadway Bound Dance Center, and Urbanity Dance.