Classicalite favorites the Bang on a Can All-Stars have released their latest 13-track disc on Cantaloupe Music. One better, the record release coincides with tonight's show at the Jewish Museum.
This stunning LP and DVD package was produced by founding BoaC percussionist David Cossin alongside Rob Freeman. And just look at this equally stunning roster: world premiere recordings of music by Tyondai Braxton, Mira Calix, Anna Clyne, Bryce Dessner, Florent Ghys, Michael Gordon, Jóhann Jóhannsson, David Lang, Christian Marclay, Todd Reynolds, Steve Reich, Julia Wolfe, and Nick Zammuto.
The aptly named group recently presented a live performance of the complete album with several of the composers, hosted by WQXR's always wonderful Q2 Music at Green Space.
Field Recordings asks composers to go into the field of recorded sound, itself--to find something old or record something new and to respond with their own music, in dialogue with what they found. Using archival audio/video, Field Recordings builds a bridge between the seen and the unseen, the present and absent, the present and the past.
It's true. The music created for Field Recordings certainly navigates through time, sensation and sound, giving Alan Lomax and his own contact mics something to record about.
Put that in your Library of Congress, Obama.
A thrilling ride through spacetime, indeed, the music encapsulates sounds stemming from New York to Hollywood to Vegas, from Cage to French Canadian balladry, from tape loops to 80-gram vinyl.
Be sure to catch the All-Stars in Revolution of the Eye, featuring the exquisite turntablist Christian Marclay's Fade to Slide from the album, May 14 at the Jewish Museum at 7:30 p.m.
For now, check out this banger of Michael Gordon--alas, the only member of the BoaC triumvirate without a Pulitzer, at least for now--talk about his contribution to the project, live at the Barbican.
