We're serving up new music made with bowed strings from New York composer Tristan Perich, Georgian composer Gio Janiashvili, London-based Oliver Leith and Belgian band, Echo Collective.
Inspired by math, physics and code, hear a work for 50 violins, 50 loudspeakers and 1-bit electronics by Tristan Perich, where the passel of violinists are conducted by Douglas Perkins. The electro-acoustic results might bring up associations with Terry Riley, the rhythmic patterns of Reich, and sometimes the Kecak from Bali. Then, there’s an acoustic work by Belgian group Echo Collective, who, along with violin, viola, cello, and harp, also use an MRP (Magnetic Resonator Piano), which magnetically bows each string – as Schaefer explains, it’s like a huge ebow for the insides of a piano.
From London’s un-conducted string orchestra, The 12 ensemble, listen to a viscous work by British composer Oliver Leith, “Honey Siren.” In his notes on the piece, Leith explains how he thought of these sirens as "like a machine crying," with "sweeping glissandi." [The sirens] "are honeyed, dripping in globules of sweetness, golden and moving between solid and fluid. Like a smiling alarm." There’s also music by Irish-born Princeton-based composer Donnacha Dennehy - his long-form work, "Tessellatum" for American violist Nadia Sirota, who is joined on the baroque viola da gamba by Liam Byrne to generate some 15 layers of acoustic bowed string instrument patterns. Plus, more music for viola, plus ensemble and electronics by New York-based Georgian composer, collaborator, and multi-disciplinary artist, Gio Janiashvili. -Caryn Havlik
Program #4458, Music With Bowed Strings (First Aired 2/8/2021)
ARTIST: Echo Collective
WORK: Respire [1:00]
RECORDING: The See Within
SOURCE: 7K! Records
INFO: echo-collective.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: 50 violinists, Douglas Perkins, conductor
WORK: Section 1 [5:00]
RECORDING: Tristan Perich: Drift Multiply
SOURCE: New Amsterdam / Nonesuch Records
INFO: tristanperich.bandcamp.com | nonesuch.com/artists/tristan-perich
ARTIST:50 violinists, Douglas Perkins, conductor
WORK: Section 2 [7:55]
RECORDING: Tristan Perich: Drift Multiply
SOURCE: New Amsterdam / Nonesuch Records
INFO: tristanperich.bandcamp.com | nonesuch.com/artists/tristan-perich
ARTIST: Rivka Golani, Trinity Laban Sinfonietta, Nic Pendlebury, cond.
WORK: Gio Janiashvili: io io [9:53]
RECORDING: soundcloud.com/giojaniashvili/ioio
SOURCE/INFO: giojaniashvili.com/io-io.html
ARTIST: The 12 Ensemble
WORK: Oliver Leith: Honey Siren - III. Like Slow Dancing In Honey [8:20]
RECORDING: Death and the Maiden
SOURCE: Sancho Panza Records
INFO: The 12 Ensemble
ARTIST: Echo Collective
WORK: Respire [10:55]
RECORDING: The See Within
SOURCE: 7K! Records
INFO: echo-collective.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Nadia Sirota, Liam Byrne
WORK: Donnacha Dennehy: Tessellatum Part 2 [2:42]
RECORDING: Tessellatum
SOURCE: Bedroom Community
INFO: bedroomcommunity.bandcamp.com