New
CD Highlights Graduate
Composition and Performance Work
Dirk
Sutro | March
13, 2006
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| Professor Charles Curtis |
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The department of music has released a new CD that represents some of the best
composition and performance work from the department’s
graduate programs.
sound check one includes seven pieces selected
by Charles Curtis, a world-renowned cellist and professor
of music.
“It’s a surprisingly rich range of music,
given that it’s all produced by acoustic instruments,”
Curtis said.
While all acoustic in origin, the sound in some cases
is manipulated by computers.
Pieces range from fresh interpretations of Brahms’ Clarinet Trio Opus 114 and Donatoni’s Omar, to new works by Cristyn Magnus, Jason Robinson, Rick Snow, Ming Tsao, and Shahrokh Yadegari.
Magnus’s Run 12 uses computer software to manipulate sound with a genetic algorithm—a mathematical formula based on evolutionary principles such as reproduction, mutation, deletion and selection.
Canon, composed by Tsao and performed by Anthony Burr (bass clarinet) and Charles Curtis (cello), is modeled on the classical form in which notes or melodies from one section of a piece are repeated in another section. Canon pushes the limits of the form to “elicit a shift or movement of musical perception from expected sound relationships to a perception that is more indefinite,” according to Tsao.
Robinson’s For Nonaah’s Alto is the lone jazz piece on sound check one. This solo saxophone improvisation performed by Robinson was inspired by two earlier improvisational pieces by renowned saxophonist/composers: Roscoe Mitchell’s Nonaah (1977) and Anthony Braxton’s For Alto (1969).
sound check one is the first in a series of
music department CDs. The upcoming sound check two
will be curated by music faculty member Miller Puckette
and released later this year.
To read about the music and hear audio samples go to: http://music.ucsd.edu/soundcheck/
To get a free copy of the CD, e-mail your name and mailing address to publicity@music.ucsd.edu.
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