Founded in 1982 as a way to document the McKnight Fellowship winners of the Minnesota Composers Forum, Innova Recordings initially featured mainly the works of Minnesota composers such as Eric Stokes, Libby Larsen, Paul Schoenfield and Steven Paulus. In 1994 the label opened its doors to any artists with a finished master tape that wanted access to an established distribution network, and now, produces and releases up to 25 CDs per year. On November 17, Naxos of America proudly began distribution of the releases of Innova Recordings.
Innova is dedicated to forward-“hearing” work that pushes and challenges the boundaries of contemporary music. The label’s releases are less dictated by record-bin-constraints or typical notions of marketability, but by the integrity of the work, its originality, conceptual richness and technical quality, and the artist’s willingness to support and promote the release. The label attempts to redefine the typical relationship between artist and label. Artist and label work together, taking advantage of each other’s strengths, to provide both the tools of an established record label and the freedom usually associated with self-publishing.
Innova is geared towards work that is unlikely to find a home in the mainstream record industry. The label focuses on world class music—regardless of its genre (or lack of one, even though for convenience we use words like New Classical, Jazz, Experimental, Electronic and World)—that commercial labels overlook. Several projects have brought national attention to the label: Philip Blackburn’s field recordings from Vietnam (Stilling Time) and his archival series of the works of Harry Partch and Henry Brant. Prominent titles also include GVSU’s recording of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, Douglas J Cuomo’s Arjuna’s Dilemma and Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Apti. Other Innova releases have earned awards and nominations for Grammy, Emmy, and Pulitzer prizes, while numerous titles have received wide acclaim and charted significantly.
“The awesome young musicians from the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble have teamed up with some of the most imaginative DJ’s, remixers and composers to realize not only one of the best In C performances ever, but also some ‘alternate universe’ In C’s that got me smiling, beaming and sometimes amazed. A new revelational viewpoint on a piece that has been turned every way but loose over the past 45 years.” – Terry Riley
This new version comes not from loft-based hipsters in New York or California, but via a mostly undergraduate crew from Allendale, Mich. Beyond the geographical surprise, it actually makes sense that a young ensemble has shown a flair for this music. The kids, as itwere, have always been alright with t he minimalists. Pete Townshend was so influenced by Riley’s early synthesizer pieces that he named “Baba O’Riley” in part after the composer. “Black Mozart,” from Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon’s latest record, might just as easily have been dedicated to a minimalist, given its catchy, brief figure that repeats through verse and chorus alike. The members of Grand Valley State’s ensemble play with a confident swing that suggests they understand these links implicitly. It’s also why this new release offers not just their own astute performance but also 18 remixes by a collection of big names, such as DJ Spooky and Pulitzer winner David Lang.– Seth Coulter Walls, Newsweek, October 1, 2009
The Story
Hailed as “the story of the year in classical music” by WNYC’s John Shaefer in 2007, Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble’s recording of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians vaulted to number one on the iTunes and Amazon charts and spent eleven weeks on the Billboard charts. As an answer to that recording which garnered 30 positive reviews and a feature article in the New York Times, the GVSU New Music Ensemble decided to tackle the work of another Minimalist icon; Terry Riley’s In C.
With more than twelve mostly outstanding recordings of In C already on the market, the ensemble simply did not want record another interpretation of the piece. Bill Ryan, director of the GVSU New Music Ensemble, had an idea. The open instrumentation, interchangeable parts and overriding philosophy of freedom of In C would be the ideal foundation for remixing. A 2-CD release that would include a full performance of Riley’s In C as it was intended and short remixes of the work using the GVSU recording tracks as its inspiration. On November 17, Innova Recordings will release the product of this inspiration; In C Remixed.
The Remixers
Representing a true cross-section of musical genres, the remixers on In C Remixed bring together the worlds of classical, pop, electronica, jazz, trip-hop, dance, techno, industrial, disco, ambient, and more. With collective accolades including Grammy nominations (Jack Dangers), a Pulitzer Prize (David Lang), an Emmy nomination (Daniel Bernard Roumain-DBR), a Guggenheim Fellowship (Mason Bates), an ASCAP Foundation/Morton Gould Young Composer Award (Dennis DeSantis), a Fulbright Scholarship (Michael Lowenstern) and an Oscar-winning soundtrack (Nico Muhly), their music has been heard in numerous major motion films, on television and radio, and performed at the most notable venues with the top orchestras throughout the world.
Many of the remixers commented about the first time they each encountered Terry Riley’s In C, remarked on the creative processes that they used when they were crafting their remixes, and also gave explanation of the resulting works:
Bints Mix and Foster Grant Mix, Michael Lowenstern
“For me, the flexibility of In C is singularly unique in its ability to alternately live in the background and/or draw in the listener’s focus. I tried to stay true to that sensibility as I organized my thoughts around the two remixes I made for this compilation, and hopefully succeeded in making them a similar type of ‘flexible listening.’”
Counting in C, Jab Abumrad
“First time I heard In C I was a freshman in college, majoring in music composition and completely lost in a wilderness of scary music. Serial, post-war atonality. Our teacher was asking us to compose music that literally hurt (I was told someone in a class a few years ahead of me had actually sawed an old piano in half for a piece). So anyhow, at one of my more despairing moments, I went to the music library, and on recommendation from a friend, checked out In C on vinyl. And when I dropped the needle on the record, I almost wanted to cry. Here was “serious music” that was actually…fun.”
In Sea of C, DJ Spooky
“When you hear the opening lines of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” – you know they heard Riley’s work. When you think of Philip Glass, John Adams, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros, Meredith Monk, Harry Partch, Morton Feldman, Lou Harrison and others, you can also connect the dots. In C was the original DNA of many of these composers relationship to repetition. I hope that the listener can hear a mirror reflection in a hip hop take on the same composition. The Futurists always thought the future would be noise. Who would have guessed that their ideas would be usurped by repetition! I hope you enjoy the work.”
Zachary’s Dream, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)
“The poet in me, if asked what Zachary’s Dream means, might reply that I wanted this remix to be a soundtrack to the moment when you’re very young, and very tired, and are falling asleep in the backseat of a car or on a train, as you fight to stay awake, if only to listen to the ambient sounds on the radio or the music on your loose fitting headphones, and your siblings conversation, and the anecdotes of your parents mind-numbing, endless quarreling—all of this, a soothing, comforting lullaby for the over-stimulated children we all might be.”
In C (Todd Reynolds Remix), Todd Reynolds
“As I sat down to work on this, it became clear to me just how much of it all was still close to the surface. As the mix developed, I was reminded of the time I spent on that motorbike as the temples, rice terraces, wild dogs, people selling their art, water, forest, all whirred by, natural and man-made beauty unfolding by the second, and I, simply a humble observer. Not surprisingly, it’s much like the first time I played my way through In C, where I discovered that the listening and the watching was as profound a part of the process as the playing. Terry Riley has given us a timeless work which elevates “presence in the moment” to the art form it truly is, and this mix is my humble response to it.”
simple remix, David Lang
“I have always loved In C and over the years have participated in many many performances - as a trombonist, as a percussionist, as a guitarist, and even once (erratically, I am afraid) playing the pulse. I remember my college new music ensemble drinking a bit too much after a concert and singing the whole thing, backstage in an art center in Mendocino California. It is an easy piece to do badly - I also remember one performance in which everyone agreed too much, and the whole performance took on a march-like quality, as we all unwittingly moved in lock-step with each other. In memory of that performance I remixed a section as a kind of slow march, with the studio help of Todd Reynolds and a spectacularly funereal bass drum sample from Paul Coleman.”
Founded in 1982 as a way to document the McKnight Fellowship winners of the Minnesota Composers Forum, Innova Recordings initially featured mainly the works of Minnesota composers such as Eric Stokes, Libby Larsen, Paul Schoenfield and Steven Paulus. In 1994 the label opened its doors to any artists with a finished master tape that wanted access to an established distribution network, and now, produces and releases up to 25 CDs per year. On November 17, Naxos of America proudly begins distribution of the releases of Innova Recordings.
Innova is dedicated to forward-“hearing” work that pushes and challenges the boundaries of contemporary music. The label’s releases are less dictated by record-bin-constraints or typical notions of marketability, but by the integrity of the work, its originality, conceptual richness and technical quality, and the artist’s willingness to support and promote the release. The label attempts to redefine the typical relationship between artist and label. Artist and label work together, taking advantage of each other’s strengths, to provide both the tools of an established record label and the freedom usually associated with self-publishing.
Innova is geared towards work that is unlikely to find a home in the mainstream record industry. The label focuses on world class music—regardless of its genre (or lack of one, even though for convenience we use words like New Classical, Jazz, Experimental, Electronic and World)—that commercial labels overlook. Several projects have brought national attention to the label: Philip Blackburn’s field recordings from Vietnam (Stilling Time) and his archival series of the works of Harry Partch and Henry Brant. Prominent titles also include GVSU’s recording of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, Douglas J Cuomo’s Arjuna’s Dilemma and Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Apti. Other Innova releases have earned awards and nominations for Grammy, Emmy, and Pulitzer prizes, while numerous titles have received wide acclaim and charted significantly.
Collin Rae, Naxos of America’s Marketing and Special Projects Manager, recently started a series of email discussions with composers, which have been posted on PMS #286 Appreciation Society, the Naxos of America blog. This discussion with composer David Lang yielded some interesting answers— including one heck of a 15-track music compilation!
In February of this year I began an email exchange with composer (and Bang on a Can) member David Lang. A few months previous (November of ‘08) Naxos released a fantastic and intriguing CD of David’s compositions titled Pierced. Then in January of ‘09 Medici Arts / EUROARTS released Bang on a Can’s Music for Airports DVD (a brilliant aural and visual experience based upon the Eno composition of course) which aslo came through Naxos of America. It was in fact this email exchange with David and our discussion about his music that inspired me to do this series of artist interviews.
What I find so fascinating about David’s music is its direct sonic link to what we now call “Indie Rock”. His homage to the Velvet Underground is a fine illustration of this link. It is however pieces like Pierced and Cheating, Lying, Stealing with their organic and almost awkward loops, the spaces and hesitations that flow within that circular-like sound which really grab and propell the listener. There are moments where I feel like I’m listening to some form of post-modernly abstract electronica. Enough of this! Here’s David.
CR: What are 5 recordings (different genres if possible) that shaped / shapes your personal musical landscape? DAVID:-The Joseph Papp production of the Ralph Mannheim translation of Brecht / Weill Three Penny Opera
-The (1973?) Steve Reich recording of Violin Phase and It’s Gonna Rain
-Leonard Bernstein’s first recordings of Shostakovich’s 1st and 9th Symphonies
-The first Velvet Underground record, with the Andy Warhol yellow banana cover
-Bob Dylan - World Gone Wrong
CR: Now speaking specifically about “Classical Music” what pieces / composers have totally blown your mind and helped shape who you are sonically today? DAVID:
Glass - Einstein on the Beach
Reich - Drumming
Stockhausen - Stimmung
Berlioz - Harold in Italy
Machaut - Messe de Notre Dame
Andreissen - De Staat
Bach - Goldberg Variations
CR: Can you give us 5 visuals that helped shape that person that is you….these could be moments, a cereal box, a toy, a piece of art, a movie, a television show…whatever… DAVID: I am not at all a visual person.
CR: We talk a lot about cultures and sub-cultures and how it pertains to music and art, what “culture” do you see you and your music being part of? What “Sub-culture / Subcultures” do you or have you indentified with and why / how? DAVID: My sub-culture is a kind of no-mans-land between experimental classical and experimental pop musics. One of the interesting things going on right now is that classical music’s gravitational field is pretty weak, and creative young musicians who in past centuries would have been steered towards classical music now go straight to indie pop. there is now a growing part of the pop world that wants its music to be questioning, unusual, uncompromising, not always easy or pleasant to listen to. Those are all the traits we used to want from new classical music as well….
CR: Can you put into words your creative process? DAVID: I like to think about why I like the things I like. What this means compositionally is that a lot of my music comes from examining myself, about why certain kinds of music make me feel good or bad. the piece that won the Pulitzer - ‘the little match girl passion’ - began with me thinking about how strange it is that Jewish classical music lovers spend so much time loving music from the past that worships Jesus. Christianity is central to much of the canon of western music - I know more about Christianity than many Christians I know, simply because I love Bach and Monteverdi and Perotin. After years of thinking about how weird this was I decided to write a piece about it. Likewise, my piece ‘pierced’ came out of years of thinking about the history of the concerto - how we take it for granted that a musical form is about a certain kind of argument between an individual and a group, a heroic depiction of the struggle of one noble person changing all society. What if we wanted to make a piece that was based on a different model of human interaction? What if a concerto was about two groups of people ignoring each other, but whose mutual ignorance added up to something that neither group could achieve by itself? I wrote ‘pierced’ after years of thinking such thoughts.
CR: When do you feel you do your best work? DAVID: When my children get off to school in the morning I am so happy to be in alone my studio that I find it very easy to work!
CR: What are you working on this very moment? DAVID: I am rewriting Beethoven’s only opera FIDELIO - not the music, which of course is amazing and utterly untouchable, but the libretto, which has real problems, and which Beethoven himself knew needed some help. I am making my own version of the story, taking out most of the mushy love stuff and focusing on the politics.
CR: Can you create for me a 15 track compilation of music / sound (list the pieces you would put on this compilation) DAVID: in no particular order:
-Kurt Weill - ballad in which macheath begs all men for forgiveness
-Pere ubu - the modern dance
-Michael Gordon - yo, shakespeare
-Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen - din tavshed
-Evan Ziporyn - tsmindao ghmerto
-Radiohead - everything in its right place
-julia wolfe - early that summer
-John Cage - six melodies
-Brian Eno - music for airports, 1:1
-Marc Blitzstein - the nickel under your foot
-X - the world’s a mess it’s in your kiss
-Frank Zappa - willie the pimp part 2, from fillmore east
-Xenakis - psappha
-Glenn Branca - lesson #1
-Meredith Monk - facing north
For the world to be interesting, you have to be manipulating it all the time. - Brian Eno
In 1978, Brian Eno composed his revolutionary ambient masterwork Music for Airports. 20 years later, in what seemed like a perfect marriage of barrier-breaking music and innovative musicians, Bang on a Can released a new interpretation of Music for Airports on Philip Glass’ POINT Music label. The piece was arranged by composer Evan Ziporyn and Bang on a Can founders and composers Michael Gordon, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang and Julia Wolfe. It was performed live for the first time by the Bang on a Can All-Stars during the Holland Festival accompanied by Frank Scheffer’s digitally shot images of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
On January 27, 2009 Medici Arts releases this unique and revelatory film featuring a new arrangement of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports enhanced by Scheffer’s “out of focus” illustrations. The release also includes the landmark Frank Scheffer documentary In the Ocean in which the complicated contemporary classical music scene of the past, present and future is discussed by composers such as Brian Eno, Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, John Cage, and the founders of Bang on a Can.
Pioneering composer, conceptual artist, non-musical pop star, Grammy-winning record producer, writer and philosopher Brian Eno created and recorded his “ambient music” masterpiece Music for Airports to diffuse the irritating atmosphere of airport terminals. An atheist who turned to art because it existed in God’s absence, Eno developed an almost unhealthy obsession for sound. Eno believed that music was the noblest art. “I had wanted a tape recorder since I was tiny. I thought it was a magic thing’, said Eno of his first musical instrument. His fascination with capturing, experimenting with, and using sounds led him to musical collaborations with artists and composers such as U2, Talking Heads, Cluster, Devo, David Bowie, Genesis and Philip Glass, among many others. Scored for voices and instruments including acoustic piano and synthesizer, Eno’s Music for Airports was composed after he was bedridden from a car accident in 1975. The concept of ambient music was born from Eno’s inability to walk across his bedroom to change the volume on his radio. The low sound of what was coming out of the speakers weaved in and out of the beating of the rain outside of his window created calming and time-passing music. Described by Eno as music that “must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular: it must be as ignorable as it is interesting,” his work Music for Airports is the culmination of Eno’s varied and colorful journey to his goal of ambient perfection.
Frank Scheffer’s documentary In the Ocean offers the experiences and opinions of some of the world’s greatest contemporary composers and performers who have never before appeared together on film. The composers discuss the complex “establishment” that is contemporary classical music; what it means to compose this music, the inspiration of one continent on another; the influences they have on one another, and the new and ever-evolving face of the art-form. The story of Bang on a Can is used to illustrate many of these points as well as to convey this inimitable music to a wider audience.
Formed in 1987 by composers Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe, Bang on a Can is dedicated to commissioning, performing, creating, presenting and recording contemporary music. With an ear for the new, the unknown and the unconventional, Bang on a Can strives to expose exciting and innovative music as broadly and accessibly as possible to new audiences worldwide. And through its Summer Festival, Bang on a Can hopes to bring this energy and passion for innovation to a younger generation of composers and players.
Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach) opened they year’s ASCAP Concert Music Awards with a sobering warning about string players being careful about their instruments being lost or stolen, “How do you keep your violin from getting stolen? Put it in a viola case.” Seven more viola jokes followed.
Each year ASCAP presents the Morton Gould Young Composers Award. It’s an opportunity for young rising star composers to win some prize money and a much valued boost in status. I attended the ceremony with composer Alex Kotch who was being honored that night. Of course the Concert Music Awards ceremony also honors established composers, musicians, and directors for their significant contribution to classical music. Among this year’s honorees were Joseph Jennings (composer and director of Chanticleer), David Lang (educator and composer), compoer John Corigliano and conductor JoAnn Falletta.
After receiving their medal the young composers had a short excerpt of their work played while each of the established honorees gave a short speech. Their speeches were just about the most gracious and touching I’ve ever heard. Falletta, a Naxos artist and conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic, told a particularly inspiring story about Corigliano, who was doing a one-week residency with the Buffalo Philharmonic during a brutal cold snap in March. During this time the orchestra premiered and recorded his “Three Hallucinations from “Altered States” / Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan”. Falletta recounted how the collaboration breathed new life into the orchestra and the city of Buffalo. She said the city was as excited about classical music as she’d ever seen.
The Corigliano/Falletta recording will be available from Naxos later this year. You can find albums featuring performances and music from such ASCAP award presenters as Schickele, Falletta, Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Steven Burke, Sebastian Currier, Stephen Paulus, and David Lang on Naxos.com and Classicsonline.com. However, there are no viola jokes.
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