On June 21st, as part of Make Music New York 2014, Terry Riley’s “IN C” was celebrated with “IN (Key)”, eleven new works by leading composer-performers in a concert co-produced by ComposersCollaborative and Peppergreen Media with the support of the Cornelia Street Cafe. The event began with a special performance of “IN C” itself, serving as a prelude to all that followed.
The project was previewed on the Artsbeat blog by Allan Kozinn:
“We asked people to write works for open scoring,” Mr. Distler said, meaning that the instrumentation would not be specified, “and using short repeating cells and other techniques that Terry used in the original. The pieces didn’t have to be exactly like ‘In C,’ but inspired by it.” (Mr. Distler said that his own piece, “IN B,” will use the Hare Krishna mantra and the “Batman” theme among its melodic cells.)
Mr. Distler also asked Mr. Riley for his blessing, which he received in an email that read, “I am so happy my 1964 daughter is again pregnant with so many remarkable new children.”
Read the rest of the post HERE.
Photos from the event can be seen in this slideshow:
Mr. Terry Riley himself made an appearance on Cornelia Street:
There was an NYT review and photographs from the event the following day:
I started my musical day farther north, in Greenwich Village, with an afternoon concert commemorating another anniversary, the 50th of Terry Riley’s groundbreaking composition “In C” (1964). One of the few works of the last century to rival Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” (1913) in influence, this piece, with its single-minded, throbbing exploration of the key of C, set the tone for Minimalism, whether so called or not. (It was not, until the composer Michael Nyman applied the term to music in 1968, and some practitioners still oppose its use.)
For this commemoration, called “IN (Key),” the organizers, the composers and the keyboardists Jed Distler and Patrick Grant commissioned brief works (eight to 10 minutes or so) in more or less similar style from other composers and each wrote one himself: a total of 11 works that, taken together with “In C,” form a cycle based on each of the 12 pitches in the chromatic scale: thus, for example, John King’s “In A,” Vasko Dukovski’s “In B flat (maybe)” and David Borden’s “Around E flat.”
Read more of James Oestreich’s Critic’s Notebook HERE.
Completing the octave, on the program was: “IN Db” by Eleonor Sandresky (keyboard), “IN D” by Lisa Maree Dowling (electric bass), “IN Eb” by David Borden (keyboard), “IN E” by Gene Pritsker (electric guitar), “IN F” by Elliott Sharp (electric guitar), “IN F#” by Adam Cuthbért (trumpet & laptop), “IN G” by Patrick Grant (keyboard), “IN Ab” by Brad Balliett (bassoon), “IN A” by John King (viola), “IN Bb” by Vasko Dukovski (clarinet), and “IN B” by Jed Distler (keyboard).
The ensemble was joined by Michiyo Suzuki (clarinets) of the Absolute Ensemble and Gina Izzo (flute) of the RighteousGIRLS as special musical guests.
Stage Manager: Natasha Lee Martin
Sound Engineer: Erick Gonzales
Asst. Sound Engineer: David Rodriquez, Jocelyn Gonzales
Publicist: Alanna Maharajh Stone
The concert took place from 1:00 to 4:00 PM on the street outside the cafe at 29 Cornelia St. and was FREE and open to the public.
The MMiXdown 