Artist : Alarm Will Sound
Title : A/Rhythmia
Genre : Avantgarde / Classical
Year : 2009
Date : 09/2009
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 14
Label : Nonesuch
Source : CDDA
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 54:58 min
Size : 72,2 MB
Tracklist:
----------
01.jitterbug mΘcanique (benedict mason) 01:35
02.yo shakespeare (michael gordon) 11:18
03.camouflages des agrΘments 01:35
(benedict mason)
04.movimento preciso e meccanico 03:53
(gyoergy ligeti)
05.dessert search for techno baklava 02:55
(mochipet)
06.le ray au soleyl (johannes ciconia) 02:49
07.highland balls and village halls 01:35
(benedict mason)
08.study no.6 for player piano 03:45
(conlon nancarrow)
09.carmen arcadiae machanicae perpetuum 09:03
(harrison birtwistle)
10.dΘgringolade des pingouins 01:40
(benedict mason)
11.agnus dei ii (josquin des prez) 01:52
12.cfern (autechre) 05:47
13.disgraceful bossanova with lemurs 01:33
(benedict mason)
14.study no.3a for player piano 05:38
(conlon nancarrow)
-------
54:58 min
Alarm Will Sound has been called "one of
the most vital and original ensembles on
the American scene" by the New York
Times. On its Nonesuch debut,
a/rhythmia, released today, the
20-member group performs works by
Michael Gordon, Conlon Nancarrow,
Benedict Mason, Gy÷rgy Ligeti, and
Autechre, among others, that challenge
in playful and often dazzling ways
conventional notions of rhythm and
pulse.
For a/rhythmia, this new-music bandùled
by Artistic Director Alan
Piersonùperforms 14 pieces from
composers spanning six centuries, all of
which explore the concept of
ôarrhythmiaö: ôwant of rhythm or
regularity, specifically of the pulse.ö
The resulting work, on the ensembleÆs
fifth record and its first complete
album on Nonesuch, upends order and
expectation, often taking ideas akin to
minimalism and refracting them through a
fun-house mirror.
Central to the disc is the player piano
work by Conlon Nancarrow, who has
intrigued composers like Gy÷rgy Ligeti
(also represented on a/rhythmia) and
John Adams. Although NancarrowÆs studies
were originally thought to be playable
only by machines, Alarm Will Sound
(along with other intrepid musicians)
has, as Pierson writes in his program
notes, ôset about proving that (at least
some of) his studies are actually
playable by people.ö Pierson calls the
final track of a/rhythmia, NancarrowÆs
Player Piano Study 3A (his first player
piano composition), ôthe most
rhythmically challenging music weÆve
ever performed.ö
Also on the album are short pieces from
English composer-filmmaker Benedict
MasonÆs Animals and the Origins of Dance
and longer works by such artists as
Michael Gordon, electronic-music duo
Autechre, and the 15th-century composer
Josquin des Prez.
After Alarm Will Sound performed the
a/rhythmia program in a Carnegie Hall
concert last year, the New York Times
said that the group "shows an admirable
commitment and a spirit of adventure.ö
New York magazine, in its Year in
Culture survey, cited the concert as one
of the Top Ten Classical Events of 2008
http://www.nonesuch.com