"StormSound" Concert Schedule

The entire "StormSound" Cycle concert is gearing up. Rehearsals begin next week, and the musicians are no longer "subject to change" as they were in previous postings such as the older version of the poster. (The new poster will be posted here soon.)

As stated in previous posts, the audience will be able to come and go as they please during the nine-hour performance, which will last from noon to 9:00 PM on Saturday, May 21, 2011. The concert will be at the Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center, 50th and Sunnyside, Seattle.

The entire Cycle is twenty-one pieces, separate movements of the whole. Each is for a different combination of instruments (or a solo), all with prerecorded electronics. Much of the latter were ultimately derived from nature recordings by J. R. Storm, though these are often processed beyond recognition.

The following is a list of musicians and, roughly, the hours they will be playing during the nine-hour concert.

Noon – 2:00 PM: Mike Sentkewitz, acoustic bass; S. Eric Scribner, piano, inside piano, and found objects. This is “Nature Lives in Motion”, the longest piece of the Cycle, and the one with the most recognizable prerecorded nature sounds.

2:00 – 3:00 PM: Ivan Arteaga, clarinet; Neal Kosaly-Meyer, electric guitar. Ivan plays three clarinet solos, including “Song from the Voices on Earth” and “Desert Bloom”, as well as a piece with guitar. At the end of this set, the “Mystic Chord” (important to the composition of the Cycle) makes its first recognizable appearance (though it has been in the texture of the music previous to this).

3:00 – 4:00 PM: Neal Kosaly-Meyer, electric guitar; Matt Kocmieroski, percussion. Most of this hour consists of “Spherics”, a cosmic alteration of prerecorded nature sounds intended to sound like the “music of the spheres”. The graphic scores for this section are based on the planets, and the guitar and percussion sound as otherworldly as the prerecorded parts.

4:00 – 5:00 PM: Dale Speicher, percussion. A long section of prerecorded sound alone leads to the three “Field of Arbol” pieces for percussion – the luminous central heart of the Cycle. Antiphonal bells decorate the last of these pieces.

5:00 – 6:00 PM: Bruce Greeley, bass clarinet; Jay Hamilton, mey and homemade instruments; Keith Eisenbrey, found objects. Most of this hour is the “Night Signals”, a haunted dreamscape led out of darkness by variations on the “mystic chord”.

6:00 – 7:00 PM: S. Eric Scribner, piano. The reintroduction of the piano begins the climax of the Cycle, but this section also includes its most lyrical movement, “Song from Deep Silence (variations on the Gospel tune "Sing Alleluia")", which has been a big hit at previous concerts.

7:00 – 8:30 PM: Clifford Dunn, flute; David Paul Mesler, piano; Ryan Burt, drums. The second longest piece in the Cycle, “Day Signals”, represents a day in the life of Homo sapiens, again led out of darkness by reiterations of the “mystic chord”. The flute and piano parts are derived from freeform aleatory variations and improvisations on musical material from a piece by Takemitsu.

8:30 – 9:00 PM: Clifford Dunn, flute; Keith Eisenbrey, piano; Dale Speicher and Matt Kocmierosky, percussion. The “mystic chord” expands into five octaves for this gamelan-like finale, “Consort of Voices”. This piece is actually not quite finished yet…

The first rehearsal is scheduled for next week. In the mean time, I’ll be promoting the concert by playing various solo fragments of the music at concerts and open mikes around Seattle and environs. The first of these is at:

The Seattle Composers’ Salon,
tonight (5/6/2011) at 8:00
at the Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, 50th and Sunnyside, Seattle (the same venue as the complete "StormSound" concert, so this should be a chance to preview the music in those amazing acoustics). Admission: sliding scale, $5.00 to $15.00.
Other composers include Yvonne Hoar, Doug Palmer, Ben Hogue, and Jeffrey Izzo.

“The Seattle Composers’ Salon fosters the development, performance and appreciation of new music by regional composers and performers. At bi-monthly, informal presentations, the Salon features finished works, previews, and works in progress. Composers, performers, and audience members gather in a casual setting that allows for experimentation and discussion. Everyone is welcome!” (from the Composers’ Salon website).

(This posting is on 5/6/2011; 15 days until the first performance of the complete "StormSound" Cycle.)