Getting Plucky: No Strings Attached - Q&A with Ben Melsky and Jesse Langen

Getting Plucky: New Music for Harp and Guitar

Q: When and how did the two of you dream up the idea of collaborating to commission new music for harp and guitar?

Ben:  Jesse and I have consistently remarked, after every ensemble piece that we’ve been included on,  (I think the first time was when we did a Radiohead arrangement in DN’s early days at Northwestern) at how well we play together.  It’s just really solid - which is rare - especially considering our instruments and how difficult it can be to pluck notes at precisely the same time.  In an ensemble, harp and guitar are often their own “sections” so to speak, which is kind of uniting in a way. We  face similar challenges incorporating our sound with the ensemble while trying to lining things up rhythmically. Anyway, we did some repertoire searches and decided we needed to add some pieces to that list.   It’s interesting how alike the two instruments are in sound, technique, and role within an ensemble and yet there is remarkably little written for two as a duet.

Jesse:  It seems like such a natural combination; it makes sense for the same reasons that a string quartet or a wind quintet make sense.  It seems strange that there isn’t already a large repertoire; and in that light we saw it as a rare undeveloped opportunity, which we’re eagerly exploiting.

Q: Can you tell us how you identified the composers that you ended up working with? What are the highlights of each piece that we'll hear on the January 23 performance at Elastic Arts?

Ben: We pretty much agreed upon Fred, Drew, Tomás and Kasia immediately and I’m beyond thrilled that they all agreed to write for us.  I think we were interested in approaching composers who had experience with harp/guitar (and with us as performers) who would explore the tiniest timbral details because of the breadth of sound colors available between the two instruments.

I don’t want to give away the game completely but I’ll say the four pieces are totally different approaches to the duet, and have some unique challenges as chamber music. You’ll hear some mysteriously beautiful microtonal tuning, a good heap of character/gesture/pantomime, and a kind of plucky kaleidoscope of sound. Stay “tuned”...

Jesse: When I heard Tomás’ solo piece (After L’addio/Felt) for Ben, my first thought was that I have to get this guy to write me a solo piece!  Followed immediately by the realization that even better might be a duo for Ben and me.  His plucked string writing is virtuosic in an intimate way that comes from a hands-on mentality, and sure enough in rehearsals Tomás is able to take my guitar from me and show me corrections and ideas.  Fredrick Gifford is very familiar with both the guitar and the harp, and the very idea of this duo evokes in my mind a Gifford-temperament soundworld. Kasia is an accomplished harpist herself, but the real reason we thought of her is her creativity with drama in performance, which we thought would (and, in fact, most certainly does!) mesh well with our pursuit of ensemble virtuosity.  I think Drew was an impulse...we just had a feeling that asking him was a good idea.  This impulse paid off richly in the incandescent ass-kicker we got from him.

Q: What are the challenges and rewards of uniting these two instruments as an ensemble?

Ben: 
Challenge: Playing all the notes exactly together.
Reward: When we do, it sounds awesome.

Jesse: I would add on the rewards side that it’s therapeutic to rehearse together.  If you play violin, or flute, or any normal instrument, you get to play with people who play in your family of instruments all the time.  For Ben and for me, if we’re on a gig, it usually means there aren’t any other guitarists or harpists in the room.  So rehearsing together is not only a joy, but a kind of relief.  Ben plays when I think he’ll play, at the volume I expect, with the phrasing I expect.  I think string players, wind players, singers and so forth have this experience all the time, but it’s novel for us.

Q: It's Dal Niente's 10th Anniversary Season. In honor of this special occasion, what have been some of your favorite experiences as part of the ensemble?

Ben: Certainly the Deerhoof Variations come to mind, both performances of In Vain, Schnee… I feel like this season I’ve watched the group really embrace its identity as a music collective, with the blog and the DN Presents series, everyone has contributed in original ways to generate excitement around what we do.  It’s not a specific memory, but I also would have to add how much I love hearing everyone’s ideas at meetings concerts etc.  It’s kind of like a little musical “think tank” - thinking up repertoire, concert ideas, composers to approach, then figuring out how to turn them into reality.

Jesse: At the first Party, neither Matt Oliphant nor I were on any of the pieces, and I remember us exchanging a moment as we realized how great it was to sit back and listen to our favorite people entertain us (and eat and drink all the while) for hours on end.  When I think of Dal Niente moments that I revisit and savor in my head, it’s always my friends playing, and my sitting back thinking how lucky I am to be in the room and listening.
 

Dal Niente Presents: Ben Melsky and Jesse Langen
Saturday, January 23, 2016
8:30pm
Elastic Arts
3429 W. Diversey, #208
Chicago, IL 60647
Tickets $20/$15 (cash only at door)
BUY ADVANCED TICKETS HERE!

Photo credit by Aleksandr Karjaka

Q&A With Mabel Kwan

Q&A With Mabel Kwan

Q: Tell us about your new album, one poetic switch. When did you decide you wanted to record an album and how did you choose the repertoire?

In the last few years I've gotten a lot of new pieces for various keyboard instruments, and I was interested in making an album where you could hear these pieces and instruments side by side. For my first solo album, one poetic switch, I chose pieces that were for piano and clavichord. I’m deeply grateful to Ray, Eliza, Ramteen, Santiago, Fred and Mauricio for their compositions, and for being such wonderful collaborators. The pieces on this album are highly contrasting, even though they were all composed within a few years of each other. I hope you'll give it a listen and I would love to know what you think of it.

Q: We'll be hearing the World Premiere of Fredrick Gifford's Graft Blossom on January 3 where you will perform on toy piano, clavichord, and prepared piano all within the same piece. How did you approach learning a piece that asks you to move from instrument to instrument?

I'm really looking forward to playing this piece on the concert! So actually, the prepared piano part is pre-recorded; it's eight separate layers of piano harmonics in the bass strings and the same pitches played ordinario in the middle range of the piano. You should've seen the intricate web of rubber mutes Fred and I devised to prepare all the harmonics! The clavichord part has two sections, one with lots of running notes, the other percussive and unpitched. The toy piano part works similarly to the running part that you'll hear in the clavichord. Like many of Fred's pieces, you can choose the order in which you put these sections together. It takes some getting used to switching between the different instruments; the width of the keys are different on each instrument so leaps take some practice, and also on the toy piano you have to remember that middle c isn't the one in the middle!

Q: What are some of the objects you will utilize in the performance of one poetic switch by Santiago Diez-Fischer? Was it a challenge to obtain any of the objects you've been asked to use?

I'm really glad to know Santiago's music through a previous work for Dal Niente, and I'm thrilled that he wrote this solo piece for piano. The objects are basically plastic tupperware containers, a plastic wine glass, and a bass bow. It took some time to find the right plastic material; also it needed to make a certain pitch around G/G# which you'll hear is a central note in the piece. There are actually quite a few pieces with objects on this concert. Alex Lunsqui's Glaes or "glass" uses marbles, sandpaper, wine bottles, glass jars. Mauricio Pauly's Patrulla reliquia has intricate playing techniques for metal slide, plectra and effects pedals. Of course I always enjoy playing pieces like Rebecca Saunder's shadow which is on the keys with the hands (and in this case, arms and elbows too).

Q: How long have you been a member of Ensemble Dal Niente? Can you tell us about one of your most memorable moments as part of the ensemble?

My first concert with Dal Niente was in December 2007 at the Green Mill. I don't remember what we played, but I remember the rehearsals, and the personnel, and how clear it was that everyone in the group was in it for artistic reasons, and that we would always seek to challenge ourselves artistically. So much has happened since then! There's the time we played in complete darkness for Haas's in vain, you couldn't see any of your colleagues, the music, your instrument, or the audience, and it was terrifying and profound. Then there are times like after they announced the Kranichstein award and Jesse photobombed our photo, or when Michael came out of the dressing room in pink pants for our New York concert with Deerhoof. I love that the group is always evolving, asking questions about how to do what we do even better, and I look forward to the things we will accomplish together in the coming years.

Dal Niente Presents: Mabel Kwan, piano
Sunday, January 3, 2016
8:30pm
Constellation Chicago
3111 N. Western Avenue
$15/$10
Buy tickets here!

Photo credit: Marc Perlish

Commissioning and Performing New Music for Horn

Commissioning and Performing New Music for Horn

by Matt Oliphant

When I scheduled a performance of Dai Fujikura's PoyoPoyo for fall of 2014, I was initially surprised to find out that I would be giving the US premiere.  Surprised because the piece (written in 2012) is stunningly beautiful and unique and utilizes otherwise untapped tone colors (a lot of which come from the use of a bass trombone harmon - aka wah-wah - mute). And yet I shouldn't have been surprised, because performances of contemporary solo horn repertoire are few and far between. Which is a shame. The horn is an incredibly versatile instrument and lends itself to many techniques of contemporary composition, if only people could or would take advantage of it. 

The sound possibilities PoyoPoyo put into my head led me directly to ask Jonathan Kirk to write a piece for horn and electronics. In our initial meetings, I demonstrated some possibilities of the harmon mute, and he ended up using it in his piece Nine Mile Canyon, to my delight. Besides being a wonderful and inventive composer, Jonathon performs and improvises on brass instruments and electronics, and I knew to expect something awesome. I was not disappointed. The piece starts out pitchless, just taps and whispers, wind blowing through and around rocks and brush.  But later, when the acoustic horn is augmented and heightened by echoes and distortions, the sound density is nearly overwhelming. This is a unique sound world Jonathon has created, and in some ways the opposite to Fujikura's.  PoyoPoyo is never assertive. It is always asking questions but not really waiting around for the answers, bouncing along to the next question.  In contrast, Nine Mile Canyon is bold, a real 'outdoors piece' (appropriate for the horn, originally an outdoor instrument). It demands attention in its quietest and its loudest moments. 

I'm relating all this because, in many ways, Nine Mile Canyon is the catalyst for the program happening on Oct 18 at Constellation. And I say 'program' very consciously.  While in many ways I could call this performance a 'recital', that doesn't feel right.  Jonathon and I premiered the piece this summer (as part of the ambitious Omaha Under the Radar festival) at a bar, and while that setting wasn't ideal, it certainly felt more appropriate than a concert hall.  The conventions of a recital – perform a piece, bow, leave the stage, return, perform a piece, bow, leave, take an intermission, repeat – are unnecessary here, and are being dispensed with. 

The four pieces on the program (which will also include Stockhausen's In Freundschaft for solo horn, and Grisey's Accords Perdu for two horns) will be performed without interruption as a single set, with connecting material mostly provided by Jonathon's electronics set-up. I won't be wandering on and off stage, breaking the mood between each piece. The audience will be taken from one unique sound world directly to the next, hopefully discovering relationships between the pieces that will only unfold in the moment. 

My social media account just reminded me that I received PoyoPoyo in the mail, with a handwritten note from Dai Fujikua, one year ago today.  It's taken a year, but the set of circumstances has culminated in what will certainly be a unique experience!

Dal Niente Presents: Matthew Oliphant
Sunday, October 18, 2015, 8:30pm
Constellation Chicago
3111 N. Western Avenue
$15 General Admission/$10 Students

To purchase tickets for Dal Niente Presents: Matthew Oliphant,
click here!

Hasco Duo Set to Kick Off Dal Niente Presents Series

(Photo: Aleksandr Karjaka)

Soprano Amanda DeBoer Bartlett and guitarist Jesse Langen joined forces in 2013 to form Hasco Duo, and have been commissioning, performing, and recording at a breakneck speed ever since. As part of Dal Niente’s 10th Anniversary Season, Hasco Duo will perform twice this Fall- first representing Dal Niente at the New Music Chicago 10th Anniversary Birthday Bash on September 11, and in a full length Dal Niente Presents program on September 14 at The Hideout.

We asked Amanda a few questions about the ensemble’s history and a preview of what to expect on September 14:

Q: How long has Hasco Duo been together? What was the inspiration that led you to form the ensemble?

A: Our first duo show was a Dal Niente Presents show at the Empty Bottle May 2013, which was part of a series called (Un)Familiar music run by Doyle Armbrust. It was originally supposed to be a solo show for Jesse, but after working together on Aaron Einbond's Without Words, we decided to collaborate. We commissioned 7 new pieces for the show; it was quite an undertaking! After that, we played shows together sporadically in Chicago and Omaha, but it wasn't until we put together our first improvised show at the Experimental Sound Studio in the Fall of 2014 that we came up with the name - a respelling of the word chaos - and started recording our first album.

Q: How many new works has Hasco Duo commissioned or premiered? What's your approach to programming a concert that features both older and brand new works?

A: Our approach to programming is very intuitive and impulsive. Half of our output is improvised, and we're always devising new schemes and material on our own or with collaborators. We've also commissioned music from Marcos Balter, Eliza Brown, Ray Evanoff, Fred Gifford, Morgan Krauss, Max Grafe, Jonn Sokol, Ravi Kittappa, and Chris Fisher-Lochhead. We haven't played much older music, although Jesse made some pretty stellar arrangements of DuFay songs for the Mathias Spahlinger festival "there is no repetition" back in March.

Q: What have been some of your most memorable past performances?

A: Our first show as Hasco Duo at the Experimental Sound Studio last Fall was very formative. It was our first improvised show, and we honestly didn't know if it would work. We sort of shot in the dark during the whole process, which was exciting. For that show, we mixed in some of our commissions alongside improvisation and tried to create a narrative for the material. During one piece, I was just laughing the entire time and Jesse was trying to do something very serious. The combination was a little absurd, and the audience was laughing along with me. I remember loving that moment and feeling like we had accomplished something since people were reacting to the performance. I loved that people felt comfortable enough to laugh along with us.

Q: Tell us about your upcoming program on 9/14 at the Hideout. What are some things that audiences can look forward to?

A: We've commissioned new pieces from Ray Evanoff, Morgan Krauss, Max Grafe, and Jonn Sokol for the show, and will be interspersing our own work in the mix. Ray's music is very active and demanding, layering complicated vocal and guitar techniques to create completely novel textures and sounds. Morgan's music, like Ray's, can be very physically demanding, but she creates worlds of repetition with subtle perturbation and fluctuation. Jonn Sokol's piece uses rules from the Magic the Gathering card game and text from one of my favorite books, The Prairie and the Sea by William Quayle. I'm not sure a piece has ever been written more suitably to Hasco's interests! And finally, Max collaborated with a poet friend to create a piece which takes the perspective of the first Mars colonizers.

I absolutely love this program! All of the composers involved are long-time friends and collaborators, and it really shows in the pieces they created. Morgan and Ray were both part of our first project at the Empty Bottle, so it's very meaningful to work with them again as the ensemble continues to develop. Max and Jonn's music is so beautiful, and I want to hear more of it performed in Chicago.

Don’t miss Hasco Duo at The Hideout on September 14 at 8:00 PM.