7-9pm, feel free to stop by at any time

 

Listening Party Follow Up from New Music curator Aram Bajakian:

 

Thanks to everyone who came on Thursday night, and to Sabrina Schroeder and T. Patrick Carrabré for sharing their insights and music that inspires them. I’ve included tracks that we couldn’t get to below.

These are the tracks we listened to, in order:

1. Vespers for Violin, Missy Mazzoli, performed by Olivia de Prato

2. Epirotika Mirilogi, Alexis Zoumbas

As I mentioned, I became aware of this song from the book Lament from Epirus, which is a great read.

Here is the accompanying album from the book on Spotify.

Another track which has a similarly beautiful violin was released recently from Canary Records, a label run by Ian Nagoski. Ian collects rare 78 RPM records, then releases them as compilations. This track, by oudist Marko Melkon, contains a stunning 15 second violin solo by Nishan Sedefjian. I’ve heard him before on other tracks from this period, and immediately knew it was him when he started playing. The rest of the song is fine, but his violin solo takes it to another level.

Raki Ishtar Ishtar (I Go Around Drinking Raki), Marko Melkon

Following is a solo track with just Nishan playing:

Saba Taksim, Nishan Sedefjian

3. Lats’ aadah, Raven Chacon, performed by Cornelius Dufallo

Here is a PDF of Raven’s score for the piece, which details the bowing patterns. As I discussed at the Listening Party, he takes a lot of time to detail these unusual techniques in his scores, and how to convey them. I also love the precision and complete freedom he gives the performer, with the instruction “the performer may speed up or slow down within a repetition of a pattern, as long as the number of repetitions is not compromised.”

 Here is a clip of the Kronos Quartet working on their piece by Raven. They spend quite a bit of time in this clip talking about his bowing techniques.

4. Swan, Murat Çolak, performed by Ensemble Dal Niente.

I suggest reading this interview, as it gives quite a few insights into the piece. On the other hand, it might be good to listen to it without any preconceptions or ideas, as its sound worlds are so arresting.

Here is the youtube recording with visuals designed by Dan Tramte. And here is the Soundcloud link, which should have higher audio fidelity.

5. Template, Tyshawn Sorey

6. Seascapes I, Jane Antonia Cornish

And here’s a link to the performer Vicky Chow’s webpage. Vicky is from Vancouver and played at Western Front in 2015, performing Remy Siu’s Foxconn Frequency (no. 2).

7. So Scared, Lorraine James

 Here is an interview with Lorraine in the Quietus. And here is  a link to the full album For You and I.

8. Pomok naka Poktoinskwes, Jeremy Dutcher

Here is an article about the wax cylinders Jeremy used for his album.

 

Below are some of the additional picks that we couldn’t get to:

Sabrina Schroeder’s additional picks: 

HoneyDripper, Michelle Lou

T. Patrick Carrabré’s additional picks:

Cello Concerto: V. Ned Ludd, Michael Oesterle

Known by Heart, Christopher Tignor

The Unforgotten, iskwē ft. Tanya Tagaq

Sirènes, Ana Sokolović

Serpentine Paths, Jocelyn Morlock

Aram Bajakian’s additional picks: 

Dance of the Evil Toys, Branford Marsalis Quartet

Two Halves, Richard Dawson

 

With so much new music released on a daily basis, where does one begin? Western Front’s Listening Parties provide an answer to this question. For an evening, local artists are invited to share and discuss music from the past two years that they’ve heard and found inspiring. For this Listening Party Western Front’s New Music Curator, Aram Bajakian, will be joined by Sabrina Schroeder and T. Patrick Carrabré.

Composer Sabrina Schroeder is an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University’s School for Contemporary Art and the current Composer-in-Residence at Music On Main. Her music is written for instrumental ensembles and often uses live processing and self-made mechanical instruments to create immersive spaces in which audiences feel sounds as much as they hear them.

T. Patrick Carrabré (newly appointed Director of the School of Music at the University of British Columbia) spent six years as the Composer-in-Residence for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and as co-curator of their New Music Festival. Carrabré also served two seasons as the weekend host of CBC Radio 2’s contemporary music show, The Signal.

Presented with support from the Hamber Foundation.