Download Frog`s Eye - Evan Ziporyn

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11/27/2006 09:38 AM
Review Courtesy AllAboutJazz.com
Frog's Eye
Evan Ziporyn | Cantaloupe Music
By John Kelman
In its brief existence, Cantaloupe Music has become one of the most
intrepid labels in new music, and clarinetist Evan Ziporyn, a member of
the Bang on a Can All-Stars, has emerged as one of its most powerful
compositional voices. One test of an artist’s worth is his or her ability to
take influences and create a new voice by filtering them through a more
personal lens, and Ziporyn’s previous records for the label--This is Not a
Clarinet (Cantaloupe, 2001) and Shadowbang (Cantaloupe, 2003)--were
undeniably distinctive, mixing his interest in classical form with music
from distant cultures.
Frog’s Eye is his first record of orchestral works, and he meets the
ambition of writing for larger ensembles head-on. This program
continues to mix his diverse interests, including Balinese Gamelan,
minimalism and unorthodox textures. Finding an ensemble capable of
navigating Ziporyn’s multifaceted compositions was no small feat, but the
Boston Modern Orchestra Project is clearly sympathetic to the
composer’s broader requirements.
The title track begins with clear references to Steve Reich but, like
modern-day Reich, Ziporyn goes beyond the mathematical to create
music that’s hypnotic by virtue of its repetition, and innately lyrical as
well. Simple melodic and rhythmic fragments are introduced, gradually
fading into the mix as new ones are established--until, in some cases, they
disappear entirely. The result is a pulsing ebb and flow that develops in
ways beyond the interaction of these fragments, coming across as more
based on movement than the persistent evolutionary development of
pure minimalism.
The other orchestral track, “War Chant,” begins by referencing composer
György Ligeti. Long-toned melodic ideas emerge out of a strangely static
yet swirling undercurrent, with the occasional sharp punctuation added
for dramatic contrast. But while his spatial concept is similar, Ziporyn
doesn’t rely on the tension that Ligeti’s microtonal dissonance created.
Instead he incorporates percussion along with Hawaiian guitar to create a
more diverse landscape. The composition gradually evolves through an
almost jazz-like horn section to a more delicate Gamelan-like passage of
cascading strings and light percussion. Then it advances to a darkly
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Track Listing: Frog's Eye; The Ornate Zither and the
Nomad Flute; War Chant; Drill.
Personnel: Evan Ziporyn: composer, bass clarinet (4);
Anne Harley: soprano (2); Boston Modern Orchestra
Project Orchestra: orchestra (1, 3); Boston Modern
Orchestra Project Wind Ensemble: wind ensemble (2, 4);
Gil Rose: Artistic Director, Conductor. Boston Modern
Orchestra Project: Blanka Bednarz: violin 1; Piotr
Buczek: violin 1; Miki Cloud: violin 1; Gabriela Diaz:
violin 1; Adda Kridler: violin 1; Oana Lacatus: violin 1;
Krista Buckland Reisner: violin 1; Brenda van der Merwe:
violin 1; Elizabeth Abbate: violin 2; Antoaneta Anguelova:
violin 2; Julia Cash: violin 2; Charles Dimmick: violin 2;
Lois Finkel: violin 2; Rohan Gregory: violin 2; Iman
Khosrowpour: violin 2; Gabrielle Stebbins: violin 2; Joan
Ellersick: viola; Nathaniel Farny: viola; David Feltner:
viola; Dimitar Petkov: viola; Tiffany Richardson: viola;
Kate Vincent: viola; Anieszka Dziubak: cello; Emmanuel
Feldman: cello; Katherine Kayaian: cello; Marc
Moskovitz: cello; Rafael Popper-Keizer: cello; David
Russell: cello; Anthony D’Amico: double bass; Pascale
Delache-Feldman: double bass; Elizabeth Foulser: double
bass; Sarah Brady: flute; Rachel Braude: flute; Ann
Bobo: flute; Jessica Lizak: flute; Chikao Inomata: oboe;
Kathy Kates: oboe; Barbara Lafitte: oboe; Peggy
Pearson: oboe; Jennifer Slowik: oboe; Michelle Doyle:
clarinet; Gary Gorczyca: clarinet; Ian Greltzer: clarinet;
Jan Halloran: clarinet; Karen Heninger: clarinet; Steve
Jackson: clarinet; Kai-Yu Lu: clarinet; Michael
Norsworthy: clarinet; Eliot Gattegno: saxophone; Eric
Hewitt: saxophone; Kenneth Radnofsky: saxophone;
Demetrius Spaneas: saxophone; Philipp Staudlin:
saxophone; Mary Alice DeLand: bassoon; Ronald
Haroutunian: bassoon; Mrageret Phillips: bassoon;
Gregory Newton: bassoon; Justin Cohen: French horn;
Neil DeLand: French horn; Kate Gascoigne: French horn;
Whitacre Hill: French horn; Kevin Owen: French horn;
Kenneth Pope: French horn; Eric Berlin: trumpet; Terry
Everson: trumpet; Dana Oakes: trumpet; Richard
Watson: trumpet; Hans Bohn: trombone; Robert
Couture: trombone; Brian Diehl: trombone, bass
trombone; Philip Swanson: trombone; Gabriel Langfur:
bass trombone; Dan Davis: euphonium; Donald Rankin:
tuba; Nina Ferrigno: piano; Linda Osborne-Blaschke:
piano; Judy Saiki Couture: harp; Aya Kaminaguchi:
percussion; Douglus Lippincott: percussion; Craig McNutt:
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http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/review_print.php?id=23897
11/27/2006 09:38 AM
spaced climax that, finally, releases tension with spare dissonant chords
and gradually slowing percussion, before returning to Ligeti territory for
its brief coda.
percussion; Douglus Lippincott: percussion; Craig McNutt:
percussion, marimba; Robert Schulz: percussion; Aaron
Trant: percussion; Mike William: percussion; Yoku
Yashikawa: marimba; Mike Ihde: Hawaiian guitar.
“The Ornate Zither and the Nomad Flute,” with soprano Anne Harley,
and the closing “Drill,” featuring Ziporyn on bass clarinet, were written
for a wind ensemble subset of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
Both pieces challenge convention through the addition of a percussion
section that, again, connects to Ziporyn’s world music concerns.
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Together the four compositions form what Ziporyn calls “an inadvertent
symphony”--each piece is self-reliant, yet they all work as part of an
unintended larger whole. Frog’s Eye is further evidence of Ziproyn's status
as a composer of increasing significance.
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