May 2013 Release on
Composers Concordance Records
comcon0011
US physical release date: 5/28/13
UPC: 045635364929
Distributed by Naxos USA
www.composersconcordancerecords.com
Reviews:
" 'Samplestra' combines electronic samples with classical instruments...
The result is fascinating. This is contemporary classical music at its best.
I love it."
- United-Mutations. May 1, 2013
"As music, which ultimately we of course evaluate anything new on the basis of, it hangs together remarkably well. Don't try to pin it down stylistically but let it take you where it may. If you do that you will find an enormously stimulating program. This is the sort of thing Gene has been working on for some time, and he has gotten extraordinarily adept at juggling the elements and making it all very cohesive and very musical. Brilliant!"
- Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review May 2013
"His expressive reach is so wide as to encompass everything from ethno/techno, rock/jazz fusion, classical opera and more, and it all seems to be effortlessly integrated within his anima and comes out through different facets of his persona. You could almost see him as a modern day renaissance man. Most of the music on this new CD is fast-paced, frenetic, driven by nervous energy and always fleshing out details like an overclocked cpu. Traces of Fripp, Bruford, Weather Report, Bryars, Zappa, are vaguely present within the mesh of his music, but never copied, just simply evoked. And when Gene Pritsker comes up for air, slows down, and lets his expressive side take over, as in the slow movement of Electrically Tragic, truly evocative and moving music comes to the surface."
- Classical Music Sentinel, Jean-Yves Duperron - May 2013
Unclassifiable due to its wide range of avant/classical/jazz and rock amalgams. Interesting! Try 2, 6, 7, 8, and especially 9 for classical/avant. Trks 10 + 14 rock.
- Laimal, WRUV Reviews June, 2013
BIO:
Composer Gene Pritsker has written over four hundred fifty compositions, including chamber operas, orchestral and chamber works, electro-acoustic music, songs for hip-hop and rock ensembles, etc. All of his compositions employ an eclectic spectrum of styles and are influenced by his studies of various musical cultures. He is the founder and leader of Sound Liberation; an eclectic hiphop-chamber-jazz-rock-etc. ensemble. Gene's music has been perth Joe Zawinul and has orchestrated major Hollywood movies.
The New York Times described him as "...audacious...multitalented." The Music Connoisseur, described Pritsker as "dissolv[ing] the artificial boundaries between high brow, low brow, classical, popular musics and elevates the idea that if it's done well it is great music, regardless of the style or genre". The new music blog 'I Care If You Listen' writes "Pritsker seems to look at all music as one genre, in which all other possible styles, sounds and traditions are meant to be used as building blocks and palette colors, combined in various configurations to create a boundless whole.” Organizations he is associated with include: Composers' Concordance, Composers' Concordance
INFO:
Produced by Gene Pritsker
Cover art by Luma.Launisch "Vertigo"
All tracks mixed and mastered by Gene Pritsker
Recorded and engineered at Noizepunk Studios and Pencil Factory Studios
Except Digital Debussy Recorded January 21, 2012,
at the Mildred Sainer Pavilion in Sarasota, FL as part of
New Music New College, Stephen Miles, Director and R. L. Silver, Technical Producer.
Concert sound and audio recording by R. L. Silver
Composers Concordance Records
Directors: Gene Pritsker, Dan Cooper, Milica Paranosic, Joseph Pehrson
http://www.composersconcordance.org/
Composers Concordance Records presents thematically-related recordings of modern music produced with the latest developments in studio precision. CCR is developing new concepts of what an album can be, bringing new music and new mediums together to a new level of cross-genre transcendence. Our goal is simple…good music recorded well, pushing the boundaries of sound and composition.
TRACKS:
1. Modified #1
John Clark - horn
Modified #1 is for horn and Samplestra (pre-recorded electronics). The samplestra part consists entirely of sounds made by a horn and heavily modified to create various textures. I wanted to create a full composition from one sound, a sound that is manipulated and transformed into many sounds. The transformation of a horn timbre into a drum set is done with extreme equalization and sound manipulation, I set out to create a varied sound scape using only limited materials
2. Nothing in Life
Peter Krysa - violin
‘Nothing In Life But You’ is written as a wedding present for my good friend Peter Krysa and his wife to be Olena. Peter told me that Chet Baker’s recording of the song 'Easy Living' by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin was one that had special meaning for he and Olena . I took samples from this recording: Chet Baker singing “There’s nothing in life but you” and a portion of the trumpet solo, and created an electronic track I call Samplestra (an orchestra of samples). I notated precisely what I do with these samples and score them like one would an orchestra, thus the name. Over this Samplestra I wrote a solo violin part for Peter. The violin interacts with the modified samples and creates new melodies on top of them. Peter’s playing becomes part of the melodic essence of this music and merges his musical abilities with the special meaning this song has for him and his bride.
Destined To Shed
3. Movement 1
4. Movement 2
5. Movement 3
Cesar Papetti - percussion
6. Mysterious Restlessness
Michiyo Suzuki - clarinet
The title ‘Mysterious restlessness’ comes from an essay by Jean-Paul Sartre called ‘The Prisoner of Venice. Here he uses this phrase while discussing social and political situations of 16th century Venice. But for me these two words struck a different chord, they lingered within my mind expressing perfectly a certain personal condition that I am sure we all experience. The pre recorded music is a perpetual motion sampling individual notes on the guitar and stringing them together to create an initial ‘lick’. The Samplestra also contains an Azerbaijani male voice, a Ladakhis Damnyan and female voice. The clarinet develops it own melody around these pre recorded sounds while interacting with their melodies as well.
7. Free Will Problem
Lynn Bechtold - violin
Keve Wilson - oboe
Matthias Kronsteiner - bassoon
Electrically Tragic
8. Movement 1
9. Movement 2
10. Movement 3
Martin Kuuskmaan - bassoon
11. Misfortune Has its Uses
Peter Krysa - violin
Samplestra is the name I give to any prerecorded elements in my music. I see it as an orchestra of samples, since I use little fragments of pre existing music or sounds and manipulate them to my own composition. I treat these samples as found objects to write new music with. Just as if I found a stick or a rock on the street and used these as percussion instruments, I take a fragment of a human voice or a few notes from an instrument or a noise and recreate them to what I need. In this piece I take a Russian male voice (with a little bit of an accordion in the background) singing a Russian folk song with the words “I will go with you”. All the electronic sounds throughout the piece are derived from that initial sample, except for the drums and tabla sounds. The violinist plays with much virtuosity and has improvised sections along with the samplestra part.
12. Sorrow, like pleasure, Creates its Own Atmosphere
Margaret Lancaster - flute
The title is from the novel ‘Cousin Bette’ by Honore de Balzac. The samplestra part consists of an Indian voice, Indian flute, drums, and synth. sounds. Samplestra is the name I give to any prerecorded elements in my music. I see it as an orchestra of samples, since I use little fragments of pre existing music or sounds and manipulate them to my own composition. The flute part dances around the Indian voice/flute fragment till it breaks into a perpetual motion like line that becomes the counter motif to the pre recorded music. Technically it is relentless and creates various atmospheres over a static feel from the track. The music builds to a climax and recedes to a calm conclusion.
13. Digital Debussy - La Mer
Kathleen Supové - piano
I wrote 'Digital Debussy - La Mer' (for solo piano, Samplestra and Di.J.) for Kathy Supove. After she suggested the tittle 'Digital Debussy', immediately the essence of this piece was clear in mind. I took a sample of a recoding of 'La Mer' and digitally stretched this audio, creating a drone like sound scape which I proceeded to meticulously transcribe. While undertaking this painstaking process I came across great melodic content that the stretched audio produced, this material I used for the piano part of the composition mixed with some Debussy melodies found in the original orchestral piece which I also manipulated, though on paper not digitally. After the transcription was done and the piano part complete, which had to complement the transcribed stretched audio, I added a live Di.J. part for myself to this piece. Here I would be adding live sounds, beats, grooves, as well as short orchestral audio samples from 'La Mer' over what the track was doing and what Kathy was playing. I also recorded these so the piece can be performed without my Di.J. addition and just have the piano and Samplestra.
14. Modified #2
Gene Pritsker - guitar
The concept of the piece is the modification and expansion of sound. Its the future of what can be done electronically with timbre, in this piece the timbre of the electric guitar. I wanted to create a full composition from one sound, a sound that is manipulated and transformed into many sounds. Imagination stretched through limits. I limit myself to one timbre and put a goal of creating a new kind of sound world from that timbre. All the sounds heard on the pre recorded Sampletsra (electronics) are made from the sound of the electric guitar, from the bass drums to the snares to the synthesither effect like sound waves