George Lam · The Emigrants

New Morse Code: Hannah Collins, cello · Mike Compitello, percussion

The Emigrants was released as an EP earlier this month.

“The United States is often called ‘a nation of immigrants’ and rightly so; our history has been defined by people from other places who have risked much to build a new life here. Recent discussion of immigration highlights the experiences of foreign nationals who have decided to stay: how they can stay, if their stay is legal, and what the ramifications of their stay are. Less common, however, is the discussion of immigrants’ departure from the home they left behind; few, in other words, speak of immigrants as emigrants.

The Emigrants is a documentary chamber music work for cello, percussion and digital playback. The project began by collecting oral history interviews with the emigrant musician community of New York City’s borough of Queens, one of the most ethnically diverse urban areas in the world. The new work includes these individuals’ voices as part of the score itself, combining spoken word with instrumental music. The goal is to create a work that, through a documentary process, invites a dialogue between the audience, the musicians (both live and recorded), and the stories.” – GL

Go HERE to learn more about the project.

Follow New Morse Code on Instagram @newmorsecode.

Bradley Harris · Opened Window

Brianna Matzke, piano

Opened Window is on Brianna’s brand new album, Something is Happening Here, an edition of The Response Project, a commissioning initiative that asks composers and artists to create new music (usually for the piano) and new works (of many disciplines) in response to a preexisting artwork or idea. Bradley’s piece was written in response to Bob Dylan’s song “Can You Please scrawl Out Ypur Window?” from his album Highway 61 Revisited.

Follow Brianna on Instagram at @briannamatzke and @theresponseproject.

Elizabeth A. Baker · Meander

Meander is a sound film, by new renaissance artist The Honorurable Elizabeth A. Baker.

Follow Elizabeth on Instagram @ebakermusic.

Tatsuya Nakatani · MONOCHROME-Sipapu (A-1)

Tatsuya Nakatani, solo bowed gong

This is a sneak peak of Tatsuya’s upcoming self-release through Nakatani-Kobo, 2020. Monochrome was composed and performed on seventeen Chinese wind gongs. Tatsuya recorded and mixed the album at Nakatani-Kobo in Truth or Consequences, NM, USA during winter of 2018 through Spring of 2019.

“I have been developing my understanding of the sonic range and potential of the bowed gong over the past 23 years of live performances. The compositions I am creating for my large ensemble bowed gong project, the Nakatani Gong Orchestra, are based in my idea of arranging the vibrations into formations. Silence, space and textures are key to my philosophy of making music. Working outside of academic theory and the Western note system opens many possibilities for me in sound.

For these records, I created hundreds of separate recordings of each gong and all of their different voices (vibrations), then I arranged them on the computer to build the composition. Each sound maintains it’s true character, and is not digitally altered.” – TN

Osnat Netzer · Zwang und Zweifel

Patchwork: Noa Even, saxophone · Stephen Klunk, drum set

Zwang und Zweifel is the first track on Patchwork’s debut self-titled album, released in May 2020.

Zweifel means ‘doubt’ in German. Zwang is much more difficult to translate to English. It can mean compulsion, coercion, constraint, pressure, obligation, restraint and force. My piece Zwang und Zweifel explores the inner tumult that happens when one tries to live with a choice between two options, both of which threaten to tear body and mind to shreds. Musically, this is reflected in the musical materials (body) attempting to devolve into chaos and mayhem, while the musical syntax (mind) is rigidly and strictly trying to constrain and control them.

Zach Sheets · crown-snow

Phil Pierick, baritone saxophone · Kurt Galván, piano

Zach Sheets' crown-snow creates an austere soundworld through piano preparation, acoustically-integrated electronics obscured by the use of a bluetooth speaker inside the piano controlled by the saxophonist, and a heavy reliance on the altissimo register of the baritone saxophone. The piece ends with a spit valve and key click coda. Audience members have described the work as “frightening,” “hauntingly beautiful,” and “confusing.”

Ramin Roshandel · r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r

LIGAMENT: Anika Kildegaard, voice · Will Yager, bass

The text for r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r comes from the e.e. cummings poem of the same title.