2009
December
With the debut recital of "The Electro-Acoustic Piano" less than two months away, the program has suddenly undergone a series of changes. Within two days of each other, I learned that both composers Roberto Morales and Steven Ricks would be unable to finish their compositions (Contortions and Reflective Gazes respectively) until the summer. While I have every intention of including both of these compositions on next season's Electro-Acoustic Piano tour, it did leave me in a bit of a pickle for this current season. I will certainly miss having these two pieces as a part of this season's tour, but it is with great excitement that I welcome composers Christopher Jette and Annie Gosfield to the program. Christopher is a wonderful composer currently based in Santa Barbara, California. He was already in the process of writing a piece for me, and when I told him of the current situation, he graciously offered to make finishing that piece his top priority. I am very excited about what his work will contribute to the program, as he has a very unique and philosophical way of viewing music. As in Contortions, the electronics are triggered by the pianist via Nintendo Wii remotes. Annie Gosfield's work has a certain industrial edge, and, in her own words, "explores the inherent beauty of non–musical sounds, and is inspired by diverse sources such as machines, destroyed pianos, warped 78 records, and detuned radios." Her contribution to the recital is Lightning Slingers and Dead Ringers: a twenty minute work for piano and sampler written for pianist Lisa Moore in 2008. For more details on these two composers, click here.
THE ADVENTURES OF NORBY...IN GERMANY
The Adventures of Norby will get its European premier next month. Pianist Kai Schumacher, who last premiered my Variation for Kai (see Modern Day Hexameron in the News Archive), will be playing Norby and works by ter Veldhuis (aka JacobTV) and Langenberg in Duisburg, Germany on January 29th. This will be the first performance by someone other than myself, and I am very excited to hear his interpretation of this piece. MORE UPCOMING CONCERTS Three more venues have been added to 2010's Electro-Acoustic Piano tour. I will now be playing in Santa Barbara, Palo Alto (both California), and New York City at John Zorn's club "The Stone." For details and dates, please click here.
AND NOW YOU CAN SHARE!
Finally embracing the age of social networking, you can now find several "share" links on my site. These allow you to link that particular page from my site to various social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Digg. Just look for the following symbol:
RECOEMENDED LISTENING
Vince Guaraldi: A Charlie Brown Christmas
For those who were following this column last year at this time, this is a repeat. Many apologies. But now that this column is a regular feature on my site, I could not pass up the opportunity to include it yet again as one of the all time great Christmas albums.
It is actually fairly likely that most readers of this column have in fact not only heard this album but also watched the film from which it is taken: the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. This is a great film, but I challenge listeners of this disc to listen to it with fresh ears. It is admittedly difficult to not instantly bring to mind images from the film when listening to these tracks, but it threatens to prevent one from fully hearing these fresh, fun jazz arrangements of some classic Christmas carols. Guaraldi was more than just the music man for Charles Schultz, he was a fabulous jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. This album puts his talents on full display, and the disc includes several original tunes which have now become standards (ie Christmas Time is Here).
And if you haven't ever picked up a copy of this beloved Christmas treasure, treat yourself this year. You won't regret it.
October
What a week! I am just back from the Banff Centre for the Arts where, with cellist Nick Alvarez, we have finally recorded Leo Ornstein's complete works for cello and piano. An exhausting two weeks, to say the least!
We recorded over four days, approximately thirty hours (half of which we crammed into one day). We were very fortunate to have a wonderful producer - André Shrimski - and a great engineer - Stephen Lilly. Without the two of them, this project would have been impossible. André hails from Sydney, Australia, where he is one of the ABC's top producers. Steve has recently finished graduate work at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.
Also helping us was a bevy of page turners! This indispensable group of individuals volunteered hours of their time (some sat for as long as four hours) to sit next to me and flip pages. Thank you to Sophie, Katherine & Katherine, Michal, Clark, Sigrid, Mathieu, and Knut!
Lastly, we were quite lucky to have the occasional help in the booth from Judith Sherman, a six time Grammy winning engineer/producer. She helped with microphone placement and helped us nail down a fabulous sound right from the start, then popped in now and then to offer a few tidbits of advice. Thank you, Judith!
If all goes as planned, we hope to have this album released shortly after the new year. Make sure to check back here for the most up-to-date information.
______our recording space _______
RECOEMENDED LISTENING
Naked City: John Zorn
So this album is my newest obsession.
Admittedly, it is not a new disc, having been released back in 1989. Furthermore, this band, consisting of John Zorn (sax), Bill Frisell (guitar), Wayne Horvitz (synthesizer, piano), Fred Frith (bass guitar), and Joey Baron (drums) disbanded around 1993. All the same, I have only just discovered it (thank you Banff library!), listened to little else since doing so, and feel that it must be included in this column.
So why do I love it so much? For starters, it seems to embrace many of the characteristics that drew me to last month's recommended album (Jim Black's Alasnoaxis): using a traditional rock setup, the group combines elements of jazz, classical, surf, heavy metal, country, punk, electronica, free improv, and countless other genres. It is extremely high energy (like watching a series of unrelated TV ads on speed), and frequently shifting to radical new directions in the blink of an eye. It's almost like he put every genre of music earth has to offer in a blender, pureed them on high for eight minutes, and recorded the outcome.
But not only does Zorn masterfully combine all these genres (something that in my mind is very difficult to do this well), but one is continually surprised by what happens next. Each song progresses logically, but each minute is rarely what the listener expects to hear. One might expect the constant swirling of ideas to get cliche by disc's end. It doesn't.
My last point: the album is funny. Not goofy or silly, but humorous. Witty. Clever. I often find myself laughing outloud as I listen to it. Maybe this is what draws me to it the most: the group doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, and isn't afraid to have fun.
Unlike most Zorn fans, I came to his "jazz" music after having heard several of his classical compositions. Admittedly, I was never all that impressed with what I heard, and I often wondered what all the fuss was about. Now having heard (and fallen in love with) his jazz/rock music, I can understand. Both his classical and non-classical compositions follow the same general principles of blurring genres, but I feel as though everyone's having fun when playing his jazz, and everyone is serious and uptight (and maybe stressed out - it is awful difficult!) when playing his classical music. Is this Zorn's fault as composer or the individual players' fault as performers and interpreters? Couldn't tell you. But I do know, that for now, I'm just going to keep listening to his jazz.
September
Music from SEAMUS vol. 18 has finally been released! On this compilation of electro-acoustic works is The Adventures of Norby. Also included are works by Paul Rudy, Gregory Cornelius, Alexic Bacon, Elainie Lillios, John Gibson, and Allen Strange. You can buy the disc directly from the SEAMUS website. It is an honor to be included on this album, as all compositions appearing on the volume are the result of voting at the 2008 SEAMUS national conference.
ON TOUR WITH NICK ALVAREZ
My summer tour with cellist Nick Alvarez was a great success. We played several concerts in California as well as one in Arizona. One of the highlights for me both personally and artistically was meeting Severo Ornstein: the son of composer Leo Ornstein. Severo and his wife Laura invited us to play on his Poon Hill recital series, and treated us to a wonderful evening of dinner and conversation. Severo has done more work promoting the music of his father than anyone else before or after, and his tireless efforts are an extraordinary gift to the music world. As I have begun work on my second Ornstein album (a collection of his complete songs), Severo has been an amazing source for information, details, and has even unearthed some previously unpublished manuscripts. I look forward to my continued collaboration with Severo, and I thank him for all the help thus far.
Regarding my first Ornstein album (his complete works for cello and piano), Nick and I will be returning to the Banff Centre in September to record the works. We will also be presenting the works in concert at Arizona State University in September (check back soon for more details on that event). If all goes as planned, the album, which will be the first release on my new independent label Thinking outLOUD Records, should be available by January.
Nick, Keith, Severo and Laura Ornstein
RECOEMENDED LISTENING
AlasNoAxis: Jim Black
I love this album. In fact, this may be one of my favorite albums of any genre of all time. Period.
Jim Black is an extraordinary jazz drummer and composer, but while iTunes may call this a jazz album, it's quite unlike any other jazz album I've ever heard. In my opinion, this album represents the current musical avant-garde - of both the classical and jazz worlds - and demonstrates the direction I feel classical music of the 21st century is heading. Black's music is the music that many of my generation's best composers are struggling to find: Black seamlessly weaves rock, classical, jazz, and at times even metal, into a complicated, dense, but grooving sound.
Black is easily the best drummer I have ever encountered. Due to his ability to play in several independent tempi simultaneously, it often sounds like there are at least two drummers leading this band, not one. While always maintaining a strong beat, Black integrates polyrhythmic structures of such complexity that would make Carter blanch.
With all that said, one might expect to hear a cacophonous mess that resembles the oft-heard modernist/"free-improv" stereotype. Not so. Saxophonist Chris Speed floats haunting, simple (but never simplistic) melodies above Black's bashing and electric bassist Skuli Sverrisson and guitarist Hilmar Jensson add colors, textures, and melodies that usually act in harmonious support of either Black or Speed's music.
Many young composers are struggling with the integration of rock into classical/jazz, and few have yet found satisfactory answers. But to those artists wrestling with this concept, I would like to hold up Jim Black and AlasNoAxis as the prime example of the potential of this new musical era.
June
Welcome to the NEW news page here at keithkirchoff.com! As you can see, I've changed the look a little bit: instead of sporadic news updates, I will be writing a monthly news column in this space. This column (or blog, as it's come to resemble) will not only announce the newest happenings in my work, but will also include a featured "CD of the Month."
I do encourage you to peruse the website, as you'll notice several changes. The LISTEN page now features a built-in mp3 player and two embedded videos. The mp3 selections included have changed; be sure to listen to my new recordings of Henry Cowell's The Banshee, Carl Ruggles Evocations, Leo Ornstein's Prelude No. 3, György Ligeti's Passacaglia Ungherese, and Frederic Rzewski's Snippets.
The PHOTO GALLERY (which admittedly hadn't been updated for years) now uses Google Picassa Web Albums to help organize the photos. The LINKS page has been completely redone, and now includes several new links. (A reminder that all purchases made on Amazon.com from this link help to fund future projects and album releases.) I have added three mp3s to the COMPOSITIONS page (from Matthew McConnell's recent performance of Only Temporary).
ON TOUR WITH NICK ALVAREZ
Cellist Nick Alvarez and I will be continuing our international tour of Leo Ornstein's cello music this summer with four concerts in the American southwest. We will be playing in Woodside, Los Olivos, Los Angeles (California), and as Tempe (Arizona). All of this is in preparation of our upcoming recording of this fantastic, little-known repertoire. Please click UPCOMING CONCERTS for more details.
PITTSBURGH NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE
On July 10 and 11, I will be a guest pianist with the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. They are actually the nation's oldest continuing new music ensemble. I am quite excited to be collaborating with these players, and I am particularily excited about the music we are to be playing. In addition to works by Pierre Jalbert and Robert Paterson, we are playing Alejandro Viñao's mammoth Triple Concerto for flute, cello, piano, and electronics. I strongly encourage anyone in the area to come out and hear some of this extraordinary music. Visit PNME.ORG for more information.
RECOEMENDED LISTENING
MILD VIOLENCE: The music of Steven Ricks
If you've been following my work much over the past several years, you will have already heard of Steve Ricks as I have been singing his praises ever since I first heard Mild Violence several years ago. After repeated listenings, I continue to the think that Beyond the Zero (also included on this CD) is among the greatest works from the last two decades for live-performer and electronics. Every piece on this album is performed extremely well; Carlton Vickers (flute) may just be the greatest "new music" flutist alive.
Steve and I will be collaborating in the months to come on a large-scale work for video, piano, and electronics centered around the Perseus/Medusa mythos.It is currently scheduled for a premier in March of 2010.
March 18
LEO ORNSTEIN
Cellist Nick Alvarez and myself have launched a long-term collaboration focusing on little known works for the cello. Our first project on the works of Leo Ornstein, an excellent but oft overlooked early 20th century American composer. We are kicking off this project with a small tour of Alberta, Canada; inlcuded are concerts in Banff, Jasper, and Lethbridge. For more information on our project, check out our new website: keithkirchoff.com/ornstein.html.
February 2, 2009
DARLING, YOU'RE USELESS TO ME
As mentioned in an earlier news post, last year pianist Kai Schumacher commissioned twelve composers (of which I was one) from around the globe to write a variation on an original tune. The entire piece, titled Darling, You're Useless to Me: 12 Variations Without Amanda Palmer was premiered in Germany last week, and was apparently a great success. He has posted the entire performance up on YouTube, and I encourage you to check it out. My variation, number eleven, can be heard in part three (3:00-4:00).
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV75v761czI
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeoYHagasYc
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMVk62Z2pmc
Cheers and BRAVO! to Kai for an excellent performance!
January 20, 2009
A NEW BEGINNING
I think the sun shone a bit brighter today. I feel as though an immense cloud has been lifted; huge weights lifted off of my shoulders. For the first time in nearly a decade, I'm not embarrassed to say I'm American.
Yes, it's time for a new beginning in the United States. A new era. A nation full of potential. Amidst the gloom of economic crisis, I cannot help but feel that things are going to get better. And not just better than the past couple months, but perhaps better than it's ever been.
Sure, President Obama is likely to hand us a few disappointments along the way; he is not perfect. Nothing will happen overnight. The true transformation may take years. But he fills me with an immeasurable amount of hope - a true sign of a leader.
As I lay in bed last night, watching the news, it really dawned on me that that magical time had really come: Bush was finally gone. I honestly almost cried.
So let me toast a new beginning. A new era of hope, where all things are possible. The presidency of Barack Obama.