Zach Herchen

Yesterday I went to an interesting talk about "re-performing" Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Zenph Studios has developed a very sophisticated method of programming a recorded piano performance into MIDI data, which encodes pitch, intensity, and other control signals. The MIDI can then be played back through a real piano that has motors controlling each key and foot pedals (think high-tech payer piano). Since only the piano is translated into MIDI code, the result is a replication of just the performance, removing anything else from the sound.

Sony got together with the CBC in 2006 to record the "re-performance" of Gould in order to bring the 1955 record into today's modern world of high-fidelity. The result can be heard on Zenph's website. Since the recording only takes up half an SACD, they decided to have two versions from different perspectives. The first is the typical stereo/surround version and the second is a binaural recording from the Glenn Gould's perspective. Designed to be listened to with headphones, this perspective is a really unique chance to hear what the performer hears. There really is nothing else like this... except for the second album they put out with a "re-performance" of Art Tatum live in Los Angelos (1949).

The entire process and idea of a "re-performance" is very interesting. I'm not sure there is much value in attending a concert of this (though concerts have been held). There is little difference between hearing a piano re-create a performance and simply listening to a recording play back through speakers. I also think there is a certain mood or sentimental feeling associated with older recordings. Specifically in this example, Gould was known for humming while playing and this aspect of his performance is lost in translation. Perhaps on that issue alone, the whole process becomes meritless. Is it possible to reduce a performance to pitches, timing, and dynamics? or is a "re-performance" really a completely new performance. Ideas of technology versus art and levels of removal from actual live performance can take over the appreciation of the actual playing. In fact, this really makes more of a statement about the concept of recording and reproduction, becoming a meta-recording. With that said, the new recording of the recording of Glenn Gould does sound pretty amazing.

The album can be found on Amazon.com. For more info check out this article at the Washington Post.

Today I stumbled upon some great artwork by Brian Despain. The cropped image above is from The Exchange. He writes about the piece:

"I've always been fascinated by hummingbirds. Not only with the way they can zip around, stop on a dime and hover there perfectly motionless, (motionless besides their frantically beating wings of course.) but also with their supreme cockiness, their aggressive attitude towards, well, everything, and the fact that they're about as crazy as a shit-house rat. They kind of remind me of this guy I used to work with. You could be talking about the most offensive, controversial subject known to man and he'd be perfectly fine, but then switch to some seemingly innocuous subject, like Twinkies or how I hate the water pressure in my shower and he'll go off on you like you've suggested something carnal involving his mother and a bushel of pears.

So I guess this is my tribute to one individual's innocent attempt at reaching out to another, to exchange thoughts, ideas, or even just connect on a deeper level, only to have the whole thing blow up in some spectacular fashion. That and crazy people birds."

Other interesting artists that I like to follow are David Lanham, Erik Drooker, James Jean (some NSFW), Esao Andrews (some NSFW), and Jake Parker.

Check out this hilarious Venn diagram from GraphJam: Music and Pop Culture in Charts and Graphs. You can watch the music video of "I Am The Walrus" for reference:

This is a video made by James Houston for Radiohead's contest to remix "Nude" (skip to 1:09 for the good stuff). He uses the sounds generated by electronics and their components to create the music. From his description on YouTube:

"Based on the lyric (and alternate title) "Big Ideas: Don't get any" I grouped together a collection of old redundant hardware, and placed them in a situation where they're trying their best to do something that they're not exactly designed to do, and not quite getting there.

It doesn't sound great, as it's not supposed to.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Guitars (rhythm & lead)
Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer - Drums
HP Scanjet 3c - Bass Guitar
Hard Drive array - Act as a collection of bad speakers - Vocals & FX"

I got back from my artist residency at Wildacres a few days ago and am ready to start up the last year of my masters degree. My week in the mountains of North Carolina was very calm and productive, even though it started off with 12 inches of rain the first day. I did a lot of practicing and recorded several pieces for future use. There is still some mastering work that needs to be done to the recordings, but I hope to finish that soon. My experience there was amazing and my thanks goes out to Mike House and the Blumenthal Foundation for creating the possibility.

There is a fairly long list of things to post that has built up, so I'm going to jump right in with Wired Magazine's Listening Post blog. They created an an interesting list of music websites that I wanted to share. One that they mention is RCRD LBL, which serves as an independent record label and rather interesting online venue. I have to add a site to their list: Dilettante, a youtube-meets-facebook classical music website.

I finally got around to putting together the recording from No Signal's improv performance at the Red Room on May 3rd, 2008. Below are samples from our concert with myself on sax/computer processing/synth, Rachel Gawell on cello/delay unit, and Greg Jukes on marimba/computer processing.

Improv Sample 1

MP3 (Right-click to download)

Improv Sample 2

MP3 (Right-click to download)

Improv Sample 3

MP3 (Right-click to download)

Improv Sample 4
based on White Fog by Adam Knauss

MP3 (Right-click to download)

This is a short video from part of my performance of Louis Andriessen's Workers Union at NEC's SICPP 2008. The other performers are Danny Holt, Brandon Newbould, Mathias Reumert, Eiko Sudo, and Caleb Herron. The video was recorded on a cell phone, hence the low quality.

"Purpose in Life: To find stuff and play on it"

I just found out that there is a review of SICPP's final concert at New England Conservatory on Matthew Guerrieri's blog. He had this to say about the performance of Louis Andriessen's Workers Union by Danny Holt, Brandon Newbould, Mathias Reumert, Eiko Sudo, Caleb Herron, and myself:

"...guest percussionist Mathias Reumert fomented a terrific six-player account of Louis Andriessen's "Workers Union," a riot of loud, funky lockstep clusters that is now my favorite post-midnight programming choice."

I'm glad he enjoyed the piece as much as I enjoyed performing it!

This is the music video for Paper by The Get Out Clause. The idea behind the video was to perform for security cameras in public places. Using the Freedom of Information Act, the band could then obtain a copy of the security tapes. All in all, its a pretty cool idea for low budget artists trying to make a social statement. Not all the footage is from security cameras as you can read here.

Check out this cool animation made for the Zürich Chamber Orchestra.

Well, I've completed the bulk of my plans for the summer. The final concert for NEC's SICPP, lovingly called the Iditarod, was 8 hours of amazing contemporary music (the photo above is of my group performing Workers Union to end the concert at midnight).

Immediately following my trip to Boston, I flew to Europe to study music in the Netherlands and Germany. I spent 5 days in Amsterdam meeting with Ties Mellema, Jacob ter Veldhuis, Christina Viola Oorebeck, and Gerard Kleijn. From there I traveled by train to Laubach, Germany (near Frankfurt) to attend the 4th International Master-Class for Classical Saxophone, where I studied with Arno Bornkamp, Vincent David, and Jan Schulte-Bunert.

The past month has involved a huge amount of music, meeting new people from around the world, exposure to lots of ideas, and minimal internet access. All in all it was an amazing experience. Thanks to everyone who helped me out in various ways! Now that I'm around the internet, I will get back to regular postings. Starting... now!