String Noise: The Book of Strange Positions
Doors at 6:30pm | Show at 7pm
Radius Gallery
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$15 General / $10 Students
String Noise (Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris, violins) plays original works and arrangements of punk covers by Eric Lyon to include Bad Brains, Violent Femmes, Deerhoof, Radiohead, Black Flag, and the Germs from the album “The Book of Strange Positions” released on Northern Spy Records and a NEW version of Stockhausen Tierkreis for two violins.
Also on the program:
Giancinto Scelsi: Arc-en-ciel
Andrew C. Smith: Topology (Contriving Balance)
John King: Klepsydra II
The Book of Strange Positions
Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris, the husband/wife violin duo comprising String Noise, have built a reputation as relentless contemporary music advocates with a propensity for the most intense and advanced classical music of today. As performers they have championed the work of extreme contemporary composers such as Bernhard Lang, Eric Lyon, and John Zorn.
This release goes back to the roots of String Noise. Between 2009-2011, Eric Lyon composed Noise Triptych, the first work written for the as-yet-unnamed duo. Lyon then provided the moniker String Noise, and the duo made their debut at the 2011 Ostrava New Music Days festival. This release presents Noise Triptych, and its follow-up composition, The Book of Strange Positions. Accompanying these works is a set of arrangements of punk rock songs created by Lyon between 2011- 2015.
The combination of classical music and punk rock might seem surprising, but here it makes sense. Lyon’s recent music has been built on the technique of “articulated noise,” in which most creative decisions are made at random, and the composition process is largely about managing serendipity. While this may seem abstruse, Lyon’s music itself tends to be driving, intense, and immediate, with strong ties to a punk rock sensibility. This pairing presents Lyon’s music in the context of some of its own musical affinities, while presenting familiar punk rock songs from a fresh viewpoint.
String Noise photo by Chris Bradley.
Indexical’s Santa Cruz concert series is made possible through generous support by Arts Council Santa Cruz.
Giacinto Scelsi:
Arc-en-ciel
Andrew C. Smith:
Topology (contriving balance)
Topology (contriving balance) is connected; the performers listen to one another to find their points. This series of phrases outlines a set of pitches that may be tuned with one or two steps from an open string of the violin, and explores this set intuitively. It and its companion piece, Topology (phases of this difference), are forthcoming on a double LP release on Index. The subtitles are stolen from Wallace Stevens.
Andrew C. Smith is a composer and keyboardist living in Santa Cruz, California. His music often involves just intonation tunings, repetition, and language at the threshold of making sense. In addition to his work with language, he uses computers in his everyday artistic practice, often using electronic means to manipulate sound and text, using the results of these manipulations in his work.
He has been producing concerts and recordings since 2011, and is currently the Executive Director of Indexical, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Cruz, California. He has previously produced events at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center (Alice Tully Hall), Bohemian National Hall, and other venues as Managing Director of the S.E.M. Ensemble (Brooklyn, NY), and has worked for the Seattle Symphony (Seattle, WA) and Issue Project Room (Brooklyn, NY).
His music has been performed by sfSound, String Noise, Guidonian Hand Trombone Quartet, Séverine Ballon, Ostravaská banda, and S.E.M. Ensemble. He studied English and music composition at Willamette University and Trinity College Dublin.
John King:
Klepsydra II
Karlheinz Stockhausen:
Tierkreis
String Noise: The Book of Strange Positions
Doors at 6:30pm | Show at 7pm
Radius Gallery
Add to Calendar
$15 General / $10 Students
Program
| Giacinto Scelsi | Arc-en-ciel |
| Andrew C. Smith | Topology (contriving balance) |
| John King | Klepsydra II |
| Karlheinz Stockhausen | Tierkreis |