RIP Jorge Reyes; Thanks Matthew Burtner

It came to my attention while preparing this week's playlist that the Mexican musician Jorge Reyes died February 7, 2009, of a heart attack while working at his studio in Mexico City. He was 57. I'm a little embarrassed his passing slipped under my radar for over six months. I discovered Reyes' music in the late '90s when MG was focused more on "ambient" music. Reyes frequently collaborated with such ambient titans as Steve Roach and Robert Rich. I was intrigued with Reyes' fusion of indigenous Mesoamerican music with electronic ambient sounds. Reyes was not afraid to reach for any source of sound and incorporate it into his music. The selection included on the 8/30/09 MG, "El Huarachito" employs flower pots and metallic objects in the mix. Here is a clip of a stage production of Jorge Reyes for his Pre-Columbian style piece "Sacrificio."



I would like to thank Matthew Burtner, Assistant Professor of Composition and Computer Music Associate Director, VCCM, for sending us his latest projects, including the MICE World Tour CD and the "Signal Ruins" DVD. "Sandprints" by MICE (Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble) is scheduled for this week's program. I'll also prepare some excerpts from the audio portion of his DVD for next week. Here is a little more about Dr. Burtner and his musical MICE:

Martian Gardens for 8/30/2009

WMUA FM 91.1
Amherst, Mass. 01003
wmua.org
live webcast

MARTIAN GARDENS
Sundays 21:00--24:00 EDT
Host: Max Shea
online playlists: Martian Gardens blog
email: maxtshea@gmail.com

Program for August 30, 2009

SET ONE
Emmanuel Madan: Freedom Highway
Deep Wireless 2 -- Radio Art Compilation
New Adventures in Sound Art/2005

Charles Amirkhanian: Gold and Spirit
Walking Tune
Starkland/2007

Jorge Antunes: Os Textos
Sinfonia Das Diretas (Symphony of Horns)
Sistrum/2004
conductor: J. Antunes; text: Jose Cunha & TT Catalao; voice: Chico Expedito; chorus: Tonto de Tanto Canto
automobile horn symphony recorded 6/01/1984

SET TWO
Larry Polansky: Canon #12 Doggerel (from 3 New Hampshire Songs)
Four-Voice Canons
Cold Blue Music/2002
The New York Vocal Index, directors: John Potter, William Brooks; Text (abecedarius)from "The Shaker Manifesto, July, 1882," recorded June, 2002, University of York

Barton McLean: Forgotten Shadows (excerpt)
Forgotten Shaddows
New World Records/2000
soprano: Priscilla McLean; text: Thomas Moore, Sir John Stevens, "Oft in the Stilly Night," unidentified tunes by unidentified marching bands, recorded in Petersburg and Cincinnatus, NY

George Crumb: Nobody Knows de trouble I see (trad.)
Complete Crumb Edition Vol. 13 --
American Songbooks II & IV
Bridge Records
soprano: Barbara Ann Martin; Orchestra 2001, conductor: James Freeman
recorded October, 2006, at Swartmore College

Joel Chadabe: Follow Me Sofly (excerpt)
CDCM Computer Music Series Volume 24 #
Centaur Records/1997
percussion: Jan Williams; J. Chadabe: Synclavier; recorded at SUNY Buffalo, November,1984

SET THREE
Louis DuFort: Grain de Sable (1st 1/2)
Materiaux Composes
empreintes DIGITALes/2008

MICE: Sandprints
MICE World Tour
EcoSono/2009
Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble created by Matthew Burtner
sounds on Sandprints: Microphones in the Nambian Desert, performers whistling

The Universal Quartet: Gron Galaske
The Universal Quartet
Blackout Music/2009
Tranderg-Lateef-Rudolph-Osgood;Kasper Trandberg: trumpet; Yusef Lateef: C and Alto Flute, Oboe, Tenor saxophone, bambooo flut, Syrian dobule bamboo flute, Xhosa Overtone Flute, Shanai,moon flute, piano vocal; Kresten Osgood: Drums and Percussion; recorded August, 2008, Copenhagen

Joan La Barbara: Shamansong (excerpt)
Shamonsong
New World Records/1998
voice, percussion, computer, electronic keyboard, synthesizer: Joan La Barbara; hand drums, tar, and dummbeck; cello: Erika Duke Kirkpatrick; gender: Kiristina Melcher; recorded at Diablo Canyon and Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1991, revised 1998, engineered by J. La Barbara and David Dunn

SET FOUR
Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: The Moment's Energy 2
The Moment's Energy
ECM Records/2009
EAS -- trumpet, piccolo trumpet: Peter Evans; sho: Ko Ishikawa; clarinet, bass clarinet, shakuhachi: Ned Rothnenberg; violin, live electronics: Philipp Wachsmann; piano, prepared piano: Agusti Fernandez; double-bass: Barry Guy; percussion, live electronics: Paul Lytton; signal processing: Lawrence Casserly; sample/signal processing: Joel Ryan; computer processing: Walter Prati; live electronics: Richard Barrett, Paul Obermayer; sound projection: Marco Vecchi; recorded November, 2007, at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, UK

Helmut Lachenmann: Mouvement (-- von der Erstarrung) (exerpt)
Schwankungen am Rand
ECM New Series/2003
Ensemble Modern Orchestra; director: Peter Eotvos; recorded at Frankfurt Radio, November, 1984

Luigi Nono: A Floresta e Jovem e Cheja de Vida (excerpt)
Voices of Protest
Mode Records/2001
sound direction, live mix: Gerard Pape; clarinet: Carol Robinson; soprano solo: Elisabeth Grard; tape performance: trumpet William O. Smith, soprano: Liliana Poli; voices: actresses of The Living Theater; texts assembled by Giovanni Pirelli; choir: Vox Novus; recorded in Paris; texts (selected): Fidel Castro, Frantz Fanon, Patrice Lumumba, Pedro Duno

SET FIVE
David Dunn: Entrainments 2 (excerpt)
Music, Language, and Environment
Innova Recordings/1996
recorded Azalea Glen, Cuyamaca State Park, May 19, 1985; speaking voices: Ronald Robboy,Lizbeth Rymland, Stephen Storer; oscillators: L. Rymland, Dan Schwarz; computer engineering: D. Dunn,
Peter Seibel

Robert Ashley: Automatic Writing (excerpt)
Automatic Writing
Lovely Music, Ltd./1996
synthesizers, electronics, voice: R. Ashley; voice: Mimi Johnson; recorded 1967

Jerry Hunt: Transform (Stream)
Lattice
CRI/1996 (orig.1979)

Jorge Reyes: El Huarachito
El Costumbre
Extreme Records/1993
flower pots: Juan Carlos Lopez; flower pots, metal noises, voice, Tarahumara drum; final Zapateado: Regina Quintero; recorded in El Cuarto de Maquinas, San Luis Patosi, Mexico

SET SIX
Alice Shields: Vegetable Karma (excerpt)
Shenandoah -- Three Electronic Works
Albany Records/2005

Robert Normandeau: Chorus
a. overture
b. Jadaisme
c. Christianisme
d. Islaminisme
Puzzles (DVD
empreintes DIGITALes/2005

Iannis Xenakis: Hibiki Hana Ma (excerpt)
Electronic Works 2
Mode Records/2008

SINGLE PLAY
Noah Creshevsky: Shadow of a Doubt
Favorite Encores
Pogus Productions/2008

--FIN--