Performed by Conrad Harris (violin) and Jenny Lin (piano)
Gordon Mumma’s (1935) work employing electronic circuits into the creation of music led him to the practice of using feedback to modify sound, one of the first artists to do so. Mumma’s multichannel compositions have incorporated sculpture, multimedia, and choreography within an interdisciplinary spectacle. Mumma was one of the founders of Ann Arbor’s Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music, collaborated on the legendary ONCE Festivals with Robert Ashley during the early 1960s, played in the ONCE group and Sonic Arts Union, and designed an electronic music system for Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan. In recent years Mumma has focused on acoustic composition, although his musical studies were in piano and horn, and he has been a lifelong practitioner of symphonic and chamber music. This selection of pieces for violin and piano, performed by Conrad Harris (violin) and Jenny Lin (piano), is drawn from a wide span of Mumma’s career and includes electroacoustic and electronic works.
Program
Suite for Piano (1958-60)
…jardin… (1960-96)
Threesome (1980-95)
SIXPAX SONATAS (1985-97)
11 Note Pieces & Decimal Passacaglia (1978)
7 Dedications (from The Sushi Box and Songs Without Words) (1990s)
Etude on Oxford Changes (1957-60)
YAWAWOT for violin and tape
COMITATUS 2 (2009)
Violinist Conrad Harris has performed new works for violin at Ostrava Days, Darmstadt Ferrienkürse für Neue Musik, Gulbenkian Encounters of New Music, Radio France, Warsaw Autumn, and New York's Sonic Boom Festival. In addition to being a member of the FLUX Quartet, he is concertmaster/soloist with the S.E.M. Orchestra, Ostravská Banda, and STX Ensemble. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Elliot Sharp, "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Jean-Claude Risset, Rohan de Saram, and Tiny Tim. He has recorded for Asphodel, Mode, Vandenburg, CRI, Lovely Music, and Vinyl Retentive Records.
Jenny Lin has been acclaimed for her "remarkable technical command" and "a gift for melodic flow" by The New York Times. She has numerous premieres and dedications to her credit, and has worked alongside composers such as Jonathan Bepler, Cornelius Dufallo, Luca Francesconi, Jason Freeman, John King, Stephan Moore, Jim Pugliese, Frederic Rzewski, Elliott Sharp, Valentin Silvestrov, Salvatore Sciarrino, Johannes Maria Staud and James Tenney, several of whom have written pieces for her. She has collaborated with Jazz pianist Chris Wiesendanger, avant-garde guitarist Marc Ribot, trombonist George Lewis, and Wilco members Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche. Jenny's extensive discography includes releases on Hänssler Classic, Steinway & Sons, Koch/E1, and BIS Records. She is the central figure in Cooking for Jenny by Elemental Films, a music documentary portraying her journey to the north of Spain.
