On Tuesday, June 13 at 7:30pm, Tom's Place presents
Chris Brown (piano),
solo and in a trio with
Theresa Wong (cello, voice)
Kyle Bruckmann (oboe, electronics)
playing New compositions in Just Intonation
On Tuesday, June 13 at Tom's Place,
Chris Brown will be playing Six Primes (2014), his hour-length suite of six pieces for piano tuned in 13-limit just-intonation, that explores the use of the first six prime numbers (2,3,5,6,11, and 13) to structure the proportions of pitch and time relationships. His recording of the piece was released last year and is available on New World Records.
"Adhering to systems is one thing; creating flowing, uncontrived music from them is quite another -- and Brown has achieved this in an exemplary manner...his touch allows his contrapuntal passages to breathe, gives his cascading lines loft, and pillows his rests-punctuated moments."
-- Bill Shoemaker (Point of Departure)
The performance opens with Chris (keyboard),
Theresa Wong (cello and voice) and
Kyle Bruckmann (oboe and electronics) performing First Light (2016), a set of 11 short songs based on "Light Poems" by Jackson Mac Low, with tone cluster harmonies using Harry Partch's 43-tone scale. Recall that Schoenberg said he invented serial music because harmony could no longer progress without new intonational resources to expand it. Meanwhile Partch invented his tuning, which makes possible harmonic modulations never heard before.
Keyboard Magazine has an interview with Chris on their web site, http://www.keyboardmag.com/artists/1236/interview-chris-brown/61216 Extremely good reading.
Tom's Place
3111 Deakin Street, Berkeley CA
Directions: http://4-33.com/directions.html
Information: http://4-33.com/toms-place/index.html
Admission: donation. All proceeds go directly to the musicians.
Doors open at 7:00. Wheelchair accessible.
Cost: free, donations accepted.
Videos featuring musicians playing at this event
The premiere, at the 2013 Outsound New Music Summit, of Wrack ...Awaits Silent Tristero's Empire (made possible by the Chamber Music America New Jazz Works commissioning program).