Michael Byron - Halcyon Days - pieces for percussion, and other pieces for two pianists
Michael Byron’s “Halcyon Days” is unique percussion (marimbas, xylophones, vibraphones, glockenspiels, tubular bells, maracas) and keyboard music that’s both wild and pensive, played by an all-star group of new-music performers that includes William Winant, the William Winant Percussion Group (Winant, Tony Gennaro, Michael Jones, and Scott Siler), Lisa Moore, Vicki Ray, and Aron Kallay. Except for the final track (a piano solo written in 2016), these pieces are from a previously under-documented period of Byron’s work—the mid-’70s, when he composed unique and remarkable minimalist-styled music. This album treats us to clangorous clouds of polyrhythms and simple, direct, quiet works, both of which explore rich harmonies and bespeak a sense of transcendent motionlessness.
Byron comments about the album, “Poet Anne Tardos wrote that ‘Time doesn’t pass. We pass.’ Most of the pieces on this CD were composed in the 1970s. It seemed like everything was beginning then. Lifelong friends were made, and improbable ideas were shared; composing neither began nor ended. This CD features virtuoso percussionist, and my oldest friend, Bill Winant. Over the last 50 years he has performed and premiered every percussion piece that I’ve ever composed.”.
Michael Byron’s music tends to be harmonically rich, rhythmically detailed, and virtuosic. It’s often praised for its ability to create dense constructions out of relatively limited materials. His works have been performed and recorded by such new-music champions as Sarah Cahill, Joseph Kubera, William Winant, FLUX Quartet, Kathleen Supové, and Thomas Buckner. The Wire’s Julian Cowley has written that Byron is “one of those contemporary composers who can justifiably be classed as crucial. . . . Byron’s music dances with tremulous iridescence.” (Byron’s music has appeared on seven previous Cold Blue Music albums.)
William Winant, tubular bells, maracas, marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, and vibraphone
William Winant Percussion Group (Winant, Tony Gennaro, Michael Jones, and Scott Siler), marimbas, xylophones, glockenspiels, and vibraphones
Ray-Kallay Duo (Vicki Ray and Aron Kallay), piano four-hands
Lisa Moore, piano
Produced by Jim Fox, William Winant, and Scott Fraser
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Friday, 28 April 2023
And the Darkest Hour is Just Before the Dawn by Daniel Schmidt
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Rhythm Guitar Lesson 1b: Ideas to develop your groove, pulse and funk
Listen to get your groove on and get playing those sixteenth note strumming funk patterns
This is the second part of the first lesson in our new mini-series on the topic of rhythm.
Dan and I, in our first lesson look over the basics of rhythm: In lesson 1b we covered what the difference is between a quarter note, eighth note and sixteenth note along with the synonyms of crotchet, quaver and semi-quaver. We looked at staccato, dotted notes, tied notes, off-beats and counting. Finally,…
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just found out a lot of people didn't know the mind brand sample was from the nostalgia critic and my initial reaction was surprise that it wasnt common knowledge in 2024 but then i thought about it a little and i do understand that not everyone is in their mid 20s and used watch old nostalgia critic reviews on repeat on a laptop in the back of the highschool library throughout the entirety of grade 9 and can now recognize a doug of the walker variety by the enunciation of the word "fuck"
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sits down head in hands for a very long time
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75 Years of Classical Music in Israel
Utter the name “Israel” and probably only a handful of people will think, “classical music”. As a lifelong new music fan I’ve made many wonderful discoveries by looking at work done by composers in countries that aren’t part of the typical America, Germany, Italy, France, Russia nexus. Throw in the Nordic countries, Canada, and Australia more recently and you have perhaps 90% of what is marketed…
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