ELODIE LAUTEN concerto K7 1984 avant electronic arthur russel palestine zummo
$
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Elodie Lauten “Concerto For Piano And Orchestral Memory” K7 tape privately issued by Elodie Lauten for Cat Collectors (CGK 777) in USA, 1984. First Edition, pre-dating the LP with the same title. ****** Rec:m- / Cov:m- ****** Ultra rare private tape that pre-dates the originally self-produced LP with the same title released by Elodie Lauten on her own label. Featuring legendary Arthur Russell. The “Concerto for Piano and Orchestral Memory” opens with the strident “Allegro vivace”, in which an insistent 7/8 piano riff gradually morphs into other meters and eventually gets submerged, through surreal soundscapes and a kooky habanera leading to a somewhat apocalyptic sounding apotheosis, Lauten’s concerto continues to be an untamable wild ride. And her assembled “orchestral memory” (which consists of a combination of sequencers and processed tapes with a real time performance by Peter Zummo on trombone and a trio of string players, among them the late, lamented split-personality, minimalist and disco composer Arthur Russell on cello) offers a fascinating compositional model for composers who want to explore the powerful us-versus-them paradigm of the concerto form. Back in the days when there were a plethora of record stores in lower Manhattan that trafficked in independent releases of new music, by total serendipity I picked up an LP featuring music by Elodie Lauten. I was attracted by its provocative title, “Concerto for Piano and Orchestral Memory”, and its somewhat mysterious cover. The cover consisted of nine photographs, presumably from someone’s apartment, including the top of a kitchen stove and a cat on a bed, but also an upright piano and a synthesizer. There wasn’t much information about the piece, whose eight movements filled both sides, but I took a chance anyway; I was really glad I did. As the vagaries of independent releases go, it was not widely distributed and soon went out of print, and yet, as is so often the case, the music it contained was extraordinary. It’s a bizarre amalgam of minimalism, musique concrète, free jazz, and psychedelic freakout that inexplicably all fits together seamlessly. In subsequent years I heard many other works by Lauten, and became particularly enamored with her hefty 1991-95 solo piano composition, “Variations on the Orange Cycle”, performed by Lois Svard on Lovely Music. I also attended premieres of a few of Lauten’s operas and even got to know her and, as a result, I feel I have a better understanding of her music. But the elusive qualities of that strange concerto, which I will probably never completely understand, have always held a place of primary importance in my heart. Although it certainly was not the earliest piece of post-minimalism, Lauten’s 1984 concerto was probably the first piece of music I had ever heard that would now qualify for the moniker. I was still an undergrad at Columbia and the works that I was discovering on my own by Glass, Reich, Riley, and (when I was lucky) La Monte Young were still new and a part of a secret, forbidden musical language. But the idea that the formal processes of such music could somehow be loosened to create an even more expressive and expansive idiom was perhaps an even more radical idea, especially in an era when other formal processes from serialism to chance were still something to aspire to if you wanted to write something that was more than “pop music.” And, potentially more shocking, Lauten’s piece was clearly designed as a piece of contemporary classical music (it’s even called a concerto for goodness’ sake) that occasionally actually sounds like, gasp, pop music, and does so with absolutely no remorse or self-conscious posing. ****** Please wait to receive my invoice before sending the payment after the auction ends. Attention! Real postage costs are not USD 4 as all the items are located in Doha, Qatar (which has a very safe and professional post system). Postage costs registered for a K7 is USD 14,00 for the whole world. ****** MORE ELECTRONIC, EXPERIMENTAL, ART RECORDS OFFERED SOON! Check in one week for more treasures to come! ****** Thank you for your kind attention and good luck with your bids.
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