New Releasings
Labor Records in collaboration with Naxos is releasing a series of recordings of my work covering more than half a century! The most recent release is "Jukebox in the Tavern of Love" paired with a new work by Meredith Monk. "The Nude Paper Sermon" and "Wiretap" is a double album containing no fewer than five works; see below for details. "Civilization & its Discontents" is a words-and-music collaboration with Michael Sahl. More information, reviews and ordering (physical or digital editions) is available below or by going to Labor Records.
a new review
Reviews of the Labor/Naxos release “The Nude Paper Sermon” and “Wiretap” <www.laborrecords.com/lab7092.html> continue to appear. The latest is from Grapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review (Grego Applegate Edwards):
Re: The Nude Paper Sermon: “…A narrator, in a lengthy and sometimes rapid-fire monologue, personifies a sort of voice of the media, pontificating in a disjointed and sometimes surreal manner on anything and everything while an acoustic-electric collage of Babel crowd voices, a Renaissance style vocal group, noise, Boschian effects from a modern hell, all combine to make a soundscape that is both funny, mind expanding and, especially at the time, terrifying. It is one of the better multi-stranded collage pieces of the era, at the same time leaves you with an acute and aesthetically satisfying portrayal of a contemporary world so overloaded with messages and input that meaning is in short supply.”
“…(Wiretap) captures the experimental excitement of the era, some of the excesses of expression the era produced, and the urgent impetus to create relevant works that somehow commented on the vitality and critical impact of the passing scene.”
You can find the full review at <classicalmodernmusic.blogspot.com>
Date Posted // December 05, 2012
In Categories // Music Theater, News, Recordings, Reviews, The Nude Paper Sermon, The Nude Paper Sermon, Wiretap, Wiretap
the new release(s)
The official release of two of my Labor/Naxos CD albums — The Nude Paper Sermon and the four pieces that make up Wiretap (Helix, Wiretap, Larynx Music and Queens Collage) — took place right in the middle of Hurricane Sandy! These are music-theater works: a big one for actor, Renaissance ensemble, singing voices and electronic sounds (with Stacy Keach and the Nonesuch Ensemble conducted by Josh Rifkin) and four shorter works also featuring voices in various ways (and featuring countertenor Bill Zukof, soprano Elise Ross and many others).
Even though they’ve just been released now, there are already some great notices. You can get more information, hear excerpts, read reviews and find out how to order from the Labor Records site <www.laborrecords.com/lab7092.html>. This is the second release in the Labor/Naxos series of my works.
Date Posted // November 08, 2012
In Categories // News
Labor/Naxos to release “Nude Paper Sermon” & “Wiretap”
Labor Records and Naxos will release Eric Salzman’s The Nude Paper Sermon and Wiretap as a double album on October 30, 2012.
The Nude Paper Sermon, the 2nd Nonesuch Records commission, was an innovative music-theater work in every dimension, a multi-media work in recorded form. It features an actor/narrator (Stacy Keach), a Renaissance ensemble (the Nonesuch Consort under Joshua Rifkin with William Zukof, countertenor, Alan Titus, baritone, plus an array of early instruments), a chorus (the N.Y. Motet Singers) and electronic music (from the Columbia/Princeton Electronic Music Studio), all put together in what was the then-new multi-track technology. Texts are by Steven Wade and John Ashbery.
It was Ilhan Mimaroglu, the legendary electronic-music composer, jazz producer and Atlantic Records guru, who asked Salzman to put together an album of his shorter works under the rubric of Wiretap. These ‘wiretaps’ or ‘braintaps’ in sound lead off with Helix, a Quog Music Theater festival performance from the famous WBAI Free Music Store. The title piece, Wiretap, comes from Salzman’s score for Daniel Nagrin’s anti-war dance epic, “The Peloponnesian War“. Queens Collage, an ‘academic festival overture’ and a souvenir of Salzman’s career at Queens College in New York, is made up of ‘found sound’ from an urban collage campus put together in cinéma verité style. Larynx Music, written in the 1960s for Cathy Berberian, was newly recorded at Atlantic by Elise Ross, one of Europe’s leading performers of new music, with composer/guitarist Stanley Silverman and Mimaroglu as producer.
More on this release including reviews and ordering information can be found at <http://www.laborrecords.com/lab7092.html>
Information on the previous Labor/Naxos release in this series, Civilization & Its Discontents (Michael Sahl & Eric Salzman) can be found at <http://www.laborrecords.com/lab7089.html>.
Date Posted // October 18, 2012
In Categories // Music Theater, News, Recordings, The Nude Paper Sermon, The Nude Paper Sermon, Wiretap, Wiretap
A HOT REVIEW OF THE NEW RELEASE OF “CIVILIZATION & ITS DISCONTENTS”
THIS REVIEW BY BRENT BLACK OF THE SAHL/SALZMAN “CIVILIZATION & ITS DISCONTENTS” (LABOR/NAXOS) APPEARED ON <CRITICALJAZZ.COM> ON MAY 19TH 2012.
Media Alert: Civilization And It’s Disconnections Labor Records
The last time I received a recording for review that referred to itself as an amalgam of anything was a poorly thought out solo piano work trying to be passed off as some sort of blue grass, jazz and classical influence so naturally as a critic if the description is longer than the title of the work in question then I get nervous. Deciding to avoid potential issues and to see if this was a release that would fit the more obvious direction this site is heading, I ran across a review stating “…a brilliant amalgam of jazz, pop, blues and classical forms.” The word hodgepodge immediately came to mind but with the Monty Python like disc cover my curiosity got the better of me.
To say Civilizations And It’s Discontents sidesteps strict categorization is the understatement of the year. Pop, swing and somehow the vibrant New York avant garde element take over and carry the listener on an open ended lyrical excursion to the destination of their choosing. Reviewing the music to what is essentially a theatrical presentation does lend itself to the traditional review. So what is there to say about Civilizations And It’s Discontents?
For an off-off Broadway production originally aired on N.P.R roughly 33 years ago the sound quality is excellent which should not come as a tremendous shock when it comes to anything released on the Naxos or affiliated labels. There is a delightful mix of jazz, pop and classical but what makes the release work is not so much the variety of genres made available but the virtually seamless transition made to each piece of this musical puzzle throughout the rather eclectic presentation but then again – this is musical theatre. The fans of musical theatre will be enthralled with the eclectic and incredibly original presentation that while originally aired in the fall of 1978 could easily be aired as a new work this week. This is Michael Sahl and Eric Salzman taken to the next level. The N.P.R. audience should eat this up with a spoon!
Tracks: Club Bide-A-Wee; Jill’s Apartment, Club Bide-A-Wee.
Personnel: ( Musicians ) Michael Sahl: keyboards ( piano & organ ); Cleve Pozar: drums, percussion.
For More Information: http://www.laborrecords.com/
Review By
Brent Black
Publisher www.criticaljazz.com
There’s another review in Fanfare <www.fanfaremag.com/content/view/48942/10254/> by a critic who seems to be very ambivalent about the work; he wants to say that it’s dated but then he keeps getting drawn back to it! Hmmmmmm.
Date Posted // May 22, 2012
In Categories // Civilization and Its Discontents, Music Theater, News, Recordings, Reviews, Works and Productions
SIGNAL TO NOISE article published
SIGNAL TO NOISE calls itself “The Journal of Improvised, Experimental and Unusual Music”. I’ve now seen a copy of the latest issue (#63; Spring 2012), just published. It includes a major article by William Gibson about new music on Nonesuch about half of which is devoted, in some detail, to a remarkable shout-out for The Nude Paper Sermon. (see also my last post below). This is especially timely because the original Nonesuch recording is about to be reissued by Labor Records (and distributed by Naxos) in a boxed set together with the four pieces that make up my old Finnadar album Wiretap. The magazine is distributed by Barnes & Noble, the Downtown Music Gallery in NYC and many stores around the country. You can find a full list on their web site <signaltonoisemagazine.org> or by e-mailing them at <operations@signaltonoisemagazine.org>. Or you can just send $10 to SIGNAL TO NOISE, 1128 Waverly Street, Houston, Texas 77008.
Date Posted // April 29, 2012
In Categories // Music Theater, News, Recordings, The Nude Paper Sermon, Wiretap, Works and Productions