In celebration of the 78th birthday (June 4, 1945) of Anthony Braxton one of the most important musicians, educators, and creative thinkers of our time, as well as a mentor to EiO Experiments in Opera presents a rare run of performances of Compositions No. 279-283, composed in 2000 for improvisational actor and improvising musicians.
start w/o me were marked by a naturalism. Regardless of the origins of their construction, these releases played out as if rousay’s microphone simply chanced upon its captured sounds (musical or otherwise) before she spliced these clips together into their final forms. In contrast,
a softer focus feels orchestrated, like a staged production. Especially as driven by
Dani Toral’s narrative and artistic direction,
a softer focus possesses a theatricality, where each gesture plays a part in constructing an ephemeral narrative.
The album unfolds like a gentle tug of war between the competing camps of minimalist chamber pieces (performed, on various tracks, by string players