Episode Fifteen – Robert Ashley

“Since he began composing and performing in the late 1950s, Robert Ashley has created a wholly original body of work. Continuously productive, his oeuvre encompasses nearly all versions of music and music/sound performance from instrumental and electronic compositions to film music and music videos to multi sectioned, intermediated staged operas. Ashley has also written essays and scores, and published books as well as dozens of audio and video recordings.” This from the opening paragraph of an article written by Arthur Sabatini for Performing Arts Journal in 2005, reveals a snapshot view of Robert Ashley’s profoundly creative life.

Throughout the history of experimental music – especially in the United States - there have been many extraordinary artists whose lives interacted with one another in dynamic ways. From John Cage to Morton Feldman; from Philip Glass to Terry Riley; from Robert Ashley to Alvin Lucier…all shared a unique perspective on music, sound, and performance throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Episode Fifteen of The Relache Chronicles features the work of one of the most fascinating artists from the fascinating genre known as “New Music,” Robert Ashley. Better known for his theater works, operas, if you will, we at The Relache Chronicles will focus on two works that define Bob’s exploratory interests: sound production and technology and instrumental/timbral contrasts within the context of performance. Specifically, we’ll hear excerpts from “The Wolfman,” created in 1964, and a complete recording of “Outcome Inevitable,” composed for the Relache Ensemble in 1992.

Episode Fourteen - Annson Kenney

Annson Kenney was a dynamic presence in Philadelphia from the mid-sixties until his death in late 1981. A visual artist, writer, performer, and composer, Annson was a difficult man to pin down. Although initially trained in music, his imagination and introspection led him far from his role as a contrabass player. In the 1970’s Annson designed a remarkable series of works using classic luminous tubing (neon tubes) that explored a variety of linguistic concepts. Still, he continued making performative works for himself and members of the Relache Ensemble with whom he had close working and personal relationships. On this episode we’ll listen to some of those sonic works and learn about Annson through commentary by his friends and collaborators who share their memories and insights to his life and work.

Critical Band, an extraordinary composition by James Tenney has been described as a “sound poem,” and an “aural flower” slowly unfolding as the pitch tableau becomes evident and clear to the listener. John Cage, a long-time friend of Jim Tenney’s wrote him after hearing the premiere performance a congratulatory note, “…if this is harmony, I take back everything I said to you in the past.” (John and Jim had two quite different concepts of Western harmony.) The world premiere of Critical Band is the single work to be heard and discussed on this episode of the Relache Chronicles, performed by the Relache Ensemble in 1989. It has been described by former members of Relache as the most profoundly important work composed for the group. Listen carefully as you find your way to the critical band, an aural phenomenon that is both revealing and soothing.