A set of table wear made of wood (except, of course the knife blade) found in the display of Gandhiji's 11 worldly remains at Gandhi Smitri
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posted on Monday, November 9, 2009
posted on Saturday, November 7, 2009
Chatoyancy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In gemology, chatoyancy (pronounced /ʃəˈtɔɪənsiː/, shə-TOY-ən-see), or chatoyance, is an optical reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones. Coined from the French "œil de chat," meaning "cat's eye," chatoyancy arises either from the fibrous structure of a material, as in tiger eye quartz, or from fibrous inclusions or cavities within the stone, as in cat's eye chrysoberyl. The effect can be likened to the sheen off a spool of silk: The luminous streak of reflected light is always perpendicular to the direction of the fibres. For a gemstone to show this effect best it must be cut en cabochon, with the fibers or fibrous structures parallel to the base of the finished stone. Faceted stones are less likely to show the effect well.
Gem species known for this phenomenon include the aforementioned quartz, chrysoberyl, beryl (especially var. aquamarine), tourmaline, apatite, moonstone and scapolite. Glass optical cable can also display chatoyancy if properly cut, and has become a popular decorative material in a variety of vivid colors.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In gemology, chatoyancy (pronounced /ʃəˈtɔɪənsiː/, shə-TOY-ən-see), or chatoyance, is an optical reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones. Coined from the French "œil de chat," meaning "cat's eye," chatoyancy arises either from the fibrous structure of a material, as in tiger eye quartz, or from fibrous inclusions or cavities within the stone, as in cat's eye chrysoberyl. The effect can be likened to the sheen off a spool of silk: The luminous streak of reflected light is always perpendicular to the direction of the fibres. For a gemstone to show this effect best it must be cut en cabochon, with the fibers or fibrous structures parallel to the base of the finished stone. Faceted stones are less likely to show the effect well.
Gem species known for this phenomenon include the aforementioned quartz, chrysoberyl, beryl (especially var. aquamarine), tourmaline, apatite, moonstone and scapolite. Glass optical cable can also display chatoyancy if properly cut, and has become a popular decorative material in a variety of vivid colors.
posted on Monday, November 2, 2009
Knife [type unknown] found in the display of Gandhiji's 11 worldly remains at Gandhi Smitri
posted on Thursday, October 29, 2009
I attended the Merce Cunningham Memorial event at the Park Ave. Armory last night. Lots of friendly faces in the audience and on the "bandstand." Every time I see/hear a MCDC performance, I can't help but smile through most of it. The dance is so playful, exploratory, natural; the sound often has a similar manner, but other times it really exists on another complimentary plane altogether. I took some iPhone pics and a 3-min audio snap with Voice Memo. I was feeling fairly anxious about a composing deadline on my way there, but I'm really glad to have made it uptown for this once in a lifetime "Event."
A view toward the front from the the corner of Stage 3
The musicians were on the catwalk-like area. Fuzzily pictured here are (L to R) Stephan Moore (standing), Miguel Frasconi, and John King (seated).
John King - laptop, Miguel Frasconi - glass & electronics, possibly others too...
posted on Monday, October 26, 2009
A set of metallic fork and spoon found in the display of Gandhiji's 11 worldly remains at Gandhi Smitri
posted on Wednesday, October 21, 2009
CJM's edition of Last Judgment available on Werner-Icking page of Rzewski scores (PDF and sib files)
Live recording of Last Judgment on Archive.org
DownTown Ensemble's Flexible Orchestra Concert
St. Peter's Church, Chelsea, NYC
April 28, 2006
CJM’s Program Note for the April '06 performance of Fredric Rzewski’s
Last Judgment: For Trombone Solo or Several Echoing Trombones Not Quite In Unison [1969]
Live recording of Last Judgment on Archive.org
DownTown Ensemble's Flexible Orchestra Concert
St. Peter's Church, Chelsea, NYC
April 28, 2006
CJM’s Program Note for the April '06 performance of Fredric Rzewski’s
Last Judgment: For Trombone Solo or Several Echoing Trombones Not Quite In Unison [1969]
I met Fredric Rzewski several years ago during his monumental performance run of the solo piano work The Road at The Kitchen. We were sitting down for beer(s) afterward with his old friend Steve ben Israel, an early member of Living Theater, and the speaker's voice heard on the original 1971 Opus One recording of Coming Together. At any rate, we were (well, Fredric was) talking about how little New York had changed in 30 plus years. No elevators in the subway, this sort of thing.
Not wanting to go anywhere near a counter-argument with Mr. Rzewski, I switched the subject and mentioned that my group TILT Brass Band had just performed his 1969 process piece Les Mouton de Panurge. This was very intriguing to him, and he said, "well, you know, there's a trombone piece from around the same time. I shall put you in contact with my manager and you should play it." I admire the man's work a great deal, so this concert is my (initial) fulfillment of his suggestion.
Last Judgment does fall well within Rzewski's compositional interests at the time. Like Mouton, and the original concept behind Musica Elettronica Viva, his subtitle of "For Trombone Solo or Several Echoing Trombones Not Quite In Unison" intends an inclusive and non-hierarchical spirit. MEV was (as Fredric put it in an email) "trying, by introducing audience participation into our concerts, to break down the caste differences between 'musicians' and 'amateurs'. So we invited beginners... to play in our concerts and paid them like everybody else. This sometimes produced interesting, though also dreadful, results." He continued, "We used to have a guy in our group, Franco Cataldi, who wanted to play the trombone but couldn't (unlike a gentleman). His ambition was to do the 'Tuba Mirum' solo... so I thought of this piece which is really too difficult even for a very good soloist, but could be done if enough players, both good and mediocre, teamed up together. The idea of the title is that it doesn't matter who gets to Heaven first, because they just have to wait so that we all go in together."
We have no amateurs or mediocre players to speak of in this Orchestra, but the work's frequent meter changes, duration, and range make for a difficult blow to be sure. The decision was made in rehearsal to execute the piece as essentially 10 soloists. Again like Les Mouton, the sound of the group going in and out of unison becomes the aesthetic of the piece itself, creating a novel and quite beautiful sonority.
For the trombonophiles in the audience, the piece does indeed incorporate the opening intervals of Mozart's ubiquitous (at least for orchestral auditioners) Tuba Mirum solo from the Requiem. Using the classic Minimalist additive process, Last Judgment is truly a "fantasy" on both the musical material and apocalyptic meaning behind the Mozart work. It progresses through continually augmented phrases, mutating gradually from one to the next, with contrasted dynamics, and a tremendous finale hovering around the tenor trombone's ringing high B flat's and C's.
I saw Fredric again last Fall and mentioned the Flexible Orchestra's planned performance of Last Judgment. He thought it an excellent idea. Later, after discussion of trombones and trombonist's had continued, I mentioned the parenthetical phrase included above, (like a gentleman). A little Estonian vodka had taken hold of me, and I said "well, Fredric here regards trombonist's as gentlemen!". To which he replied, "Oh, I guess you don't know the old joke then: the man wanted to learn the trombone, but, like a gentleman, he didn't."
posted on Monday, October 19, 2009
1 of Gandhiji's 11 worldly remains as displayed at Gandhi Smitri
posted on Friday, October 16, 2009
From Wikipedia:
Isostasy (Greek isos = "equal", stásis = "standstill") is a term used in geology to refer to the state of gravitational equilibrium between the earth's lithosphere and asthenosphere such that the tectonic plates "float" at an elevation which depends on their thickness and density.
Isostasy (Greek isos = "equal", stásis = "standstill") is a term used in geology to refer to the state of gravitational equilibrium between the earth's lithosphere and asthenosphere such that the tectonic plates "float" at an elevation which depends on their thickness and density.
posted on Friday, October 16, 2009
A set of basically symmetrical patterns for the rhythmic cycle technique found in my piano quintet work for Ne(x)tworks called Raster:
posted on Thursday, October 15, 2009
Along with Arav's first set of tabla, I bought one of these at the harmonium manufacturer Sharma Musicals in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India (45 minutes east of Delhi)
Radel Tallmala digi-100 Electronic Tabla