Stream 3.3 (chamber quintet, audio track)
Overview
An adaptation of the chamber orchestra work Stream 3, this version assigns most of the orchestral parts to an electronically realized backing track, and leaves the foreground to a combo comprising percussion, electric guitar, piano, double bass and drum kit. There is a considerable degree of flexibilty in options for performing the work – alternative tape parts are provided so that the other live instrumental combinations may be used such as percussion only, percussion and guitar, percussion, guitar and bass, and percussion, guitar, bass and piano. This version has never been played live.
The original was a commission instigated by Joel Sachs and premiered by the New Juilliard Ensemble, Stream 3 was myhomage to Gunther Schuller's ''Third Stream'' music, in which jazz and classical mingle.
This was from the collection of 'I didn't really know what I was doing' works. I have some indelible memories from arriving in New York for rehearsals and the premiere:
1 - At the first rehearsal, the string players asked me why I wrote my accidentals so 'funny'. They were quarter-tones (uh-oh...)
2 - I went over to the pianist (Adam, if I recall correctly) and he was sweating and super-stressed. I looked down at the keyboard to see blood on the ivories. He looked at me in panic and said "please don't tell anyone! I"ll get taken off the gig". Adam was a Mompou enthusiast....
3 - A kiwi friend in NY had brought his company's CEO (visiting from Japan) to the concert, who didn't know what to make of this musical madness.
4 - Due to union laws in the venue it was only possible (and here we go) to amplify half of the ensemble. As all parts had rotating solo functions, this made the resulting mix that we all heard - incomprehensible.
5 - while I was in New York I recorded Drum Dances at the Hit Factory (in the same studio Billy Joel had just recorded his latest album). I went there with Brian resnick and Stephen Gosling. The engineer (Andy, I think) was incredibly helpful and found solutions to my microscopic budget - we ran out of tape (huge 48-track reel-to-reels) with about 1 minute of music left to record. I couldn't afford another reel, so Andy spliced the front leader-section of the tape (always left empty for safety) on to the end of the reel and we just made it.
Here's a recording of the New Juilliard Ensemble performing the original Stream 3 at Alice Tully Hall.
I subsequently rearranged the work for a small ensemble with backing track, and retitled it Stream 3.3
There's a better sense of the intention of the work in this adaptation......
Full Instrumentation
Percussion
Electric Guitar
Double Bass
Drums
Piano
Tape
Resources
Instrumentation: perc, e gtr, db, drms, pno
