MP3 Firn - AVANT GARDE: Modern Composition

Compositions, ranging from diaphanous to bombastic, that explore the subtle textures and details of foghorns, glass, truck engines, boxspring mattress, clarinet, viola and 14 accordions.

10 MP3 Songs
AVANT GARDE: Modern Composition, AVANT GARDE: Electro-Acoustic



Details:
FIRN CD notes:

NETHER, for Bb clarinet and foghorns
Clarinet explorations of multiphonics and microtonal pitchbends are blended with computer-manipulated recordings of foghorns on the Golden Gate Bridge. Standing on the bridge in the fog, right above the horns, the strength of the vibrations is nearly a portal.

TOPOS, for glass
Inspired by the icy landscapes, both real and imagined, of alpine and polar regions, the sounds of glass are sculpted into aural topographies. Recordings of found and constructed glass instruments (wind chimes of broken shards, window panes, gallon cider jugs, cubes of shattered safety glass, airplane-sized liquor bottles and more) were examined and processed via computer to generate these ambiences.

TRUCK, for mutated truck engine sounds
A turbulent foray inside the engine of an ancient truck. Parked in my neighborhood, this vehicle was only started once a week- when its owner had to move it for street cleaning or be subject to a $33 ticket. I recorded the rasping, hacking engine and then played with the rhythmic and textural details of its voice. Yes, the digital distortion is intentional.

THE MAKING SMASHING MACHINE, for sounds from docks, ships, glaciers, and icebergs, plus viola
This is a live recording from an interactive sculpture: a large concrete pod-like structure that visitors would enter one at a time. Once inside, their motions triggered and influenced the structure of computer-controlled music emitted from 4 internal speakers. These interactive musical elements were accompanied by live improvisations on viola.

FOCALIZATION ONE & FOCALIZATION TWO, for computer-processed boxspring mattress sounds and viola
Music for a Butoh dance in which elements of the past are studied. What the process of tuning-in, across space and time, to a specific location and event sounds like.

DREAM ABOUT FLYING, for 14 accordions
Cheryl Leonard and Morgan Guberman- accordions
Breathing, floating, flying, gasping, groaning, lilting... on a ship, on a swing, in a hammock... through the air, underwater, in space? When performed live, the accordionists are suspended from the ceiling above the audience and swing slowly back and forth as they play.

CHERYL E. LEONARD is a composer, performer, improviser and instrument builder. Raw materials for her works can come from just about anywhere and result in pieces that embrace the spectrum of musical possibilities: improvised to composed, acoustic to electronic, diaphanous to bombastic, notes to noise. Many of Leonardâs works explore subtle textures and intricacies of sounds not generally considered musical, and often include the creation of instruments from found natural materials. Her other interests include collaboration across artistic disciplines, and developing site-specific compositions and instruments.

Cheryl holds a BA from Hampshire College and an MA from Mills College, both in music composition. Leonardâs compositions have been performed at Sushi Gallery, Highways, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the San Francisco Butoh Festival, the Big Sur Experimental Music Festival, SoundCulture 96, and the National Conference of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S., among others. Her works Instruments in Trees and Ziran have been featured on KQED TV's local arts show Spark and CBS's Evening Magazine, and in Noisy People, a forthcoming documentary about the Bay Areaâs music scene. In 1999, Leonard's instrument/sculpture The Underwater Flying Machine was shown at Lincoln Centerâs Day of Homemade Instruments in NYC and her instrument Han Shan Tree is part of the outdoor sculpture collection at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program.

She is the recipient of grants from the ASCAP Foundation, Anerican Composers Forum, and Meet the Composer, as well as receiving the Elizabeth Mills Crothers Composition Prize and a William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Honorary Fellowship. Leonard has been awarded residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Engine 27, Villa Montalvo, and The Lab (with RK Corral), and has been honored in New Langton Art's Bay Area Awards Show. Recordings of her music are available from Great Hoary Marmot Music, Pax Recordings, Apraxia Records, 23 Five Inc, Old Gold Records and the Lab.

Cheryl has also spent many years performing and improvising with various experimental ensembles and noise bands, touring Japan, Canada, and the U.S. in the process. Currently, she often records and performs with Big City Orchestra. Her many collaborations with artists from other disciplines include: three projects with the interdisciplinary ensemble RK Corral; the creation of an interactive sculpture, The Making Smashing Machine, with Swedish sculptor Anna Hallin; and numerous works for dance and video. Leonard has designed sounds for exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. She is presently finishing her project Music for Rocks and Water, a collection of pieces, for amplified stones and homemade water instruments, which are inspired by motions and gestures from the natural world.

When not playing with sound, Cheryl might be found climbing in the mountains, practicing Aikido or collecting pinecones with handles.