Album Review @ Touching Extremes, May '08

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Nothing works as planned (Interval)

There is a good variety of styles and atmospheres in this double CD, which collects live performances of new music by American and Israeli composers (Ido Govrin, Amnon Wolman, Jonathan Chen, Neil Leonard, Kiki Keren-Huss, Beth Denisch, Arie Shapira, Keren Rosenbaum and Yossi Mar-Chaim). The pieces should represent different approaches to the phrase that gives the title to this set, but in truth it's rather perceivable as the effort of a community - led in this occasion by the American Composers Forum of New England - to find a common ground amidst variegated compositional methods and interpretations of contemporary visions, the whole presented in unconventional intimate settings. There's difference between the two discs in terms of aesthetic: the first contains works that could almost be placed into a quasi-newfangled electronica sector (Govrin's static minimalism, Chen's unfolding spirals of noise, Leonard's organic mysteriousness-cum-saxophone), while the second winks more to XX-century classic scores, with the majority of the situations involving acoustic instruments in pretty dissonant clothes and tendencies to non-serene disillusion (Mar-Chaim's piece for violin, contrabassoon and electronics, but also the disturbing "War" by Keren-Huss, which includes disquieting human voices expressing sufferance). The impression remains one of a reunion of people familiar with the reciprocal particularities, and the rarefied applause heard at the end of the performances gave me the idea of an audience formed by few knowledgeable aficionados. Interesting disc, in any case.

Nothing Works as Planned - 4.5 star review

NOTHING WORKS AS PLANNED
[Interval Recordings - 2007 - 2Cd]
Genere: Experimental


Registrato in parte a New York e a Tel-Aviv, questo album rappresenta la fusione delle idee musicali di nove artisti, fissate in presa diretta e trasposte su supporto ottico, che trasformano in suono il 'loro' significato della frase 'Nothing Works As Planned' ovvero 'Nulla funziona come previsto' o forse sarebbe meglio dire 'Nulla di pianificato'. Il doppio CD è la documentazione della serie intitolata "Nothing Works As Planned", tenutasi a Tel-Aviv presso il Tel Aviv Museum of Art in occasione della Biennale di Musica Nuova, grazie alla Riverberazione naturale data dagli ampi spazi e dagli alti soffitti della struttura il suono finale risulta essere corposo quasi vivo, un vortice di suono sempre delicato che ricorda per 'movenze compositive' quei campanellini giapponesi dai quali il suono nasce casualmente sfruttando le vibrazioni indotte dal vento; così, quasi casualmente, lievi interferenze elettroniche vanno a giocare con archi e fiati mentre il 'suono' del pubblico conferisce al tutto una sensazione di presenza, quasi come se fossimo li ad ascoltare con le nostre orecchie, stesi su un tappeto catturati da qualche video installazione, il tutto corredato da un ottimo packaging con paesaggi fotografici dell'artista olandese Stefan Otto. Caldamente consigliato.

http://www.ultrasonica.it:80/site/modules/recensioni/index.php?op=r&rev_id=419&cat_id=1&sort_by

Interval Recordings to release recordings from ACF Tour

www.interval-recordings.com



www.acfnewengland.org

From the liner notes:

Notes on a Music Festival
American Composers Forum, New England
Sonic Circuits 2006, International Electronic Music Festival
New Music from Israel and the U.S. presented in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Boston and New York

In October of 2006, I found myself sitting in cafe with Ido Govrin and Liora Belford in a southern district of Tel Aviv. Over lunch we reflected on performances that we had just presented in Israel and began to wonder how we could present these works to an audience world-wide. This CD is the result of that conversation and is comprised of recordings of concerts in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Boston and New York.

One week prior to this discussion, I arrived in Tel Aviv for the ACF concerts that were curated and produced by Kiki Keren-Huss. The series, entitled “Nothing Works as Planned”, began with a concert hosted by the Tel Aviv Biennale of New Music and held at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. We performed in a large suite of galleries that was between exhibitions and therefore void of art work. The high ceilings, long reverberation and departure from conventional concert seating made for a cathedral-like setting and proved to be an ideal site for the concert of works featuring electronics, small ensembles and large video projections.

A few days later we drove to Haifa to present work in a concert at the University of Haifa. Weeks earlier Haifa had been bombed and for some time there was a question whether or not we would have to postpone the tour. By the time we arrived in Haifa, the city appeared to be serene and we presented the second concert in Israel with works by Liora Bedford, Ido Govrin, Kiki Keren-Huss, Yosi Mar-Chaim, Keren Rosenbaum, Arie Shapira, Amnon Wolman and myself.

In December Keren-Huss, Shapira and Wolman traveled to the US to continue the series. Our first concert was held at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and also featured works by Jonathan Chen, Dennis Miller and myself. Many of the works that were performed in Israel were performed again with US performers, making this an ideal experience for the composers to hear their works unfold in new ways and for new audiences.

The series concluded with a concert at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, New York. IPR is located in a circular tower that was once a silo situated on the Gowanus Canal. Again, the unconventional setting and the unique acoustical space made an ideal venue for the performance of electronic music.

I would like to thank David McMullin, Director of ACFNE for all of his hard work to bring the events to a successful conclusion. Dr. Beth Denisch, the founder of ACFNE, was the original architect of this international exchange. Dr. Denisch worked for several years to establish this unique link between the sister cities Boston and Haifa. Her efforts brought composers together to present work, collaborate on performances and share ideas. At the conclusion of the concerts, the composers on this CD suggested that we include her work, as her artistic vision and dedication were central to our activities.

Neil Leonard
Curator/Producer, Sonic Circuits ACFNE

Concerts in Tel Aviv, Haifa, NYC and Boston

Carrying on the tradition of ACF's Sonic Circuits International Festival of Electronic Music and Art, ACF New England was proud to present an exciting new collaboration between American and Israeli composers in November and December of 2006.

The SONIC CIRCUITS 2006 festival featured concerts and related events in four Israeli and American cities: Tel Aviv, Haifa, Boston, and New York. It commenced on November 3 with a concert produced in conjunction with the Tel Aviv Biennale of New Music, with subsequent events in Jerusalem and Haifa in the days following. The American events took place between November 29 and December 9 in Boston and New York. The festival featured works by composers Neil Leonard, Kiki Keren-Huss, Amnon Wolman, Arie Shapira, Dennis Miller, Jonathan Chen, Yosi Mar-Chaim, Ido Govrin, and Keren Rosenbaum, including live performances with electronics, video art, sound installation, and compositions for electroacoustic tape.

Sonic Circuits was made possible by funding from the Argosy Foundation, the Boston-Haifa Connection of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in-kind support from Berklee College of Music, Northeastern University, Gallery Artists Studio Projects (GASP), the Music Department of the University of Haifa, and the Tel Aviv New Music Biennale. ACFNE is also grateful to Beth Denisch, our founding Director, for her inspiration and initiative as the original architect of Sonic Circuits 2006, and to Neil Leonard and Kiki Keren-Huss for curating and producing the events.