One of an instrument’s most obvious limits is its highest and lowest notes. Usually. But for generations, musicians have found ways of pushing past even those most obvious physical limits. Voyage Apollonian showcases these techniques on JanMaricana for Subharmonics,” where Mari Kimura (composer, violinist, and Juiliard professor) explores undertones beyond the more typical octave, including a fifth below the fundamental tone- a technique that eluded her for years until a breakthrough that allowed her to harness it reliably. The piece evokes the Bohemian flavors of Smetana and Dvorak, honoring the home country of Jan and Marica Vilcek to whom JanMaricana is dedicated. All other pieces by Kimura along with the title track employ a WIFI motion sensor designed to extract musical expressions based on the motion of the bow. Through this technology, kimura can create second voices in canon or manipulate the playback through analyzing the quality of the bowing motions. It is like a band in a box, only without the box- all generated in real time. If all this makes the process sound almost technical, the results are the direct opposite, as illustrated by the inclusion of three dazzling Brazilian jazz transcriptions. Throughout, the performances are organic and warm, with every advanced technique or technological interaction disappearing into the fabric of the music itself. The subharmonics and computer accompaniment are not the view itself, they are the finger pointing at the moon, lenses that focus understanding. As Jim O’Rourke writes in the liner notes, “French electroacoustic composer Bernard Parmegiani once created a fine work called ‘L’oeil Ecoute’ (The Eye Hears) and I would propose a subtitle for this collection, ‘The Ear Sees.’”

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Classical Music

When Ann and Bob were typical California kids filling notebooks with musical sketches, little did they realize how that would eventually turn out. Ann never stopped composing and her brother Bob became a major epidemiologist, vet, violinist, and rowing enthusias. When he died at the age of 55, it was time to bring all those threads together in one musical homage. Ann Milikan's ''Milikan Symphony'' - recorded here by th eBoston Modern Orchestra Project, directed by Gil Rose with Jennifer Curtis as a violin solost - is more than a loving tribute to her sibling; it is a research project in its own right, worthy of its brilliant dedicatee. Each movement focuses on one aspect of Dr. Robert C. Milikan's life: science, animals, rowing, and violin. As a scientist, ''Dr. Milikan and his colleagues conducted three waves of this country's groundbreaking longitudinal study of breast cancer in African-American and Caucasian women,'' said Shelley Earp, MD, director of UNC Lineberger. ''Through th eCarolina Breast Cancer Study, he sought to understand the complex reasons for poor breast cancer outcomes in African-American women. His seminal findings, published in 100 papers, have changed the face of breast cancer disparities research.''

Speaking with a musical vocabulary that inflects the language of post-minimalism with Puerto Rican musical traditions, composer Dan Rom�n is a polyglot. His work connects at the roots through rhythm: obsessive ostinatos, juxtaposed patterns that create evolving permutations, the hypnotic character of a steady pulse. M�sica de Palladium, his innova debut, is peppered with quotes from songs and dances from these traditions, mingled with counterpoint, shifting metrics and poly-chords. Mr. Rom�n teaches composition, music theory and electronic music at Trinity College, Hartford, CT.

Composed for his wife on the occasion of their 30th anniversary, “30”, consisting of three intersecting, 10’ long pieces for 12 percussionists, evokes the complex ways a relationship matures and evolves over decades. + As a suite, the album presents the entire work first, then piecemeal and then in sub-combinations, allowing listeners to explore the work from different angles and at different depths. + Mr. Applebaum is Assoc. Prof. of Composition at Stanford Univ. + Many of his pieces challenge the conventional boundaries of musical ontology. + More than one million viewers have watched his TED talk.

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This project is a celebration of life and creation.

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Classical Music

Classical Music

The traditional Afro-Brazilian berimbau is a disarmingly simple instrument: a single steel string, a wooden bow, a resonating gourd. But on MeiaMeia, the berimbau is literally reinvented. Thanks to custom tuneable instruments expertly hand-crafted by David “Snappy” White, composers Gregory Beyer and Alexis C. Lamb and the dedicated talent of ensemble Projeto Arcomusical take the berimbau to new heights of collaboration, interplay and communication. In the spring of 2013, Beyer and Lamb began working together in an independent study under the auspices of the Undergraduate Artistry and Research Apprenticeship Program at Northern Illinois University. Lamb’s first composition for berimbau, “Descobertas por pau e pedra,” was such a success that the collaboration continued, resulting in a plan to compose an expanding chamber music cycle. MeiaMeia- which in Portuguese means “half-half” as in “six of one, a half dozen of the other” – is that cycle, a dozen pieces written in Beyer and Lamb’s rich and sophisticated language for everything from a solo instrument to a sextet.

Founded in 1971 by Ornette Coleman, Karl Berger, and Ingrid Sertso, the Creative Music Studio (CMS) had a simple goal: create music, without boundaries. Artists came to Woodstock, NY, to be a part of a collective synergy, to live and work together as they found common ground and developed their vocabulary. The CMS Archive Selections documents that vocabulary and those creations, and this 3-CD set on innova Recordings represents its first fruits.

This DVD features a hand drawn pictographic score consisting of 12 panels (totaling 70 feet in length), 2 hanging mobiles, and absolutely no verbal or written instructions. It was commissioned by the Cantor Arts Center Museum at Stanford University.

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