Even freshly sprouted,
Your feathers look filthy, ugly.
You plucked these feathers from their wings.
You pruned them
Like wild, savage branches.
They seduced you to death.
Men will always be the weaker sex.
Feathers are prickly things
In the wrong hands.
—from Angel’s Bone (2015), libretto by Royce Vavrek
Air Glow (2006)
for trumpet ensemble with electronics
Duration: 15:00
After spending the past few days getting to know the work of Du Yun, I felt the need to dust off some of my Cibo Matto recordings. I felt a little guilty and wondered what Dr. Yun would think about making such a musical association with the legendary New York trip-hop duo. That is until I fell down a rabbit hole and saw that Yun had curated a Pan Asian music festival for National Sawdust a couple of years back and featured an opera of Yuka Honda's on the program. The circle was then completed, and I relaxed and chilled into a natural state of multi-cultural, polystylistic sonic bliss.
Like with many things, I can trace my love of various forms of Asian influenced music to the inclusion of Gorō Yamaguchi, Isao Tomita, and Toro Takemitsu's work on the soundtrack to the original PBS COSMOS documentary in the early 80s. (Yamaguchi's work was also included on the Voyager Golden Record. Yet again, by design or not, The Listeners were often us.) In college, it was Tan Dun's orchestral and film music that were constant companions. Now comes Du Yun with her genre-defying mix of operatic bravado, avant-garde noise, and indie cred. Suddenly, I'm lost in an old soul reborn for the 21st century.
Opera is having a moment. Three of the last four Pulitzer Prizes for Music have been awarded to operas. Before Ellen Reid won in 2019 for her opera p r i s m, Du Yun became the first Asian woman to receive the prize for her opera Angel's Bone (2017). Like p r i s m, it is a deep and powerful work that requires more than a few days to absorb, making it beyond the scope of the current project. There is a complete audio-only version available, and the libretto is also available to follow along. I won't spoil the story too much, but I will say that the subject matter has only become more poignant since its premiere. If the current zeitgeist surrounding greed and selfishness keeps you up at night and you find a certain amount of commiseration cathartic, follow the links and jump on in. Just don't look for easy answers, absolution, or even more than the faintest glimmer of hope. These are dangerous times for our better angels. Most of them are “battered, bruised, beaten, and bloody.”
Instead, I will focus on a work that received a Grammy nomination in 2019 for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Since Air Glow is fundamentally a work for trumpet ensemble, I can't help but don the performer's hat. The piece sounds incredibly challenging to pull off well. There is a fine line between being out of tune and adequately executing the challenging harmonic structures present in the composition. Not to mention having to do it while performing wide vibratos using Harmon mutes, a notoriously tricky accessory to play in tune under the best of circumstances. When done well, as it is in the outstanding performance below by International Contemporary Ensemble, it's impressive. A lesser ensemble likely would lead to disaster. Frankly, the technical wizardry of the recording alone was worth the nomination. But then there's the music. It's not enough that all those muted trumpets need to nail their respective pitch centers, but then they need to blend, balance and tune with fixed electronics gliding in and out of the texture. The overall effect is one of being submerged underwater in an alien sea with all kinds of strange life bubbling around your head. Then, the mutes come out, and the distortion pedals kick in. Noise, but carefully scored and balanced noise. It's a remarkable accomplishment, and I'm glad I didn't have to play it. This is one time when being a Listener had its advantages.