Performance Archive

The Emancipation of Re:Sonance – Five Austrian Masters Revisited

Fieldwork | In the Presence of Schönberg

January 10, 2012 @ 7:30 PM

Austrian Cultural Forum New York
11 East 52nd Street
New York, NY 10022

 
Registration is now open for this event! Click here to reserve tickets.

For this evening’s concert, Fieldwork will present a program of original compositions which reference the spirit of Arnold Schönberg’s music from a variety of perspectives. Many of tonight’s works privilege creative agency and expression above all else and may bear a passing resemblance to the emotional tenor of pieces like Erwartung and Pierrot Lunaire. Other compositions explore the relationship between repetitive rhythmic cells and highly chromatic pitch content. And in that sense, they can be viewed as part of a musical discourse which includes Schoenberg’s 3rd String Quartet (Op. 30) and the second movement of his Op. 11 for piano.

This concert is part of a new series presented by the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Manhattan New Music Project: “The Emancipation of Re:Sonance – Five Austrian Masters Revisited”, which focuses on five of Austria’s most famous composers and the re-interpretation, re-imagination, and re-arrangement of some of their greatest works. The title of the series plays on Arnold Schönberg’s concept of the “Emancipation of Dissonance”.

Other events in the series will include performances by Sarah Weaver, Gene Pritsker and the International Street Cannibals, Peter Evans and the Wet Ink Ensemble, and Franz Hackl.

About the Artists:
Fieldwork is a collective of three widely celebrated young composer-performers: pianist Vijay Iyer, saxophonist Steve Lehman (formerly Aaron Stewart), and drummer Tyshawn Sorey (formerly Elliot Humberto Kavee). Fieldwork’s music reflects each member’s ties to the American jazz tradition, modern composition, African and South Asian music, underground hip-hop and electronica, and the influential music of Chicago’s A.A.C.M.

Fieldwork’s intensely collaborative rehearsal process resembles that of a rock band: they use group improvisation to develop and expand their intricate compositions into something larger than the sum of its parts. The result is a dense yet visceral musical world — tightly unified ensemble playing, extroverted and high-impact, but with a mysterious inner logic. Fieldwork’s third album, Door, was released in spring 2008 on Pi Recordings to critical acclaim. Over the last 5 years, they have performed numerous U.S. dates, and overseas in Italy, Portugal, Austria, France and Sweden.

The ICE website on Fieldwork: http://iceorg.org/digitice/post/fieldwork-rai

Reservations:
Admission is free, but tickets are extremely limited! Click here to RSVP.