Threnody Ensemble

Last updated
Threnody Ensemble
OriginCalifornia, United States
Genres Indie
Experimental
Classical
Years active1997-present
Labels ATP Recordings
MembersDave Cerf
Dominique Davison
Erik Hoversten
Website www.threnodyensemble.com

Threnody Ensemble are a three piece experimental classical music group who formed in 1997, first as a two piece made up of Dave Cerf and Erik Hoversten, but soon as a trio when cellist Dominique Davison joined a year later.

Contents

The band are unusual in that they are former rock musicians playing experimental music and recording for a classical music label, thus setting them apart from any particular music scene. Threnody Ensemble's music is neither strictly "classical" nor "popular"; it is both part composed and part improvised, part acoustic and part computer-generated. They fuse elements of non-Western musical traditions with their own contemporary compositions to create new hybrid forms. Their stated intent is to complicate traditional notions of musical identity and authenticity.

The word "threnody" means "lament."

Biography

Though the group's material was originally based around the interaction between two acoustic guitars and a cello, the members decided to develop in a more fluid way with each project, and have since eliminated this structure entirely. The group members collaborate with a variety of musicians from disparate musical traditions and assemble different groups for each tour or project.

The Ensemble's core members come from diverse musical backgrounds. Erik Hoversten studied ethnomusicology and composition at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on Javanese, Balinese, Korean, Indian, and Ghanaian traditions. He played in the noted San Francisco math rock band A Minor Forest from 1993–1998 and later did graduate work in music at the University of California, San Diego.

Dave Cerf studied film as well as West African, Indonesian, and Indian music at California Institute for the Arts. He was a member of the Washington D.C. based group Lorelei and played in numerous heavy metal bands. In addition to his musical activities, Dave has been active in photography, film and video, and radio drama. Cerf and Hoversten have supposedly been collaborating since they were three years old, [1] and have now been making music together for over 25 years.

Dominique Davison has performed in orchestras since childhood. She played bass in the punk band Spitboy and later she met Hoversten while playing cello in A Minor Forest and New York's 33.3. She is an architect.

The debut album by Threnody Ensemble, Timbre Hollow, [2] was produced by Brian Paulson, and took a number of years to be finished. During the process of recording the album the trio was expanded to include cellist Amy Domingues. As well as Domingues, the album would also feature supplementary musicians playing piano, contrabass, clarinet, and percussion. It was finally released on the classical based New Albion label in 2000, to some critical acclaim, Mark Athitakis of SF Weekly stated that "it's one of the most remarkably giving, accessible, and simply beautiful records to come from these parts in some time. Neither rigidly chamber pop nor wildly experimental, its spare, slow, organic sound is utterly entrancing." [3] Two years later was given a European release on the All Tomorrow's Parties-affiliated ATP Recordings.

Members of Threnody Ensemble have also composed music for soundtracks, including Sam Green's documentary The Weather Underground , and Scott Hamilton Kennedy's OT: Our Town.

In the live arena the band have toured with The Sea And Cake, The Mountain Goats, Pinback, Nina Nastasia and The Black Heart Procession. They have also appeared at two All Tomorrow's Parties festivals, in 2002 and 2004 respectively, where they were asked to play by festival curators Shellac and Sonic Youth.

Discography

Album

Other

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music</span> Form of art using sound

Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect of all human societies, a cultural universal. While scholars agree that music is defined by a few specific elements, there is no consensus on their precise definitions. The creation of music is commonly divided into musical composition, musical improvisation, and musical performance, though the topic itself extends into academic disciplines, criticism, philosophy, and psychology. Music may be performed or improvised using a vast range of instruments, including the human voice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musical ensemble</span> Instrumental and/or vocal music group

A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, such as the jazz quartet or the orchestra. Other music ensembles consist solely of singers, such as choirs and doo wop groups. In both popular music and classical music, there are ensembles in which both instrumentalists and singers perform, such as the rock band or the Baroque chamber group for basso continuo and one or more singers. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles. Some ensembles blend the sounds of a variety of instrument families, such as the orchestra, which uses a string section, brass instruments, woodwinds and percussion instruments, or the concert band, which uses brass, woodwinds and percussion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Song</span> Musical composition for human voice

A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition and variation of sections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Riley</span> American composer and performing musician

Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for its innovative use of repetition, tape music techniques, and delay systems. His best known works are the 1964 composition In C and the 1969 LP A Rainbow in Curved Air, both considered landmarks of minimalism and important influences on experimental music, rock, and contemporary electronic music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drummer</span> Percussionist who creates and accompanies music using drums

A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musical composition</span> An original musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece

Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called composers. Composers of primarily songs are usually called songwriters; with songs, the person who writes lyrics for a song is the lyricist. In many cultures, including Western classical music, the act of composing typically includes the creation of music notation, such as a sheet music "score," which is then performed by the composer or by other musicians. In popular music and traditional music, songwriting may involve the creation of a basic outline of the song, called the lead sheet, which sets out the melody, lyrics and chord progression. In classical music, orchestration is typically done by the composer, but in musical theatre and in pop music, songwriters may hire an arranger to do the orchestration. In some cases, a pop or traditional songwriter may not use written notation at all and instead compose the song in their mind and then play, sing or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable sound recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written or printed scores play in classical music.

Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right.

Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during this period believed that the bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz that had been played before them was too limiting. They became preoccupied with creating something new and exploring new directions. The term "free jazz" has often been combined with or substituted for the term "avant-garde jazz". Europeans tend to favor the term "free improvisation". Others have used "modern jazz", "creative music", and "art music".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shellac (band)</span> American rock band

Shellac is an American noise rock band from Chicago, Illinois, composed of Steve Albini, Bob Weston and Todd Trainer and formed in 1992. Their music genre has been classified as post-hardcore and math rock, but they describe themselves as a "minimalist rock trio."

The music of Iceland includes vibrant folk and pop traditions, as well as an active classical and contemporary music scene. Well-known artists from Iceland include medieval music group Voces Thules, alternative rock band The Sugarcubes, singers Björk, Hafdís Huld and Emiliana Torrini, post-rock band Sigur Rós, post-metal band Sólstafir, indie folk/indie pop band Of Monsters and Men, blues/rock band Kaleo, metal band Skálmöld and techno-industrial band Hatari. Iceland's traditional music is related to Nordic music forms. Although Iceland has a very small population, it is home to many famous and praised bands and musicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autolux</span> American rock band

Autolux is an American alternative rock band consisting of Eugene Goreshter, Greg Edwards and Carla Azar. The trio formed in 2001 and have released three full-length albums, Future Perfect (2004), Transit Transit (2010) and Pussy's Dead (2016). Their sound draws from post-punk, electronic music, krautrock and shoegaze.

All Tomorrow's Parties was an organisation based in London that promoted music festivals, concerts and records throughout the world for over ten years. It was founded by Barry Hogan in 2001 in preparation for the first All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, the line-up of which was picked by Mogwai and took place at Pontins, Camber Sands, England. Named after the song "All Tomorrow's Parties" by the Velvet Underground, the festival exhibited a tendency towards post-rock, indie rock, avant-garde music, and underground hip hop, along with more traditional rock fare presented in smaller venues than typical stadium performances. It was at first a sponsorship-free festival where the organisers and artists stay in the same accommodation as the fans. It claimed to set itself apart from festivals like Reading or Glastonbury by staying intimate, non-corporate and fan-friendly. Another difference was the line-ups being chosen by significant bands or artists, resulting in unorthodox events which often combined acts of all sizes, eras, and genres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Budapest</span>

Budapest has long been an important part of the music of Hungary. Its music history has included the composers Franz Liszt, Ernő Dohnányi, Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók and the opera composer Ferenc Erkel.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to music:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ATP Recordings</span> British independent record label

ATP Recordings is a British independent record label that was started in 2001 by London-based concert promoter Barry Hogan of Foundation/All Tomorrow's Parties. It was originally created to bring out a compilation cd (ATPRCD01) after the Tortoise-curated All Tomorrow's Parties event. First, everyone who attended the first festival was given a limited edition promotional sampler (PROATPFCD01), the packaging of which echoed the Factory Records style of Peter Saville. The full compilation followed later, and indeed a number of other ATP festivals would also receive the compilation treatment, the most recent being the 2006 Nightmare Before Christmas, for which ATPR and Plan B Magazine collaborated on a free cd given out to attendees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Tucker (musician)</span> Musical artist

Alexander Tucker is an English musician from Kent who writes, records and performs alone and in collaboration with a varied array of artists. One critic writes that "Tucker sounds like he’s following a tradition that has long been neglected, focusing not on ageless songs and ideas but on ageless feelings captured through his droning miasma of acoustic guitar and mandolin." His first musical position was singing in hardcore band Suction in the early 1990s, who according to Tucker "played noisy adolescent punk with leanings towards Swans and Fugazi." His next job was as vocalist of post-rock hardcore 5-piece Unhome who released one album Short History of Houses (Unlabel) and a split single with Papa M. Unhome split in late 1999 and Tucker went on to tour the UK with Detroit space-rockers Fuxa, playing guitar synthesizers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuck Buttons</span> British electronic music duo formed in 2004

Fuck Buttons was an electronic music duo formed in Bristol in 2004 by Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Out (band)</span> American experimental music group

White Out is a two piece experimental music group from New York City that formed in winter 1995, whose aim is to create "an incendiary new music". The bands core members are Tom Surgal and Lin Culbertson, but they often work with other musicians, most notably renowned producer/musician/filmmaker Jim O'Rourke on two albums.

Alan Shulman was an American composer and cellist. He wrote a considerable amount of symphonic music, chamber music, and jazz music. Trumpeter Eddie Bailey said, "Alan had the greatest ear of any musician I ever came across. He had better than perfect pitch. I've simply never met anyone like him." Some of his more well known works include his 1940 Neo-Classical Theme and Variations for Viola and Piano and his A Laurentian Overture, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1952 under the baton of Guido Cantelli. Also of note is his 1948 Concerto for Cello and Orchestra which was also premiered by the New York Philharmonic with cellist Leonard Rose and conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos. Many of Shulman's works have been recorded, and the violinist Jascha Heifetz and jazz clarinetist Artie Shaw have been particular exponents of his work both in performance and on recordings.

Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with some of the genre's distinguishing characteristics being improvisational performances, avant-garde influences, odd instrumentation, opaque lyrics, unorthodox structures and rhythms, and an underlying rejection of commercial aspirations.

References

  1. ATP Recordings - Threnody Ensemble - Artist Biography
  2. Peschek, DAvid (3 January 2003). "Threnody Ensemble, Timbre Hollow". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  3. San Francisco - Music - Riff Raff