EA Bucket 37.

Grant Chu Covell

[April 2026.]

“The Weather Pieces.” Carol ROBINSON: Les si doux redoux (2015)¹; Black on Green (2015)²; Nacarat (2015)³. Carol Robinson¹ (basset horn), Charlotte Testu² (cbs), Serge Teyssot-Gay³ (e-guit), Carl Faia^1,3, Charles Bascou² (computer music design). mode 333 (1 CD) (www.moderecords.com).

A clarinetist we’ve admired over the years in Feldman, Scelsi and Nono would of course build interesting electronic works at scale. Instrument, computer transformation and subtle text recitation combine for persuasive pieces. Black on Green is the release’s shortest (14:46) for double bass and electronics, and reflects the composer’s South Dakota childhood when a green sky would harbor black clouds that might lead to tornadoes. Written for Testu, the bass skitters across its full range: harmonics at top punctuated with lower jabs. I suspect the electronics delay and transform what we’ve heard before into longer gestures. Mysterious forces gather which are lightly tethered, gradually increasing intensity. Does the storm arrive?

The composer is soloist in Les si doux redoux. While the two other pieces portend danger, this one remains smooth. The title refers to unexpected balmy days which may occur during a bitter winter. The basset horn appears among slowly changing high pitches, like an accordion or sho. Piercing pitches can be shrill but also comforting. The texts are not intelligible, but consoling.

For Nacarat, the electric guitar strolls into a vibrant hurricane. It is an imposing piece, an electric guitar enhanced with electronics. Luminescent, terrifying, and like the nature which inspired it, moving at its own pace. The title signifies a bright red-orange hue. I hear the guitarist spitting off small gestures, the electronics creating an abundant background. Apparently Teyssot-Gay had never played something written by someone else before.

“The Dreams.” Juraj ĎURIŠ: GARDEN ONE: Imago Sonoris (2007); The Dreams (2023); Lost Memories (2015)*; GARDEN TWO: Panta Rhei (2007)*; Portrait (short) (1989); Leck mich am Arsch, Joniku! (2017); GARDEN THREE: Silhouettes (2019; with Rudolf PEPUCHA)**; Chronos I (1983); GARDEN FOUR: Ephēmeros (2021)*; The Dreams (1987)***. Lujza Ďurišová* (vlc), Milan Pala** (Milanolo), Robert Rudolf*** (cymbals). La Plata 259-006-1 (2 LPs) (www.laplatarecords.sk).

Not knowing Ďuriš’ universe before encountering this collection, I cannot tell whether the composer is a prankster or a stickler for details. Curating works spanning several decades into precise arrangements suggests an artist with particular ideals. Yet a piece (Leck mich am Arsch, Joniku!) which borrows from Amadeus and incorporates one of Mozart’s scatalogical canons implies a carefree creator. Perhaps the key to Ďuriš’ philosophy hides in plain sight: The 2023 version of The Dreams incorporates Cage reading from Composition in Retrospect.

To judge from this retrospective, Ďuriš’ electronic works are predominantly slow-moving transforming layers. The pieces intersect and refer to each other in perhaps more ways than I can identify. The two The Dreams are connected. Several works explicitly credit instruments: Lost Memories, Panta Rhei and Ephēmeros contain Ďurišová’s solo cello, and Silhouettes includes Pala playing the soulful five-stringed “Milanolo” which combines violin and viola. The cello solo opening Ephēmeros also appears in Imago Sonoris. A few works are soundtracks: Portrait accompanied artwork by Miloš Boďa and Ephēmeros went with Jakub Pišek’s video. Ďuriš pulls in sounds others might consider cliches: a ticking clock in Lost Memories, flapping birds’ wings in Panta Rhei, trains in Ephēmeros. The oldest piece is Chronos I which offers historic synthesizer sounds over fuzzy bass. It all comes together, to build a distinctive world.

“Altotronica.” Dariusz MAZUROWSKI: Waveless Storm for viola and tape (2024). Damian MARHULETS: Monopole for viola and electronics (2023); Chromodynamics for viola and electronics (2023); Stochastic 303 Acid for viola and electronics (2023). Krzysztof WOLEK: Shadowings for viola and live electronics (2019). Rafal RYTERSKI: Viola d’amore (2023). Agata ZEMLA: Samotnia for viola and fixed media (2024). Szymon WIECZOREK and Igor TORBICKI: fake news for viola and many computers (2025). Piotr JEDRZEJCZYK: AltoReel for viola and electronics (2025). Piotr GRELLA-MOZEJKO: Frokertof per viola solo e nastro virtuale (2025). JACASZEK: Sniardwy (2025). Przemyslaw RUDZ: Evening on the Misty Meadow for viola and synthesizers (2025). Zuzanna OSSOWSKA: Altotronica (2025)*. Krzysztof Komendarek-Tymendorf (vla), MonoTony Ænsemble*. Centaur CRC 4173 (1 CD) (www.centaurrecords.com).

Across thirteen tracks, Komendarek-Tymendorf takes center stage in an energizing collection presenting Polish works for viola and electronics. Reflecting different genres, the compositions range from pulsing beats to pieces you might find on a concert stage. The longest are just barely over ten minutes.

Quick sketches: Waveless Storm offers boldly articulated viola against vivid pre-taped electronics. Marhulets’ Three Pieces resist easy categorization: the viola may skitter melodically over a changing rhythmic background, a tune may emerge. Shadowings starts with viola alone, cleverly echoed with delays. Electronic transformations become more evident, there’s some speech, and the ten minutes conclude in a different place. Viola d’amore deconstructs the viola’s sound, starting from small events as if musical shavings. The central section is more fantastical.

With rasping viola and electronic rumbling, Samotnia brings a desolate landscape to life. fake news is a tiny etude presenting brief wrinkles and flutters. In this one it’s quite difficult to catch the live player among the computer transformed copies. Reverb eats the live viola in AltoReel which comments upon social media, looping upon itself. For Frokertof , the viola slides over tightly looped whirring that sounds like cawing birds. Sniardwy designs another landscape, this one with water and soulful notes. The last two works might cross genres the most easily: Evening on the Misty Meadow with electronic blues and the pulsing accompaniment in Altotronica.

Mazurowski offers a strong opener, Komendarek-Tymendorf could play just this and we’d be satisfied. I returned to Marhulets’ Three simply because I was not certain where one ended and the next started. Frokertof also warranted revisiting because those birds or that electrical rubbing sound (probably transformed viola) was intriguing. The oldest piece (but just barely), Shadowings, presents the least non-viola sounds and may be the program’s most conventional or anomalous.

“Altazor.” Hilda PAREDES: Altazor (2011)¹; Siphonophorae (2016)²; Epitafio (2021)³. Guillermo Anzorena¹ (bar), SWR Experimentalstudio^1,3, Ensemble Aventure^1,2,3, Nicholas Reed^1,2,3 (cond.). Wergo WER 7416 (1 CD) (www.wergo.de).

Altazor is a grand monodrama, setting Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro’s “Altazor o el viaje en paracaídas” (“Altazor or the parachute jump”) for baritone and ensemble with electronics. Huidobro (1893–1948) led the “creationismo” literary movement, a surrealism offshoot. Through seven cantos, the singer must lurch and soar as he describes a “parachute jump from a great height, in the course of which consciousness becomes clouded and the ability to articulate language is lost.” Among the various electronic effects, instrumental motives and spoken bits are repeated and immediately transformed.

Sharing its title with a sculpture by Thomas Glassford, Paredes’ Siphonophorae also takes its inspiration from the natural world. Siphonophores (polyps) are cnidarian animals of the hydrozoan order siphonophorae, highly polymorphic and complex organisms, which obscure the line between individual and colonial organisms. From Paredes’ perspective, the piece (flute, clarinet, piano, violin, viola, cello) explores blurring motivic shapes at the individual and ensemble level. I hear it a bit as a hyperactive Donatoni etude in a saddle shape, which means it withers towards the center before gathering energy again.

The chamber piece Epitafio asks for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion with amplification for each instrument and electronics. The work was written in memory of the composer’s mother. The electronics enhance instrumental resonance, allowing echoes and hints to proliferate. Flute and clarinet also move through the performance space, not detectable on a recording. Where Siphonophorae delightedly amassed sounds, Epitafio prefers to parcel them out. The similar ensembles, electronics notwithstanding, sound very different.

“Orchid Music.” Juraj KOJŠ: Florida Native Orchid DNA Sonified (2022); The Orchid Quartet (2022); Florida Orchid DNA Synthesizer and Sequencer Improvisation (2022). Neuma Records 151 (1 CD) (www.neumarecords.org).

Unique to every living thing, DNA sequences, random orderings of adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine, known by A, T, C and G, can offer untold random musical material. Three pitches names are easy to correlate, T can be the syllable Ti or B. Fascinated by orchids, Kojš has mined their DNA to create music. The results are understandable and most pieces are agreeably short.

Florida Native Orchid DNA Sonified is in ten parts, each movement an etude spun from a Florida plant’s DNA and exploring a specific sound. Cyrtopodium punctatum uses a typewriter, Platanthera cristata clicking seeds and nuts, Epidendrum magnoliae clay pots, etc. The pieces are varied but consistently pulsed with predominantly even rhythms. Orchid Quartet layers staff at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden reading plant history over orchid DNA sonifications. The Synthesizer and Sequencer Improvisation continues the exploration, the instrument here is an interactive music program allowing a player to select a plant and in real-time control how their DNA is played by synthesizer.