Day 20

Hello! One video and one PDF today.

Downloads:
One thing today:

check-in - day 20

Today’s Recommended Listening:

Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980)
A Thousand Tongues

(Cello & Electronics)

Jody Redhage, Cello
[Spotify - Original] - 6 minutes
[Spotify - Lorna Dune Remix - Remix] - 7 minutes

I’m low-key obsessed with Missy Mazzoli and performing this piece is always so fun. Missy is an American composer who has been nominated for a couple of Grammys, including for her recent violin concerto. I first came across this recording of A Thousand Tongues when I was listening to her work Vespers for a New Dark Age - the Lorna Dune Remix of A Thousand Tongues is on that album and then I found the original work.

There are a few notable works for cello & electronics. In this one, the cello is hooked up to a (guitar) distortion pedal through a microphone, and a 2nd performer controls the start of an electronics track with sound effects and also controls the distortion effect. 

The vocal part is based on a poem by Stephen Crane (1871-1900):

A Thousand Tongues

Yes, I have a thousand tongues,
And nine and ninety-nine lie.
Though I strive to use the one,
It will make no melody at my will,
But is dead in my mouth.

The distortion pedal seems to relate to the lies that are everywhere else, distorting the pure sound of the cello. And so, I think that when the electronics drops out all of a sudden - which is just a stunning moment - to me it signals the struggle to “make a melody” with the one truthful tongue.

Throughout, there is a sonic effect called “beating” where the amplified sound waves smack against each other and create gentle pulses. If you know what to listen for, it’s possible to hear it here, but Michael Gordon’s piece Industry is a much clearer sonic experience to hear that (because of the specific distortion pedal it requires).

What to explore next

  1. Missy Mazzoli: Vespers for a New Dark Age
    [stunning Carnegie Hall commission]

  2. Missy Mazzoli: Violin Concerto
    [2024 Grammy nomination]

  3. Michael Gordon: Industry for Cello & Electronics
    [my go-to pairing when performing A Thousand Tongues]

See you tomorrow!
—Eric