In all, we printed about eight or 10 different panning schemes and then listened back to each one to determine which one produced the most compelling listening experience. A second version might maintain the symmetrical relationships, but change the order of the instruments around the center axis, where a third version might try a non-symmetrical arrangement. As an example, one version might have Q1 panned to the left side of the stereo field and Q2 providing its mirror image on the right side of the stereo field. We began by experimenting with a fairly exhaustive set of panning arrangements for Q1 and Q2. Increasing the effect-which strikes me as similar to hearing a Buddhist practitioner chanting a mantra-is the spatial presentation, which producer Joseph Branciforte tuned to each performance. The result is a shimmering flow that slowly shifts, creating both delightful and somewhat sour intersections as the intervals change. As these infinitesimal discrepancies become more and more perceptible, the listener is led into increasingly exotic harmonic terrain. The quartets continue spiraling in this way, each time forging a different melodic path of thirds and fifths, invariably arriving one ragisma higher (Q1) or lower (Q2). After a minute or so, Q1 has ascended by precisely one ragisma (0.396 cents) slightly later, Q2 completes its descent of one ragisma. Although each quartet steps forward using only the most basic and consonant of means, microtonal pitch discrepancies eventually begin to accrue. Q1 and Q2 both begin at the same starting pitch of A=442Hz and build outward using simple just intervals such as thirds (5:4) and fifths (3:2). How the prerecorded sections work is a complicated concept, and I can’t do better than simply quote the album’s notes to explain how they fit together: On the vinyl version of Rag’sma, both versions are included. In performance, the first two parts would be prerecorded and the Q3 quartet would play live. Rag’sma presents two variations of the same piece: one that combines two overlapping iterations of the JACK Quartet (called Q1 and Q2) and another (Q3) that adds a third layer of the string quartet. In just intonation, one particularly complex interval-4375:4374-is known as the ragisma, which Otto took as his inspiration for his debut recording. According to the album’s release notes: “Unlike irrational, equal-tempered intervals, these rational intervals, like 2:1 (octave) and 3:2 (pure fifth), create cycles that align periodically.” Otto’s own music, which gets its full-length debut on Rag’sma (LP, Greyfade 003), is currently constructed using the principles of just intonation, the practice of tuning musical intervals to whole-number ratios. Leading the JACK Quartet (Austin Wulliman, violin John Pickford Richards, viola and Jay Campbell, cello), Otto has also worked with composers Helmut Lachenmann, Georg Friedrich Haas, John Luther Adams, and Philip Glass to bring their music to life. Speaking of Otto, Zorn has said: “Chris Otto is one of those ultra-rare musicians who combine complete technical mastery with the profound depth of feeling of an old soul.” Both work with the languages of musical improvisation and contemporary classical music. Other musicians have delved into the math of rhythm and the science of music therapy.Ĭontemporary music composer and violinist Christopher Otto is also a mathematician, and while he’s not a jazz musician he exists in the same realm as his sometime collaborator, composer-saxophonist John Zorn. What each of these reed players understood was the complex, mathematical relationship between musical notes, both individually in a melody and as harmonic components. All three likely qualify as geniuses, even if Braxton is the only one who bridged the gap between performance and academia. ![]() Just look at the saxophonists, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Anthony Braxton. You don’t need a postgraduate research project to prove that there have always been a lot of very intelligent people who have excelled at improvised music. ![]() As it happens, it wasn’t as far-fetched as it seems pianist Vijay Iyer and saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa have already collaborated, and the French Moutin twins, drummer Louis and bassist François, would make a great rhythm section. Note: for the full suite of measurements for the EarMen Tradutto DAC from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.įor a time, about a decade ago, I had this fantasy of promoting a concert that would feature an all-star band of top-flight musicians who held PhDs.
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