McCowen and Greenstone | Departure Duo

John McCowen & Madison Greenstone (BBb contrabass clarinets) perform McCowen's Mundanas.

Departure Duo (Nina Guo & Eddie Kass) perform Haukur Hardarson's Poems for the Fire and Tomás Gueglio's Murmelszenen.

John McCowen & Madison Greenstone perform at the height of ensemble entanglement, operating as a singular organism. Their recording of McCowen's Mundanas has a unified aura from beginning to end—variations on a theme—silence to culmination and back. The music is more akin to rolling waves of tectonic activity than to McCowen’s more strident works.

In 2021, John McCowen was recording demos for Mundanas Vol. 2 in his basement studio with the goal of recording each part in one circular-breathed take. This proved impossible due to an onslaught of earthquakes preceding the Fagradalsfjall volcanic eruption of March 2021 near his home in Reykjavík, Iceland. For weeks leading up to the eruption, there was a persistent pulse of earthquakes—sometimes only minutes apart. At first, from silence, there would appear an incredibly low, sine-like tone. As this tone began to crescendo, it would be accompanied by an ever-increasing vibration that would then become visceral as the building shook. For John, feeling these rolling vibrations unconsciously shaped the music of Mundanas Vol. 2. (www.johnmccowen.com)

Departure Duo (soprano Nina Guo & bassist Eddie Kass) is committed to performing and commissioning repertoire for their high/low combination and has premiered dozens of new works resulting from in-depth collaborations, including commissions from Katherine Balch, Sarah Gibson, and Mikhail Johnson. In addition to performing, Departure Duo has cataloged over 170 pieces as part of their “30x’30” project, with the goal of finding 30 hours of soprano and double bass repertoire by 2030. Two such commissions will be performed tonight: Haukur Hardarson's Poems for the Fire and Tomás Gueglio's Murmelszenen. (www.departureduo.com)