Malcolm Goldstein

Discographies

• Malcolm Goldstein" Hardscrabble Songs "

  Le label in situ nous propose des pièces de Malcolm Goldstein enregistrées pour différents projets réalisés au cours de ces dernières années. Une occasion de nous plonger dans l’univers musical du violoniste. Musicien exigent et engagé dans la défense de projets artistiques faisant fi des compromissions, Malcolm Goldstein se livre pleinement à un exercice où la puissance créatrice se met au service d’idées généreuses qu’il défend avec passion. On soulignera ainsi la superbe pièce " My feet is tired but my soul is rested (mes pieds sont fatigués mais mon âme est en paix) qui rend hommage à Rosa Parks, une femme noire, qui fut à l’initiative du refus de la ségrégation dans les bus à Montgomery dans les années 50. La musique improvisée défendue par Malcolm Goldstein est source de nouvelles explorations et recherches sur l’instrument. Elle s’affranchit des discours surannés qui nous façonnent d’une façon si prégnante qu’il devient difficile de nous en détacher pour découvrir des fortmes d’_expression différentes et authentiques. In situ pose régulièrement de nouvelles pierres dans cet édifice à la construction fragile. Cet enregistrement en est un jalon à apprécier.

  (Sabine Moig – JazzoSphère N°25).

• The Seasons: Vermont

  Malcolm Goldstein's 'The Seasons: Vermont' (1982) is a soundscape of Vermont sounds in all of the seasons, with improvising instrumentalists articulating the natural sounds. From Goldstein's journal: " ... Thinking about a new sound orchestration, a 'new harmony' of pitch and non-pitch elements ... Flocks of birds in small tress near the house: such as variety of chattering ... Upon Ascutney Mt., hearing the scurrying of dry leaves upon the ground ... The storm up and down the valley like waves sweeping the shoreline ... Recorded a brook (several) the other day, walking the length down its flow ... Old Craftsbury fiddler contests ..." Goldstein, known primarily for reinventing the violin, now emerges as an artist of a different kind and if you're interested in soundscapes, this one is not to be missed.

  
  

• MALCOLM GOLDSTEIN / PETER NIKLAS WILSON: MONSUN, TrueMuze 9801
  Malcolm Goldstein: violin
  Peter Niklas Wilson: double bass

  track list:
  • (1) Monsun Vibrations I Goldstein/Wilson (GEMA) 9:55
  • (2) From "Configurations in Darkness" Goldstein (BMI) violin solo 10:22
  • (3) Kraniche im Zweireiher Wilson (GEMA) 10:38
  • (4) The Space of the Bass Wilson (GEMA) bass solo 6:23
  • (5) Soundings for solo violin Hamburg, 1996. Goldstein (BMI) 12:36
  • (6) Monsun Vibrations II Goldstein/Wilson (GEMA) 11:08
  • (7) Monsun Afterthoughts Goldstein/Wilson (GEMA) 3:15

  Malcolm Goldstein, born in Brooklyn in 1936, is one of today's most fascinating improvisors, a master of subtle string timbres and creator of an utterly original violin soundworld. Composers such as John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Hans Otte, James Tenney and Ornette Coleman have been inspired by his playing to write pieces for solo violin. In October 1996, Goldstein performed at Hamburg's Monsun Theater together with double bass player Peter Niklas Wilson, a performance of solos and duets, improvised and composed, which is documented here in its entirety.

  "It is Goldsteins staggering vocabulary that provides reason enough to purchase Monsun; like the greatest free improvisers, he conjures whole worlds of song, nuance and feeling out of all means available on his instrument. Wilson fields his end of the conversation with rich, warm tones, and a great sense of structure, as if the violinist is providing the skin, and Wilson is constructing the skeleton." (Larry Nai, CADENCE)

• Malcolm Goldstein: Live at fire in the valley, mte-016
  27 june 1997
  fire in the valley festival amherst, ma
  malcolm goldstein violin, voice

  • 1. soundings I (4:45)
  • 2. from configurations in darkness (17:51)
  • 3. when the river overflows (18:38)
  • 4. my feet is tired but my soul is rested (17:44)
  • 5. soundings II (2:41)

  a significant addition to the discography of this important and underdocumented avant garde figure. "a doyen of the american avant garde," (the wire, may 1999) goldstein co-founded the tone roads ensemble in the early 1960s with james tenney and philip corner, and went on to establish an aggressively individual voice as a violinist and composer. later his reputation as one of the new music's great instrumentalists and solo performers prompted john cage, ornette coleman, and christian wolff, among others, to compose for him. goldstein has lived quietly for many years in vermont's northeast kingdom, and is too seldom heard from. this beautiful solo set from the 1997 fire in the valley festival is a fairly stupefying demonstration of his unique genius.

  "live at fire in the valley is one of the best examples of improvised solo violin on disk, & it is a critical document of one of the finest free music improvisers in our midst." -- steven loewy, cadence

  "Malcolm Goldstein has been obsessively working through extended violin sounding strategies since the early '60s. His proto-orchestral conceptions seem to imply the presence of ghostly parallel lines and buzzing counter patterns as he carves see-sawing folk melodies and abstract architectures from out of the air. While his feet are most firmly planted in the avant-classical field, he also draws on jazz theoreticians such as Ornette Coleman, who penned 'Trinity' especially for him. Live At Fire In The Valley combines some visceral free-sawing improvisations with some other semi-structured pieces and it's the more subtly directed of the pieces that work best. 'Configurations Of Darkness' is based on a haunting Bosnian folksong and Goldstein plays it as a threnody for the victims of genocide, tearing through it's folk-simple truths with savage, human sounding screams and wails. 'When The River Overflows' takes the piece Ornette wrote for him and resituates it in a pool of deep silence as Goldstein slowly circles, taking stabs at the guiding melody from countless different angles." --david keenan, opprobrium

• Malcolm Goldstein: Sounding the New Violin

  

  Six pieces composed for, and in collaboration with, violinist Malcolm Goldstein, that have extended the image of violin sounding, each in their own way. Includes the following: Eight Whiskus by John Cage; Portrait of Malcolm by Pauline Oliveros; Trinity by Ornette Coleman; (gamelan) The Gold Stone by Philip Corner; and Koan by James Tenney. (http://www.deeplistening.org/dlc/28golds.html)

• CD Info ...

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