Engage

Engage

by Josh Modney
Engage

Engage

by Josh Modney

Compact Disc

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Overview

Violinist Josh Modney has been a consistent presence on New York's avant-garde scene, but Engage is his first release. As such, a three-album set might be considered overambitious, but in fact, the diversity of Modney's work is its strength: he attempts to open up new possibilities for the violin in contemporary performance and does not restrict himself to one or a few techniques. The large program might be divided into three parts (not corresponding to the three CDs in the physical version): new works for which Modney collaborated with contemporary composers, preexisting works, and, at the end, pieces by Modney himself. The last group involves techniques of considerable difficulty, with a slam-bang virtuoso finale. Electronics, a drone, and a prepared piano are used in the first group, but in his own works and in the performance of Anthony Braxton's Composition No. 222, Modney uses a solo, unmodified violin with many extended techniques. There are plenty of unfamiliar sounds, but perhaps the most surprising pieces are those with conventional resources: Kate Soper's Cipher (2011), in which both Modney and Soper, singing the soprano part, recite phased text, and the Bach Chaconne from the Partita for solo violin in D minor, BWV 1004, deeply unsettling in this performance in just intonation. The latter performance is representative of Modney's interest in psycho-acoustic phenomena, which also appears elsewhere in the set. Something of a compendium of violin techniques like Bach's sonatas and partitas, this is entertaining and highly recommended. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date: 08/03/2018
Label: New Focus
UPC: 0655646189055
Rank: 220413

Tracks

Disc 1

  1. Jem Altieri with a Ring Modulator Circuit
  2. Vocalise
  3. Cipher
  4. Composition No. 222

Disc 2

  1. Partita for solo violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004~Ciaccona with Just Intonation
  2. The Children of fire come looking for fire

Disc 3

  1. Violin Solos~Polyphony for (SP)
  2. Violin Solos~Cadential
  3. Violin Solos~Engage
  4. Violin Solos~Pastoral
  5. Violin Solos~Range

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Josh Modney   Primary Artist,Violin
Jenny Holzer   Featured Artist
Eric Wubbels   Piano
Sam Pluta   Electronics
Michael Drayton   Featured Artist
Ludwig Wittgenstein   Featured Artist
Kate Soper   Soprano (Vocal)

Technical Credits

Nate Wooley   Liner Notes
Anthony Braxton   Composer
Josh Modney   Composer,Liner Notes
Emma Van Deun   Design
Johann Sebastian Bach   Composer
Ryan Streber   Mixing,Engineer
Eric Wubbels   Composer
Sam Pluta   Mixing,Composer,Engineer,Mastering,Remastering
Kate Soper   Composer
Alexander Perrelli   Design,Artwork
Patrick Higgins   Engineer
Taylor Brook   Composer
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