Flotation Device celebrates Michael Nyman's 80th birthday with a mini-retrospective ranging from his famous film music through his more exploratory ensemble works. We contrast his exuberant postminimalism with the more austere loops and glitches of Bernhard Lang (via his new triple CD) and the maximalism of Nyman’s contemporary and compatriot Brian Ferneyhough (through our 50 years ago in the avant-garde feature). A more haunting kind of repetitive music is pursued by Joe Santa Maria and the Sound-In collective, while Adam Rudolph and David Leon assemble multicultural ensembles. Wayne Horvitz and Fred Frith deliver new solo improvisations, and Rudolf Eb.er, Alice Kemp and the Matthew Shipp Trio offer new concepts in ritual and piano trio performance. A preview of Joël-François Durand’s upcoming premiere with the Mivos Quartet by way of his new portrait album on Kairos records rounds out this eclectic program. Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world.
