{"id":401,"date":"2019-07-17T12:14:02","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T16:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/?p=401"},"modified":"2022-08-22T15:02:40","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T19:02:40","slug":"new-recording-transforming-forest-for-piano-trio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/new-recording-transforming-forest-for-piano-trio\/","title":{"rendered":"New Recording! &#8220;Transforming Forest&#8221; for Piano Trio"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My work\u00a0<em>Transforming Forest<\/em> (2018), commissioned\u00a0by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.montagemusicsociety.com\">Montage Music Society<\/a>\u00a0for World Premiere at SITE Santa Fe this past spring, is now available for online streaming!<\/p>\n<p>In the following video, I pair the ensemble&#8217;s gorgeous studio recording with my photography of the music&#8217;s inspiration: four site-specific land art installations by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.for-site.org\/project\/goldsworthy-in-the-presidio\/\">Andy Goldsworthy<\/a> in the Presidio of San Francisco, CA. Video of a live performance of <em>Transforming Forest\u00a0<\/em>on Montage Music Society&#8217;s Altazano Salon Series\u00a0is also available for viewing.<\/p>\n<p>Watch both versions below (or on YouTube <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/5IuxzC4wd3c\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ZrCaFBedKg8\">here<\/a>), and continue reading for my notes about this work.<\/p>\n<h5><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5IuxzC4wd3c\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nstudio video credits<\/h5>\n<p>Performed by Montage Music Society\u00a0(Elizabeth Baker, violin; Sally Guenther, cello; Debra Ayers, piano). Audio Recording, Mixing, Editing, and Mastering: Rick Bolton (<a href=\"mailto:Rick_Bolton@iCloud.com\">Rick_Bolton@iCloud.com<\/a>).\u00a0Photography and Video Editing by Nell Shaw Cohen.<\/p>\n<h5><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZrCaFBedKg8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nLive Video credits<\/h5>\n<p>Performed by Montage Music Society\u00a0(Elizabeth Baker, violin; Sally Guenther, cello; Debra Ayers, piano). Video<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">\u00a0by Vincent Stenerson. Photography by Nell Shaw Cohen.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5>ABOUT THE PROJECT<\/h5>\n<p><i>Transforming Forest<\/i> was commissioned by Montage Music Society for World Premiere at SITE Santa Fe in March 2019. In\u00a0this work for violin, cello, and piano, each short movement is inspired by one of four site-specific installations created by British artist Andy Goldsworthy in the Presidio of San Francisco: a park and former U.S. Army military fort in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. These remarkable installations were created by Goldsworthy between 2008 and 2014 using organic, on-site materials such as tree branches and soil.<\/p>\n<p>Sites of urban wilderness in the Bay Area have frequently served as points of reference in my creative process. The Presidio&#8217;s landscape of eucalyptus and cypress was formative: my childhood home was steps from the sites where these installations were later created. Having made countless pilgrimages to these works by Goldsworthy, I felt impelled to formulate a musical response to these powerful places.<\/p>\n<p>Goldsworthy&#8217;s four Presidio installations are transformed through the growth of surrounding vegetation, the elements, the passage of time, and visitor interactions. In my response, I sought to evoke different kinds of transformation connected to each of the four installations.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-76\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/montagemusicsociety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_2748-3-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Wood Line\" width=\"137\" height=\"220\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Wood Line<\/em>\u00a0is a long, curving line of eucalyptus branches (1,200 feet) placed along the forest floor. Many times, I&#8217;ve traced this path with my own feet,walking alongside it, or balancing on top of the branches themselves, the surfaces of which have become smooth from the wear of footsteps over the years. In my response, \u201cTracing,\u201d\u009d a musical motif is continually \u201ctraced\u201d\u009d through heterophony: picked up by each of the instruments in different tempi and registers.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2.-Cracking-compressed-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Andy Goldsworthy's &quot;Tree Fall&quot;\" width=\"221\" height=\"147\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2.-Cracking-compressed-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2.-Cracking-compressed.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 221px) 100vw, 221px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Tree Fall<\/em>\u00a0is a tree trunk suspended from the roof of a small, disused military building. The trunk and roof were covered in wet clay, which developed intricate, cracking patterns on its surface while drying. In \u201cCracking,\u201d\u009d a dark, chorale-like music, conveying the womb-like interior of the building, \u201ccracks\u201d\u009d open into a rhythmically dynamic middle section.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-507 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/3.-Earth-Wall-compressed-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Earth Wall installation\" width=\"219\" height=\"146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/3.-Earth-Wall-compressed-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/3.-Earth-Wall-compressed.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 219px) 100vw, 219px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Goldsworthy created\u00a0<em>Earth Wall\u00a0<\/em>by burying and then excavating a sculpture made of eucalyptus branches from within a rammed earth wall at the Presidio O\u00ef\u00ac\u0192cers&#8217; Club. A lively third movement, \u201cExcavating,\u201d\u009d evokes the spherical tangle of branches at the core of the wall through a building contrapuntal texture.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-508 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/4.-Spire-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of &quot;Spire&quot;\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/4.-Spire-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/4.-Spire-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/4.-Spire-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/4.-Spire-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/4.-Spire-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/4.-Spire-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the final movement, \u201cObscuring,\u201d\u009d climbing gestures in the piano are juxtaposed with sustained notes in the strings to capture the spatial quality of\u00a0<em>Spire<\/em>: a 100-foot structure made from Monterey cypress trunks thrusting dramatically into the open sky. Contrasting material in triple meter, tender at first, becoming increasingly robust, gradually takes over. This music reflects the stand of young trees surrounding\u00a0<em>Spire<\/em>, which will eventually obscure it in years to come as these cypresses grow and mature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My work\u00a0Transforming Forest (2018), commissioned\u00a0by\u00a0Montage Music Society\u00a0for World Premiere at SITE Santa Fe this past spring, is now available for online streaming! In the following video, I pair the ensemble&#8217;s gorgeous studio recording with my photography of the music&#8217;s inspiration: four site-specific land art installations by Andy Goldsworthy in the Presidio of San Francisco, CA. &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/new-recording-transforming-forest-for-piano-trio\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;New Recording! &#8220;Transforming Forest&#8221; for Piano Trio&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,75,61],"tags":[81,70],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-and-music","category-landscape-music","category-new-recordings","tag-art-and-music","tag-nature-and-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}