Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 7:09 pm PST
Post subject: Vinny Golia (flute quartet) at Quiet, 11/15/03


Environmental sound artist Glenn Bach periodically presents experimental music in his house concert series "Quiet" when his schedule allows. This provides a cozy, informal setting for intimate music.

For this concert, the guest act was woodwind master Vinny Golia's "Music for like instruments -- The flutes" including himself, Ellen Burr, Fawntice McCain and Jennifer Roth. Golia and the others brought a cluster of flutes ranging from piccolo to contra-bass flute (a spectacular beast of ductlike tubing that stands on end with a triangular double-bend at the top to bring a horizontal endpiece within reach of a standing human being's lips). Golia also provided the concept and leadership for this talented group of players.

His compositions ranged from boisterous to contemplative, loaded with extended techniques and harmonies, with mixtures of written passages and free improv sections. Everyone got a chance to solo along the way, often switching off between different instruments (a quartet of contrabass, alto, standard and piccolo flutes in four-part harmonies covers a wide range of tone and frequency).

While these players are all solidly accomplished (Burr in particular has a burnished reputation of long standing, playing with people like Adam Rudolph and Steuart Liebig), the real star of the show was the full ensemble, under Golia's direction. You just aren't going to hear anything quite like this anywhere else.

Bach himself opened the evening with a 20-minute set of laptop-controlled sounds, recorded in environmental settings and selected, processed and mixed live. His music often orbited at thresholds of hearing, and sometimes he even interacted with a few external real time intrusions from a passing aircraft, cars in the back alley, et cetera. Looped sound snippets created a sort of ostinato at times, anchoring a delicate and meditative layering of textures.