Transylvanian Softwear - Klucevsek, Zorn, Duckworth, Frith / Klucevsek

Klucevsek (Composer), Zorn (Composer), Duckworth (Composer), Guy Klucevsek (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Guy Klucevsek
• Composer: Klucevsek, Zorn, Duckworth
• Audio CD (June 1, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Starkland
• ASIN: B00000J8ZF
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,546 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Transylvanian Softwear (Guy Klucevsek)

2. Viavy Rose Variations (Guy Klucevsek)

3. Road Runner (John Zorn)

4. Perusal (Guy Klucevsek)

5. Bandoneons, Basil and Bay Leaves (Guy Klucevsek)

6. My Right Foot, on the Other Hand from Three Microids (Guy Klucevsek)

7. Eleven Large Lobsters Loose in the Lobby from Three Microids (Guy Klucevsek)

8. Bustin’ Broncos in the Balkans from Three Microids (Guy Klucevsek)

9. Slow Dancing in Yugoslavia (William Duckworth)

10. The Disinformation Polka (Fred Frith)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Avant-accordionist Guy Klucevsek has done his fair share of duty among both the New Music and experimental-jazz elite (how many folks have performed with Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, the Kronos Quartet, and on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood?) but seldom have his gifts been so infectiously presented as on Transylvanian Softwear. Hassidic wedding music, a John Zorn composition, even melodies from Madagascar pop up on Transylvanian Software, Klucevsek's audiophile-quality solo disc that was originally released in 1994. "Viavy Rose" Variations, arguably the album's highlight, takes a sweet melody from Madagascar and reveals Klucevsek's all-too-forgotten good taste. Zorn's "Road Runner" demands attentive listening; but the schizophrenic nod to cartoon music is loaded with hints of a mambo, a polka, and goodness knows what else. Three "Microids", the accordionist's ode to Bartók, takes meter experimentation to the hilt, with Klucevsek's left and right hands working different timings. Fred Frith's composition "The Disinformation Polka" is a play on stereotypes that gradually finds its speed, while Klucevsek finds his voice--his hilarious screams of "hey" eventually overtake the piece. It seems fitting: no matter how demanding the composition, Klucevsek never forgets his instrument's folk roots, nor how to have fun. New Music is seldom this entertaining. --Jason Verlinde

Product Description

This Transylvanian Softwear CD is further proof that Guy Klucevsek consistently offers some of the most listenable new music heard today. Kyle Gann comments that "Klucevsek is one of those natural-born musicians incapable of turning out an unmusical phrase," noting the "graceful musicianship that informs his every gesture." It's not surprising that Stereo Review awarded this CD a "Recording of Special Merit," calling it "a funny and original album by an unusual artist."

"One of only two or three important accordion composers" (The New Yorker), Klucevsek has also commissioned a wide variety of composers, including Fred Frith, Aaron Jay Kernis, Alvin Lucier, Christian Marclay, Lois V Vierk, and John Zorn. He has also performed and/or recorded with Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, Bill Frisell, and the Kronos Quartet.

Klucevsek's "original, sweetly postminimal vocabulary" often draws on world folk music. The title piece on the CD is based on Hasidic wedding music, while the lovely Viavy Rose Variations is based on traditional melodies from Madagascar, and the moving Perusal is inspired by Andean pan-pipe music. The rhythmically infectious Three Microids is a tribute to Bela Bartok, and the heartfelt Bandoneons, Basil and Bay Leaves was written in memory of Astor Piazzolla.

Other pieces include John Zorn's zigzagging Road Runner, William Duckworth's smoothly exotic Slow Dancing in Yugoslavia, and Fred Frith's oddly humorous The Disinformation Polka.

See all Editorial Reviews