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| The Henry Brant Collection, Volume 3 America's senior experimental composer, 92-year old Henry Brant, heard Charles Ives's spatial work The Unanswered Question many decades ago. Brant has since composed over 100 pieces that similarly involve multiple groups of musicians spaced throughout the auditorium (or sometimes gym, park, church or canal). Innova Recordings has begun documenting some of these once-in-a-lifetime gargantuan works that often involve dozens of performers. The latest installment, The Henry Brant Collection, Volume 3, features a work Brant wrote at the age of 90 for Milwaukee's Present Music ensemble supplemented with four choirs, two organs, and five trumpets all perched around the cathedral. The work sets pearls of wisdom from Leonardo da Vinci's Notebooks about the nature of the elements. Innova's growing series produced by Philip Blackburn moves Brant's name even higher up the list in the pantheon of American Experimentalists such as Partch, Cage, Cowell, Ruggles, and Harrison. Brant resides in Santa Barbara, Calif. and is finishing a treatise on orchestration techniques. He continues to write challenging scores that bring his 3D soundworld to lucky audience members; a kind of Viewmaster for the ears. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |