Is untranscribable a word? Let me check…Ah, apparently, it is!
Every now and then a group of musicians decide to transcribe and perform something that makes everyone who knows the particular piece or pieces at hand scratch their heads.
The first time I encountered this was when I heard a performance of a few of Conlon Nancarrow’s pieces composed for player piano. You know, the piano that plays itself using a form of musical notation that is punched or perforated onto a paper roll.
Nancarrow’s pieces for this instrument are just terrific, and when transcribed for living musicians in chamber ensemble formation become blisteringly difficult. That first time and for quite a few times afterward, hearing chamber ensembles perform those works was painful. It brings to mind a phrase one of my trombone teachers, Gil Cohen, formerly of the NY Philharmonic, used to use upon special occasion: “it swung like a rusty toilet seat.”
Lots of folks would say: “great idea in principle, but it doesn’t really work.”
Well, the continued development in technical skills of concert musicians has gotten us to the point where you can go hear a pretty damn good performance of those Nancarrow transcriptions.
So, I open the paper today and lo and behold, the Fireworks Ensemble performs their transcription of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music.
A piece that is a virtuosic gem of guitar feedback is transcribed for a chamber ensemble. Metal Music Machine is a brilliant experimental work that connects the dots between Lou Reed and a host of experimental composers including Tony Conrad and LaMonte Young, the later of whom is considered by many to be one of the fathers of minimalism.
Great, I mean brilliant idea! Did it really work? Check out Jon Pareles’s review in the New York Times. Here’s a particularly lovely excerpt from his review:
The music was still unremitting; there were a few walkouts. It was also
electrifying, a perceptual overload, with notes fluttering at points
all over the frequency spectrum and tiny inner parts peeking out. The
transcribed “Metal Machine Music” no longer reflects its title. Now
it’s more string than metal, and it’s flesh rather than machine. It’s a
world away from the original in both execution and intent; it’s social
rather than solitary, respectful rather than irritating. But in its own
much more formal way, it’s just as maniacal.
This is a another wonderful example of the shape-shifting nature of music in the 21st century. From a iconic shape-shifter of a piece by one of the most influential rock artists of the 20th century, to a group of young classical players who take the work and make it their own on stage in a live performance. What is it? Classical? Experimental? Chamber? Rock? Whatever you choose, it’s pretty damn swell.