Spelling Errors: Elliott Sharp’s Hudson River Compositions
The project of recording Elliott Sharp’s Hudson River Compositions (1974) – with kind permission by the composer – began as a live concert at UNESCO World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden. The concert, which took place in 2018, was financed by the regional authority Region Halland and in cooperation with the World Heritage. The concert was recorded by Mattias Hjelm of Breakout Music, Halmstad. The score for Hudson River Compositions is in the shape of graphic notation (black and white images), with few and short written instructions. Rehearsals for the concert were limited in order to preserve the element of improvisational interpretation, and at the same time to reach an agreement of a possible structure for each of the eleven pieces. After the recording followed a lengthy process. Samples were sent to the composer and also various adjustments and possible additions to the live recording were tried and tested in the studio. In the end, rather few additions were made in the studio but great attention was paid to the shaping of acoustic qualities of the individual pieces. Three of the recorded pieces were excluded from the final presentation by choice of the producer. The compositions are here placed in an order that differs from that presented by the composer (in the envelope of the composition). The cover for this recording shows the eight pieces in the same order as presented (top to bottom, left to right). These are the pieces, with the composer’s instructions. The numbers in brackets refer to the original order.
1. octave overtones – map speed to range (5)
2. emulate the river: music streams – never play the same thing twice while maintaining a continuous single identity (10)
3. max density -> space (8)
4. birds flock: chop -> space (2)
5. hemiola: each player chooses a different time signature and repeats a simple figure in that time – then pop out! (3)
6. play the fireflies (1)
7. branching: go tangential but maintain the initial impulse (4)
8. play and record a monophonic line slowed to half-speed repeating the process…and again… (9)
8 Pieces from Elliott Sharp, Hudson River Compositions by Spelling Errors, Hugo Palmsköld, 2022 on #neuguitars #blog #ElliottSharp
released May 12, 2022
Composition by Elliott Sharp
zOaR Music BMI 1974
Jan Eriksson, drums and percussion
Hugo Palmsköld, electric guitar, electronics and percussion
Carl Persson, drums and percussion
Selma Sedelius, accordion and vocal
Mattias Hjelm, keyboard on track 2, emulate the river
Engineered and mastered by Mattias Hjelm, Breakout Music, Halmstad, Sweden
Produced by Hugo Palmsköld
Interpretation by Hugo Palmsköld and Spelling Errors, by kind permission of the composer.
Psychic Records 2022. All rights reserved.
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