Julius Eastman - Unjust Malaise

New World 80638

It’s always nice to have my growing cynicism dispelled. I had seen some press about this set and was fascinated but skeptical; it is a pleasure to report that Julius Eastman’s music lives up to many of the claims made about it, especially by Kyle Gann in his precisely detailed liners. Well, maybe precisely isn’t exactly the right word, as some aspects of this New York-based composer/performer’s life are a bit sketchy at best. Dates of specific compositions required guestimation, but the fact that these archival performances exist at all, several documenting works with only fragmentary scores, is a minor miracle. I have a soft spot for performances overseen by or participated in by the composer, warts and all, as there can be an excitement engendered by the novelty and difficulty of the works that supersedes any technical flaws, no matter how pervasive. Actually, these recordings are all in very good shape, and they’re all we currently have!

Eastman’s major creative period, both as composer and performer, seems to have been the 1970s and early 80s, and many may have heard him as the baritone on the Unicorn recording of Peter Maxwell Davies’ “Eight Songs for a Mad King.” It’s a demanding vocal part if ever one existed, and I was absolutely spellbound when I first heard the piece in 1990, within months, coincidentally, of Eastman’s death at 49. His own music bears no real resemblance to that masterpiece in pastiche; rather, these are pieces that unfold slowly, deliberately, never entirely forsaking juxtaposition but rendering it subservient to his unique take on what was then minimalism’s “austere phase”, as Gann aptly labels it. “Stay on it” from 1973 is immediately arresting because it manages to invoke minimalism and jazz simultaneously without self-consciousness or pretension. Employing a small group of piano, winds, violin and percussion, the piece opens with infectious exuberance, embracing a loose and syncopated cadential figure that is skewed even further when the voice enters, perhaps predictably chanting the mantra “Stay on it!” in high alto or low soprano register. While this figuration comes back throughout, Eastman’s arsenal of effects is large and broad, ranging from Ligetiesque slides and micropolyphonic layers to single-note percussion rattlings that keep conventional pulse-pattern minimalism firmly at bay. Equally ingenious but entirely different in mood and texture is “The Holy Presence of Joan D’Arc” from 1981, written for an ensemble of cellos. Austere, lush and romantic while still engaging “modern” dissonance, the score is a study in the quartal and minor implications of the solo vocal prelude, here performed by Eastman. Bartok is certainly a point of reference, both in the harmonic language and in strategically placed rhetorical pauses, but Eastman’s style, partly dependant on tradition, is never purely nostalgic. In many ways, this is the most accessible of the works in this three-disc set, and I hope that future performances are possible.

Most enigmatic are the pieces for multiple instruments—Eastman is adamant about the scoring vagaries in a spoken introduction to the concert recording—presented here by four pianists including Eastman. Included here are two of what Eastman calls the “nigger” series, “Crazy Nigger” encompassing a swift but dense 55 minutes during which I was continually reminded of Ligeti’s “Continuum” for harpsichord slowed way down and given room to breathe. In the concert intro, mention is made of organicism being the governing factor behind these works, and the statement seems entirely apt; phrases don’t really begin or end as much as connect, a constant flow being established and maintained from moment to moment while each moment encapsulates rhythmic and chordal elements in evidences from the piece’s beginning. The piano is used percussively as much as melodically, layers of conflicting tempo adding to the intrigue with apparent but oblique organization.

The unity of style and purpose connecting all the works in this set is stunning. The way such important works of art can be neglected in the way they are continues to elude me while still telling all too familiar a story. Repeated listening shows me that this is definitely a chief jewel in New World’s crown, a lot to be said for a label that has brought so much neglected and under-represented music to the attention of those who choose to listen. Congratulations to all involved for a very important release!

~ Mark Medwin