|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Page 1 2 3 4
OREGON IN MOSCOW, is a double CD with the Moscow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and the group’s recorded debut of their orchestral repertoire—a prodigious body of work that has been developing over the life of the band, but never documented. In the thirty-year history of OREGON, there has always existed a strong kinship to orchestral music. The use of the double reeds alone has given the quartet an identity and expansive sound associated with the symphonic orchestra. This association isn’t confined only to their use of many orchestral instruments, but applies also to the composition and presentation of the music, including the careful attention to details such as articulation, dynamics, phrasing and tone production derived from their respective classical studies. Chief composer Ralph Towner explains, “OREGON came together as a group in New York City in 1970, and from the outset it was clear that our unusual instrumentation and collective musical experience invited a different approach to composition and improvisation. The jazz tradition of improvisation usually consists of the soloists taking turns improvising on the song’s harmonic structure, recycling the chord progressions and returning to the original melody only on the last repeat of the cycle. While still using and honoring this tradition, we began composing longer, more sectional forms that allowed each soloist to improvise on different material within the context of a single piece. The variety of ethnic percussion available to us also opened up possibilities not limited to one particular rhythmic style. One of the bonuses of this approach is that many of the instrumental songs written for the quartet lend themselves quite naturally to arrangement for full orchestra.”
Page
1 2
3 4
OREGON first collaborated with the symphony orchestra in 1970 in Indianapolis while the four of them were still members of the Paul Winter Consort. The arrangement of Ralph Towner’s piece “ Icarus” is one of the results of that first concert, and an example of an adaptation of a song to the orchestral format. It wasn’t until 1979 that the opportunity arose for OREGON to perform a concert of original works with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra under the direction of the brilliant conductor Dennis Russell Davies. On this occasion many pieces were composed specifically for the orchestra with the quartet. Among these were Paul McCandless’ “All The Mornings Bring” and Towner’s “ Free Form Piece for Orchestra and Improvisors.” OREGON’s partnership with Dennis Russell Davies continued with more concerts in Stuttgart, Freiburg, and in 1985 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, which Davies was directing at the Saratoga Springs music festival. From the latter concert they have included Glen Moore’s “Firebat” and Towner’s “ Beneath an Evening Sky.” Individual OREGON members’ productions with orchestras, such as Paul McCandless’ work in Mexico City, and various projects of Ralph’s in Italy, have yielded more music. “ Spanish Stairs”, “ Round Robin”, “Waterwheel” and “Zephyr” came from those endeavors. “Acis and Galatea” and “The Templars” were written specifically for this, the “Moscow Project.” For contrast, there are a few pieces without the orchestra: “Spirits Of Another Sort”, “Anthem”, “Along The Way”, and “Arianna.”
Page
1 2 3
4
In 1998, OREGON & Intuition Records wanted to explore the possibility of recording OREGON’s orchestral oeuvre. When the band and producer Steve Rodby first began looking around for an orchestra and a studio where they might record a project as complex as the one they anticipated, an orchestra in St. Petersburg was suggested—an orchestra with which Intuition Records had made several recordings. It became clear that this project was technologically too complicated for the resources available there. Rodby had toured the Soviet Union in the late 80’s, and as he recounts, “I had been so moved by the generosity, intelligence and sensitivity of the people, and the highest level of artistic seriousness that I found everywhere, I’d gotten hooked on the idea of recording in Russia.” In researching other venues, word of his investigations reached Igor Butman, an old friend and one of Russia’s premier jazz musicians, a superb tenor player and entrepreneur. Seven months later, with enormous logistical assistance from Igor and his manager Faina Antonova, OREGON found their way to the magnificent sounding GDRZ “ State Recording House,” and made music with the “ Large Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Radio in the name of Tchaikovsky.”
Page
1 2 3 4
Steve Rodby writes, “ from the beginning, all involved in this recording project felt that it was imperative to record the band and orchestra simultaneously, not overdubbing one or the other. The music contains constant interaction of dynamics and phrasing, improvisations of indeterminate length; details of form and pacing varies between performances, so that a moment to moment fluid blend between the orchestra and OREGON was necessary. The band was positioned directly in front of the orchestra, facing each other, performing for each other. A classic example of the real time interactive dynamic that arose during the sessions was “ Icarus”: in the orchestrated version, the band plays the melody with the orchestra, then the orchestra drops out and OREGON does an extended open improvisation, the musical end of which signals the conductor, George Garanian, to bring the orchestra in and finish the piece. During this open section, the orchestra watched and listened intently while OREGON did one of their signature group solos; when the first take was over and the last note had finished ringing out, the orchestra applauded the band enthusiastically. They had some fine-tuning adjustments to make, a microphone here and a note there, and then they did another take. More applause, this time louder and longer, with the orchestra realizing that not only was this wonderful cooperative music-making, but newly and spontaneously reinvented each time by the band. (The organic connection between OREGON’s music/instrumentation and “classical” music made these improvisations especially accessible to the orchestra, one of the great strengths of this project.) By the fifth take, the one heard on Oregon In Moscow, the music was soaring, and with its conclusion came stomping feet, bows banging on music stands, applause and shouts. This scenario was to be repeated again and again, with a true enthusiasm for the uniqueness of interacting with improvised music, and a mutual appreciation for virtuosic performances.”