Monday 26 June 2023, 8pm
Apartment House present Arthur Russell’s beautiful and rarefied Tower of Meaning in a new transcription by Kerry Yong. Tower of Meaning, originally intended as theatre music for a Robert Wilson production that fell through, has its roots in the Rosicrucian harmonies of Erik Satie, Christian Wolff’s Exercises and 14th century French polyphony, a million miles from the disco drenched musical scene of 1980’s NYC where Russell developed his own musical style.
The original recording was conducted by Julius Eastman, and it is his work Buddha they will also perform. The first half presents the fantastic, recent animations of Edwin Rostron accompanied by Apartment House and paired with work by seminal experimental animator Robert Breer.
PROGRAMME:
- Edwin Rostron - Fragments (2020-2022)
- Robert Breer - A Man and his Dog out for air (1957), Fuji (1974)
- Julius Eastman - Buddha (1984)
- Arthur Russell - Tower of Meaning (1981)
The group, created by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze has been captivating audiences for nearly 30 years, with performances of avant-garde and experimental music from all over the World.
The ensemble has been a firm fixture on the British concert scene, with regular performances at Café Oto and as an associate ensemble of the Wigmore Hall.
Apartment House has released over 40 albums, many on the UK label Another Timbre. Current releases include Pauline Oliveros - Sound Pieces, Magnus Granberg - Evening Star, Vesper Bell and Morton Feldman’s epic and mesmerising Violin and String Quartet.
Arthur Russell was an American cellist, composer, producer, singer, and musician from Iowa, whose work spanned a disparate range of styles. After studying contemporary composition and Indian classical music in California, Russell relocated to New York City in the mid-1970s, where he became involved with both Lower Manhattan's avant-garde community and the city's burgeoning disco scene. His eclectic music was often marked by adventurous production choices and his distinctive voice.
Russell worked as musical director of the New York avant-garde venue the Kitchen in 1974 and 1975, but later embraced dance music, producing or co-producing several underground club hits under names such as Dinosaur L, Loose Joints, and Indian Ocean between 1978 and 1988. He co-founded the independent label Sleeping Bag Records with Will Socolov in 1981, and collaborated with a wide variety of artists, including musicians Peter Gordon, Peter Zummo, and Talking Heads, DJs such as Walter Gibbons, Nicky Siano, and Steve D'Aquisto; and poet Allen Ginsberg.
Julius Eastman (October 27, 1940 – May 28, 1990) was an African-American composer, pianist, vocalist, and dancer. He was among the first musicians to combine minimalist processes with elements of pop music. He often gave his pieces titles with provocative political intent, such as Evil Nigger and Gay Guerrilla. Eastman died alone at the age of 49 in Millard Fillmore Hospital in Buffalo, New York. No public notice was given to his death until an obituary by Kyle Gann appeared in the Village Voice, it was dated January 22, 1991, eight months after Eastman died.
Edwin Rostron has been making animated films for over 25 years. His work is rooted in drawing and improvisational processes, and also encompasses collage, photography and painting. He has collaborated with musicians Supreme Vagabond Craftsman, Dean Honer and the writer Ben Marcus, and has exhibited at galleries and film festivals internationally, including Ann Arbor Film Festival, Eyeworks, BFI Southbank, The Royal Academy of Arts, Artists’ Television Access, Imperial War Museum and Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin. Edwin also runs Edge of Frame, a blog and screening series focusing on experimental animation, and has taught at the Royal College of Art, CalArts and Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. He lives and works in London.
A founding member of the American avant-garde," Breer was best known for his films, which combine abstract and representational painting, hand-drawn rotoscoping, original 16mm and 8mm film footage, photographs, and other materials. After experimenting with cartoon animation as a child, he started making his first abstract experimental films while living in Paris from 1949 to 1959.
