Trigger
John Lane, Allen Otte, Torch Quartet
This recording is part of a larger project, TRIGGER: Artists Respond to Gun Violence. This concept is to bring composers and poets together to respond artistically to the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S. The other parts of the project include a book of poetry and other writings, and an electronic folio of scores for speaking percussion. Trigger reckons with the issue of gun violence from many angles: school shootings, a personal history with guns, the gun lobby, the connection of guns with fervent religiious zealotry, the psychology of violence in public spaces, and how the wake of violence leaves indelible imprints on people's minds and bodies. John Lane has appeared on stages throughout the Americas, Australia, and Japan. He is the director of percussion studies at Sam Houston State University. Allen Otte has toured for decades throughout the world performing new and experimental music created for him and his colleagues. He is a professor Emeritus at the University of Cincinnati.
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Track Listing
| Title | Composer | Performer |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer Market | John Lane, Allen Otte s | John Lane (fixed media & sound sculpture); Allen Otte (sound sculpture with interactive electronics) |
| Bring Many Names | Bonnie Whiting | Torch Quartet |
| Concealed | Nick Lantz | John Lane (speaker) |
| beforeAfter | Elizabeth A. Baker | John Lane (percussion, voice, and interactive electronics) |
| 15 Acres | Nick Lantz | John Lane (speaker) |
| Fury | Amanda Schoofs | John Lane (percussion, voice, and field recordings) |
| Poem Not ending with My Grandfather's Will | Nick Lantz | John Lane (speaker) |
| Coping | Danny Clay | John Lane (percussion and voice) |
| Three Contrafacta | Allen Otte | Allen Otte (prepared piano, electronics, and voice) |
Reviews
- “
…Finally, there comes Three Contrafacta by Allan Otte, written in 2021 and subtitled “Remembering Frederic Rzewski.” The composer takes recent relevant texts, often adapted from public sources, and sets them with mid-14th-century songs, with the first section very much in the style of Rzewski. The effect makes the contemporary words absolutely timeless, something perhaps enhanced by the prepared piano, which includes bullet shell casings distorting the lower register. There is a strange beauty about this mix of the really new and the ancient; it is the perfect close to the disc. This is surely the true power of music: to heighten awareness and to cut through to our most profound layers of being, to remind us of our core humanity. An unforgettable disc.
- “
A project that brings together artists and their response to gun violence and its many forms, Trigger uses poetry to address the psychology, repercussions and religious ties of one of the biggest problems facing the country right now. John Lane and Allen Otte come together with the eerie and atypical tinkering sounds that populate the spoken word fueled “Consumer Market”, and “Bring Many Names”, by Bonnie Whiting, follows with the atypical use of brass and winds, in a very iconoclastic version of jazz. Further along, Nick Lantz’s “15 Acres” recruits Lane’s voice for the eloquent and very literate insight into today’s gun problem, while “Fury”, by Amanda Schoofs, is a very unusual mashing of percussion, field recordings, and vocals, all from Lane. Nearing the end, “Coping” consists of 5 movements in the Lane fueled percussion and vocals that can sound like a child’s toy just as it can booming cymbals in the Danny Clay piece, and Otte’s “Three Contrafacta” is prepared piano, electronics and voice in the musically warm and lyrically devastating finish. Both Lane and Otte have extensive resumes playing all over the world, and are both currently educators. Their combined talents and vision, as well as the critical wordplay present, all makes for an artistic and much needed commentary of just how dire the situation is with guns in America.
*Album cover provided for Editorial use only. ©Albany Records. The Albany Imprint is a registered trademark of PARMA Recordings LLC. The views and opinions expressed in this media are those of the artist and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views and opinions held by PARMA Recordings LLC and its label imprints, subsidiaries, and affiliates.