A woman's touch
Catfood03 | in front of my computer typing reviews | 11/03/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If one is interested in dipping their toes into the pool of John Zorn's more avant music, this would be a good place to start. At times boisterous and rowdy and at other times soothingly beautiful, Feminia encompasses all that's great about John Zorn the Composer. There is a good mix of the style of his more accessible Film Works series paired with the unpredictability of his "game pieces" (i.e, Cobra, Xu Feng). I'd also perhaps throw in a bit from his classical works as well for reference.
For this recording Zorn enlisted a small ensemble of talented women who should be familiar names to devoted followers of the Tzadik label. If you think you've got what to expect from this CD all figured out because of the title and the cast involved then you're going to be pleasantly surprised. I've heard some of these performer's solo works and I was still highly intrigued how their talents interacted with one another.
Feminia is only 35 minutes, but is filled with many more inspired passages than most CDs double it's length. This is definitely one of the better John Zorn releases of the two dozen or so CDs I have heard of his.
...
I would also add that this is a MUST purchase in the CD format. The foldout digipack is housed in a transparent slipcase with the composer and album title on front and the female gender symbol on back. Inside the fold-out are two pockets, on either side of which houses a card of artwork with credits and "shout-outs" on the back. Best of all is a small softcover book of weird photography that fits inside the entire fold-out. Tzadik proves once again how valuable and creative CD packaging can be. You will be missing out if you choose the MP3 option."
A new chapter for John Zorn's chamber music
J. GARRATT | 12/15/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Warning: Unlike the other reviewer, I did not buy the physical CD of "Femina." I purchased the digital download here from Amazon. And when it comes to music released from the Tzadik label, artwork and liner notes can go a long way in providing context. The essentiality of said context can be debated when discussing the music inside. Some might consider the lack of information to be an asset while others will obviously disagree. So if it's all the same to you guys, I'm just gonna roll with it. No information, no liner notes, just sounds coming out of my computer speakers.
I started looking into Zorn's chamber style with "Madness, Love and Mysticism," a rather bipolar assault on the 12 tone scale, Schoenberg on a bad trip. The opening track stood in contrast to the understated "Duras: Duchamp" that I purchased not long afterword. Where the former was a blistering flashback of early 20th century, the latter was more meditative. Not only did it have more to latch onto, it seemed to be headed in an entirely different direction. What you call that direction is unknown to me, given my underdeveloped taste in chamber music.
So along comes "Femina," the only Zorn release of 2009 to represent his ram shackled chamber side. There is a combination of the usual, conventional suspects (violin, cello, harp, piano, et al.) and the good old fashioned John Zorn weirdness that has become a defining characteristic of his (dribbling water, sputtering electronics, objects colliding and/or falling with much ruckus, hollering women). Strange without being atonal or off-putting, "Femina" can be, a majority of the time, breath-taking.
The first movement, to me at least, is the most striking. After working the ambient angle for over four minutes, the ensemble then settles into what sounds like a John Zorn compositional trademark; the piano and harp play a syncopated ostinato while the stringed instruments sustain their notes to create a dense fabric of sound. What's odd is how the atonal passages seem to be on such a short leash. They come to abrupt end before moving on to things that are more tangible, making this unlike Zorn's other chamber compositions. At least the ones I know of.
As the album progresses through the movements the brief tornados increase in volume and length, but never take center stage. The coda of the whole thing sounds like it could be from one of John Zorn's recent film scores. It's a gentle 3 minute, 16 second piece of falling action that brings the whole thing to a quiet and unassuming conclusion.
Given that there is so much to latch onto, I don't know why I didn't like this the first time I heard it. Perhaps I wasn't in the right "place," mentally speaking. But the more I listen to "Femina," the more impressed I am. It reminds me that avant-garde composers aren't just a bunch of Ritalin-less children with access to studios; they have real ideas and the ability to communicate them. "Femina" is also no exception to the rule that John Zorn picks musicians with great skill and flexibility.
The theme of "Femina"? Like I said, I have no booklet. But given the album's title (duh) and the opening spoken-word stanza describing, in abstract strokes, a "woman of truth...priestess...she measures off the heavens" points to a feminine mystique. Keep in mind I never wanted to look up the information of this recording when I purchased it, choosing instead to listen more and read less. So if that appears a little too obvious to the Zorn aficionados, sorry."
2 1/2 stars-- Later days file card.
Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 02/02/2010
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Confession time-- I love John Zorn-- I have everything he's put out (quite literally), I happily make the 200+ mile trip between my house and The Stone to go to Zorn's improv parties, but...
I don't love the file card stuff.
That said, take this review in that light-- look at my review of Godard/Spillaneor The Bribe-- I just can't get terribly enthusiastic about them. I get where he's going with the compositional style-- subject matter immersion leads to small motifs and ideas written on file cards that are then ordered and performed by ensembles. It's a near idea, but ultimately except for the superb "Two Lane Highway" (on the original issue of Spillane), I've always felt these pieces lack compositional unity even as they have such strong thematic unity.
So "Femina"-- Zorn's tribute to women in the arts, performed by an ensemble of women in the downtown music scene-- violinist Jennifer Choi, pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, harpist Carol Emanuel, cellist Okkyung Lee, electronic musician Ikue Mori and percussionist Shayna Dunkelman (with a cameo by Laurie Anderson)-- is pretty much in the same vein. Brief passages evoke different thoughts, images, some of them delicate and lovely, some fierce and explosive, some quirky and bizarre. Largely, I find each of these moments to be successful and there are many fantastic performances, but it's hard for me to get into it.
Take "Part One" as an example-- around twelve minutes long, it starts with a brief spoken passage by Anderson before turning over to a gentle piano and electronics motif and then pop! A bang and shimmering performance, back to gentleness and then a just lovely circular piano motif with keening strings in the backdrop. A really, really moving passage that can stop you in your tracks until IT stops in its tracks with some clicks and then a little chug before it ends.
Does it have its moments? Absolutely. Does it work? At times. Does it feel like its a coherent piece. In a way, but not necessarily in a way I love.
So my review should come in the context that the file card stuff, even though I LOVE the jump cut stuff that Zorn started working with around the same time, just doesn't quite work for me. I've listened to "Femina" no more than half a dozen times since I got it four months ago, just not quite my cup of tea.
One thing of note IS the artwork-- Zorn has been pioneering recently in the notion that artwork has something to offer. This one comes with a great book that really needs to be seen to be appreciated. Still, looking good or not, the file card stuff and me just don't gel."
Track Listings (4) - Disc #1