Jason Kahn
"Open Space"
Editions 002 Double LP
Hear excerpts and purchase here:
http://jasonkahn.net/editions/catalog/open_space.html
Edition of 250
Heavy weight 180 gram vinyl.
Hand-painted covers on thick gray cardboard.
Jason Kahn // composition, electronics
Chris Abrahams // piano
Laura Altman // clarinet
Monika Brooks // accordion
Matt Earle // electronics
Rishin Singh // trombone
Adam Sussmann // electronics
Aemon Webb // guitar
John Wilton // percussion
Recorded January 19, 2012 at
the now NOW festival in Sydney,
Australia by Jonathon Watts
Cover artwork, mix and mastering by Jason Kahn.
LP liner notes by Rishin Singh.
Side A: 15:00 / Side B: 19:00
Side C: 19:00 / Side D: 17:00
I've been composing graphical scores since 2004. Each score has been done for a
particular group, and not just for a certain set of instruments but also for specific
persons, each with their own personal sound and their own distinct approach to
improvisation. The scores hover in the gray region between composition and
improvisation. They create a situation where the players are free up to a point
to improvise but in which they could also find themselves in juxtapositions with
other players which they might not have personally chosen, thus throwing a
metaphoric wrench in the proceedings.
The question has been posed several times, "But why do this? Why not just let
the group improvise freely?" I'm interested in when a playing situation becomes
unstable, when the players find themselves in situations which test the comfort
zone of how and with whom they want to play with. The scores serve as a conduit
for this process. But they are also more: they allow me to shape a playing environment,
taking into account the different players, their instruments, even the notion of the
playing space itself as one of the more decisive factors in the outcome of a piece.
Beyond all this, as a visual artist I'm fascinated with the process of the graphical
representation of sound: how we can depict a certain sound or way of playing
graphically and how others can interpret a graphical form as a sound.
Two parameters govern the scores: the vertical axis indicates the general dynamics
of the playing, the horizontal axis is a time line. I draw graphical forms for the
musicians to interpret as they wish. I only ask that all dynamic and timing indications
be adhered to as closely as possible. I give no information on how the graphical
forms should be reacted to.
"Open Space" was commissioned by the 2012 now NOW Festival in Sydney, Australia.
I chose some of the players myself, and some were suggested to me by the group's
trombonist Rishin Singh (who also wrote the liner note to the LP). For the people suggested
to me, and for whose work I was not familiar with, recordings were sent to me of them
playing. On the basis of these recordings and my own personal knowledge of the other
players, I was able to construct the score. I also knew that I wanted to work with a large
group because the space we would be performing in would be a large one (which I'd already
played in at the 2011 now NOW Festival).
The title "Open Space" refers both to the idea of working in an open space: the physical space
of a room as well as the spaces of player interaction within the group and in reaction to the
performance space itself; and to the notion of opening that space between improvisation and
composition, delving into the friction and conduction which lie between these two approaches
and opening this space up to discover the possibilities which lie therein.
http://jasonkahn.net/editions/catalog/open_space.html
