XIX is an album of six instrumental recordings I created during the 1990s and 2000s for theater and visual art projects. The pieces explore the expressive possibilities of the Mutantrumpet and interactive electronics by incorporating elements of nineteenth-century music into a contemporary sonic vocabulary. XIX blends musical fragments from Berlioz, Chopin, Weber, Debussy, and Mahler with ambient electronics, post-rock, and contemporary composition.
The first four tracks were part of Persephone, my music theater collaboration with Mimi Goese and Ridge Theater, presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival in 2010. “The King of Thule” was created with visual artist Carol Szymanski for her brass instrument sculptures, and “Posthorn” was an interactive audiovisual collaboration with artist Bill Jones. Together, these works document an earlier exploration of ideas that continue to shape my work today.
XIX personnel
John Conte, electric bass
Mimi Goese, vocal textures on “Laudanum”
Jim Mussen, drums on “Novalis”
Mastering by Alan Douches at West West Side Music
