A Ninety-Seven Note Octave

This weekend, quarter-tone harmony gets trumped at Robert Aitken’s New Music Concert, ‘A Ninety-Seven Note Octave’ with premiers and old chestnuts(!) by Canadian composers Beckwith, Behrens, Gonneville, Mather, Tremblay and others (see below).

If in rhythm it’s called a hemi-demi-semiquaver, what in the world are these micro-intervals called?

www.newmusicconcerts.com/

A NINETY-SEVEN NOTE OCTAVE, Saturday April 28, 2007

Music Gallery at Saint George the Martyr | 197 John St.
Introduction 7:15 | Concert 8:00 | Box Office 416 204-1080
Guest Artists: Bruce Mather & Pierrette Lepage,16th tone piano;
Jean Laurendeau, ondes Martenot
Gilles Tremblay (Canada, 1932) – *L’infiniment petit (2003)
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Jacques Desjardins (Canada, 1962) – *Où va Pierrot (2003)
Alain Bancquart (France, 1934) – Habiter l’ambre (2001) with tape
Marc Patch (Canada, 1958) – *A l’affair en seize (2003) for two pianos
John Beckwith (Canada 1927) – Fractions for string quartet and Carillo piano
Jack Behrens (USA/Canada 1935) - For John Beckwith’s 80th for string quartet
Michel Gonneville (Canada, 1950) – *Naturel tempéré (2003)
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Bruce Mather (Canada, 1939) – *2 Pieces (2004) with ondes Martenot
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* Canadian work

A NINETY-SEVEN NOTE OCTAVE features Bruce Mather’s 16th tone piano and ondes Martenot, with six Canadian pieces written especially for this unique instrument. And we have added two pieces with string quartet to our concert, to celebrate Canadian legend John Beckwith’s 80th birthday. One is a piece by Beckwith himself for the 16th tone piano and string quartet – “Fractions” for string quartet and Carrillo piano; the other by Jack Behrens honouring John Beckwith – “For John Beckwith’s 80th”, a short work for string quartet. April 28 at the Music Gallery, Church of Saint George the Martyr

NOTE: I just double-checked my hyphens for semiquaver, and stumbled on this link to Natalie MacMaster:

seattle.metblogs.com/archives/2006/04/natalie_macmast.phtml