Skies of America
Occupation
- London Symphony Orchestra
- Director: David Measham
Skies of America is a großorchestrales album of jazz musician and composer Ornette Coleman, which was created in 1972.
Genesis
Coleman, who was involved in the early 1960s to Third Stream experiments by Gunther Schuller, had presented since 1962 to the public as a composer of contemporary chamber music, and presents them in several albums. In May 1967, but not on disk documented " Inventions of Symphonic Poems" was supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, listed. For a more symphonic work that he found no opportunity for performance completed in 1968 Sun Suite of San Francisco. In the early 1970s, he was also involved in the string arrangements for Alice Coltrane's album Universal Consciousness. Only through his contract with major label Columbia, which he had since 1971, he found himself in a position to record a large-scale "Concerto grosso " for symphony orchestra and jazz combo, which " was probably only with the means of a large media company practicable ".
In the fall of 1971 Coleman had completed the composition of Skies of America and went on a European tour with his quartet, which he also used to search for conductors and orchestras with which he was able to perform the work. In London he found it.
After only two samples with the London Symphony Orchestra, the composition of 17 to 20 April 1972 in London was recorded. Supposedly boycotted some members of the orchestra 's recording. Based on the provisions of the British Musicians' Union, it also did not prove possible that the composition as planned, could be taken up with the quartet of Coleman. The piece could be " taken as the only soloist only in a modified version with Coleman "; so the planned character of a " concerto grosso " was destroyed. The union also prevented " the planned premiere of the play in London ." The premiere took place then as part of the Newport Jazz Festival on July 4, 1972, Coleman's quartet and the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Thompson instead; there took the piece 54 minutes.
Columbia insisted that the piece of the jazz department was published; in addition, the distance along the motifs in different " songs " was subdivided, so that it could be easily played in radio broadcasts. Finally got Skies of America but as a character similar to a suite -like jazz composition. According to Coleman, the record company has tried not to make it look like a symphony, which he imputed racist reasons. The resulting " songs " were z.T. less than one minute. Two of these " songs " were eventually omitted so that only part of the overall composition was published on plate. The release of the album was therefore not authorized by Coleman.
Structure of the composition
As Coleman pointed out in his liner notes, the overall quite bright orchestral sound has a programmatic background: " The voices of the orchestra are written in a very bright location, because I wanted the orchestra a very clear terrestrial and celestial image of the sound and a feeling of night, stars and sunlight produces. "
In the piece fall on dense, block-like ensemble sets that are closed rhythmically different, but in se and are layered. Typical of Coleman's " harmolodische " approach (which he in the liner notes for the first time identifies as such) is the parallel movement of the votes in equal note values .
Only at the end of the first ( on LP ) plate side, Coleman joined the orchestra. He can be heard only in a total of seven of the 21 " songs " with the symphony orchestra, while " striving to a simple, clear game". The sound of the orchestra is flanked by two percussionists stationed at the sides: The left channel is a drummer who also occasionally plays tom-toms; in the right channel a jazz drums is operated. " Your game seems to be less controlled by listed requirements than that of winds and strings. "
Some of the motifs are already from previous albums Colemans ago known: the theme of the third " song" section as " School Work " (later "Dancing in Your Head" ), the theme of the seventh section as " Forgotten Songs" and the theme of tenth songs as " Street Woman"; the theme of the eighth part is based on "All My Life". "The New Anthem" takes on motives of the American national anthem, The Star- Spangled Banner, turns them here but " subversive ".
Reviews
Critic John Rockwell emphasizes the quiet chords of the work and therefore the equivalent to the American folk symphonies; He points to similarities to Charles Ives. According to Coleman's biographer Peter Niklas Wilson 's Skies of America " Coleman's weightiest symphonic work ". Thom Jurek of Allmusic rated the factory with four out of five stars and said that it still is " rewarding and dangerous music."