Murphy Adams
This album is a must-have Bang on a Can classic. Album title says it perfectly.
Favorite track: Julia Wolfe: Big, Beautiful, Dark & Scary.
Simone Bottasso
I discovered Bang on a Can meeting Michael Gordon @ Rotterdam in composition class.
That's the high music of the future, an amazing combination of contemporary and popular music, sophisticated in textures and instrumentation....I'm definitly gonna write this kind of music !
Favorite track: Evan Ziporyn: Shadowbang - Angkat.
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CD signed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, and David Lang
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
This two disc release is signed by members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars and composers, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, and David Lang. This is an essential recording from our catalog and extremely rare to get a copy with these signatures! Only 9 available!
Includes unlimited streaming of Big, Beautiful, Dark and Scary
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
"This album collects some of the greatest music the band has made over its 25 years of being dedicated to 'awesome'". - San Francisco Classical Voice
The Bang on a Can All-Stars have recorded their first studio album in five years: Ashley Bathgate, cello; Robert Black, bass; Vicky Chow, piano; David Cossin, percussion; Mark Stewart, electric guitar; and Evan Ziporyn, clarinets.
With Big Beautiful Dark and Scary, the Bang on a Can All-Stars show off their blazing speed, polyrhythmic virtuosity and all-world versatility in a return to the core Bang on a Can sound - an uncategorizable supermix of classical and electric instruments that is part classical ensemble, part rock band, and part jazz sextet. The album is the first in a decade that features the All-Stars exclusively, rather than as part of a collaborative project. Each of the pieces on the double-CD calls upon a different kind of virtuosity, demonstrating the range of musical abilities and experiences arguably unique to this ensemble. Recorded in New York City, all of the music on Big Beautiful Dark and Scary (including the arrangements of the works by Conlon Nancarrow) were written for and premiered by the Bang on a Can All-Stars.
Big Beautiful Dark and Scary's title track was written by Julia Wolfe. Wolfe, who was a witness to the 9/11 tragedy, standing with her young children two blocks from Twin Towers when the planes hit, captures the feverish post- apocalyptic feeling of living in the wake of 9/11 with an ominous wall of sound that has the Bang on a Can All-Stars playing at full throttle. For the premiere in April 2002 Wolfe wrote, "This is how life feels right now."
Big Beautiful Dark and Scary also features brand new tracks by Michael Gordon, David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Evan Ziporyn, Kate Moore, and David Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors.
David Longstreth contributes three new works to this album: Instructional Video, Matt Damon, and Breakfast at J&M. Longstreth, who, like Kate Moore, was a composition fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, captures the off-beat quirkiness that he has come to be known for as the mastermind of indie sensation Dirty Projectors.
credits
released February 28, 2012
Ashley Bathgate, cello; Robert Black, bass; Vicky Chow, piano; David Cossin, percussion; Mark Stewart, guitar; Evan Ziporyn, clarinets
supported by 18 fans who also own “Big, Beautiful, Dark and Scary”
I don't need every Kronos performance to be one that shakes me to my essence, but I do always want them to be interesting. Kronos has been my gateway to discovering a lot of composers I never knew of before, so this one is worth checking out. Richard Weems
supported by 16 fans who also own “Big, Beautiful, Dark and Scary”
Wow, those are breathtaking compositions! Mostly, they belong to the contemporary classical category, with very strong - and quite fascinating - post-minimalist influences. Occasionally, borderlines to other genres are crossed, most notably in "forced march", with its rock-orientated drums and guitar parts. Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)