New music explored in 'Duo Contour'
Scott Waldyn
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: The Edge
Trumpet player Stephen Altoft and percussionist Lee Forrest Ferguson performed "Duo Contour," new music vibes with live electronics, in the College of Fine Arts and Communication Recital Hall Monday night.
The duo played solos and compositions written for them by musician friends the pair met through travels they made in the past 10 years. The two played nine pieces in all, only two of which were not composed specifically for them on their stop here at Western Illinois University.
"I came to Western just to visit my friend (James) Romig who teaches here - theory and composition," Ferguson said. "I studied with him at the University of Iowa."
Romig, who tours and records with new music ensemble Luna Nova, which Ferguson has also played with, wrote one of the pieces for "Duo Contour," a percussion composition titled "A Slightly Evil Machine."
The style of music played Monday night broke away from traditional conventions and explored other possibilities with sound, using electronic devices called live electronics to distort and change the percussion and trumpet tunes in new and interesting ways. These live electronics recorded the music played during the performance and mutated it, spitting it back out during the live songs to add a heightened level to the program. Altogether, the style used was something simply called new music, a genre embraced by Ferguson and Altoft.
"It's kind of like a movement and also music that's newly composed," Ferguson said of new music. "Basically, it's based on Luigi Nono's (a famous, influential Italian composer of the late 20th century), works and also from the 1950s and '60s basis of this compositional style of music."
Recordings of the performers utilizing this style are made available on the duo's Web site. Samples of them playing can be found at www.duocontour.org.
The pair frequently travels the globe, playing in a diverse line-up of worldwide cities on a continual basis. They said they mostly do it for sheer love and challenge. Ferguson, however, did let slip a secret, sinister agenda.
"I think we really just want to conquer the world with new music," he said jokingly.
Overall, variety and the endless possibilities of music is what led the duo to choose their career path and take them on adventures across the globe.
"The variety of music is what attracted me," Altoft said.
"It's the same for me," Ferguson added. "You never know what a composer is going to compose. Coming to terms with that and making music out of it is a great challenge, and it always challenges us on our instruments as well."
The duo played solos and compositions written for them by musician friends the pair met through travels they made in the past 10 years. The two played nine pieces in all, only two of which were not composed specifically for them on their stop here at Western Illinois University.
"I came to Western just to visit my friend (James) Romig who teaches here - theory and composition," Ferguson said. "I studied with him at the University of Iowa."
Romig, who tours and records with new music ensemble Luna Nova, which Ferguson has also played with, wrote one of the pieces for "Duo Contour," a percussion composition titled "A Slightly Evil Machine."
The style of music played Monday night broke away from traditional conventions and explored other possibilities with sound, using electronic devices called live electronics to distort and change the percussion and trumpet tunes in new and interesting ways. These live electronics recorded the music played during the performance and mutated it, spitting it back out during the live songs to add a heightened level to the program. Altogether, the style used was something simply called new music, a genre embraced by Ferguson and Altoft.
"It's kind of like a movement and also music that's newly composed," Ferguson said of new music. "Basically, it's based on Luigi Nono's (a famous, influential Italian composer of the late 20th century), works and also from the 1950s and '60s basis of this compositional style of music."
Recordings of the performers utilizing this style are made available on the duo's Web site. Samples of them playing can be found at www.duocontour.org.
The pair frequently travels the globe, playing in a diverse line-up of worldwide cities on a continual basis. They said they mostly do it for sheer love and challenge. Ferguson, however, did let slip a secret, sinister agenda.
"I think we really just want to conquer the world with new music," he said jokingly.
Overall, variety and the endless possibilities of music is what led the duo to choose their career path and take them on adventures across the globe.
"The variety of music is what attracted me," Altoft said.
"It's the same for me," Ferguson added. "You never know what a composer is going to compose. Coming to terms with that and making music out of it is a great challenge, and it always challenges us on our instruments as well."
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