White man sleeps 1982 by the smith quartet, robyn schulkowsky, kevin volans, deborah james, robert hill, margriet tindemans. I went to live in europe and found this was not true. The odd man out is the south african composer kevin volans. African textiles, friendships with composers like morton. Hunting gathering by the duke quartet, kevin volans from amazons classical music store. Kevin volans born 26 july 1949 is a south african born irish composer and pianist. The most wellknown piece from the series is white man sleeps 1982 for two harpsichords, viola. The title white man sleeps comes from a moment in nyanga panpipe music where the performers leave off playing their loud pipes for a few cycles and dance only to the sound of their ankle rattles, to let the white landowner sleep for a minute or two. White man sleeps kronos quartet release info allmusic. These pieces of kevin volans belong indeed to the most exciting developments in contemporary music.
White man sleeps mvt 4 excerpt kevin volans by the dublin. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Brilliantly eclectic collection features south african composer kevin volanss title piece. Kevin volans, the smith quartet, kevin volans, deborah james, robyn schulkowsky, robert hill, margriet tindemans volans. Kronos quartet, charles ives, jon hassell, thomas oboe lee, ornette coleman, ben johnston, bela bartok, kevin volans white man sleeps.
Mp3 is a digital audio format without digital rights management drm technology. Kevin volans white man sleeps for string ensemble 2016 i wrote this piece in its original version for two harpsichords in modified african tuning, viola da gamba, and small percussion in 1982. This arrangement of kevin volans white man sleeps for string ensemble was commissioned by mitteldeutscher rundfunk, and first performed on 9 june 2016 at werk 2 kulturfabrik. Pieces of africa various composers by kronos quartet download and listen to the album. White man sleeps, an album by kronos quartet on spotify. The analysis notes how white man sleeps borrows references also from african culture, both in the musical accompaniment inspired by volans s. Next came the discovery of the composer kevin volans singular universe, an improbable and wonderful bridge between the zulu and occidental avantgarde culture. Born in south africa, but now an irish citizen, kevin volans musical idiom has been shaped by an unusually diverse range of experiences, including studies with stockhausen in cologne, field trips to south africa to study traditional music, his own involvement with the new simplicity movement, his collection of contemporary art and. Like white man sleeps, it is a stunning piece of music, recommended to every world music.
Odd, because he notates his music in a westernstyle musical score. White man sleeps offers two short, eerie pieces from the title series by kevin volans, a south african composer. Titles in square brackets are alternative titles or related works such as dance. Kevin volans white man sleeps david harrington violin john sherba violin hank dutt viola joan jeanrenaud vello. In 1986 kevin volans began a productive collaboration with the kronos quartet. Kevin volans biography, albums, streaming links allmusic. Find the best clips, watch programmes, catch up on the news, and read the latest kevin volans interviews. The dance has been revised several times since so it exists in a number of different versions. White man sleeps mbira she who sleeps with a small blanket. A more transposed and stylized vision of the african continent opened itself up to us.
Made for five dancers, white man sleeps was originally choreographed as part of the first programme for her new company in 1988, and set to the string quartet version of kevin volans music. Youll find a wide selection of kevin volans sheet music, songbooks, and music books at sheet music plus. The kronos quartet plays classical, pop, rock, jazz, folk, world and contemporary classical music often written especially for them by for instance philip glass, terry riley, alexandra vrebalov. Composing apartheid is the first book ever to chart the musical world of a notorious period in world history, apartheid south africa. White man sleeps kevin volans wise music classical. Kevin volans string quartet no 10 excerpt signum quartet 1. Kronos quartet white man sleeps 1987, vinyl discogs. Originally from south africa, kevin volans was a student of stockhausen, a close friend of morton feldman, and a recording by the kronos quartet of his work white man sleeps, on pieces of africa, spent twentysix weeks at the top of the classical and world music charts. Stream white man sleeps mvt 4 excerpt kevin volans by the dublin guitar quartet from desktop or your mobile device. Quatuor a cordes en fa majeur eridan white man sleeps. An estimated 11 000 people attended transvaler, 1960 and according to.
Pieces of africa broke all records for string quartet disc sales. Since then, volans work has explored various aspects of anticonceptual, postformal composition in a range of different styles. Buy white man sleeps by kronos quartet, kevin volans, charles e ives, john hassell, charles coleman from amazons classical music store. I hoped to achieve an integration of african and european aesthetics.
Claudio cavallari, sandrine baudouin, florent colautti, jacques denys, maxwell qualite filtres, james. A critical analysis of siobhan daviess white man sleeps, 1998. In 1997 the bbc music magazine listed him as one of the 50 most. This led kronos to commission a secondstring quartet from volans, especially written for the musicians. Bbc radio 3 liam byrnes string theories, motion and. Album pieces of africa, various composers by kronos quartet. A critical analysis of siobhan daviess white man sleeps. May 27, 2012 choreographer siobhan davies nominates white man sleeps by the south africanborn composer kevin volans, and describes the experience of her collaboration with the composer. White man sleeps has become kevin volanss bestknown work being taken up by the kronos quartet helps, of course though i prefer the original version for two harpsichords, viola da gamba and percussion. If you need an audience, we dont need you contemporary. Black music is for black people was the apartheidinfected reaction. Overview v biography v discography v compositions v.
Whilst the content is inspired by traditional african mbira and flute music, the. Hommage a kevin volans is a quotation of white man sleeps quartet n. White man sleeps unleashed a tempest of criticism in stillsegregated south africa. One cannot create a new multicultural society without a great deal of borrowing, lending and sharing. Pieces of africa kronos quartet, mareire, eldin, suso, addy.
It is the third in a series of pieces in which i hoped, perhaps somewhat naively. During the rehearsals for the string quartet version of white man sleeps, a strong artistic bond developed between the works performers, the renowned kronos quartet, and its composer, kevin volans. The original 1982 arrangement of white man sleeps by south african postminimalist composer kevin volans. Gathering 1987 and the songlines 1988 were all written for them, and given performances in festivals ranging from the salzburg festival to the montreal jazz festival, berliner festwoche, tokyo inkspot, adelaide. South african composer, born 6th july 1949 in pietermaritzburg. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cooki. Like many white south africans of my generation, i was brought up to think i was european, volans wrote in 1986. Kevin volans composer buy recordings presto classical. As a white man born in south africa in 1949, trained largely in europe in the 1970s, and eventually patriated in ireland in the 1980s, kevin volans has often confronted in his music the. He studied with karlheinz stockhausen and mauricio kagel in cologne in the 1970s and later became associated with the neue einfacheit new simplicity movement in the city smith 20, 103335. He was born in pietermaritzburg, south africa on july 6, 1949, and even though he has spent most of his life outside his native country, is the best known south african composer active today. It was filmed in 1989 and first reworked in 1997 using the original score for. Kevin volans white man sleeps for two africantuned.
Some early works were included in volans s dmus portfolio 1985 but are not yet available from chester as published scores. This arrangement of kevin volans white man sleeps for string ensemble was commissioned by mitteldeutscher rundfunk, and first performed on. Sun 27 may 2012 choreographer siobhan davies nominates white man sleeps by the south africanborn and. As white man sleeps, volans uses quotations or quasiquotations of music from many different origins and locations in africa, ranging from very rough approximations of style to more or less precise transcriptions, but the singularity of hunting.
This week liam focuses on pieces that dance, pieces that float and some that do both. Bbc radio 3 radio 3s fifty modern classics downloads. Chamber group, harpsichord, string ensemble, percussion, viola da gamba hpscdstr enspercvlg. The primary theme of travelling or journeying is seen in the movement material and structure of the dance itself, as well as the sense of continuous motion emphasized in the seamlessly linked sections. The discography of the kronos quartet includes 43 studio albums, two compilations, five soundtracks, and 29 contributions to other artists records. String quartet no 1 white man sleeps kevin volans wise music. Kevin volans composer 1949 play streams in full or download mp3 from classical archives, the largest and best organized classical music site on the web. White man sleeps mvt 4 excerpt kevin volans by the. In the last 35 years kevin volans has worked with quartets. It is the third in a series of pieces in which i hoped, perhaps somewhat naively, to reconcile african and european aesthetics. The choreography is divided into five distinct parts, in accordance with divisions in the musical accompaniment from which the piece takes its name, a suite of five movements by kevin volans composed in 1986. South african music on lp, a format aimed exclusively at white audiences.
This critical analysis focuses on the movement vocabulary and interaction of dancers in selected sections of the filmed version of white man sleeps 1988 by siobhan davies. Because our mp3s have no drm, you can play it on any device that supports mp3, even on your ipod. Gathering 1987 and the songlines 1988 were written for them, and were performed at music festivals all over the world, bringing his compositions to international attention. Kronos, smith quartet, duke quartet, arditti quartet, pianists. In the late 1970s he became interested in the indigenous music of his homeland and began a series of pieces which. Shop for vinyl, cds and more from kevin volans at the discogs marketplace. Kevin volans is represented by two minimalist essays, part of his white man sleeps series. The essays focus on a variety of music jazz, music in the western art tradition, popular music and on major composers such as kevin volans and works handels messiah. White man sleeps features harpsichords and a viola da gamba in african tuning and conventional nonafrican percussion, and mbira is played on percussion and harpsichord. It explores how music was produced through, and was productive of, key features of apartheids social and political topography, as well as how music and musicians contested and even helped to conquer apartheid. Kevin volans white man sleeps for string ensemble 2016. Feldman felt very strongly that one should not make money from composing.
As a white man born in south africa in 1949, trained largely in europe in the 1970s, and eventually patriated in ireland in the 1980s, kevin volans has often confronted in his music the issue of identity. Musical institutions and previously littleresearched performers such as the african national congresss troupeinexile, amandla are explored. I think they continue to be attractive without being great music. Exploring strong voices in string playing across a range of time periods and genres. Kevin volans is a composer associated with the postminimalist movement in contemporary composition.
He asked me to rework white man sleeps originally written for two harpsichords, viola da gamba and percussion for the kronos quartet for a performance at. Choreographer siobhan davies nominates white man sleeps by the south africanborn composer kevin volans, and describes the experience of her collaboration with the. White man sleeps nonesuch records mp3 downloads, free. In addition, there is a charles ives scherzo, an atmospheric jon hassell composition, an arrangement of ornette colemans lonely woman from his pioneering period in 1959, ben johnstons haunting amazing grace a canny blend of modernist skill and folkish americana worth. Hommage a michael gordon is inspired by yo shakespeare by michael gordon and is dediated to him. I believed that aesthetic change precedes political change, and that an.
Jun 15, 2016 on a personal note, the first time i was paid to compose a piece i was 37, and that was after i had a big international and financial success with white man sleeps. We must thank the intrepid kronos quartet who were the first to record the fantastic white man. White man sleeps and landors cover him with grass, which has mbira. Like many white south africans of my generation, i was brought up to think i was european, volans. Kevin volans white man sleeps for two africantuned harpsichords, viola da gamba and percussion duration. With its use of music from a variety of african traditions. Kevin volans sheet music and music books at sheet music plus.
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