J. P. A. Falzone: A Curving Abacus, by J. P. A. Falzone

J. P. A. Falzone: A Curving Abacus

by J. P. A. Falzone

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

includes PDF booklet

Purchasable with gift card

$9.99 USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of J. P. A. Falzone: A Curving Abacus via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 4 days

Purchasable with gift card

$15.99 USD or more

1.	Zipf's Law IV 11:04	buy track
2.	Punctuated Equilibrium 21:40	buy track
3.	Metamerism 12:10	buy track
4.	A Curving Abacus 13:45	buy track
5.	A Tension Span 12:48	buy track
6.	Zipf's Law IV - EXCERPT 05:03
7.	A Curving Abacus - EXCERPT 04:43

about

In 1968, Steve Reich coined the term Process Music to describe compositional designs that resemble “pulling back a swing, releasing it, and observing it gradually come to rest,” explaining that “once the musical process is set up and loaded it runs by itself.” In the mid-1970s, Brian Eno began using the expression Ambient Music to refer to atmospheric compositions that “must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular,” music that “must be as ignorable as it is interesting.”

A half century later, the music of James Peter Alfonse Falzone (b. 1986) might initially be viewed through a Process/Ambient stereoscopic lens, but the five works collected here certainly do not run by themselves, and they are anything but ignorable. Composed between 2017 and 2023, these compositions—each possessing its own bespoke generative system—provide a listener with immersive sonic environments that are beautiful and engaging upon first hearing, but also offer significant intellectual reward to those who choose to listen closer and dig deeper. Attentive engagement with these works reveals complex worlds filled with beautiful contradictions: the music is discernably mechanized, but never obvious or predictable; the overall aesthetic is highly experimental, but the resulting sounds feel organic and natural; these pieces are distinctly cerebral, but often feel instinctual. One hears little if any of the jazzy diatonic bounce common to many compositions of Reich, and there is only occasional and far-removed resemblance to Eno’s characteristic pandiatonic harmonic clouds. A listener is in fact far more likely to be reminded of the highly-patterned rhythmic and harmonic designs of Olivier Messiaen, or—going back a few centuries—the intricate clockwork constructions of Johannes Ockeghem. It is perhaps not insignificant that both Messiaen and Ockeghem frequently performed in churches, where stone surfaces and cavernous spaces allow sounds to ring and intermingle in a warm glow. Falzone, whose instrumental training includes pipe organ, often favors similarly reverberant sonic environments, where atmospheres of echo and reflection are created through the use of bell-like percussion instruments, resonant timbres, and long note-values.

credits

released April 5, 2024

Ostrava New Orchestra, Owen Underhill, conductor; Ostravská Banda, Petr Kotík, conductor; ELISION Ensemble; Arditti Quartet; Switch~ Ensemble, Jason Thorpe Buchanan, conductor

license

about

New World Records Brooklyn, New York

Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc., which records under the label New World Records, was founded in 1975.

We are dedicated to the documentation of American music that is largely ignored by the commercial recording companies.

contact / help

Contact New World Records

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like J. P. A. Falzone: A Curving Abacus, you may also like:

For George Lewis | Autoschediasms
by Tyshawn Sorey & Alarm Will Sound

supported by 8 fans who also own “J. P. A. Falzone: A Curving Abacus”

Brilliant!!!!! Music I will live with for the foreseeable future. warren crichlow
go to album
Naldjorlak
by Éliane Radigue

supported by 7 fans who also own “J. P. A. Falzone: A Curving Abacus”
go to album
l'air, l'instant - deux pianos
by Jürg Frey (Reinier van Houdt, Dante Boon)

supported by 7 fans who also own “J. P. A. Falzone: A Curving Abacus”
go to album
Ease the Work
by Hour

Members of the Philly punk, experimental, and classical scenes come together for dreamy, Bill Frissell-esque folk improvisations. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 28, 2024
go to album
fabric presents Shygirl
by Shygirl

Shygirl kicks off fabric Records' 25th anniversary celebrations with a 23-track set, available in limited-edition Tin CD format. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 28, 2024
go to album
no place that feels like
by Ellis

Another devastatingly beautiful batch of indie rock confessionals from Ontario singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Linnea Siggelkow. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 28, 2024
go to album
Distant Pillars, Private Pillars
by Randy Gibson

supported by 6 fans who also own “J. P. A. Falzone: A Curving Abacus”
go to album