Recordings:


Somewhere the Sea and Salt


This is my second release on the label Ambiances Magnétiques, and it is my first full length solo release. I consider this project to be an aural map (a soundscape) of the extended techniques that I have developed over the course of the past decade. Using non-invasive techniques (I don’t prepare the piano), I use objects as a means of eliciting sounds that play with the resonant ability of the instrument. All of the music here features acoustic piano; there has been no electronic manipulation.


As well, the collection of works presented here enables the listener to hear (as much as possible) the music from the performer’s perspective. I was often fascinated by the minut details and subtle characteristics of these unconventional sounds. So often, the magic of what enthralls a performer is hidden or inaccessible to the audience. This recording is a way of allowing those sounds to be heard.


***Listen to a sample track by clicking the play bar under the album image.


Fenaison

My first release on Ambiances Magnétiques  came out this past fall/summer.  Titled “plat,” the album features the trio Fenaison.  Fenaison is: myself (extended piano), Rémy Bélanger de Beauport (amplified cello) and Kris Covlin (saxophones).  As well, some the tracks on this album also have Pablo Ruiz as a guest (bass recorder).


Recorded in 2005, this project has been a labour of love, and we are VERY excited to see it out!


***Listen to a sample track by clicking the play bar under the album image.


“Listening to Fenaison reminds me why I enjoy improvisation.  They make music that is passionate, mysterious, and full of contradictions- careful and abandoned, melodic and noisy, peaceful and edgy, logical and surprising- music that doesn’t make sense.  In other words, it’s alive!  And well...”

    -Fred Frith



José Maceda: Drone and Melody


I am a performer on this album that was put together by Chris Brown at Mills College.  Featuring a number of José Maceda pieces, this album includes works for large ensembles.  Featuring everything from a 25 piece eclectic instrumental ‘chamber group’ to four or five pianos, this is a truly remakable album! This album was released in November 2007 on Tzadik. (CD 8043) To purchase the disc, please go here.


From Tzadik:


“This is the second Tzadik release of music by one of the most original and under-appreciated composers of the twentieth century. With his passing in 2004, several of his most passionate musical collaborators have been continuing Maceda’s legacy and they come together here to present his most ambitious and greatest large scale work—Strata. Beautifully recorded In Manila at the University of the Philippines directed by Maceda’s long-time collaborator Ramôn Santos and Mills College colleague Chris Brown, this is a long awaited follow-up to the seminal Gongs and Bamboo release from 2001. Also included are two beautifully recorded pieces for western instruments from Maceda’s last decade—Sujeichon for five pianos based largely on Korean court music, and Music for Two Pianos and Four Percussion Groups. Another essential release by this maverick compositional master.”



about comma


This is a self-released EP of amplified acoustic solo piano.  Recorded in Charleston SC this past year, it documents my most recent work on the piano.  In exploring the subtle and often unheard resonances of the piano, I use a combination of extended techniques and traditional performance methods to elicit alternative sounds.






***Listen to a sample track by clicking the play bar under the album image.


Subcutaneous Sound


This was released in 2007 on the Mills College label.  It is a compilation CD of music by Mills College graduate music students. I perform here in an improvised trio with Suzanne Thorpe (flute) and Paul Scriver (bass clarinet & saxophones).

 

© Charity Chan, 2007