Here and Now

Here and Now

Description: 
Celebrating Thirty Years of Zeitgeist
Composers: 
Ann Millikan
Chris Gable
Kathy Jackanich
Justin Rubin
Gao Hong
Dick Hensold
Steve Heitzeg
Chris Granias
Carei Thomas
David Means
Douglas Ewart
Erik Fratzke
Scott Miller
Mark Eden
Brian Heller
Matthew Smith
Philip Blackburn
David Evan Thomas
Carol Barnett
Brent Michael Davids
Randall Davidson
Libby Larsen
Janika Vandervelde
Marc Jensen
Mary Ellen Childs
Jeffrey Brooks
David Wolff
Mike Olson
Douglas Geers
Phil Fried
Performers: 
Zeitgeist
Heather Barringer
Pat O’Keefe
Patti Cudd
Shannon Wettstein
Catalog Number: 
#799
Genre: 
new classical
Collection: 
chamber
anthology
Location: 

Saint Paul, MN

Price: 
$15.00
Release Date: 
Mar 29, 2011
Liner Notes: 
View
2 CD
One Sheet: 

In 2008, Zeitgeist new music ensemble asked thirty Minnesota composers (one for each year of Zeitgeist’s existence) to write 150-second long pieces (one second for each year of Minnesota’s existence as a state) as a kind of double celebration event. 

The results—a long-exposure picture of Minnesota’s longlively compositional scene in the first decade of the new millennium, or simply perhaps thirty love letters to Zeitgeist—transcend the occasion. These are miniatures that refuse to be confined by the label. Ranging from neoclassic to unclassifiable, they make one thing plain: Zeitgeist has no house style. Intrepid midwives of the new, these omnicompetent musicians have embraced the untrammeled polystylism of our day. This ardent openness has much to do, perhaps everything to do, with the group’s longevity, keeping Zeitgeist in tune with the zeitgeist.

The groups of works flow from modernistical, to improvisatory, ethnically-flavored, plugged-in, cheekily theatrical, and neo-classicalish. Listeners will find Libby Larsen, Steve Heitzeg and Randall Davidson cheek by jowl with Mary Ellen Childs, Janika Vandervelde and Douglas Ewart. Like any good midwestern smorgasbord, this one has something for every taste.

Lauded for providing “a once-in-a-lifetime experience for adventurous concertgoers,” Zeitgeist is a new music chamber ensemble comprised of two percussion, piano and woodwinds. Always eager to explore new artistic frontiers, Zeitgeist collaborates with composers of all types to create imaginative new work that challenges the boundaries of traditional chamber music. The members of Zeitgeist are: Heather Barringer, percussion; Patti Cudd, percussion; Pat O’Keefe, woodwinds; Shannon Wettstein, piano.