Johnny Reinhard’s DUNE for solo bassoon was first performed on the Seattle Spring Festival in 1990. The piece was the catalyst for the Raven CD, produced by Michael Thorne (Stereo Society). Its design showcases the fantastic realms of musical expression possible with the contemporary instrument. As one might travel through different worlds in a Frank Herbert science fiction novel (such as Dune), the performer takes the listener through exotic soundscapes. Another appealing metaphor is the equation of the bassoon with the sands, both shaped by wind. Joseph Woodard wrote in the Los Angeles Times: "Bassoonist Johnny Reinhard's Dune was a show-stopper in which he explored the didjeridu-like overtones and other new techniques on his instrument. He literally took it apart at one point, to play the expressive, witty beast within an often staid instrument." The piece begins with resonance juggling, proceeds to microtonal melody, glissandi, key percussion, diverse equal temperaments, and enters into musical territories rarely, if every, visited. The sections of the piece are outlined below:

1. Shai-halud (the Worm) – Adagio

2. Paul Muad’Dib – Andante

3. Leo Atreides II – Andante (Variation)

4. The Spacing Guild – Bridge

5. The Tleilaxu – Development

6. the Ixians – Sounds of Nature

7. Fremen – Con Bravura

8. Spice -- Bubbly

The release of Louis Babin’s MELLOW TONES FOR JOHNNY elicited the following comments from the composer: “Listening back to the live recording of Mellow Tones for Johnny brings to me some nostalgia. I remember what I wanted to capture while I composed this piece: some of the freedom we got out of the eclectic repertoire the American Festival of Microtonal Music (AFMM) was able to offer. Mostly it was a gift to a dear friend of mine: Johnny Reinhard. He devoted so much passion over the years for this music. It was written in the stars I would some day commit myself to some microtonal technique. Being trumpeter of the AFMM Ensemble for so long, I felt it was important for me to leave something of my own perspective. “I worked hands on with the sound using a synthesizer mapped in quarter tones. The piece is in two parts, beginning with a Prelude that sets the mood for the entrance of the bassoon in a lyrical fashion. The second part moves to particular rhythmic and contrapuntal elements. After some cinematic images, the two good friends close in conversation together: trumpet and bassoon. A special thanks to the contribution of Skip La Plante’s exotics instruments rescued from the streets of New York City, as well as to the fine direction of Gines-Didier Cano.”

Johnny Reinhard’s ZANZIBAR for solo bassoon is a solo tour de force for prepared bassoon. The American Festival of Microtonal Music live performance is from the April 29, 1993 premiere at Columbia University’s St. Paul’s Chapel. The exotic African island located just east of Tanzania in Africa, is populated by the descendants of both Arabic slavers and African slaves, which provide both the inspiration and thematic program for the work. The composer-performer transforms the timbre of the bassoon, creating new imagery by recasting the instrument to allow for fresh sound worlds. Examples of the techniques used include: morphing, use of a ping pong ball, a reed machine, muting, and crossing hands.

Giacinto Scelsi’s MAKNONGAN was officially composed for any deep instrument (although bassoon is listed first in a list of preferences by the composer). Scelsi wove a carefully colored line out of a minimum of pitch material. This technique emphasizes timbral dimensions frequently unexplored in classical compositions, though encountered often in improvisation. The work was transposed down a major eleventh by the performer, so as to take full advantage of a particularly rich tessitura. Now a classic work for bassoon solo, it is even more bassoonistic once it has been transposed to the ideal tessitura of the piece, as suggested by the composer. Quartertone indications, unique timbral colorings, and odd key clicks are each present in this rolling short work of color. The performance was on May 25, 2002, a Saturday night at Roulette, in New York City.

Harry Halbreich wrote of Giacinto Scelsi in 1982: “When a composer reaches the ripe age of seventy-six before having his first commercial record issued by a leading company, it must be either that he is devoid of any sense of self-promotion or that his music is too far ahead of its time. Both answers apply to Giacinto Scelsi.” Scelsi made a radical decision in the early 60’s to discard dodecaphonic writing, for which he had once been a faithful adherent. His important works date from the latter period.

Anatol Vieru (1926-1998) wrote the TRIO for bassoon, guitar and double bass in sixthtones (36-tone equal temperament) near the end of his life. This performance was on May 13, 1994 at the New York University Theatre in New York City, although it had premiered months earlier. The Trio was commissioned by the American Festival of Microtonal Music. In addition to the 36-tone equal temperament tuning plan, there are extreme tempo differences in the three parts with each player conducting the others at different points.

Anatol Vieru, the preeminent composer of Romania until his passing, trained with Aram Khachaturian at the Moscow conservatory. He recorded several microtonal works for orchestra in both just intonation and quartertones.

Joseph Pehrson wrote that “for several years now I have wanted to write a microtonal solo bassoon piece for the great microtonal composer, bassoonist and impresario Johnny Reinhard. Finally this project was realized with ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN (July 1998) premiered on the American Festival of Microtonal Music concert of May 27, 1999. Johnny and I had discussed various possible tunings for this new work, and he ultimately suggested the very small step of the “eighthtone,” or 48 tones-to-the-octave. Johnny, incredibly enough, can play all these pitches accurately with the help of carefully prepared fingering charts. I worked hard in this piece to make certain that the microtones were NOT an embellishment to a 12 equal tempered fabric, but were integral to the basic sound of the work. I also tried to make sure that each pitch had a real audible significance in the overall structure. Included are some elements of popular music to offer contrast. The title, encouraged by Johnny, naturally refers to the American moon mission and paraphrase the first words spoken by Neil Armstrong upon mooning it.”

Joseph Pehrson, composer-pianist (b. Detroit, 1950) studied at the Eastman School of Music and at the University of Michigan (DMA 1981) and informally with composers Otto Luening and Elie Siegmeister. He is a co-director of Composers Concordance.

TALIBANNED BUDDHAS for contrabassoon, cello, gong, metal bowls and bells was invented by Johnny Reinhard for a Mysterious Tremendum concert on May 7, 2001 in The Church of St. Luke in New York City's Greenwich Village. The concert was directed by Don Conreaux and dedicated to the Peace Bell Project for a prospective New York City park. World Peace Bell Gardens were dedicated to a world without violence, weapons turned into the bells and gongs of peace. Johnny Reinhard envisioned a quartet that could “speak and sing to the pain of the abominable disintegration of 2 (two) giant Buddhas, carved out of mountains in Afghanistan by antiquity. Now, we see that the 2 giant Buddhas towering over Afghanistan's most traveled roads, were effective effigies for the Twin Towers. The contrabassoon represents the repressed sounds at Afghanistan's betrayal. The cello imbibes the willfulness to destroy, and to witness. The gong is a personalization of time and fate. The metal bowls sing for the women that have been silenced."

This piece, while composed intellectually, is improvisationally created. Cellist David Eggar is a unique voice on the cello, a product of both Harvard and The Juilliard. Dave was the AFMM’s Odysseus.” Don Conreaux is known as the “Gongmaster” in New York for his many virtuosic uses for the instrument, with so many intriguing possibilities. Randee Ragin has developed a powerful musical voice through her experiences with Mysterious Tremendum.

IMPROVISATON FOR KAVAL AND BASSOON may be said to be the result of “super-communication” between two performers in sync with each other. The performance is from May 20, 1999 in St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, New York City. Theodosii Spassov as Bulgaria’s premiere kaval virtuoso, plays an instrument traditionally used to manage sheep. In the hands of Spassov, a “flute” becomes a “clarinet,” and then a chameleon-like, to something different yet again. Utilizing the wealth of traditional Bulgarian folk music, modern Jazz, the avant-garde, and other musics of the world, Theodosii revolutionized sound and style beyond previous expectations. The bassoon as presented recognizes inner ear relationships. At one point in the Improvisation, Mr. Spassov initiates a dance, and starts to sing, further pushing the envelope on what might otherwise have been a more cliché relationship between mutually unintelligible instruments.

Theodosii Spassov stated it was his “dream to play with other musicians, from jazz, from folk and classical. This instrument was originally designed for traditional music. However, I was born in 1961, and my generation is different from earlier generations. My dream is to develop my instrument to be more universal.”

Theodosii Spassov

Johnny Reinhard, composer, conductor, bassoonist, director and founder of the American Festival of Microtonal Music (AFMM), is a native New Yorker specializing in all manner of microtonal performance. Additionally, Reinhard performs on the recorder, and is a vocalist specializing in the works of American microtonal pioneer Harry Partch. He has given numerous full recitals including in New York, Seattle, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Montreal, Amsterdam, Sapporo, Moscow, and Kazan. Of particular interest is his finishing important works of composers in exemplary performance. These include his realization and subsequent premiere performance of Charles Ives’s “Universe Symphony” in 1996 in New York’s Lincoln Center, and the premiere in of Edgard Varèse’s “Graphs and Time” in 1987 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Reinhard’s transcription of Ivan Wyschnegradsky’s “Meditation sur deux themes” (1917) for bassoon and piano was recorded on “Between the Keys” for Newport Classic (now Sony), and has been re-recorded for Solyd Records (Russia), and again for the AFMM’s PITCH label. Among the world premieres he produced are Lou Harrison’s “Simfony in Free Style,” Terry Riley’s “In C in Just Intonation,” Percy Grainger’s “Free Music” for 4 Theremin, the original version of Harry Partch’s “Ulysses Departs From the Edge of the World” for trumpet, double bass and boobams, and Mordecai Sandberg’s orchestral “Psalm 51.” Johnny Reinhard’s original compositions feature polymicrotonality – either the active mixing of microtonal tunings in a single composition, or the invention of brand new pitch relationships (e.g., harmonic 17 tuning, quadratic prime just intonation, collapsed just intonation). Among his works are a symphony (“Middle-earth”), cello concerto (“Odysseus”), string quartet (“Cosmic Rays”), a large number of virtuoso solo pieces for different instruments in distinctive tunings, and numerous chamber works featuring unusual timbres and requiring different degrees of improvisation. Johnny Reinhard’s compositions can be heard on the “Raven” album, available from www.stereosociety.com. He recently completed a triptych for bass trombonist Dave Taylor. Reinhard has performed as a soloist throughout Europe and the United States, Japan, Canada, and Russia. He has played with such international virtuosi as kavalist Theodossii Spassov (Bulgaria), oboist Bram Kreeftmeijer (The Netherlands), saxophonist John Butcher (London), percussionist Rashied Ali (NYC), and Thereminist Lydia Kavina (Russia). In 2002 he was featured on bassoon to critical acclaim by Ornette Coleman for the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival. Reinhard is professor of bassoon at New York University. Previously, he taught music composition and theory at C.W. Post, Long Island University, taught The Arithmetic of Listening at Bard College, and taught Western Art Music at Columbia University. He has guest lectured on tuning related subjects at Columbia University, New York University, Manhattan School of Music, Hunter College/CUNY, CalArts, San Jose State University, Indiana University, South Dakota State University, the Hamburg Hochschule in Germany, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, and York University in England. Reinhard introduced first performances of Harry Partch’s 43-tone just intonation works in Norway (International Bergen Festival), France (M.A.N.C.A.), Switzerland (RoteFabrik), Italy (Teatro la Fenice), Canada (Toronto, Winnipeg, and St. John’s), and England (London’s Barbican). In the early ‘90s he published PITCH for the International Microtonalist as a 4-issue set for musicians working independently. Since 2004, the AFMM launched 15 different PITCH CD titles, available at www.afmm.org. Johnny Reinhard hosts New York-based WKCR-FM radio’s popular four-hour Christmas Day “Microtonal Bach” segment in their annual 10-day Bach Festival. He is often a guest on John Schaefer’s New Sounds show on WNYC-FM, and has been featured in radio programs by radio interviewers Anatol Vieru (Bucharest), Laurie Schwartz (Berlin/RIAS & Sender Frei), PILOTA radio (Bergen), and John Schneider (KPFK Los Angeles).

Johnny Reinhard at 2 years old.

All recordings “live” from AFMM concerts, Talibanned Buddhas from Mysterious Tremendum

Recording Engineer: Norman Greenspan

CD Cover Artist: Orlanda Brugnola

Mastered and Edited by Paul Geluso

Sound Engineering for Johnny Reinhard Zanzibar and Anatol Vieru Trio by James Rosenthal

Produced by Johnny Reinhard

Support from New York State Council on the Arts and the Maldeb Foundation

WWW.AFMM.org

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

AMERICAN FESTIVAL OF MICROTONAL MUSIC © 2009

Johnny Reinhard, Director, AFMM

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