Preview: Prague Modern

It is not typical for a classical music ensemble to perform in a jazz club, but then again, Prague Modern isn't a typical classical ensemble.

The most progressive ensemble in the city, Prague Modern is unleashing a group of youngsters known as Prague Modern Youth [PM(y!)] to perform some of the highlights of 20th-century avant-garde music in Jazz Dock, the premiere jazz venue in the city. This is music for the head rather than the heart, but anyone with open ears should give it a try, says David Danel, director of Prague Modern.

"The concert of PM(y!) with its compilation of works from Cage to Riley tries to challenge our view of America as a birthplace of jazz and rock 'n' roll only and leads us to recognize some of the most intriguing minds of modern music history such as John Cage, Terry Riley, Earle Brown or Phill Niblock," Danel says. "For me, JazzDock is the right place to discover what jazz is, what its roots are, as well as where it stands now right at this very moment."

The evening will begin with John Cage's But What About the Noise of Crumpling Paper… which was written in 1986 in celebration of the centenary of the birth of Alsatian painter Jean Arp. Cage's own directions for the 10-part score notes that each player should choose two "slightly resonant instruments. … A performance should be without conductor, very slow, each player following his or her own beat. … Performers may be stationed around the audience, or among them, or onstage." Like much of Cage's work, this piece is meditative and extremely open-ended.

2lips aka Nameless, by American composer Phill Niblock, was composed in 2009. The director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation dedicated to the composition and performance of avant-garde music, Niblock is one of the key representatives of the American avant-garde music movement. His performances are generally multimedia, with accompanying video and light shows.

December 1952 is one of the most famous scores from Earle Brown, an American composer known for creating his own systems of notation that deviate from the traditional staff system.

The score of this piece is a work of visual art in itself, with horizontal and vertical lines spread out over the page at varying widths. The musician's job is to interpret musically what he or she sees.

Get Out of Whatever CAGE is one of the key pieces by Czech composer Peter Graham, the working name of Jaroslav Šťastný-Pokorný. With a nod to John Cage, the piece is free-form, and typically so for Graham, who has said that music "grows like timber in a forest" and should not be subject to premeditated ideas about composition or final form.

In C, by American composer Terry Riley, has often been cited as the first minimalist composition. Consisting of 53 musical phrases of varying length, the piece has no time limit, and even the number of musicians is left to chance, through Riley has recommended a group of about 35 is ideal. Beginning on a C major chord, the piece soon ranges out of tonal and temporal bounds.

Performing as soloists with Students of Prague Modern will be three talented individuals who have quickly become rising stars on the European music scene, despite their young ages: Norwegian bassist Adrian Myhr, Czech pianist Vojtěch Procházka and Norwegian drummer Tore Sandbakken, also know as the Vojtěch Procházka Trio.

Myhr has a big bass sound propelled by a sure sense of direction even when deeply entrenched in meditative improvisation. Procházka is a leader on the Czech modern music scene, fronting an Oslo-based trio. To call him a piano player does not do this musical explorer justice: His trio turns grooves inside out, producing music that takes nothing for granted. Sandbakken is a Norwegian Grammy-nominated drummer also among the leading lights of European modern music, playing regularly with Procházka, as well as progressive ensembles like Speakeasy.

Avant garde, or modern music, is a term open for debate, as even fans of the genre don't always agree on what constitutes this type of music. In general modern music - or postmodern, or avant-garde, or new music, all of which it is sometimes called - is freer than traditional classical music, often allowing room for improvisation and open interpretation where times signatures and length are concerned. In the case of Cage especially, chance occurrence is often the guiding factor for composition, and scores often incorporate nontraditional instruments.

"The project intends to show how inspirational and influentional these composers are also to today's jazz musicians. It searches for borderlines between jazz and experimental or contemporary classical music and it suggests that there are not such artificial lines to be drawn," Danel says.

Modern music is decidedly art, rather than folk music. It may not be for everyone, but it may be for you. There is no better way to find out than to hear Prague Modern Youth.

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com