kenneth kirschner
three cellos
catalog 007
release 26 apr 2024
duration 40:53
formats FOLIO + digital
edition 100
kenneth kirschner, composition
joseph branciforte, acoustic arrangement
christopher gross, cello
The inaugural release in Greyfade’s FOLIO music release format, composer Kenneth Kirschner’s Three Cellos is the culmination of a five-year collaboration between Kirschner, arranger & producer Joseph Branciforte, and cellist Christopher Gross.
Beginning its life as a digital work by Kirschner that played with algorithmic and generative composition techniques, Three Cellos was subsequently adapted by Branciforte into an intricate acoustic arrangement that captured the non-metric rhythmic sensibility and contrapuntal complexity of Kirschner’s original. The two then turned to cellist Christopher Gross as a sole performer to realize the multi-cello piece, layering his nuanced, emotional and intense performance over itself in the studio to create a unique recording that both captures and extends the composer’s original vision.
The inaugural release in Greyfade’s innovative new FOLIO music release format — a 6.5 x 8” hardcover book with included high-resolution music download — is Kenneth Kirschner’s Three Cellos. The culmination of five years of development, Three Cellos offers a detailed examination of the process, techniques, and experience of translating an intricate contrapuntal composition by Kirschner from its originally electronic form, into a notated score for cello, and finally into the finished suite of cello recordings included with the book.
Three Cellos began its life as a digital composition by Kirschner — July 8, 2017 — that played with algorithmic and generative techniques, while simultaneously keeping one eye on a more traditional image of instrumental counterpoint and harmony. Recognized by Greyfade founder Joseph Branciforte as a potential next step in Kirschner and Branciforte’s From the Machine series – an ongoing exploration into the integration of digital composition and instrumental chamber music – the musicians began a long journey toward adapting the digital piece into an acoustic arrangement and, finally, a studio recording.
Branciforte first undertook the task of translating Kirschner’s digital composition into traditional musical notation, painstakingly capturing the uniquely non-metric rhythmic sensibility of the original, while establishing a distinct new identity for the piece as an acoustic arrangement. The two then turned to cellist Christopher Gross as a sole performer to realize the multi-cello piece, layering his nuanced, emotional and intense performance over itself in the studio to create a unique recording that both captures and extends the composer’s original vision.
Like any complex artistic undertaking, the project had its setbacks and triumphs, all of which are detailed in the FOLIO edition of Three Cellos. The book features an extended narrative from Kirschner setting out the composition’s backstory, underlying processes and subsequent adaptation; an essay by Branciforte discussing the transcription of the piece and situating Kirschner’s work at the interface between digital and acoustic music; reflections on the recording process from Gross; a reproduction of two movements of the composition’s score; and photographs capturing various stages of the project’s development.
But the artists’ intention with the book, rather than a conventional act of documentation, is to create what they refer to as a “cookbook”: a text that will act not simply as an explanation or story of how the music was created, but as an active, generative set of instructions, processes and techniques – recipes – that they hope other artists will explore, learn from, and adapt within their own practices.
Renewing Greyfade’s commitment to the continued relevance of thoughtfully designed physical objects, Three Cellos offers not only beautiful, challenging and innovative music, but an inside look into the practices and struggles of deeply engaged contemporary artists as they push the boundaries of the possible in music today.
composed by kenneth kirschner
acoustic arrangement by joseph branciforte
cello performed by christopher gross
engineered, mixed, & mastered by joseph branciforte
recorded january 19, april 27, and may 12-13 2022 at greyfade studio
produced by kenneth kirschner & joseph branciforte
cover design by jason booher
interior design & layout by joseph branciforte
photography by taylor deupree
CHAMBER MUSIC MAGAZINE (US): A ruminative, autumnal 10-movement sequence, played with penetrating patience and beauty by a multi-tracked Christopher Gross. (read more)
PAN M 360 (CA): Astonishingly beautiful. Evokes an unexpected encounter between Berg’s thick, bushy harmonies and Feldman’s discursive economy. (read more)
FREQ (UK): A magical recording. Gross’s vibrato is always judicious, never flowery or obfuscating poor tonality. Possibly the best compliment I can give the recordings is that they’re improved by the book, and I’d implore listeners to be readers also. (read more)
INACTUELLES (FR): A pinnacle of cello music. Gradually plunges the listener into an absolutely fascinating sound labyrinth. The exceptional quality of the recording serves this music with a shattering purity. (read more)
POPMATTERS (US): Best Ambient April 2024. (read more)
BORING LIKE A DRILL (US): Each section feels like passing through a room full of mirrors, only to find that each successive room is also equally mirrored. Branciforte’s arrangement, with its emphasis on elastic phrasing, and Gross’s generous interpretation interrogate Kirschner’s composition even as they may appear to elevate it. (read more)
THE WHOLE NOTE (CA): The nine tracks bear similarities but repeated deep listening slowly unfolds the nuances and range of energy played with supreme skill, precision and sensitivity by cellist Gross. A standout track is Part 3, the most dynamic and accessible in form. (read more)
THE ARTS DESK (UK): A multitracked Christopher Gross plays each part and repeated listenings highlight the music’s melodic richness. Gross plays Kirschner’s long lines with ample colour and expression. (read more)
DATAWAVE (US): A very nuanced, carefully produced album of dark and minimalistic music. The book itself is a piece of art, a stylish and highly collectible object. (read more)
AGAINST THE SILENCE (GR): A composition which connects the avant-garde with the harmony and underground tension of the night and the mystical elevation of the morning. (read more)
LOOP (CL): Going beyond the borders of chamber music with the most advanced digital technology. This minimalist oeuvre consists of ten pieces that display melancholic and austere melodies that feel poignant. (read more)
IGLOO (US): Bowed strings, exquisitely recorded, exploring perfect harmonies and the language of the well-tempered classical cello. The sonic language employed on this album benefits from years of serious classical musical scholarship. The mood is perfect for quiet listening. (read more)
MEANS MAGAZINE (UK): Combinations of cellos, sometimes two, sometimes three, stroll through small intervallic changes, repetitions of simple, endlessly evolving harmonic structures. (read more)
kenneth kirschner
A behind-the-scenes force at Greyfade since the label’s founding, composer Kenneth Kirschner is known for his intricate music and uncompromising vision. With published works reaching back to the 1980s and decades of releases on labels such as Sub Rosa, 12k, Room40, Leerraum, Line and of course Greyfade, Kirschner has established himself as a leading voice at the boundary between advanced technology and experimental composition. Blurring the lines between electronic and acoustic approaches, his work explores algorithmic, generative and aleatoric techniques within the context of the digital music environment, and his pieces are known for their often extended duration and significant demands on the listener – all while maintaining a focus on the most fundamental musical questions of harmony, rhythm, structure, form and beauty.
