Composer
John Zorn :  Songs From The Hermetic Theatre
Cat. # 7066
Released Jun 2001
cd time - 51:24
US Price $16.00
 
In March 2001 Zorn entered the recording studio to create four very different compositions. American Magus is Zorn's first piece of purely electronic music, and it is dedicated to the underground innovator Harry Smith, whose legendary paintings, groundbreaking films, eclectic collections (ranging from Ukranian Easter eggs, string games, found paper airplanes to cassettes of New York City ambiences) and encyclopedic mind has continued to excite, confound and inspire artists worldwide. BeuysBlock, a bizarre meditation on the work of conceptual/performance artist Joseph Beuys, is scored for piano, string orchestra and an incredible array of homemade sound devices, all performed by Zorn himself. Also included is Zorn's tribute to Maya Deren, dancer, filmmaker, authority on Haitian voodoo and one of the most important and influential figures in the New York underground and the mindbending sonic hieroglyphs of Codebreaker, Zorn's first piece of computer music. An essential collection of dialogues from one generation of the underground to another.
 
 
Personnel:
Jennifer Choi: Violins
John Zorn: Electronic And Computer Music, Bass, Water, Drum, Flute, Glass Bowl, Metal Pipes, Wax Paper, Mud, Staple Gun, Etc.