Frank Denyer at 60: Butterfly effect

Musical Times, Spring 2003 by Gilmore, Bob

Mention of Sciarrino is perhaps odd in this context: but he and Denyer, roughly contemporaries, have important things in common. Not the least is their love of musical materials taken to extremes; and their empathy with fellow creative artists who maintain radical or uncomfortable attitudes. In a programme note for a recent work, Il clima dopo Harry Partch, Sciarrino wondered about the relevance of 'marginal' figures and speculated that something like a butterfly effect may be operative in the artistic world; just as a lone butterfly flaps its wings in Ahmedabad and a tidal wave engulfs the whole of southern California, so too do apparently obscure figures make a far greater impact on musical culture as a whole than we perhaps imagine. Certainly, history seems to resist being always reduced to a simple narrative of cause and effect: very complex processes scatter the ideas and acts of human beings to far-flung and unlikely destinations. In this case Sciarrino was referring to Partch: I'll resist spelling out the obvious parallel with Denyer. But one confident prediction for our uncertain times: in the next New Grove the gap between 'Denver' (Colorado) and Denza, Luigi' will be filled.

The musical extracts are Frank Denyer and reproduced here by kind permission of the composer.

Discography

Fired City (2002): Towards the darkness; Beneath the fired city; Quick, quick, the tamberan is coming; The hanged fiddler; Resonances of ancient sins; Prison song The Barton Workshop; Duo Konink & Andriessen; Christopher Taylor; Kontra-Trio

Tzadik TZ 7082

Finding Refuge in the Remains (1999): Finding refuge in the remains; Quartet; Frog; Archaeology; Contained in a strange garden; The tender sadness of tyrants as they dance

The Barton Workshop; Alex Robertson; Robin Canter and James Wood; Yoshikazu Iwamoto and Jos Zwaanenburg

Etcetera KTC 1221

A Monkey's Paw (1991): Stalks; After

the rain; A fragile thread; A monkeys paw; Winged play

Various musicians Continuum CCD 1026

For more information on Frank Denyer and his music:

http://www.frankdenyer.com

Bob Gilmore's biography of Harry Partch is published by Yale University Press. He is currently writing a biography of Claude Vivier.