DANIEL SCHMIDT : In My Arms, Many Flowers

'Fourth edition of 200; Glass-mastered CD; Includes a 12-page booklet of program notes and photography. Includes additional track "And the Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn". Recital present the first album of American Gamelan composer Daniel Schmidt (b. 1942). Schmidt, who emerged in the Bay Area music scene in the 1970s, wove the threads of traditional Eastern Gamelan music together with American minimalism (repetitive music). Schmidt was (and is still) a prime figure in the development of American Gamelan music -- studying and collaborating with Lou Harrison, Jody Diamond, and Paul Dresher. He currently is a teacher at Mills College, teaching instrument building. The recordings on Flowers date from 1978-1982, selected directly from Schmidt's personal cassette archive. It holds two studio tracks, along with two live performances. The first track, "Dawn" (commissioned by composer John Adams), employs an early digital sampler provided by Pauline Oliveros. It holds the sound of a string quartet. The nature of this piece is breathtaking, an ocean of strings pulsing beneath the gliding bells of the gamelan -- such a lovely interplay. Furthermore, the title track, "Flowers", features the addition of a rebab, a traditional bowed instrument, which reels through the piece, netted and taught. The final two works are strictly gamelan compositions. "Ghosts" is a dynamic piece; rife with dexterous euphoria, it well displays the skillset of the percussionists heard on the LP. The closing work, "Faint Impressions", is a somber elegy. Demonstrating the fragility and grace possible with the gamelan; sounding almost as an evening piano sonata. In My Arms, Many Flowers is a unique document from an under-represented movement of American new music. An account of the curious beauty and woven emotions hidden within resonating pieces of metal.'



Tracklist
1 And The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn (Studio Recording) 12:32
2 In My Arms, Many Flowers 7:16
3 Ghosts 13:59
4 Faint Impressions 10:30
5 And The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn (Live Recording) 16:36

Credits
Composed By [All Compositions By] ? Daniel Schmidt
Liner Notes [Program Notes Written By] ? Daniel Schmidt
Performer ? The Berkeley Gamelan
Photography By [Front Cover Photo] ? D. Schmidt
Transferred By [Cassette And DAT Tapes] ? Sean McCann

Notes
Track 1: Studio recording, 1978
Track 2: Live recording, 1978
Track 3: Studio recording, 1981
Track 4: Live recording, 1982
Track 5: Live recording, 1978

Total Running Time:
60:53 on disc label
60′53″ on tray card
Front cover photo is Deborah Schmidt
Cassette and DAT tapes transferred [...] 2015
Program Notes written [...] in 2016
First CD Edition of 200 pc., pressed in the Fall of 2017
On tray card, inner panel:
Recital Seventeen c 2017
On disc label:
R17, c 2017
In booklet:
Copyright (c) 2017
Catalog number:
? Recital Seventeen on spine and tray card, inner panel
? R17 on disc label
Track 5, the premier performance of “And the Darkest Hour is Just Before Dawn” featuring a string sextet, is exclusive to the CD edition.
Issued in standard jewel case with 12 pp. booklet.