73

I’m using my 73rd birthday (January 24, 2009) year as a grand retrospective, premieres, informal salon evenings in my studio, important concert dates, general celebration. There will be a log or diary of events starting with the first mention of the year’s event on Bonnie Barnett’s radio show Trilogy, KXLU, 88.9 FM Los Angeles, April 30th, exactly a year before the U.S. premiere of Critical Mass, my “secular service” on North River Music , New York City, in 2009!

73 is a prime number with cool factors, subtractors, additors to play with. For example, 7 is an important number in my composition, Circular Thoughts; 10 is the number of people in my gamelan composition, Semaphores, and so forth. 73 is a "star number," meaning that a star hexagon of 73 dots has 37 dots, the retrograde, in the body of the star. (Described in Number Freak by Derrick Niederman.)

So, all those who either know my music, or would like to, stay in touch! 2009 would be a good time to program some of my music. You will be announced here, and automatically be part of the party! Scores, repertoire, discography, mp3s are  assembling here, along with a calendar of coming events. - DG/NYC

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Prelude to 73:

1. I played solo clarinet on Sunday (March 9th) from Noon to 12:30 at the Studio/Storefront associated with the Whitney Biennial, 971 Madison Avenue at 74th St., just down from the Whitney. I haven’t played these selections from Clarinet Songs in public in many years. You could walk in to listen, or hear the program in the basement of Whitney, or find it archived on the web. The whole set, Clarinet Songs is available on XI records (XI-113).

2. Daniel Goode’s music on New Sounds, WNYC, April 11, 2008:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/episodes/2008/04/11

3. On April 29th at “April in Santa Cruz” I performed with the Willie Winant’s UCSC Percussion Ensemble and Amy Beal’s UCSC Contemporary Music Ensemble: Wind Symphony and Eine Kleine Gamelan Music. I played piano and clarinet.

4. At Dangerous Curve in Los Angeles Sunday, May 4th, 2008 Daniel Goode, New York composer/clarinetist  with Bonnie Barnett, vocals, Vinnie Golia, woodwinds, Richard Wood, alto sax & flute, Michael Whitmore,10-string guitarRichie West,  percussion in a program of original Goode compositions and improvisations

5. Daniel Goode at the Stone, May 15, 2008
on clarinet and piano
with Cornelius Dufallo – violin
Kamala Sankaram – voice and accordion
Deborah Weisz – trombone.
played his compositions:
One Page Pieces – selections:
Relaxing at the Piano (as a concerto)
Cage’s DREAM dreamed (as an ensemble piece)
Sob-Laugh (as an vocal/instrumental piece)
Stamping in the Dark (as an instrumental piece

6. Salon at 167 Spring Street, June 27, 2008
A Musical Celebration of Betty and Shirley Wong and Daniel Goode
40-odd years with friends. Performed his Clarinet Sonata (1960) and his songs from Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1964), including a duet sung by Kamala Sankaram and Jessica Sabat. Various works performed by Shirley and Betty Wong on harpsichord and piano respectively, by Skip La Plante on a microtonal pipe metalophone (his own work), by Jessica Sabat (Poulenc songs) accompanied by Doug Martin

7. October 10th, 2008 at St.Peter’s Episcopal Church, 346 W.20th St. 8 PM, $10.
Flexible Orchestra premiers Tuba Thrush for eleven flutes, tuba, and harpsichord with works by Skip La Plante and Henry Brant. Noted by the New Yorker magazine under "Orchestra" listings!

8. December 12th, 2008, invited artist with the Harvard Gamelan, directed by Jody Diamond using the gamelan donated to Jody by the late Lou Harrison.

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73 Events

At Galapagos in Dumbo, January 16th, 2009, 8 PM:
Gamelan Son of Lion played my Brahms/Klezmer inspired Sad/Happy for clarinet (me) and gamelan
as part of the CD release concert for our new double CD, "Sonogram" on Innova.

At Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ, March 28th, 2009, 1 PM:
I met the public as part of the Grounds for Sculpture's "Artists in Action" at my collaborative sound sculpture (with Robert Cooke), The Seat of Sound. We played it and invited all comers to join us. The link here is to the earlier Seat of Sound, before it was rebuilt as a permanent installation.

At our 167 Spring St. loft, my 73rd Birthday Party, January 24th, 2009 with Gamelan Son of Lion:
I played my Welcome, Slendro Clarinet for PVC (plastic) clarinet and gamelan. Then, again with Gamelan Son of Lion I played the regular clarinet in my Sad/Happy.

At North River Music, April 30th, 2009,  8 PM, Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow St. in Manhattan:
Critical Mass, for voices, clarinet, piano,the U.S. premiere, back from its critical success at the Cracow Jewish Culture Festival—a secular service that’s fun! With Kamala Sankaram, soprano, Goode on the clarinet, Jessica Sabat, mezzo, John Schenkel, bariton, Marijo Newman, pianist. Newly directed—and choreographed with her troupe—by Jody Oberfelder. And then: “my favorite piece which I idly arranged for piano four hands while a grad student at Columbia, 1962: Mahler’s 10th Symphony, Adagio.” Never before performed. Pianists: Henry Shapiro and Marijo Newman.
Critical Mass has audience responsorials in sound and a free “thank you” section in which you can thank real people instead of god. Find it under "video" within "visuals" on this site.

At Tarrytown's (NY) Warner Library, May 3rd, 2009 with Gamelan Son of Lion:
I played with the ensemble, music by its members, and especially wonderful was playing clarinet in David Demnitz's transcription of Egyptian composer, Mohamed Abdel Wahab's (contemporary of Oum Kalsoum, the fabulous vocalist) "Ibn Al Balad," a groovy number that somehow makes a great gamelan piece with obbligato clarinet and violin.

At the Fellowship of Reconcilliation, in Nyack, NY, June 7th, 2009 with Gamelan Son of Lion:
Such a beautiful site overlooking the Hudson in the afternoon, we premiered David Simon's commissioned work, "GONGing Ceremony" ('gong-humping' to us) and played many other pieces by group members.

In Soho, June 21st, 2009, 1-2 PM:
I led a sound-tour of the cast iron building facades on a few choice streets. "Soho Gamelan Walk" was part of the annual city-wide festival, "Make Music New York" (MMNY), on the Solstice, a delightful ear-opening view of our city's infrastructure. An earlier tour as part of a 2001 FLUXUS event by the DownTown Ensemble and Art in General engendered the videos on my site. There is also a nice solo performance of the tour by myself.A Brazillian TV station covered it, and we may have some footage eventually.

At the Hudson Opera House (Hudson, NY), June 20th, 2009, and at Greenwich House Music School (Renee Weiler Concert Hall), June 25th, 2009:
I played clarinet with the DownTown Ensemble in music by Oliveros, Zummo ("(The) Who Stole the Polka"), Yvette Perez, and Brian Dewan. Also Bill Hellermann performed his amazing El Ropo, with accordionist, Brian Dewan.

At the Noguchi Museum Sculpture Garden, in Long Island City, NY, Sunday, July 12th, afternoon:
I played slendro clarinet (the PVC or "plastic clarinet" made by Steve Silverstein in the '80's) in my celebration piece for the instrument, Welcome, Slendro Clarinet, performed with Gamelan Son of Lion as part of a full program.