Marlboro Slipstream at Soapbox Gallery
Marlboro Slipstream Group (Matan Rubinstein – piano/electronics, Andrew Greenwald – drums/percussion, Ned Rothenberg – winds and myself) was conceived as a musical meeting of four performers/composers/improvisers of wildly different musical backgrounds, to make music that is betwixt and between. MSG is Ensemble In Residence at Marlboro College.
Among the music performed, the program featured the New York premiere of Terraplane, an irreverent reconfiguration of the Romantic eraTone Poem inspired by two sources: Jack Womack’s dystopian parallel universe Science Fiction novel and Robert Johnson’s song Terraplane Blues (featured in the book and the namesake for both novel and piece). Like much of the quartet’s oeuvre, Terraplane employs four modes of music making: manipulation of sampled digital audio, fixed composition, modular materials employed in real time, and improvisation.
Soapbox Gallery is dedicated to presenting music, performance and works of art that engage the issues of our time. The room itself is a beautiful, meditative environment that was designed with state-of-the art acoustics to showcase exceptional musicianship from around the world.
The gallery was founded on the premise that art and culture are powerful reminders of our shared humanity, which can help to shape identity and promote social evolution.
Soapbox was inspired by the idea that a simple, humble box–that one stands on and delivers a speech from–can start a movement and perhaps even help to change the world
