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The seventh AGP installment features the music of Ezra Sims, an American composer who rebelled against the tonal impurities of well-tempered tuning, and developed his own 18-note scale based on a division of the octave into 72 intervals. This heterodox scale enabled him to compose for more purely tuned intervals, as well as to explore microtonality. The tuning of these pieces takes some getting used to, but it considerably expands the range of harmonies that Sims is able to exploit. The first three pieces are written for violin alone, violin and viola, and viola alone. The spare instrumentations facilitate one's introduction to Sims' idiosyncratic tuning. The last is for a sextet of violin, viola, cello, clarinet, saxophone, and french horn. It is nominally based on Louis Armstrong's performance of St. James Infirmary. To help the listener draw whatever connections they can between the two pieces, I have included Armstrong's first recording of that piece, from December 12, 1928. These four compositions make up Northeastern Records NR 224. Other recordings of Sims' works on CD are available through www.frogpeak.org, including recordings of all of the other Sims pieces I could find in my stacks. The recorings in this installment are listed on their website as being still available on LP, but I queried Frog Peak Music about this and was told that they have no more copies, so I am assuming they are now out of print. To download AGP7 files, right-click on each of the following links and select SAVE LINK AS.
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