Eli Keszler

PAN presents a 2CD set from experimental composer/artist/multi-instrumentalist Eli Keszler. The first disc features two ensemble versions of Cold Pin (PAN 021LP), previously released in a 2011 LP of the same title on PAN, plus a 26-minute, previously-unreleased live ensemble recording (mixed sextet and piano quintet; these are captured in contrasting acoustical spaces). The personnel for all three tracks is Eli Keszler (drums, percussion, crotales, guitar); Ashley Paul (alto saxophone, bass harp); Geoff Mullen (prepared guitar); Greg Kelley (trumpet); Reuben Son (bassoon) and Benny Nelson (cello). The second disc begins with the title-track, "Catching Net," a 17-minute score for string quartet and piano with the "Cold Pin" installation. It is performed by pianist Sakiko Mori and the Providence String Quartet: Carole Bestvater (violin); Rachel Panitch (violin); Chloë Kline (viola); Laura Cetilia (cello). The score is fully notated, timed with stopwatch markings rather than tempo or meter. Following are two recordings of Keszler's large-scale installations functioning on their own. "Collecting Basin" features piano strings/wires up to 250 feet long splayed from a two-story water tower in Shreveport, Louisiana, across two large, empty water purification basins, which acted as an amplifier for the sounds produced by the installation. A "solo" version of "Cold Pin" (without live performers) concludes the album. Tracks 1 and 3 on the first disc and track 2 on the second disc were recorded at the historic Cyclorama, a massive dome at the Boston Center for the Arts. "Cold Pin" was installed directly on a large curved wall in the dome, using micro-controlled motors and beaters to strike extended strings ranging in length from three to 25 feet. The 2CD is mastered by Rashad Becker at Clunk, in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. It is packaged in a pro-press digisleeve jacket which itself is housed in a silk screened PVC sleeve with extensive images from the installations, program notes, sketches of the installations, scores, electronic schematics from the projects, and accompanying drawings and artwork by Eli Keszler and Bill Kouligas.