Hard Rubber Orchestra

Victo 40th Anniversary Super Sale. John Korsrud is part of an emergent wave of composers deflating the quasi-ascetic hegemony of late 20th Century composition, represented by Cage, Feldman, et al, simply by tapping into what’s going on around him. It was the Vancouver-based composer and trumpeter’s mentor, the eminent Dutch Minimalist Louis Andriessen, who gave Korsrud the methodological tip which has served him well in this regard: write down everything that comes into your head as fast and as completely as you can. Subsequently, Korsrud’s Hard Rubber Orchestra scores have an impromptu-like blend of offhandedness and precision-crafted gravity. Rub Harder exemplifies the strength of the Vancouver scene. Repeatedly, the program is buttressed by the solos of Saul Berson, Daniel Miles Kane, Vince Mai, and Bill Runge, whose contributions are solidly on par with those of higher-profile Vancouver improvisers like Samworth, Turner, and Peggy Lee, and guest artists Lori Freedman and Marilyn Lerner. Ultimately, this strength stems from a vision of inclusion, one far more likely to occur on an afternoon stroll past the bustling markets and cafes on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive than in the isolation booths of academia and museum culture. That’s the most valuable of the many assets John Korsrud contributed to the making of Rub Harder. It is the center of his worldliness.

Bill Shoemaker, January 2002