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Called one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” by Rolling Stone, Nels
Cline brings his wildly creative improvisational skills and sonic range to
the work. Drawn to the Grammy-nominated Aizuri Quartet’s precision and grace,
Cuomo sets these five musicians in a landscape that is slightly unfamiliar -
where the ground under their feet is always shifting a bit in unexpected
ways. This requires a musical alertness and philosophical openness to
whatever the moment brings, an outlook that has parallels to the Buddhist
practice of the Seven Limbs. Cuomo describes his attraction to the artists:
“I intended to allow
Nels the opportunity to play in all the different ways that he does –
explosively and delicately, with lots of electronic effects or totally
acoustic. His range drew me to him but equally important, even in his sonic
mayhem mode, he is always wonderfully sensitive and reactive to what’s going
around him musically. And the first time I heard the Aizuri Quartet, I was
knocked out by their sound, precision, and rhythmic suppleness. They have
such a beautiful musical and personal energy, and it just beams out at you
from the stage. I knew I could write the kind of demanding music I was
imagining and they would just eat it up.”
Before Cline goes on tour with Wilco, there will be a live outdoor
performance of Seven
Limbs on July 9, 2021 at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts,
in Katonah, NY.
Cuomo began his musical studies as a jazz guitarist, but his interests led
him away from performance to composition, where he remained mainly
self-taught. Cuomo found success in the early 1990s writing music for film
and television, including the highly regarded drama series, Homicide: Life on the Street.
After 15 years in the industry, Cuomo decided to step back and focus on
composing for passion projects in theater and contemporary classical fields.
Also a practicing Buddhist, Cuomo writes: “The
practice is about exploring your mind and facing what’s there. I tried to
make the music reflect the same thing — stillness, turmoil, suppleness,
resistance, euphoria, high drama. I wrote it to be like a dream, like looking
inward and discovering a terrain.”
Seven Limbs
creates a world of musical ideas and settings that allow the musicians to
explore ideas of meditative tranquility, subtle levels of mind, the battle
with inner demons, the circle of karma, and sudden bolts of insight. Both
strings and guitar are shape-shifters in that the roles are fluid — at times
the guitar is in front with the quartet playing a more supportive role, at
other times the guitar conjures a multi-layered and evolving drone-like sonic
environment and the strings step to the fore. There are also many instances
when both find equal footing, intertwining in a way that makes such
distinctions moot.
Despite being written and recorded during the COVID pandemic, Seven Limbs was a true
collaboration. Cline and Cuomo met just before lockdown. Cuomo Skyped and
exchanged written music and rough recordings with the Aizuri. In February
2021, everyone assembled for rehearsal, three livestreams, and the recording
of the piece. The joy everyone felt to be in a room making music together
after so many months of isolation was palpable. ______________________________
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