Julius Eastman - Femenine (1974) // ECHOI Ensemble

Monday Evening Concerts presents
May 21, 2018 | Zipper Concert Hall, Los Angeles
Julius EASTMAN - Femenine (1974)
West Coast Premiere
Jonathan Hepfer, Artistic Director
ECHOI Ensemble, performers:
Nathalie Joachim, flute
Brian Walsh, clarinet
Joshua Johnson, saxophone
Adriane Pope, violin
Linnea Powell, viola
Seth Parker Woods, cello
Kathryn Schulmeister, bass
Dustin Donahue, synth and glockenspiel
Jonathan Hepfer, vibraphone
Richard Valitutto, piano
Jonathan Hepfer, Nathalie Joachim, Richard Valitutto, Seth Parker Woods, project co-directors

[@samrichards6517]

This is one of the greatest compositions of the 20th century. And the 21st for that matter.

[@Mikey-qe5zn]

“Eastman’s stated aim with Femenine was to please listeners, saying of the piece that ‘the end sounds like the angels opening up heaven . . . should we say euphoria?’” -Mary Jane Leach

[@yvesklein5414]

glorious. I've watched this many times over the past months and I've kind of become obsessed with it. One of the greatest works from that period in late 20th century American music. I saw Julius with Meredith Monk several times but in that era I never realized he was such a great composer. I'm so grateful to these stellar musicians for making the music available on UA-cam. Thank You!!!

[@stefanoromagnoli3019]

ipnotico, travolgente, mille colori insieme, musica celestiale, immensa!!

[@Smudge4199]

Beautiful

[@vivianbobka5239]

this is music for our souls

[@vivianbobka5239]

i love Minimalism in art and music. these strikes me as post minimalism, an early seventies moment

[@sinamousavion9371]

Stay on it and it gets better!

[@user-rj3om6yv2m]

Superb piece, wonderfully well performed. Great post. Thank you.

[@pedroms720]

heck yeah this is beautiful

[@janicecook8864]

Beautiful yes, recalling hot nights and thousands of cicadas chirruping.

[@robmeehan1]

My introduction to Eastman was his rendering of Maxwell Davies "Eight Songs for a Mad King": he truly set the standard for that work. Then his work with Meredith Monk. I would have loved this back then (and now). So regretful we can't hear how his music would have evolved with time. Thanks for posting. Though not really minimalism, MC Maguire has a really interesting work in progress posted here on YT that might be interesting to folk who like this.

[@scoreless.thru.23]

Amazing.

[@jaguarvssnake]

I was there! Thanks so much for posting.

[@priyancamcsoselisa7361]

killer performance

[@sfujiwara7518]

Stunning

[@TheRaverent]

Just the right freqnecy, always good to hear this one gain and again

[@JoricioCagel]

wow, really beautiful! a good companion to steve reich's music for eighteen musicians.

[@philnovack-gottshall5138]

At 52:30, the pianist starts playing the Irish folk song Slane, known in many hymnals as "Be Thou my vision" or "Lord of all hopefulness". Not sure what the meaning is, but fits the pentatonic scales used in this section well. Overall, this is one of the best performances I've heard. I'd have loved to hear it live.

[@bluetv6386]

It is the moment when he thought "Fuck it!! I need a TUNE!!!"

[@philnovack-gottshall5138]

@@bluetv6386 Not an expert on Eastman's notation, but the score (e.g. issuu.com/scoresondemand/docs/femenine_57875 ) only provides a general outline of the work. Nearly all of what's played is improvised by the players. So I'm pretty sure the pianist is the one who decided to play the hymn. (The score at 55:50 does seem to encourage a "melody" around this moment in "key" of E-flat6, but there's no melody notated.)

[@bluetv6386]

@@philnovack-gottshall5138 thanks for the link Phil. My post was meant as a (poor, no doubt to some) joke but reading the score it seems I may unwittingly have had a point. Jury still out on this one for me.
Thanks again.

[@robbyr9286]

@@philnovack-gottshall5138 Thanks for the resource!

[@nicolasmoore6220]

@@philnovack-gottshall5138 ive heard people break into that in every performance ive heard of this piece

[@garethjones5302]

What a treat and even better now I have so much more to discover. Thank you

[@sacredcloud23]

Excellent.

[@virginiamaksymowicz9325]

I remember Julius when he played in and conducted the Brooklyn Philharmonia's CETA Orchestra, as part of the Cultural Council Foundation Artists Project, which was funded through the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.

[@mikechilds4085]

Did you get to meet with him?

[@virginiamaksymowicz9325]

@@mikechilds4085 I only met him in passing at concerts or on payday. However, my husband was on the CCF documentation team and he met Julius, and photographed him.

[@christophermcintyre8814]

O how the NYC musician community would benefit from a new CETA program!

[@brishenviaud8745]

This is so beautiful, thank you for sharing!

[@benjamin9901]

Great piece and performance

[@arpeggiatorchock2707]

i think this is really good

[@robertwithers343]

the slow pans across the stage so smooth the whole piece could be composed of these though that might be hard to cut

[@timsayes8814]

Somehow failed to come across this for way too many years. A rival to Music for 18 Musicians as my favorite 20th century composition.

[@machida5114]

This is proper minimalism.

[@sergioazevedo7390]

Great piece, this composer must be put again in music history!

[@thestupidfreakingcow]

THE APPLAUDS AT THE END STARTLED THE LIVING BEBUS OUTTA ME BUt otherwise well done

[@shreklover4202]

E

[@dimitrigerakios1939]

0:42 10:10

[@lasseklasse5027]

?

[@markuswenninger2141]

Sedative,really really awful.

[@mobith]

lol

[@s3xyn0sfera2]

Amazing performance and piece but also the guy playing vibraphone 😳

[@doggydog_superpuppyboy]

And the guy playing cello😋