Still composing, performing, and teaching at 91, Terry Riley is pleased to release his first album in several years. The Holy Liftoff, his ongoing collaboration with flutist Claire Chase, the JACK Quartet, and composer Samuel Clay Birmaher, is available for streaming and purchase via Sono Luminus on July 17.
Riley began composing The Holy Liftoff in 2022 on commission from Chase, as part of her acclaimed Density 2036 initiative. The piece began as an open score sketchbook, brimming with colorful drawings that were intended to be played by Chase, with any number of collaborating musicians.
Over the following two years, the sketches evolved into a multidimensional work that now combines extensive through-composed material as well as graphic notation, evocative artwork, and Riley’s signature open-form scoring that can be freely interpreted by the performers in variable durations and ensemble formations. On this album is Samuel Clay Birmaher's 60-minute realization of the work, scored for multiple flutes and string quartet and created in close collaboration with Riley, Chase, and the JACK Quartet.
“When I improvised the first 16 bars of The Holy Liftoff,” said Riley, “the melody and the chords whispered its name while simultaneously urging me to make drawings of the experience. The drawings had angels and flying creatures and all the energies were rising up into a surrealistic skyscape...This piece could only have been written for Claire Chase.”
For more information, please contact Andrew Stein-Zeller.