Cut Up with Catcher in the Rye (2015)
Cut Up with Catcher in the Rye is a setting of a poem by William S. Burroughs. I composed it for a concert of poems by Burroughs that had just been published for the first time in The Travel Agency is On Fire: Burroughs Cuts Up the Great Bards.
The Anagram Ensemble premiered it on October 16, 2015 at The Stone in New York City.
I said I he picked knew a time at random I’d walked down a few
stairs you holding onto dirty body blood leak all over your my
guts stomach overcoat all over so I could start screaming belly voice
six shot right thru his fat hairy bathroom all of a sudden I start
dripping out of the movies was committing suicide I said he picked a
time body my guts an all but I’m crazy automatic room I start pretending
to steady my nerves this blood dripping out of my pocket God blood
leaking all over I start missing everybody the song the carousel was
playing was smoke gets in your eyes hurry up the ting’s going to
start again maybe it because its around Christmas he picked a time
at random some guy’s hand on my stomach holding onto my sort of
patting me and they and them always being pervert when I8k around
more than anybody you ever met but I knew he was watching me alright
idol Maurice Antolini all of a sudden I start the movies about twenty
times since I was kid I cant stand it I don't even like to talk about
it sickened by dirty human behavior it was so putrid I couldn’t take
my eyes off it He’s a very bitter guy the brother in the mood of for
this have to admit but putrid corny leave my wallet along the thing
is the watch I mean you’d be different in some way
—William S. Burroughs, 1964
Renegade William Burroughs is known for his challenging and hallucinatory prose as well as his deeply experimental streak. He helped to pioneer the art form of Cut-Ups, repurposing of previously published materials into new art forms. In celebration of the publication of The Travel Agency is on Fire edited by Alex Wermer Colan, EiO commissioned 11 new compositions for ensemble and voice based on Burroughs' Cut-Ups of modern writers including Arthur Rimbaud, Jean Genet and F Scott Fitzgerald among others. These 11 new works were premiered by James Ilgenfritz's Anagram Ensemble featuring vocalists Megan Schubert, Amirtha Kidambi, Nathaniel Adams and Michael Douglas Jones. Burroughs' texts challenged the commissioned composers to reorganize their musical work around non-linear narratives and ideas and embrace a logic of sound and experience. Premiere performance: October 17, 2016 at the Stone, NYC. Commissioned Composers: Jason Cady, Natacha Diels, Anne Guthrie, James Ilgenfritz, Travis Just, Lukas Ligeti, Charlie Looker, Elliott Sharp, Aaron Siegel, JG Thirlwell, and Katie Young. The Travel Agency is on Fire event was produced with the support of the Center for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center. ---- Anagram Ensemble James Ilgenfritz - director, basses Brian Chase - drumset, percussion Jonathan Singer - vibraphone, percussion James Moore - guitar Pauline Kim Harris - violin Sarah Bernstein - violin Megan Schubert - soprano Amirtha Kidambi - soprano Nathaniel Adams - tenor Michael Douglas Jones - baritone Nathan Koci - conductor Anagram Ensemble integrates the performance practice of improvisers with that of a new music ensemble. Self-sufficient enterprise drove the radical experimentalism of last quarter of the 20th century, from the radical performance practices of the 70s to the post-No Wave energy of the 1980s. It is this tradition that influences the direction of the Anagram Ensemble. Rather than to simply incorporate improvisation into a concert setting, or to incorporate musical forms of concert music into an improvisational setting, Anagram designs each new project to incorporate musical and conceptual elements of multiple musical traditions, all while incorporating esoteric texts and concepts from the literary and philosophical worlds, as well as unorthodox traditions in the visual and performance art world.