June 8, 1981 - NMA SF - Julius Eastman "The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc" played by the Arch Ensemble
New Music America San Francisco, June 8, 1981
The Arch Ensemble performs Julius Eastman’s The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc
Program description of the Arch Ensemble:
The Arch Ensemble was founded in 1977 by Robert Hughes and Tom Buckner in response to the need for a West Coast performing group embodying one of each symphonic instrument. Such groups have existed since World War II in Europe and more recently in New York and Chicago in response to the need of contemporary composers to have the maximum possibilities of color without the prohibitive cost of a symphony orchestra. To this date, there has been no permanent group of this size on the West Coast. The Arch Ensemble’s purpose has been to respond to the unique musical personality of the San Francisco Bay Area. To the traditional performing group described above, the Arch Ensemble added extensive electronics particularly through the performance participation of Don Buchla.
In its 4th season the Arch Ensemble is coming close to its goal of promoting new works, working intimately with composers, and bridging the gap between the techniques of the past and the expressions of today.
Many of the works that the ensemble performs are experimental, of mixed media and stylistically varied.
ARCH ENSEMBLE:
Dan Nobuhiko Smiley, violin - Betsy London, viola - Ami Radunskaya, cello - Mel Graves, bass - Rae Imamura, piano - Beverly Bellows, harp - Norman Pinck, percussion - Ward Spangler, Percussion - Patrice Hambelton, flute - Robin May oboe - William Wohlmacher, clarinet - Greg Barber, bassoon - George Mealy, French horn - David Burkhart, trombone - Tom Buckner, tenor, co-music director, Robert Hughes, conductor, co-music director, Diane Stone, manager
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Mary Jane Leach’s profile on Julius Eastman from her website and the story of the recovery of the long lost version, an excerpt from Gay Guerrilla: Julius Eastman and his Music, a collection of biographical and musical essays, co-edited by Renée Levine Packer and Mary Jane Leach. University of Rochester Press.
https://www.mjleach.com/eastman.htm
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Julius Eastman – The Holy Presence of Joan of Arc for cello ensemble
Program profile of Julius Eastman
y2b version posted by Orchard Enterprises service with Maureen Hynes · Abby Newton · Julie Green · Sarah Carter · Barry Gold · David Sabee · Christine Gummere · Chase Morrison · Larry Rawdon · Jodi Beder
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Live version on January 25, 2017 posted on y2b by “Mondayeveningconcert”: Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc performed by Davóne Tines, baritone
The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc'(1981) (Transcription by Clarice Jensen, 2016) performed by ECHOI (from left to right): TJ Borden, cello Seth Parker Woods, cello Judith Hamann, cello Jennifer Bewerse, cello Ashley Walters, cello Derek Stein, cello Timothy Loo, cello Eric Byers, cello Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, cello David Mason, cello Jonathan Hepfer, conductor
Recorded live in Zipper Hall at the Colburn School
Looking Glass Arts live during the pandemic version posted on y2b:
Cellists from left to right: Nathanial "Ace" Taylor, Seth Parker Woods (music director), Christine Lamprea, Hannah Collins, Titlayo Monique Ayangade, Dara Hankins, Michael Haas, Melody C. Giron, Kamyron Williams, Tomeka Reid
Audio only, recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall on August 17th 2021 as part of the BBC Prom festival, posted by y2b user “MinimalEffort”:
The Manchester Collective y2b description: “The Manchester Collective performs a new transcription for string orchestra of Julius Eastman's 1981 composition The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc, originally written for 10 cellos. The rhythmic theme which opens the piece and appears throughout is derived from Patti Smith's controversial 1978 song Rock N Roll Nigger. Previously surviving only in an FM radio recording, the piece was painstakingly transcribed by Clarice Jensen in 2018 and has since been performed by numerous ensembles.” The y2b also has a link to the score:
https://issuu.com/scoresondemand/docs/holy_presence_joan_arc_61602
Posted by Douglas Buchanan, director Music at St. David's on y2
Featured violoncellists: Molly Aronson, Evanghelina Ciobanu, Wade Davis, Autumn England, Joseph Gotoff, Lavena Johanson, Peter Kibbe, Jacques-Pierre Malan, Toby Morris, Alexander Wu
February 19, 2023 at St. David's Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Maryland
Concerto Chamber Orchestra (Student Symphony Orchestra of USC) y2b posting from November 2020 - no further details but lots of impressionistic photography
Shani Diluka excerpt from piano transcription, posted by Warner Music service on y2b:
Company Christoph Winkler recording posted on y2b in June 2020, performed by the Zafraan Ensemble, with no further details:
Full concert of works by Julius Eastman by the Münchener Kammerorchester, performed March 2022.
Works performed include Prelude to The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc, The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc (version for string orchestra), Buddha (version for string orchestra by Philip Bartels, 2022), Fugue no. 7. Evil Nigger, Gay Guerrilla with the Kukuruz Quartet: Philip Bartels, piano; Duri Collenberg, piano; Simone Keller, piano; Lukas Rickli, piano
Ensemble 20/21 posted by the Curtis Institute of Music on March 23, 2021
Remote pandemic version - Prelude performed by Patrick Wilhelm, baritone
John Lee, Jiayin He, Albert Seo, Nygel Witherspoon, Francis Carr, Matthew Christakos, Hun Choi, Yoonsoo Yeo, Sai Sai Ding, Jiyeon Kim
Posted by “Concert of Our Skins” y2b channel with this description:
Performed live October 27, 2019 at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston as part of Castle of our Skins's Secret Desire to Be Black concert. "Secret Desire to Be Black" welcomed cellist Seth Parker Woods in Castle of our Skins's Gardner debut in a program featuring Alvin Singleton, Florence Price, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. With choreographer Kyle Marshall, we presented Julius Eastman's ten cello work The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc with original choreography, a feat that has not occurred since its premier in 1981. Cellos Nathaniel Taylor, Seth Parker Woods, Rhonda Rider, Patrice Jackson-Tilghman, Leo Eguchi, Joshua Gordon, Stephen Marotto, Francesca McNeeley, Javier Caballero, Jeremey Harman Kyle Marshall Choreography Dancers Oluwadamilare Ayorinde, dancer Bria Symoné Bacon, dancer Kyle Marshall, choreographer
Clarice Jensen’s new arrangement as performed at The Kitchen by ACME, from a vimeo recording, linked here:
https://www.claricejensen.com/projects/julius-eastman-the-holy-presence-of-joan-darc/
The true completist collector might want to hear this, but it’s kind of disappointing - Charles Amirkhanian and his guest Han Reitziger (who attended the world premiere of the work at the Kitchen) set out to discuss The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc but apart from Amirkhanian wishing it was as loud as Glass and Reich and both complaining about the hall’s acoustics they only provide a tease by offering a whole 43 seconds (15:39 - 16:22) from the “better” audio (“doesn’t it sound better on the recording?”). Still, archival indeed with Julius Eastman himself conducting. Hopefully if I get money to go to San Francisco I might hope to find that this version still exists!
https://archive.org/details/NMA_1981_06_18
Relevant portion of the above link:
Charles Amirkhanian: We’re going to listen to a couple –x- of uh, items from the festival. You’ve said you particularly liked ah, a piece by Julius Eastman which you heard.
Han Reitziger: Yeah. It, it – it was fascinating because it was – it has such a string ID and it was radically, it was kind of a hypnotic piece, ah. What I just heard in the hall, I think, it wasn’t played so well, I – it was very difficult to play, but you said that the recording is very well, and I’d like to listen to it. It’s just a piece what impressed me very much.
15:13 (♪ in the background)
Charles Amirkhanian: Now, this is called The Holy Presence of Joan of Arc and it’s played by ten cellists – we suggested to Julius that he amplify the cellists to make it more like a, let’s say a Phil Glass or Steve Reich…
Han Reitziger: …yeah…
Charles Amirkhanian: …kind of performance.
Han Reitziger: That should be a good [...]
Charles Amirkhanian: And in the hall, it was very weak, I heard…
Han Reitziger: To hear, yeah, too weak…
Charles Amirkhanian: …I, I didn’t…
Han Reitziger: …[...]
Charles Amirkhanian: …get that impression because I was listening on earphones behind a glass booth…
Han Reitziger: …no…
Charles Amirkhanian: …but let’s listen to a portion of it. Julius Eastman conducting his own music.
♪15:39 Julius Eastman conducting The Holy Presence of Joan of Arc (excerpt)
16:22
Charles Amirkhanian: Don’t you think it sounds better in the recording?
Han Reitziger: Oh, much better!
Charles Amirkhanian: Yeah, to have ah, closed mic effect seems to me make it work much better.
Han Reitziger: No, it – it’s much better, yes.