Lisa Goethe-McGinn, flute; Kyle Bruckmann, oboe; Matt Bauder, Jesse Gilbert, Paul Hartsaw, Laurie Lee Moses, Todd Munnik, Aram Shelton, reeds; Todd Margasak, Nathaniel Walcott, trumpets; Jeb Bishop, Nick Broste, trombones; Megan Tiedt, tuba; Carol Genetti, voice; Nathaniel Braddock, John Shiurba, guitars; Jen Paulson, viola; Chris Hoffman, Drew Morgan, violoncellos; Kyle Hernandez, Elizabeth Kennedy, Jason Roebke, contrabasses; Steve Butters, Jerome Bryerton, Tim Daisy, percussion; Jim Baker, piano/synthesizer; Scott Rosenberg, conductor
The orchestra's main power lies in its ability to consume and transport the listener. The sheer tonnage of vibrations generated by a large ensemble cannot be replicated or approximated by mere volume or electronic reproduction. The raw acoustic phenomena of twenty-or-more instruments working together in a single space to form a single sound entity is a radical and unmatchable kinetic force. To then add improvisation to the orchestral palette, and the implications that are posed by spontaneous music generation, is to knowingly step completely outside of the institutional orchestral tradition. It is, however, to enter into another tradition established by such pioneers as Earle Brown, Morton Feldman, Anthony Braxton, Leo Smith, Muhal Richard Abrams, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, and so on. －Scott Rosenberg
Scott Rosenberg (b 1972) is a multi-reed player and composer focused on creating a body of work that blends experimental composition with free improvisation. Creative Orchestra Music, Chicago 2001 is the second recording of his dark-hued, richly layered orchestral works. Rosenberg conducts a 26-piece ensemble, largely comprised of leading lights of Chicago's new-music scene, in six compositions－Tehr, Wash, 7x with Sttm, Forgetting Song, and Toys－that incorporate elements of improvisation, including conducted improvisations in some sections.
Albums like Braxton's classic Creative Orchestra Music 1976, the large-band work of Abrams, and the improv-dominated transmissions of the Globe Unity Orchestra can all register as antecedents to Rosenberg's music in disparate ways, each using composition and improvisation in different measures. William Parker's and Barry Guy's orchestras suggest that the creative orchestra is still alive and well, but, unlike those composers, Rosenberg is more willing to let go of the jazz vocabulary while retaining its improvisational energy and edge, giving his rigorous writing an often-changing complexion.
