July 16, 2019
Auch bei Joseph Michaels „Pleochroma“, das an diesem Abend in seinem Beisein erstmal aufgeführt wurde, kam die Leinwand zum Einsatz. Die Cellistin Céline Papion war die Solistin dieses Stücks, wobei das zeitgleich präsentierte Video eine ebenso bedeutsame Rolle spielte. Es zeigte sich bewegende, statische und solche Bilder, die zu flackern schienen, und imitierte dadurch das optische Phänomen der doppelten Lichtbrechung, die ensteht, wenn Licht durch einen Kristall scheint und dadurch in verschiedenen Farben strahlt. So lieferte Papion gewissermaßen den Soundtrack zu den Bildern und tauschte dabei zwischenzeitlich sogar ihren Bogen gegen ein Rohr aus, um den passenden Effekt zu erzielen.
The screen was also used for Joseph Michael's "Pleochroma," which was performed for the first time that evening in his presence. Cellist Céline Papion was the soloist in this piece, with the video presented at the same time playing an equally significant role. It showed moving, static and such images that seemed to flicker, thus imitating the optical phenomenon of double refraction that occurs when light shines through a crystal and thus radiates in different colors. In a sense, Papion provided the soundtrack to the images, even swapping her bow for a pipe in the meantime to achieve the appropriate effect.
Heidenheimer Zeitung
November 3, 2018
Mit viel Fantasie und unterlegt mit Musik junger moderner Komponisten wie Oliver Frick, Huihui Cheng, Lukas Huber, Steffen Krebber, Joseph Michaels und Sophie Pope, die sich allesamt elektronischer Klangwelten bedienen, spielt Papion sowohl die Instrumente, Cello und Otto, als auch den Soldaten, macht Wandlungen durch und gibt Anstöße.
With a great deal of imagination and underpinned by music by young modern composers such as Oliver Frick, Huihui Cheng, Lukas Huber, Steffen Krebber, Joseph Michaels and Sophie Pope, all of whom use electronic sound worlds, Papion plays both the instruments, cello and Otto, and the soldier, undergoing transformations and giving impulses.
Arnim Bauer, Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung
January 19, 2018
„Tom und Jerry“ als Gewaltorgie, eitler Kater mit Liszt-Begleitung
Seien es die Projektion der Partitur bei John Cages „Aria for Voice“ oder auch Joe Michaels kreative Auseinandersetzung mit dem Inhalt des berühmten „Tom & Jerry“-Cartoons „The Cat Concerto“ (1946), der auch zu sehen war. Im Original spielt der eitle Kater die „Ungarische Rhapsodie Nr.2“ von Franz Liszt mit Orchesterbegleitung, während [Jürgen Kruse] als Solo-Pianist die der „lustigen“ Trickfilmhandlung innewohnende Gewalt geradezu herauspräparierte, wodurch auch eine stimmige Klammer zum eröffnenden „The Attack“ gelang.
“Tom and Jerry” as an orgy of violence, vain tomcat with Liszt accompaniment
For something to see, there was the projection of the score to John Cage’s “Aria for Voice” or Joe Michaels’ creative confrontation with the content of the famous Tom and Jerry cartoon “The Cat Concerto” (1946). The vain tomcat plays the “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” by Franz Liszt in the original version with an orchestral accompaniment, while [Jürgen Kruse] as the solo pianist fleshed out the innate violence of the “funny” cartoon, which succeeded in making a parenthesis in mood to “The Attack” that opened the concert.
Ulrich Kriest, Stuttgarter Nachrichten
May 23, 2017
Similarly virtuosic, but about 10,000 times as loud, were the two performances of the piano duo HOCKET. Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff brought an unparalleled exuberance to their rendition of Joseph Michaels‘ Together in Perfect Harmony (2014), which mostly consisted of tone clusters bouncing up and down the keyboard. At one point both pianists, practically laughing out loud, laid their full forearms across the keyboard (shouldn’t this piece be called Fourarms?), generating such extreme hops and leaps of dissonance that it went all the way around the bend into consonance.
Rebecca Lentjes, I Care If You Listen
April 29, 2017
The highlight of the night, and indeed of the festival (so far!) was Michaels’ “Together in Perfect Harmony” played by the splendid and resourceful L.A. piano duo Hocket (Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff). Long after leaving the black cavern of The Kitchen, this piece still warms me with joy. Playing together furiously side-by-side at the keyboard, sometimes plinking keys, and most excitingly banging on the keyboard with both elbows like a pair of crazy monkeys, the piece was a rapturous expression of the pure joy that music can bring inside a person. In a word, it was FUN (and I mean those caps deliberately).
Steven Pisano, Feast of Music
March 2016
As aptly titled but a little easier on the ears is Joseph Michaels' Assembly Line, which re-assembles recordings of Kysela's soprano sax playing to mimic the repetitious operation of an automated assembly line.
Douwe Eisenga, Textura