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Furtive Movements: II.

from Hazy Heart Pump by Ted Hearne

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FURTIVE MOVEMENTS
notes by Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti

Furtive movements is a phrase found in many reports from the New York City Police Department: it is the most commonly cited reason individuals were detained under the Stop and Frisk policy. This phrase is striking to me, because it claims to describe a person's movements but really speaks more to the expectations of the officer observing them. The phrase conveys the assumption of guilt—furtiveness—based on appearance or demeanor in a given moment.

Ted describes impetus for the title of the piece, which explores what happens when expectations meet reality. His work Furtive Movements pairs a cellist and a drummer. In it, both musicians are set up to struggle with (and sometimes confound) the role they are “supposed” to fulfill. The cello is prepared with a wine cork between the middle two strings. This preparation distorts the sound, making it sound like a gong at times, or a shrieking cymbal at others. Meanwhile, the drummer is asked to play with expressive pitch-bending, and to voice internal lines on differently tuned toms.

Ron Wiltrout—who plays on this recording and has worked on many pieces with Ted, developing a vocabulary of sounds and gestures over the past decade—says:

It’s interesting for me to play my part and think about the physicality involved: the awkwardness of the simple gestures that sound complicated and the complicated gestures that sound simple—to have all of that in my mind and then hear Ted talk about the piece made sense in the physicality of the piece.

Furtive Movements demands scrutiny of the connection between physical gesture and apparent result. Who is making the sound, and how? What specific choices need to be made, and how does these choices reveal themselves in both players’ efforts? What are your assumptions of intentions?

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from Hazy Heart Pump, released October 25, 2019
Ashley Bathgate, cello; Ron Wiltrout, drums and percussion

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Ted Hearne Los Angeles, California

Ted Hearne is a composer, singer and bandleader.

The New York Times has praised. Hearne for his "tough edge and wildness of spirit," and "topical, politically sharp-edged works." Pitchfork called Hearne's work "some of the most expressive socially engaged music in recent memory -- from any genre." ... more

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