4 pianos x the dissonant compositions of a visionary minimalist

Kukuruz Quartet plays Julius Eastman (curated by Keeley Forsyth)

Julius Eastman (1940 – 1990)
Composer, pianist, and singer Julius Eastman (US) gained prominence primarily in the experimental music scene of the 1970s and 1980s. Eastman's kindred spirits included John Cage, Morton Feldman and Petr Kotik, in other words, a who's who of (American) experimentalism at the time. Nevertheless, Eastman's work fell into oblivion within a few years of his untimely death.

He described his compositions as his bad boys with titles - think: N****r Faggot, Dirty N****r, or Gay Guerilla - that were often provocative. He collaborated with Meredith Monk, Arthur Russell and Pierre Boulez among others.

The publication of the book Gay Guerrilla: Julius Eastman and His Music (University of Rochester Press, 2016) was a turning point in the recognition of his work. Lorraine James (see her BRDCST passage in 2024) released the Eastman-inspired album Building Something Beautiful for Me in 2022.

Kukuruz Quartet plays Julius Eastman
The Swiss Kukuruz Quartet (CH) was formed in 2014 and musically straddles the boundary between classical music, jazz and improvisation. A defining moment in their career was their performance in 2017 at the 14th edition of the leading international art exhibition documenta. Kukuruz (loosely translated as ‘corn’) Quartet played Julius Eastman's compositions Evil N****r, Gay Guerrilla, Buddha and Fugue no. 7 on four grand pianos. The result was a standing ovation.

This in turn resulted in the 2018 album Julius Eastman Piano Interpretations, which was named Best Classical Album by the Boston Globe and Album of the Year 2018 by New York City Jazz Records. A nice detail: the liner notes were provided by the influential composer George E. Lewis, also a contemporary of Eastman. Lewis: “This brilliant recording by the Kukuruz Quartet constitutes an important new contribution to the growing corpus of performances of music by Julius Eastman.”

For the first time in history – thank you, curator Keeley Forsyth! – Eastman's compositions Evil N****r and Gay Guerrilla will be heard within the walls of AB.

Line up:
Philip Bartels: piano
Duri Collenberg: piano
Simone Keller: piano
Lukas Rickli: piano