The Living Earth Show (The San Francisco-based guitar/percussion duo of Travis Andrews and Andy Meyerson) presents the world premiere of the live version of Music for Hard Times, a collaboration with composer Danny Clay and visual artist Jon Fischer, and featuring Kaufman Music Center’s Special Music School Choir conducted by David Baker, all recorded at Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall in Feb. 2024.
Built with the aim of offering a sonic resource for comfort and calming, composer Danny Clay and The Living Earth Show created Music for Hard Times and recorded it during the COVID-19 pandemic. Experimental, adventurous, and sculptural, the eight movement work was crafted using a series of composed "Calming Strategies," recorded independently in their homes using instruments, voices, field recordings, and found objects. At times,The Strategies ask players to use their own emotional responses as a gauge, becoming meditative exercises in the process. Strategy #1, for instance, is meant to last “slightly longer than you are comfortable, or until you feel it has made a significant effect on you”; #4 suggests adding “a small sound to your environment, to remind it you’re still there.” With these open-ended text instructions, composer Danny Clay zeroes in on “the uncomplicated pleasures of making and listening to beautiful sounds” and asks a fundamental question: “Is it possible for us to use the tools of classical art music to make people feel better?”, (program notes by Timo Andres).
Listen to #4860, Living Earth Show Plays Danny Clay, Part 1
View the Music for Hard Times handmade hardcover zine
A leaf from the zine, Calming: A Book of Strategies For The Living Earth Show, & Danny Clay, & Just about Anyone Else, Really - Spring 2020
(The Living Earth Show / NYPR)
ARTIST: The Living Earth Show, Danny Clay
WORK: Danny Clay: Music for Hard Times, Book 2: Finale [5:05]
RECORDING: Music for Hard Times
SOURCE/INFO: https://tles.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-hard-times
ARTIST: The Living Earth Show, Kaufman Music Center Select Choir and Orchestra, David Baker, cond.
WORK: Danny Clay: Music for Hard Times: Book 2 [15:37]
RECORDING: New Sounds Live, Feb. 8, 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The work was recorded and is available here: https://tles.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-hard-times
ARTIST: The Living Earth Show
WORK: Danny Clay: Music for Hard Times: Book 1, 5-7 [11:27]
RECORDING: New Sounds Live, Feb. 8, 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The work was recorded and is available here: https://tles.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-hard-times
ARTIST: The Living Earth Show, Kaufman Music Center Select Choir and Orchestra, David Baker, cond.
WORK: Danny Clay: Music for Hard Times: Book 2, Epilogue [7:00]
RECORDING: New Sounds Live, Feb. 8, 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The work was recorded and is available here: https://tles.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-hard-times