OSNAT NETZER: DOT : LINE : SIGH Debut Album Out February 2 On New Focus Recordings

Dot : Line : Sigh, the debut recording by Chicago-based composer/performer Osnat Netzer, will be released Friday, February 10 on New Focus Recordings.

The album features an exceptional roster including Ensemble Dal Niente, Mivos Quartet, ~Nois saxophone quartet, flutist Eric Lamb, soprano Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, violist Doyle Armbrust, saxophonist Geoffrey Landman, and others, plus the composer herself on piano. The seven-track album will be available both digitally and on CD.

A decade in the making, this album showcases music composed from 2014 onward, marking a period in which Netzer underwent a transformative artistic and aesthetic shift. The works on Dot : Line : Sigh reflect her involvement in the world of cognitive linguistics and music cognition, drawing inspiration from the physicality of motion.

Each piece is uniquely tailored to the capabilities of her performers, taking into account their sensibilities, physicality and improvisational inclinations. The resulting works are deeply personal and personalized, visceral and dynamic. At the same time, her music is infused with a lively wit and a keen sense of the absurd.

To mark the release, Netzer will perform music from Dot : Line : Sigh with saxophonist Geoffrey Landman and violist Michael Hall at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago on Saturday, February 10 (7pm). In addition, ~Nois will perform their track on the album, I AM f-ing ZEN. There will be refreshments, including cocktails and mocktails created for the occasion by Hunter Bockes of ~Nois, and an exhibition by artist Ayala Netzer, the composer's sister, who designed the album's cover.

ESS is located at 5925 Ravenswood Ave. Tickets are $15, including a free copy of the CD, and can be purchased here.

 

Dot : Line : Sigh is an exploration of motion, embodiment, and states of being, with Netzer's distinctive compositional voice leading the way. "Though the pieces differ in musical language and aesthetics, they all share the tropes of a punctuated sustain (Dot-Line) and many forms of pitch bends, glissandi, and stylized portamenti (Sigh)," says Netzer.

"Dot - Line creates a certain expectation, a growth, and Sigh somewhat breaks that expectation, or suggests that the sigh is the next stage in that growth. While there's something objective and simple in Dot - Line, Sigh pertains to the embodied, to the breath. It sheds an embodied interpretation on the preceding words."

The album begins with a conversation between woodwinds and strings on They bury their dead with great ululations. First meeting in a shared sonic space, the musical conversation then ventures to a place where woodwinds and strings no longer have common language. Woodwinds converse in breaths and strings respond with pizzicatos. This oscillation between the cohesive and disjunct ensemble paints a vivid picture of the relationship of grief and joy, how they oppose each other while also sharing a profound connection.

A combination of abstract vocals and theatrical instrumentals set the stage for the track, I won't be outrun by a cavalry of snails, performed by Ensemble Dal Niente. The nonsensical text (by Netzer) imparts meaning through its very lack of logic. The quick-paced transition from one affect to another add another layer of mad-hatter-style comedy. In this musical fantasy world, semantic meaning remains elusive with meaning to be found only in the absurdity of the human condition.

In I AM f-ing ZEN, a piece for saxophone quartet written in response to the Covid pandemic, a short musical idea metamorphoses over time, mutating from one state to another over time like the progression of a virus. Likewise, the juxtaposition of major and minor triads showcased in the piece's main theme evokes the feelings of confinement and stress that accompanied the pandemic.

On away dream all away, the album's closing track, a groovy flute line, inspired by Australian neo-soul band Hiatus Kaiyote, contrasts against the soprano and viola in a unique combination of styles, textures and rhythmic ideas.

Other pieces on the album include Contrapose, a piece for violin and piano, which is deeply inspired by body work, particularly yoga; Pillars, for alto saxophone and piano, in which Netzer contemplates the 'pillars' of her compositional practice; and Schertch (scherzo sketch), for string quartet and alto flute, a lighthearted piece with exaggerated Haydnesque humor.

Osnat Netzer (os-NAHT NET-zer) is a composer, performer and educator. Osnat creates her compositions collaboratively, tailoring her work to the performer's sensibilities, physicality and improvisational inclinations. She takes inspiration from cognitive linguistics, and in dialogue with the embodied experience of physical forces, such as potential and kinetic energy, resulting in compositions that are rich in musical languages and connected to the fulsome pursuit of tension and relaxation.

Born in Haifa, Israel, Netzer studied composition and piano at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where her primary composition teacher was Menachem Zur. She came to the United States in 2003 for graduate studies in composition with Robert Cuckson at Mannes school of Music and continued her studies with Lee Hyla at New England Conservatory, where she earned her doctorate in 2011. In 2019, she joined the faculty of DePaul University, where she is now Associate Professor of Composition and Musicianship.

Netzer's works have been commissioned and performed by Ensemble Dal Niente, ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), Patchwork, mezzo-soprano Lucy Dhegrae, bass David Salsbery Fry, saxophonists Kenneth Radnofsky, Doug O'Connor and Geoffrey Landman, Spektral Quartet, and Winsor Music, among many others, published by Edition Peters and earthsongs, and recorded on Bridge Records and New Focus Recordings.

Her opera, The Wondrous Woman Within, was described as “riotously funny” in The New York Times when its first scene was performed at New York City Opera's VOX festival in 2012 and “challenging and fascinating” by critic Amir Kidron when it received its World Premiere in a sold out run at Tel Aviv's Cameri Theatre in 2015.

As a pianist and performer, she regularly plays and conducts new music by fellow composers, as well as her own songs and compositions. Also a committed and passionate educator, Netzer teaches at The Walden School and has served on the faculties of New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music of Bard College and Harvard University.

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