Ryan Streber: Concentric

If I say that the best thing about Concentric is the performances by its musicians, that could be construed as a tactful way of downgrading Ryan Streber's abilities as a composer. Of course, such an interpretation would be inaccurate. Streber's a perfectly credible composer, and no better argument in support of the claim is needed than the recording itself, which features eight mixed chamber pieces, the earliest of them written in 2003.

Works by the Yonkers, NY-based Streber (b. 1979) have been performed by The American Composers Orchestra, The Lucerne Percussion Group, The Juilliard Orchestra, The New Juilliard Ensemble, and many others, and Streber's also produced scores for short films, designed sound for theatrical productions, and played electric guitar and percussion in bands. He also, it's worth noting, studied composition with Christopher Rouse and Milton Babbitt.

Performed by counter)induction (violinists Miranda Cuckson and Erik Carlson, violist Jessica Meyer, and cellist Karen Ouzounian), the simply titled String Quartet locates itself firmly within the string quartet tradition, advancing as it does through passages of dramatic contrast over the course of its twelve minutes. Despite its single-movement structure, the composition does enter into a hushed, quasi-improvised episode halfway through that in its quiet yet lyrical way proves to be the most memorable part of the piece. In contrast to the string-based opener, the percussion-only Cold Pastoral, an unhurried nine-minute exploration of subtle, dream-like character, is given a nuanced reading by the Line C3 Percussion Quartet (Haruka Fujii, Chris Thompson, John Ostrowski, and Sam Solomon).

The three-movement Shadow Etudes strips Streber's music down to clarinet (Ben Fingland) and viola (Jessica Meyer), an effective combination for not only the timbral contrast between the instruments but the clarity with which the interactions between them can be heard. At album's close, yMusic members Nadia Sirota (viola), Clarice Jensen (cello), and Alex Sopp (flute) tackle the three-movement Dust Shelter, which, like Shadow Etudes, satisfies for the musicians' stellar rendering of Streber's material.

Perhaps the most arresting of the album's six instrumental performances is Descent, an eleven-minute excursion executed by electric guitarist Daniel Lippel. Pastoral and delicate in its opening moments, the piece gradually broadens out when amplification and distortion boldly expand the sonorities of the instrument. Streber digs in himself on Compassinges, a richly coloured and emphatically pitched dialogue between seven interlocutors, on which his electric guitar's augmented by aggressive percussion playing, spectral wordless vocalizing, and electronically-manipulated strings.

At seventy-three minutes, Concentric provides a comprehensive portrait of the composer. Based on the evidence at hand, Streber comes across as no grand theorist or iconoclast but someone working within the music's traditions whilst also trying to impose an individual stamp upon it. As credible a composer as he is, however, it's the diversity of the performances that is Concentric's best selling point. His music benefits significantly when everything from a percussion quartet to an electric guitarist are involved in its presentation.

- January 2015

Math and music have always been intertwined. In fact, numbers pervade nearly every aspect of music—form, rhythm, meter, even intervals. But while mathematical studies such as arithmetic and algebra have often been linked with music, few composers have explored the relationship of music to geometry.

New York-based composer and audio engineer Ryan Streber is changing that.

In Streber’s new album, he experiments with a unique geometrical concept as it relates to music: concentricity. The album, titled “Concentric,” explores ideas of shape and symmetry through sound.

“The intimation through musical time of such a non-temporal idea as concentricity is something that fascinates me, as is the way in which a piece can simultaneously tell a linear narrative while still invoking a cyclical or center-oriented continuity,” Streber said. “In their own ways, all of the works on this album engage in this interplay.”

Each piece is inspired in some way by notions of concentricity, whether through symmetrical musical forms, experimentation with visual and spatial orientation (both in performance and in the stereo field), or the permutational patterns of pitch and rhythm structures used.

Streber studied composition with Milton Babbitt at Julliard, as evidenced in the modernist and experimental aspects of his work. However, he avoids characterizing his music as belonging to any particular aesthetic school, instead focusing on exploring his own musical voice by creating compositions which engage the listener in multiple ways.

Streber’s commitment to new and innovative music is further exemplified in his recording studio, Oktaven Audio. He is the engineer and owner of the studio, which specializes in classical, jazz, and acoustic music recording. In fact, Streber recorded, edited, mixed, and mastered “Concentric” himself at Oktaven.

He also enlisted the help of a few local friends in order to bring his musical vision to life. These include his close colleagues and collaborators, the New York-based ensembles counter)induction, Line C3 Percussion Quartet, and musicians of ACME and ICE, all of whom are featured as performers on the album.

The album begins with Streber’s single-movement String Quartet performed by counter)induction. The piece begins with snarling string melodies creating a dramatic and restless musical atmosphere. This tension eventually gives way to a slow and intimate middle section, which features a delicate violin melody flowing sweetly over a variety of quasi-improvised string backdrops. The music then returns to the drama and tension of the beginning, thus framing the middle section and creating a concentric musical form.

Concentricity takes on both a physical and visual form in “Cold Pastoral,” a much more ambient and translucent piece performed by Line C3 Percussion Quartet.  The piece is performed with all four musicians oriented symmetrically around a small collection of shared instruments. Each note lingers in the air long after it is played, expanding outward from the concentric circle in a series of widening sound waves.

Streber switches gears in “Compassinges,” where he explores the unique instrumentation of electric guitar, violin, viola, cello, percussion, and voice. The piece features a short song setting of A. R. Ammons’ poem, “Love Song (I).” The vocal part is an ethereal melody drifting in and out of the musical forefront, often hiding just behind the electroacoustic accompaniment. Short melodic motifs from each instrument encircle the delicate vocal part, creating a constantly shifting musical texture.

Streber’s three-movement “Dust Shelter” explores the rich timbral and textural possibilities of flute, viola, and cello. The first and third movements are an enchanting ebb and flow of different musical textures, with angular and aggressive motifs building in intensity and then flowing back to soft and peaceful melodies. The second movement features a gorgeously expressive viola cadenza, thus creating a delicate, intimate central movement framed by two bold and dynamic movements.

Streber’s “Concentric” succeeds in exploring a wide circumference of musical ideas and forms, but at its center, the album showcases his true commitment to following his own creative voice and expanding the boundaries of his musical language.

- Maggie Molloy, Second Inversion, Classical KING FM 98.1