Dennis Báthory-Kitsz
Media Comments
- "Dennis Bathory-Kitsz is an eclectic listening station all by himself!"
--David's Eclectic Listening on mp3.com
- "Wow. Here is a wildly eclectic, erratic, difficult, staggeringly prolific contemporary composer with 500 pieces to his name. His music ranges from medieval-influenced brass quintets to elaborately staged Avant-Garde multimedia experiences. One piece is exclusively performed by an army of forty car and truck horns honking away to a score on a flatbed truck! Bathory-Kitsz also writes in a more identifiably modernist classical vein, with harp duets, oboe solos, and choral passages. Some pieces incorporate drone with classical counterpoint techniques. He's written a suite for quarter-tone violin; it sounds almost like a Western scale, but ever so different...and eerie. He's even written a chamber opera, whose regular, pounding drumbeats and choral passages evoke a witches' sabbat. Finally, he has written some works for electronic instruments, which in their repetition of vocal snippets, percussive noises, and electronic drone recall early Steve Reich. Bathory-Kitsz's music encompasses the entire European classical tradition in its scope; it's well worth the listen."
--Noah Enelow, on Listen.com
- bellyloops: "According to my personal interpretation, this is a 'field recording' of someone being chased by a chupacabra. Just when he thinks he has lost the monster and everything will be okay, it reappears suddenly and pounces and...the rest is pretty grisly, so I will leave it up to your imagination (as does the composer)."
--Rain God's Picks on mp3.com
- Brand 9 From Outer Space: "Journey to this fellow's page, and you'll find --among much else, a lot of it very tasty-- a couple of car horn symphonies, which (if I'm reading the notes correctly) were performed and conducted in a parking lot in Trenton, New Jersey, with an orchestraconsisting of... parked cars. THIS piece isn't like that. But it's real good anyway, despite the fact that the musicians are all playing actual musical instruments. And if you'd like to play along, there's a link that will allow you to download the score."
--Radio Plan 9 on mp3.com
- Car Horn Symphony No. 1: "beep beep beep. you CAN make music out of ANYTHING, anywhere."
--myra ellen moo's fluffy thingie on mp3.com
- Car Horn Symphony No. 2: "I own a CD featuring a Car Horn Organ. This is not that, not even similar in fact, but the point is that yes, car horns make perfectly good musical instruments. The evidence accumulates, in spite of the not entirely pleasant circumstances under which we often hear them. Dennis says he had a lot of fun writing this. It sounds like the players and conductor had a lot of fun. Now the only missing ingredient is YOU. Listen and I think you will have fun, too!"
--Rain God's Picks on mp3.com
- Csárdás: "Immediately compelling ... The almost demonic qualities and grand proportions of the work evoke memories of ... Franz Liszt."
--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
- Detritus of Mating: "Adding to the [Pavel Kraus at Bond Gallery] show's ambience was a sound component, an almost ecclesiastical compositon with several movements of altered voices by new-music composer and frequent Kraus collaborator Dennis Bathory-Kitsz"
--Edward Leffingwell, Art in America
"At the deepest level this music lulls and intrigues, irritates and begs your answers. Ambient for sure ... further than that, always. Growing and moving, wiggling in your ears, this sound creates a basket of safety and insecurity. Knowledge of gods and goddesses way back coming through present life."--Difficult Listening on RTR Radio, Perth
"Those addicted to the new-music radio show and Web site Bathory-Kitsz cohosts will find interest in his sound sculpture, a sample of which is caught here. Glistening tones ring in the air, bits of deconstructed voices float by, a dark bass pulse starts up that's more felt than heard, in large-scale periodic cycles that would replicate the opening if allowed to continue for some 27 years. You don't get a distinct idea of his creative personality from this first disc, but it's enjoyable how the exquisite rings continually modulate even when nothing seems to be happening." --Kyle Gann, The Village Voice
- Emerald Canticles, Below:
"There is an ethereal quality to the accompaniment resulting in an effect that is indeed surreal. But, rather than atmospheric, the work is made of clearly delineated lines that, with the work's tightly knit rhythms, lead it to a dramatic climax and coda. The new work proved difficult listening..., but ultimately fascinating."--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
"What can I say but nice music!"--Contemporary New Music Radio on mp3.com
- Eventide: "Perhaps the most colorful use of the instruments was by ... composer Dennis B&aathory-Kitsz ... the three pieces form his eight-part "Eventide" employed piccolo, small clarinet and contrabassoon. The composer explored the contrasting sounds emanating from this unusual combination in a surprisingly consonant and attractive way. The moods ranged from hauntingly beautiful to exciting."
--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
- Exequy: "A dark and powerful homage ... a strident brass shell driven from within by quieter, more complex and precise sounds."
--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
- Fanfare:Heat: "Bathory-Kitsz's "Fanfare: Heat," written for the VYO, was also complex. At some 11 minutes long, it's a short work but a lot happens. Opening brilliantly, it begins a journey, first a turgid one, then a more joyful one, building all the time to a brilliant finale. The harmonic language and rhythms were spicy and occasionally jarring, but Peters and his young players managed them with feeling. It was quite exciting."
--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
- Icecut: "He was full of energy and excitement, which would be a good way to describe his piece "Icecut," too. The music had some demanding string writing, which the players handled like a shortstop making a tough play look easy. I was really thrilled to hear such high quality music."
--David Ludwig, composer, in his blog
"It was Bathory-Kitsz's 10-minute work, commissioned by the VSO, that proved most striking. Beginning with a darkly driving force of strings, the brass introduces a haunting melody, then taken up by the strings; the strings subside, becoming a restless bed for the exuberant brass; the cellos take over, receding to a quiet but relentless agitation so a gentle woodwind melody can be heard above; the violins take over with cellos and basses continuing to provide a driving rhythm; all builds to a grand moment – then subsides and fades out. ... The work proved compelling, and its nature could easily have been inspired by Vermont's difficult winters. The work is largely tonal and accessible despite some intricate writing. But most important, its driving force – loud or quiet – compels the listener to go along for the ride, a quite exciting one."--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
- Into the Morning Rain:
Broadcast January 17, 2001, on Dutch Radio 4 Live, "A New Stage"
"A fascinating and earthy work ... its quiet drive and gentle rhythm seduced the listener into an almost primal state. Báthory-Kitsz continues to be one of the state's most fascinating and sophisticated composers."--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
"This is an A-1 Blue-ribbon piece of music. Download it!"--Psycronic Oscillations on mp3.com
- The Lily and the Thorn: "The audience warmly applauded the difficult and modern work ... after the concert, people could be heard talking about the new work throughout the hall."
--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
- LiquidBirds: "LiquidBirds proved beautiful in its sound and sound movement. ... This work, like most of the composer's, had the feel of form, and gave the listener something to hold onto. The result was beautiful music."
--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
- Llama Butter: "Nothing even comes close to the uniqueness of Llama Butter... It is a fascinating study in multi-media for the tuba... New music fans would love this work and it deserves more performances."
--Mark Nelson, Tuba Review
- LowBirds: "Wind and piano gestures flit through this 'mysterious soundscape.'"
--Chamber Music Features on mp3.com
- Mirrored Birds: "It would be possible for a 30-minute piece that lacks the formal trappings of melodic development (or even much melody at all) to be, well, boring. But Kitsz's 'Mirrored Birds' didn't strike us that way at all. ... the horns and especially the timpani were extremely busy (in a quiet way) ... the flute solo was a virtual sonic aviary of birdcall."
--The Herald of Randolph
- Mountain Dawn Fanfare: "Start your day the mountain way, with this serene fanfare for winds."
--Symphonic Features on mp3.com
- No Money (Lullaby for Bill): "A symphonic piece made entirely out of a speech by bill gates by a very talented composer."
--Recombinant Sounds on mp3.com
- Somnambula: "The best works [at the New York Avant-Garde Festival] were the biggest and the smallest... [The composer] sat far out in a field playing a recorder, accompanied by a tinny cassette machine... The effect was like a Chinese Pan."
--John Rockwell, The New York Times
- Sourian Slide:
"Sublimely beautiful is the only way to describe Sourian Slide for strings ... also heard for the first time ... it builds quietly and achieves a quiet but powerful drama with ne'er a loud note. Pretty tonal for Bathory-Kitsz, who frequently writes difficult and cutting-edge music, Sourian Slide is splendidly written."--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
"Lose yourself in this..."--Consolations on mp3.com
- Teething Rings: "A room full of screaming babies and a nanny with not enough teething rings to go around. An avant-garde 'classic' in the fluxus tradition."
--There is No Radio on mp3.com
- Thièle: "Clearly the work that stretched its audience the most was Kitsz's powerful Thičle for quarter-tone violin. [It] took some getting used to. People do get used to it: Some even thought that the slow movement was traditionally whole- and half-tone..."
--Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
- A Time Machine: "[The] composer went for broke with [the] ambitious work for nine musicians that alternates sung verse with orchestral improv, ancient sounds and avant-garde ones."
--Burlington Free Press
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to download a zipped Finale ETF file.
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to read program or lecture notes in DOC format.