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[Compositions by Dan Plonsey]
- Moving About, Humming, Still Our Flowers are Blooming, Under the Old Portcullis
Wise King Taken by the Foolish One
KINGDOMS Diptych
Kingdom...
5 a : one of the three primary divisions into which natural
objects are commonly classified -- compare
ANIMAL KINGDOM,
MINERAL KINGDOM,
PLANT KINGDOM
b : a
major category (as Plantae or Protista) in biological
taxonomy that ranks above the phylum and is the highest
and most encompassing group
-- Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
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Dan Plonsey writes:
From 1999-2001, I have been at work upon a pair of sister compositions:
Moving About, Humming, Still Our Flowers are Blooming, Under the Old Portcullis
and:
Wise King Taken by the Foolish One.
These two works comprise Volume 2 of the set of ``Music from El Cerrito,''
as performed by
Daniel Popsicle and written by myself
(Dan Plonsey).
In short, these two pieces are "about" kings and kingdoms,
plants and animals, good and evil, and the distinctive features of El Cerrito,
California, if any. They are about the primary or great division
of living natural objects into the animal and plant kingdoms,
and aspects of
history which may be considered as developments in relations between
these kingdoms, beginning with the ongoing fallout from the initial separation.
This music is also (more explicitly in Wise King) about relations
between certain pairs of both political and conceptual kingdoms which are
metaphorically linked to those of plants and animals, e.g., the
battles of "wise" versus "foolish" which play themselves out
in so many arenas -- vast and miniscule -- throughout the world.
Lengthier Essays on Kingdoms of Music, Plants and Animals
Current Status
Moving About, Humming, Still Our Flowers are Blooming, Under the Old Portcullis,
for musicians and miniature tableau ensemble,
has had one
partial performance
(introduction plus sections A through E; no tableaux), and one
full performance, including tableaux,
(of which a private CDR exists, recorded by Michael Zelner),
and also exists as a studio recording (recorded to 16-track analog tape in
two sessions by Myles Boisen), mixed, mastered, and considered finished at
version three, which includes a remix of section L by Robert Horton.
This recording is now available on the UNlimited Sedition label
as of 04/04/04.
Wise King Taken by the Foolish One
has only had sections performed at Yoshi's, of which a couple appear
on the CD "Jazz at Yoshi's" which is available as foxglove 086 from
Digitalis.
It was recorded to 16-track analog tape
Jan 26, 27, 2002, by Myles Boisen, and is also available as of 09/09/06 from
UNlimited Sedition.
For more information, send e-mail to:
Dan Plonsey.
