The Happy End Problem

Infobox Album
Name = The Happy End Problem
Type = Studio album
Artist = Fred Frith


Background = orange
Released = 2006
Recorded = 2003 and 2004
Genre = Experimental rock
Length = 51:13
Label = Fred (UK)
Producer = Fred Frith
Reviews =
*Piero Scaruffi (6.5/10) [http://www.scaruffi.com/vol3/frith.html link] | Last album = "Impur"
(2006)
This album = "The Happy End Problem" (2006)
Next album = "Back to Life" (2008)
Misc = Extra chronology 2
Artist = Fred Records
Type = Studio
Last album = "Impur" (2006) Fred Frith (RēR/FRFC 01)
This album = "The Happy End Problem"
(2006)
Fred Frith
(RēR/FRA 05)
Next album = "The Technology of Tears" (2008) Fred Frith (RēR/FRO 11)

"The Happy End Problem (Music for Dance volume 5)" is a studio album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, and was the fifth of a series of Music for Dance albums he made. It comprises two suites composed in 2003 by Frith "for flute, bassoon, gu zheng, percussion, violin and electronics" [ cite web |url=http://www.fredfrith.com/notes.htm |title=Fred Frith compositions |work=Fred Frith homepage |first=Fred |last=Frith |accessdate=2007-03-06 ] and was recorded in 2003 and 2004.

A reviewer at "Sea of Tranquility" summed up the album with the following comment: [ cite web |url=http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=4861 |title=Frith, Fred: The Happy End Problem |work=Sea of Tranquility |first=Richard |last=Barnes |accessdate=2007-04-24 ] :"Overall two highly accomplished and fascinating pieces of music, more perhaps for the classical enthusiast than the progger."

Background

The two suites on the album, "Imitation" and "The Happy End Problem" were composed by Frith for small ensembles of six and seven musicians. They were originally commissioned in 2003 by choreographer Amanda Miller for two dances for her The Pretty Ugly Dance Company. Both suites premiered at the Stadttheater in Freiburg, Germany, "The Happy End Problem" in May 2003 and "Imitation" in April 2004.

In "The Happy End Problem" Frith drew on elements from Igor Stravinsky's 1910 ballet, "Firebird Suite". "Imitation" focused on Oriental elements and played on the Western world's perception of Japan. At the time, the shakuhachi player, Kikutsubo Day was a student of Frith's at Mills College in the United States, and he constructed "Imitation" around her playing.

Track listing

#"Imitation"
##"Ukon" (Frith) – 6:18
##"Kira" (Frith) – 5:37
##"Kio" (Frith, Scanlon) – 2:33
##"Tan" (Frith, Scanlon) – 3:05
##"Shi--o" (Frith) – 1:33
##"Beni" (Frith) – 3:52
##"Kasumi" (Frith) – 2:15
##"Sumi" (Frith) – 1:12
##"Hanabira" (Frith, Scanlon) – 3:48
#"The Happy End Problem" (Frith) – 21:00

Personnel

*Fred Frith – guitar, bass guitar, laptop instruments
*Kikutsubo Day (1-9) – shakuhachi
*Carla Kihlstedt – violin
*William Winant – percussion
*Theresa Wong (1-9) – cello
*Patrice Scanlon – electronics, clarinet
*Sheela Bringi (10) – flute
*Heather Vorwerck (10) – cello
*Wu Fei (10) – gu zheng

ound and artwork

*"Imitation" recorded at Guerrilla Recordings, Oakland, United States, February 2004
*"The Happy End Problem" recorded at Guerrilla Recordings, Oakland, United States, February 2003
*Engineered, mixed and mastered by Myles Boisen
*Artwork by Tom Kurth

References

External links

*amg | id = 10:bpe097eykrrt | label = "The Happy End Problem"
*Discogs release | name = The Happy End Problem | id = 1269389 .
* [http://home.arcor.de/nyds-exp-discogs/frith.htm Fred Frith discography]