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Violinist Austin Wulliman is one of the busiest figures in Chicago’s bustling contemporary classical music scene these days, working endlessly as a member of envelope-pushing groups like Spektral Quartet and Ensemble Dal Niente, in addition to countless, unnamed short-term collaborations. On Friday night at Defibrillator Gallery he’ll show off another such partnership, although this one has quietly been developing for a year. “Diligence Is to Magic as Progress Is to Flight” is a project he’s been working on with bassoonist and composer Katherine Young that on its surface features three works for solo violin, another for solo viola, and a final work for violin and chamber orchestra, but in reality, there’s more to it, although I’m still a bit overwhelmed by the methodology myself.
Below you can check out an earlier version of the chamber piece, recorded in May at Northwestern University, where the tactile, improvised lines of Wulliman deliver a spine-tingling, provocative relationship with the chamber sounds, flush with extended technique and strident textures. Note, however, that this piece has been steadily developing and I’m betting that the version presented Friday will bear only scant similarity to this version, especially considering the immersive qualities of the multichannel setup.
