Music with Bass

Armour Square Vespers & Ill Tempered Lancaran

Composed by: Nathaniel Braddock (b.1971)

These two pieces reference, directly and indirectly, traditional Indonesian music. The prelude, "Armour Square Vespers," is wash of microtonal chords drawn from the Javanese pelog tuning.... listen »

Electric Counterpoint

Composed by: Steve Reich (b.1936)
Adapted by: Felix Salazar

Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint is one of the foremost pieces written for electric guitar ensemble. Although the original requires thirteen parts (11 guitars and 2 basses), this adapta... read more »

Imagined Overtures

Composed by: Frank J. Oteri (b.1964)

We add a drummer to perform Oteri's microtonal rock suite. The original is for two guitars, bass, and drums. With the added power of the octet, we are able to bring a new heaviness to these thr... listen »

Ladrang Siyem

Composed by: Traditional Javanese
Adapted by: Ben Harbert

In a feat of musical globe-trotting, "Ladrang Siyem" is a 1929 adaptation of a Western-influenced Thai tune – "Sanrasoen Phra Barami" – that has been reclaimed on el... read more »

Octet for Wind Instruments

Composed by: Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Adapted by: Ben Harbert

Originally written for flute, clarinet, bassoons, trumpets, and trombones, Igor Stravinsky’s Octet for Wind Instruments has been arranged for five electric guitars, one bass guitar, one bar... read more »

Octet, Op.11

Composed by: Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Adapted by: Ben Harbert, Felix Salazar

We'll never know if Dmitri Shostakovich would have written for electric guitar, but this arrangement of his double string quartet makes you wonder if he would have found voice for his early wor... listen »

Organ Sonata in F minor

Composed by: Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1874)
Adapted by: Ben Harbert

The organ and the electric guitar have a lot in common: the physical distance between the played instrument and the sound source; the range of possible effects (organ stops and guitar pedals); the... listen »

Romance

Composed by: Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996)
Adapted by: Felix Salazar

With a body of piano work that spans 43 years, “Romance” (1949), is the earliest surviving piece by Toru Takemitsu. Unknown and unheard during his lifetime, it prefaces what would becom... read more »

Suite Mundial

Composed by: Randall Kohl (b.1960)
Adapted by: Ben Harbert, Felix Salazar

"Balinesa: El canto de los changos" and "Javanesa: Danza dorada del gamelán" are two short movements from Randall C. Kohl’s Suite Mundial. Both pieces are influence... listen »

The Fog

Composed by: Jonathan Guillen (b.1979)

Written for Los Angeles Electric 8, "The Fog" is a mysterious cloud through which phrases emerge and fade away. It employs aleatoric techniques, using random procedures in the generation... read more »