(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Mikel Rouse's Broken Consort (born in St. Louis in 1957, a graduate of Kansas City, and relocated to New York in 1979) is an ensemble of synthesizers, winds, guitar, and percussion that resembles a jazz band more than a chamber quartet. The album Jade Tiger contains pieces that recall early Glass for their violence and early Reich for their geometry, but the dissonances of Irving Lerner, the saxophone improvisations of Trio, and above all the aggressive percussion of 9.7,5 (the archetype of the percussion suite Quorum, which would remain one of his masterpieces and one of the first pieces to employ a sequencer) constitute a more conspicuous compromise with rock idioms. And indeed, Rouse is also the leader of Tirez Tirez, a regular band that plays Talking Heads-style trance/dance (Under The Door/ Sleep, the 1984 single) and simple pop songs (Somebody Tell Me, 1986).
Walk In The Woods (1984) is a suite of seven vignettes for chamber orchestra (synthesizer and an octet of strings and winds) that returns to Glass's energetic counterpoint to compose a series of mini-pacifist requiems (Winter In Wyoming, Hardfall), several hypnotic minimalist fanfares (Friendship '84), and a few driving neo-classical rondos in the manner of Nyman (the title track and Airland 2000).
A Lincoln Portrait, once again modeled on song form and jazz-rock idioms, is perhaps his most imaginative and passionate work.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
Rouse's main achievements were the operas
Balboa (1981);
Glass Bead Game (1983), based on the Herman Hesse novel;
Failing Kansas (1994), based on Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood", which introduced "counterpoetry," a technique wherby several tapes of unpitched vocals are layered to produce a polyrhythmic effect;
Dennis Cleveland (1996), which introduced the format of the television talk-show to musical theater;
and
The End Of Cinematics (2002).
Living Inside Design (New Tone, 1994) is a 1994 cycle of leaders that demonstrate "counterpoetry".
Other significant compositions include:
Quartet (1981) for three violins and double bass;
Autumn In New York (1982), Red 20 (1984) and American Nova (1985) for orchestra;
Colorado Suite (1984) for violin and electronics;
Book One (1986), a cycle of string quartets;
the song cycle Set The Timer - Uptight (1986);
the piano suite Two Paradoxes Resolved (1989);
Hope Chest (1991) for chamber quartet;
Copperhead (1992) for electric quartet;
Kiss Him Goodbye (1993) for voices and electronics;
Soul Menu (1993) repetitive minimalist music for chamber ensemble;
Autorequiem (1994), for string orchestra, percussion and "counterpoetry;
Return (1999), a collection of songs based on samples from his quartets;
etc.
The American Dream (Exit, 1999)
contains songs from The End Of Cinematics (1997).
Cameraworld (Exit, 2001) contains Body and Soul, When You Turn Your Face On, etc.
Funding (Exit, 2002) is a composition for cinema verite' and chamber orchestra documenting ordinary life in New York.
"The Demo" (2015) is an opera about a legendary software demo by computer
scientist Doug Engelbart, an opera composed by Ben Neill & Mikel Rouse.
