Roulette Resident Gryphon Rue performs Motore Immobile, the obscure jewel of Italian minimalism by the violinist and composer Giusto Pio (1926-2017). Rue will be joined by Odetta Hartman and Benjamin Katz in a contemplative setting arranged for organ, piano, violin, and voice. Score creation by Mauro Hertig and Gryphon Rue.

The work’s title refers to Aristotle’s concept of the “prime mover,” the cause of all the motion in the universe, which itself is not itself moved by any prior action. Aristotle describes the mover as perfectly beautiful, indivisible, and self-contemplative with an active intelligence (Metaphysics, Book 12).

In the words of the composer:
“Imagine the rotating mechanisms of any motor: as you move from the periphery to the center, towards the pin of the wheel, the movement decreases. Thus moving towards the center of a sound decreases the dynamic sensation, until a maximum of energy is released from a maximum of static nature.” “It is like penetrating inside a Sri Yantra, the Indian visual tool meant to foster the process of meditative absorption; by using his imagination the meditator climbs through the grid composing the Yantra, in a journey of inner exploration which leads him into non-Euclidean and symbolically authentic ultra-dimensions. To get to the center of the Yantra: to that still Point (bindu) – neither flesh nor fleshless, neither arrest nor movement where past and future are gathered – that center around which the world turns and dances.” – Gianluca Magi

The work was premiered in 1978 at Italy’s Teatro Out Off by Giusto Pio (violin), Michele Fedrigotti and Danilo Lorenzini (electric organs) and Franco Battiato (voice).

They trio will also perform Pio’s piece Ananta.

A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing. Watch below or on YouTube.

Giusto Pio (1926-2017) was an Italian musician, composer and songwriter. He studied music in Venice, and later he was engaged as violinist in the RAI orchestra of Milan. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he became popular as a long-standing collaborator of singer-songwriter Franco Battiato, by whom he was initially hired as violin teacher.

Gryphon Rue (b. New York, NY) is an artist, composer, and musician. Rue’s music sweeps across forms of trance, post-minimalism, and “elastic dance,” suggesting biological actions, molecular events, psychic possession, and nourishment. Rue’s music feels like going on a trip you may have taken before, albeit not in a long, long time … his sense of dynamics and texture revealing a finely honed craftsmanship. – Pitchfork. In 2024 Rue will release an album titled 4n_Objx. He performs with Merche Blasco (North of The Future, Astral Editions), and in the audiovisual duo Rue Bainbridge, with Benton C Bainbridge. As a curator, Rue has organized numerous interdisciplinary exhibitions in institutional and non-traditional venues in New York and Marfa, TX. He is presently managing the legacy of the painter Elsa Rensaa (2024 solo exhibitions at James Fuentes Gallery LA and NY). His radio program Earmark featuring composers and sound artists is archived on Montez Press Radio. Rue’s performances have spanned international venues such as Fondazione ICA Milano, Hauser & Wirth, de Young Museum, Vector Hack Festival, Lafayette Electronic Arts Festival, Roulette Mixology festival, New Media Art & Sound Summit, Experimental Arts Intermedia, Microscope Gallery, Fridman Gallery, Qubit, No Moon, Nowadays.

Ben Katz plays early and new music on harpsichord and other keyboard instruments. He has appeared in NYC venues including BRIC, Columbia University’s St Paul’s Chapel, the Owl Music Parlor, and ISSUE Project Room where he curated two evenings featuring new music for harpsichord. Katz has performed with groups including A Far Cry, the Knights, and Tiny Glass Tavern, and Palaver Strings. He has collaborated with writer Kalliopi Mathios and composer Steve Long on a program for Montez Press Radio in 2021. In the early music realm, he has presented his work on historical musical improvisation as a guest lecturer at The New School and Stony Brook University and performed with many accomplished artists including vocalists Sophie Michaux, Ariadne Greif, and Julianne Baird, baroque violinist Julie Andrijeski, and baroque cellist Phoebe Carrai. Future projects include performances and recordings of partimenti (semi-improvised baroque keyboard works) and previously unknown and unexplored 17th and 18th keyboard and chamber music, and further performances of new music for early keyboard instruments.

Odetta Hartman (violin) is a musician & educator, born & based between downtown Manhattan & upstate NY. Alongside her sister, Camellia, she is the co-founder of the burgeoning arts community & healing homestead, Ladybug Land, located in the western Catskills. With a heart-stopping voice & wide ranging instrumental talent, Odetta Hartman carries cowboy soul into an era where country can clash with computers & bluegrass isn’t afraid of bass. Her songwriting style explores an uncanny sonic vernacular woven with badass banjos, detuned violins, field recordings, superstitious soundscapes, experimental expressions, and vocal stylings ranging from sensual to spooky. Hartman’s eclectic musical journey has garnered critical acclaim, high calibre collaborations and international touring opportunities. In addition to session recordings & live performances, she has released three solo albums: 222 [2012]- Old Rockhounds Never Die [2018] – swansongs [2023]. As a multi-disciplinary artist, Odetta has played violin in several experimental theater productions, including Heather Christian’s award-winning Oratorio For Living Things, as well as Penelope & The Blues of Achilles. She has had the pleasure of collaborating with Bard College classmate Gryphon Rue for over a decade.