The Happy End Problem

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The Happy End Problem
Studio album by Fred Frith
Released	2006
Recorded	2003
Genre	Experimental rock
Label	Fred Records (UK)
Producer(s)	Fred Frith
Fred Frith chronology
Impur (2006)	The Happy End Problem (2006)	–

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 pieces composed in 2003 by Frith "for flute, bassoon, gu zheng, percussion, violin and electronics" ^[1] and was performed and recorded in 2003.

Contents 1 Background 2 Track listing 3 Personnel 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Background

The two pieces on the album, composed for small ensembles of six and seven musicians, were commissioned in 2003 by choreographer Amanda Miller for two dances for her The Pretty Ugly Dance Company.

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, Kiku Day was a student of Frith's at Mills College in the United States, and he constructed "Imitation" around her playing.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Imitation" (Frith)
   • "Ukon"
   • "Kira"
   • "Kio"
   • "Tan"
   • "Shi O"
   • "Beni"
   • "Kasumi"
   • "Sumi"
   • "Hanabira"
2. "The Happy End Problem" (Frith)

[edit] Personnel

• Fred Frith – all instruments except those listed below
• Patrice Scanlon – electronics
• Carla Kihlstedt – violin
• William Winant – percussion
• Kiku Day – shakuhachi
• Wu Fei – gu zheng

[edit] References

1. ^ Frith, Fred. Fred Frith compositions. Fred Frith homepage. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.

[edit] External links

• The Happy End Problem at All Music Guide
• Fred Frith discography

v • d • e    Fred Frith
Bands
Art Bears • Henry Cow • Keep the Dog • Massacre • Skeleton Crew Death Ambient • Fred Frith Guitar Quartet • French Frith Kaiser Thompson Aksak Maboul • Material • Naked City
Solo discography
Guitar Solos (1974)  •  Gravity (1980)  •  Speechless (1981)  •  Live in Japan (1982)  •  Cheap at Half the Price (1983)  •  Quartets (1994)  •  Eye to Ear (1997)  •  Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire (1999)  •  Clearing (2001)  •  Prints (2002)  •  Eye to Ear II (2004)  •  Eleventh Hour (2005)
Music for Dance:  The Technology of Tears (1988)  •  Allies (1996)  •  The Previous Evening (1997)  •  Accidental (2002)  •  The Happy End Problem (2006)
Soundtracks:  The Top of His Head (1989)  •  Step Across the Border (1990)  •  Middle of the Moment (1995)  •  Rivers and Tides (2003)
Composer only:  Pacifica (1998)  •  Freedom in Fragments (2002)  •  Impur (2006)
Related articles
Fred Frith discography  •  Fred Records