no window without a wall (2022) for thirteen players (flute, oboe d’amore, clarinet, alto/baritone saxophone, horn in F, two percussionists, harp, piano, 2 violins, viola, cello) [11:15] Christopher Trapani · no window without a wall (In Memory of Jon Hassell) no window without a wall pays tribute to late trumpeter/composer Jon Hassell, who passed away last year in Los Angeles. Embracing a style he termed “Fourth World,” Hassell remixed African, Indian, and European concepts into a personal amalgam he called “a proposal for the coffee-colored classical music of the future.” Drawing on years of studying Hindustani music with Pandit Pran Nath, Hassell conceived of his compositions as essentially reproducing the classical arrangement of soloist, tabla, and tanpura — in other words: line, rhythm, and harmony — while feeling free to augment those basic parameters with synth timbres, looped samples, percussion instruments drawn from multiple traditions, and the distinctive sound of an Eventide harmonizer that turned his restrained harmon mute lines into wide waves of parallel motion. A microtonal rendition of this effect can be heard about 5 minutes into no window without a wall, against a harmonic palette colored by the harp (with certain strings detuned by a quarter-tone) and bowed strings that buzz with aluminum foil, against the backdrop of a shifting arsenal of “exotic” percussion: tabla, batá, shekere, bongos, almglocken, and (later) berimbau. Interlocked polyrhythms, inspired by Cuban clave and African timeline patterns, are heard constantly throughout the piece, first in softly alternating brushstrokes that underpin a gradually emerging microtonal mode, fragmented melodies shared by horn and cello, then oboe d’amore and viola. Wind multiphonics and untempered piano harmonics lend a metallic glint to the modal lines that eventually align with a series of descending dense treble chords. A coda featuring a tuned gong, harp multiphonics, and the berimbau offers a brief glimpse of another “possible music” full of rebounding attacks and accumulating resonance. Despite the inescapable baggage of making “world music” as a white musician in the 80’s, Hassell stands out in my view as a genuine polymath and an instinctive searcher, freely recombining from the traditions he inhabited and admired — an approach not so different from what I try to do in my own work… no window without a wall was commissioned by the Fromm Foundation and written for the Grossman Ensemble. It was premiered in Chicago on May 20, 2022 with James Baker conducting.