New Music reBlog: May 2007 Archives

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May 31, 2007

Last Night in L.A.: “Partch” plays Partch

John Schneider and his group “Partch” gave their annual REDCAT concert of Partch’s music last night. The program included Partch’s film of U.S. Highball: A Musical Account of a Transcontinental Hobo Trip (1958, film completed in 1968). The program began with the eight hitchhiker inscriptions of Barstow (1941/1943/1968); this interesting site provide clips of different performances of the first inscription. The second half of the program included rousing performances of Ring Around the Moon (1950) and Castor & Pollux (1952), both involving the seven instrumentalists in the group. The audience jumped up and called their approval at the end.

There were ten Partch instruments (in addition to the voice): the Adapted Viola (1930), the two Adapted Guitars (1935 and 1945), the Kithara (1938), the Chromelodeon (1941), Harmonic Canon (1945), Diamond Marimba (1946), HypoBass (1950), Cloud Chamber Bowls (1950) and Bass Marimba (1950).

Two of the instrumentalists, Vicki Ray and David Johnson, were key in Tuesday night’s concert by Xtet at the County Museum. For me a high point was The Four Seasons of Futurist Cuisine for orator, piano, violin and cello by Aaron Jay Kernis. (Amazon’s sound clip doesn’t include the oration, so it lacks the flavor of the piece.) The program began with three songs to Shakespeare by Stravinsky, and included three songs by John Cage and Morton Feldman’s lovely The Viola in My Life 2. Phil O’Connor, Xtet’s frequent clarinetist/saxophone, presented the premiere of his new work War Again(st) ? (T)error!, a work of several episodes which didn’t seem linked to the title but which kept active.

Originally posted by JerryZ from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

I hate your blog. You ain’t logged in in a month and a half, and I, for one, am aghast

Originally from Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

Bottoms Up

Given the lengthy relationship between music and booze, it's amazing that there hasn't been a thoroughly researched book or article on the subject and how it relates to modern composition.

Originally from NewMusicBox, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)

Glenn Gould - the ultimate download

My personal overgrown path is leading back to the radio studio, and that has set me thinking recently about how to create programmes that are distinctive, inclusive and personal.

Over in Holland the creator of Big Brother, Endemol, has its own formula for distinctive broadcasting, and this week launches De Grote Donorshow (The Big Donor Show) which gives three dialysis patients the chance to win a dying woman's kidney.

Back in 1969 Glenn Gould took a different approach to producing great broadcasting when he created his 'contrapuntal radio documentary' The Latecomers. The main subject was the new Canadian province of Newfoundland, but there was a second subject of solitude, isolation and non-conformity seen from a cultural perspective.

The Latecomers, with its basso continuo of the ocean, is both a land-mark in twentieth-century broadcasting and a seriously neglected aspect of Gould's work. Now, thanks to contributor Walt Santner, you can hear the whole documentary via an MP3 download. Walt is now back surfing the net and making gems like this available after some health problems. Welcome back Walt, and keep the treasures coming.

Genn Gould's The Latecomers runs for 53 minutes, so it takes a little time to download - click here for the MP3 file.

Now view the 'score' for The Latecomers and read more about Glenn Gould's love affair with the microphone.
Photo credit Glenn Gould archive. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)

Summer Projects 2

n listing various summer activities Im sure I neglected many....

Originally posted by Eddie Silva from SLSO Blog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 06:19 PM | Comments (0)

Music and the Self

This is a conference sponsored by ECHO, the online "music centered journal." Held at UCLA, in Schoenberg Music Building, the conference is this weekend, June 1-2. Here is the program:

Friday June 1st, 2007
Schoenberg Music Building, 1344
------------------------------------------------------------------------

3:30 pm: Check-in and Refreshments

4-6 pm: Panel I
Philip Gentry (UCLA), Chair

James Deaville (Carleton University) "Trailers Are a Film's Worst Friend: Re-Framing Moulin Rouge Through Image and Music"

Charles Carson (University of Pennsylvania) "'But Do It With Taste': Race, Class and the Origins of Smooth Jazz"

Justin Schell (University of Minnesota), "'Modern Urban Norman
Rockwells': Hip-Hop and the Twin Cities"

6 pm: Dinner Catered by ASUCLA
Ackermann 2nd Floor Lounge

8 pm: Concert by Eric Wang, harpsichordist
Location: The Rotunda, UCLA Powell Library
Featuring works by works by Froberger, Soler, Scarlatti, and Handel

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, June 2nd
Royce Hall, Conference Room 314
------------------------------------------------------------------------

9 am: Coffee and Continental Breakfast

9:15-10:45 am: Panel II
Stephan Pennington (UCLA), Chair

Lisa Musca (UCLA) "Music as a Way of Knowing: Idealism, Bessonenheit, and Subjectivity in Beethoven's Late Bagatelles"

Silvio dos Santos (Youngstown State University), "Constructing Identity: The Case of Alwa in Alban Berg's Opera Lulu"

Sean Nye (University of Minnesota), "What is Teutonic?: On the German Question Today"

11-12:15 pm: Keynote Address: Susan McClary (UCLA), "Self-ish Musicology"

12:30-2 pm: Lunch on your own

2-3:30 pm: Panel III
Kelsey Cowger (UCLA), Chair

Ryan Dohoney (Columbia University), "Feldman's Grid and Pollock's Body: Avant-garde Performance and Cold War Masculinity"

Martin Nedbal (Eastman School of Music), "Dvorak's Armida and the Czech Oriental 'Self'"

Joseph Di Ponio (SUNY-Stony Brook), "Freudian Identity and the Prism of Guattari": (De)Territorializing the Narrative of Savatore Sciarrino's Infinito Nero"

3:30-4 pm: Coffee Break

4-5:30 pm: Panel IV
Zarah Ersoff (UCLA), Chair

Jennifer Saltzstein (University of Pennsylvania), "'Ci respondit la dame': Gender and Voice in Medieval French Song Citation"

Jenny Olivia Johnson (New York University), "'Those Songs': An Acoustic Reading of Childhood Sexual Abuse"

Robert Walser (UCLA), "Musicking as Selfing: How Our Brains Lie to Us and How We Lie Back"

Originally from Musical Perceptions, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 06:19 PM | Comments (0)

Polyphonic Flute

Back when I was a flute-playing teenager I used to enjoy trying to play polyphony on my instrument. I did it by singing and playing at the same time. For a while I could play a special two-voice (or one flute and one voice) version of the exposition of the Bach C major Fugue (the one for solo violin). I remember once back in the late 1970s spending an afternoon with Robert Dick, the champion of "extended techniques" on the flute, and playing him my little parlor trick "arrangement." It occurred to me that my trick, with its close voicing, was something that he never would be able to do exactly the way I could, since the only way he could sing in the flute register (being a man) would be in falsetto. The overtones that would result from a man singing in falsetto and playing flute at the same time would be different from those of a woman singing in a comfortable register and playing.

I thought about this when a friend asked me to write a piece that he could use to help his students ease into the idea of singing and playing at the same time. I called the piece "On Such a Winter's Day" because it uses the basso ostinato from "California Dreamin" in the voice. I also thought of it while I was out walking on a cold November day. Until I heard this performance in February, I could only hear the piece (as played by me) with the vocal line being very close to the flute line, where it creates all kinds of interesting difference tones and extra-harmonic material. Keith Wright, the flutist in this performance, sings in a baritone register, making the resulting overtones very different from the ones I get. I actually prefer it with a male-register voice because of the contrast between the "pure" flute material (with polyphonic stuff written the "traditional" way by using fast arpeggios) and the vocal polyphony.

Originally from Musical Assumptions, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 06:18 PM | Comments (0)

New music, vocally speaking

On the upswing. Time Out Chicago, May 31, 2006. Dawn Upshaw sings Osvaldo Golijov's Ayre next Monday with musicians from the Chicago Symphony. Also, since it's the week of TOC's Summer Books issue, we section editors got to write 200 words about notable new books.

Also, take note of Chicago a cappella's 15th Anniversary Commissioning Project. They commissioned Chicago composer Stacy Garrop; Rollo Dilworth, a composer of many fine new spirituals, and Tania Leon for premieres next season. This large program boasts two new works from Garrop and Dilworth, and one from Leon.

Originally posted by MarcGeelhoed from Marc Geelhoed: Deceptively Simple, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 06:18 PM | Comments (0)

Side-street sunset agenda

Here comes a grand long weekend for music new and old in New York. The NOW Ensemble appears at VIM Tribeca tonight: premieres by Missy Mazzoli, Judd Greenstein, and David Crowell, slightly older works by Gregory Spears, Matt McBane, Mark Dancigers, and David Kant. Also tonight, the Emerson Quartet begins a Beethoven survey at Carnegie Hall, in the course of which the sacred sixteen quartets will be coupled with all manner of interesting repertory: Mozart's "Dissonance," Ives's Second, Webern's Five Pieces, Bartók's Third, Rihm's Fourth, Shostakovich's Fifteenth, and a new piece by Kaija Saariaho. And at the New York Philharmonic Lorin Maazel wraps up his Brahms festival with the Third and Fourth symphonies. Down at The Stone, Chris McIntyre inaugurates on Friday night a month-long series called Trombonophilia, in which the René Pape of the brass section takes center stage in composed and/or improvised programs. Note a Ne(x)tworks series coming up later in the month. Also on Friday, counter)induction presents a folk-inflected concert at Tenri. Saturday night sees the onset of the immense, twenty-six-hour Bang on a Can Marathon at the World Financial Center, details of which I've blogged below. On Sunday afternoon the American Symphony Orchestra offers a rare chance to hear works of Shostakovich's colleague Mieczysław Weinberg. Same afternoon the Imani Winds pay tribute to Josephine Baker at the Apollo. And on Saturday and Sunday the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble kicks off a Notable Women festival, curated by Joan Tower; the opening program, which is heard first at the Chelsea Art Museum and then at DIA:Beacon, includes a premiere by Asha Srinivasan and Ruth Crawford Seeger's extraordinary String Quartet 1931.

Originally posted by Alex Ross from Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 06:17 PM | Comments (0)

Steve’s click picks #29

Our regular (well, semi-regular, at least until our dust has settled in Houston) listen to and look at living, breathing composers and performers that you may not know yet, but I know you should… And can, right here and now, since they’re nice enough to offer so much good listening online:

Amos Elkana (b. 1967 — US / Israel)

Amos Elkana Born in Boston and a product of Berklee, the New England Conservatory and Bard, Amos now makes his home in Tel Aviv. He was one of the brave few “serious” composers that took the online plunge early; I first bumped into him and his music way back in 1999 or 2000 on the old MP3.com. His work has a touch of the modern Romantic, chromatic and sharp, though the lyrical is never too far away.

The website linked above gives a great introduction to Amos and his music. You can read about some of his composing techniques, snag a CD or two, and the works page contains numerous full-length MP3s of all kinds of pieces (some with PDFs of the scores), including his award-winning Arabic Lessons for three sopranos and chamber ensemble (though you shouldn’t forget to catch the piano piece Eight Flowers as well).

Originally posted by Steve Layton from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 06:16 PM | Comments (0)

If I Swallow Anything Evil, Put Your Finger Down My Throat

Not quite sure what to make of this, but the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London has bought Opus Arte, a leading for-profit maker and producer of performance DVDs. The economics of high music culture have changed and more and more music groups of all sizes are moving toward control of production and distribution of their artistic “products,” as traditional avenues like record labels go belly up. Where is our friend Pliable on this one?

Here’s an update on David Salvage’s piece at the Harvard Club on June 11. Starting time is 7pm, not 7:30 as we reported here yesterday. The requirement to dress “spiffy” remains in effect.

Originally posted by Jerry Bowles from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 05:01 PM | Comments (0)

Grrr...

What a *&%$^&(&* week. Computer virus. Blown fuses in the light circuits on the 1st floor (not that I object to candlelit baths, but you can have too much of a good thing). Proof-reading that proves, as always, endless and frightening. And Solti is having trouble with a new neighbour - a Russian Blue named Maurice (no kidding) who has moved into No.1 and is causing serious diplomatic incidents among the local felines. Imminent change of name from Solti to Scarface...

And so I have missed doing my 'full report' on Le chant at St Nazaire; I've also missed writing up two amazing concerts. First, the Razumovsky Ensemble at the Wigmore, turning their hands to Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden' Quartet and the Mendelssohn D minor Trio, to their usual roof-raising standard. And the other was the LPO's opening concert at the QEH which featured Leonidas 'chocolate fiddler' Kavakos in the most astonishing performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto that I've ever heard. Plenty of violinists play like angels, but Kavakos plays like God.

Worth mentioning, too, some breath-of-fresh-air programming from Vladimir Jurowski - the second half was Schchedrin's Carmen Suite, a Carmen-goes-to-Moscow take on Bizet, clever, funny, powerful, and a fabulous orchestral showpiece, especially for the percussion. Brilliant.

Originally from Jessica Duchen's classical music blog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 03:27 PM | Comments (0)

Thomas Kilpper

Los Angeles Transcriptions (5): Living Room, Santa Ynez (johnny chang)

Originally posted by ECHO from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)

Open Conversation with Todd Reynolds on Saturday, 4:30-6:30 in Room 209

Want to know what it’s like out there right now in the music business? Want to know about life after Eastman? What’s possible? Have any tendencies toward other art forms or toward other disciplines within music? Like computers? Have questions about what a ‘creative voice’ means, and if you even have one? Like to ‘improvise’, but don’t know how to get started?
Todd will meet with performers and composers alike to share things learned from his own journey and experience in the music world, having forged close alliances with countless composers, performers and entities such as Yo-Yo Ma, Bang on a Can, Steve todd reynolds Reich, John Cale, Joe Jackson, Todd Rundgren and Tan Dun, to name a few, and having established an international presence as an innovator in music and performance, touring concert halls and clubs around the world with his own projects and in support of the projects of others.

Todd also recently completed six years of building a string quartet which rose to prominence in the music industry, leaving his band Ethel to focus on solo and educational projects. Building a not-for-profit organization and classical music ensemble is a viable and exciting option after graduate school, and there is much to be aware of even now if that exists for you in the back of your mind as a possibility.

If you have questions, or are just interested in what’s possible as you begin to think about your own future, do consider attending. Subjects covered include: computers and amplification in music training and performance, general practice techniques, music as socially relevant art form, classical music as ambassador for peace, and… Music as Play. like, as in, FUN.

Also embedded in the conversation is a demonstration of Ableton Live, a generation of music software which is indispensible to every musician, especially creative types, and one of the only packages which provides every tool necessary to music creation and production. Imagine Garage Band but with 70 years of wisdom and an exhaustive array of paint and brushes. A basic practice and rehearsal toolkit will be created in realtime, then used to create your own music quickly and easily over which to play and interact. This is the perfect way to introduce yourself to electronic music.

This seminar is offered as sponsored by Brad Lubman and Musica Nova and is open to anyone, and a plentiful question and answer session will complete the event. Y’all come! We promise a ton of value and a good time to boot. Milk and Cookies included in the price of admission. $00.00

Originally posted by toddreyn from Musica Novacaine, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)

Zappa lives! (sort of)

Last night at the Visulite Theatre in Charlotte I attended a show by Project/Object, a band dedicated to performing the music of Frank Zappa and led by two veterans of some of Zappa's best ensembles, Ike Willis and Napoleon Murphy Brock. I'd been looking forward to that for some time, being the Zappa freak that I am. Those who know me know that Zappa occupies pride of place in my own personal pantheon of musical iconoclast heroes, a group that also includes Charles Ives, Glenn Gould, and Harry Partch, just to name a few.

I was only able to stay for the first set unfortunately, but it was a great joy to hear some the classics of the Zappa oeuvre live. Zappaphiles, you can imagine the smile on my face as the band launched into its concert with committed performances of "Zoot Allures," "Montana," and "Cheepnis." Overall, though, the performance as a whole was a decidedly mixed bag. Anytime Napoleon Murphy Brock was onstage singing or playing sax, the rise in overall energy level was palpable. That's wasn't just due to his physical onstage antics, but rather, it's because he's still got some power in that voice that made some of the cuts on classic albums like "Roxy & Elsewhere" so distinctive.

Sadly, time has not been quite so kind to Ike Willis' voice, which was once electrifying in Zappa's groups of the late 70's and early 80's. That's when I heard the band for the only time live, on the Pier in New York in 1984. The high notes and sustaining power are now no longer there. Willis acted as lead vocalist most of the time in this current band, but that mostly consists of him doing the former Zappa vocal parts, many of which were always semi-sprechstimme (half-spoken, half-sung) to begin with. In these, too, one missed the arch snarkiness of Zappa's delivery. Willis just seems like too nice a guy, whereas Zappa's ingrained assholishness gave the lyrics an inimitable pungency. (For more on Zappa's less-than-cuddly personality, I recommend Barry Miles' recent biography, highly flawed but very informative nevertheless and indispensible for true admirers of the music)

Other than Brock and Willis, the other Zappa veteran appearing last night was Denny Walley on slide guitar, who is guesting with Project/Object on certain dates. The rest of the lineup was filled by younger players on guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums. After a sort of sagging middle of the set, the band finished it strongly with excellent performances of "Hot-Plate Heaven at the Green Hotel" (with a searing guitar solo by Andre Cholmondeley) and "Cosmik Debris." It was a wonderful evening in the sense that everyone in the club, from those onstage to the 100 or so in the audience, was there to celebrate the memory of one remarkable creative artist and his astonishing imagination. At the same time, the memories of live performances or the ongoing reminder of the recorded legacy are inescapable. The music is there in outline, but Zappa is not there to refine the sound so that the polyrhythmic intricacies of "Montana" or those " zinger" fills in "Cheepnis" are clearly heard. I know it's unfair to compare Project/Object to the best of Zappa's own ensembles, but I'm sure comparisons, fair or not, are in the back of most listeners' minds. This basically sounded like a good rock band (a very good one, mind you) playing Zappa music. Maybe the keyboard needed to be mixed higher, I don't know (I would say that, wouldn't I?). Even the solid togetherness of this group merely made me long for the almost-ridiculous, preternatural exactitude displayed by Zappa's bands in the 70's and 80's. Again, there's no Zappa around to insist on repeated rehearsals for this band in the midst of their 36-shows-in-42-nights tour (yes, he did do that in the old days).

In spite of everything, if you love Zappa's music, go hear this band if and when you can. I'd have to say last night at the Visulite was, on the whole, a celebratory evening. This tour will only be in the south a few more days, with shows at Stella Blue in Asheville Nov. 4 and at JJ Cagney's in Savannah on Nov. 5. Then you have to go north to hear them, and this tour ends late November. But hopefully they'll put future tours together. Someday I'll make another blog entry just on Zappa and his music, and why so many classical musicians and important contemporary music groups like Germany's Ensemble Modern are passionate about it.

Originally posted by Phillip from Mostly Music in the Midlands, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)

reviews, take 2

Another review of mf, this time on MusicWeb. The author, Kirk McElhearn, lives in France, and is best known for his really nice books and Web postings on all things OS X. Obviously, with good taste in operating systems comes good taste in new music...

Always nice to hear good things about one's musical efforts, and even the less-than-stellar reviews are welcome, since it means someone is listening to the album.

Originally from david's waste of bandwidth..., ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)

Dancing Well

I see a connection between the recent kerfluffle about the Atlanta Journal-Constitution dropping its music critic and Stefan Kac's critique of The Nation's music criticism. Stefan rightly points out that good writing about music does not involve jargon, but does require knowing the technical aspects of music so the key differences can be described accurately. Compare Stefan's description of "So What" and "Giant Steps":

Both Miles and Coltrane were moving away from the dominant jazz style of the late 1950's (known as hard-bop), but in different directions. For example, whereas Miles implemented more static harmonies and a relaxed tempo in his classic So What, Coltrane did the exact opposite in the landmark Giant Steps, filling the tune with many then unfamiliar chord changes and taking it at a blistering pace.

with Yaffe's:

Miles Davis's Kind of Blue had come out a couple of months earlier, just a few months after John Coltrane's Giant Steps, each disdaining chord changes in favor of solemn inquiries into chords and modes. Davis's So What coolly navigated between a couple of minor Mixolydian modes; Coltrane's Giant Steps circled the circle of fifths.

Go read Stefan's post to see what is embarassingly wrong about Yaffe's descriptions. But more importantly, this wrongness is compounded by the inscrutable jargon that tries to keep the audience from seeing the author's lack of knowledge. (See Calvin the academic)

The newspapers that have been canning their music critics don't understand the need for this specialized knowledge. Your average graduate of journalism school will not know the differences between Schoenberg and Stravinsky, much less between Augusta Read Thomas and Joan Tower. I also acknowledge that your average graduate of a music conservatory cannot express him/herself in writing well enough to get across these differences*, which is why a good music critic is so valuable. Write your local editor to either praise the local music critic or demand a good one. Even if newspapers are transforming into a different form of media, they still are the record of all important local events.

*I've been trying to change that with my seminars on music writing, though I'm not teaching it this coming year.

Originally from Musical Perceptions, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)

They're wired differently!

Fred Himebaugh should feel vindicated in his disdain for people with synaethesia. Mind Hacks reports on a study that shows through brain imaging how synaesthetes have more connections in the fusiform gyrus. So essentially the white matter of synaesthetes brains are wired differently. Not only that, but different forms of synaesthesia reveal different forms of wiring. The article cited, from Neurophilosopher, also describes the different form of brain imaging, DTI, which measures water molecule diffusion. It's fascinating what scientists can come up with.

Originally from Musical Perceptions, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)

Variations

It's not news that I often return for ideas to Lou Harrison's Music Primer, as it is full of them, expressed clearly, succinctly, and suggestively. For example, on the topic of variation, one finds this item:

FROM THE SCHOOL OF SCHOENBERG: Adolph Weiss' Nine Ways of Varying a Musical Motive: ~ 1) changing the intervals or notes & holding the rhythms, 2) changing the rhythm & using the same tones or intervals, 3) simultaneous combination of both these methods, 4) inversion, 5) elongation, 6) contraction, 7) elision (of one or more notes), 8) interpolation (of one or more notes), 9) the crab form (motus cancrizans, repeating the motive backwards).

Both for myself, and with students, I like to start with Weiss' list and invent or discover some other methods of variation. For example, there is the Duchamp method, in which the individual notes (both pitches or durations) are lifted from a measure, phrase, section etc. and then put back in again in the score by chance operations. Then there is the Clarence Barlow style of elision (related to Cage's erasures) in which the rests are substituted for notes (in his Çoğluotobüsişletmesi, Barlow automated the selection of "shoveouts" and "shoveinagains" in order to thin out or thicken a texture). I like another method of working with sequences or rows of pitches, which retains the Schoenbergian idea of waiting to begin again until all of the other items in the sequence or row have been stated, but does so not by a formal operation on the whole set but rather so that, in a 12-tone sequence for example, a note will repeat every 12 tones on average, but only as an average, sometimes repeating every 10 or 11 or 13 or 14 tones, creating small and familiar neighborhoods of pitches, but without every having an exact repetition. (To be honest, I'm most fond of this when used in diatonic or near-diatonic sequences). There are also plenty of possibilities in using contours (i.e. melodic shape, without a metric) as the basic of variations (this was an area pioneered by the composer David Feldman, and later a hot subject in music theory).

_____
*I don't have a copy handy, but I believe that Marion Bauer's Twentieth Century Music (1933) had a similar list with an attribution to Weiss; Weiss -- Schoenberg's first American student and, for a time, John Cage's teacher -- is a figure about whose activities, as teacher or as composer, we know too little.

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:22 PM | Comments (0)

Winding down and winding up

The rest of the academic world has gone on their summer vacations while we here at UCLA are still working away. One and a half more weeks of class and then finals week, graduation and SUMMER!

. . .

So as the academic year winds down, I have noticed the most remarkable trend in my friends over the past 6 months: everyone is busier these days. Not just a few friends, almost ALL of them. People who used to have a lot of time on their hands are now working 10 hour days. Even many of my “retired” friends seem to be in non-stop mode. My partner who used to work out of our home and now works for Helio, is no exception. We used to be able to entertain almost any night of the week, as he was always home. No longer.

It makes me want to believe in astrology (it’s something in the stars), or that the earth’s magnetic poles are supercharging us into high activity. Or maybe it’s global warming, I don’t know but it’s the darndest thing.

Originally posted by Roger Bourland from rogerbourland.com, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

Juan Tizol: Caravan(s) (1937)

Here are three performances on video, and one ripped 45 of “Caravan” by Juan Tizol, the trombonist for the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Duke Ellington

Thelonius Monk

Nat King Cole

. . .

And here is a snappy rendition of it by the Plas Johnson Quartet (Tampa records). (Courtesy of Office Naps.)

[Thanks to Cynical-C Blog]

Originally posted by Roger Bourland from rogerbourland.com, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

Mp3 Blog #13: Vivier, "Wo Bist Du Licht!"

Originally from Jacob Sudol, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:20 PM | Comments (0)

Composer Derek Charke collects sounds for Kronos

Chronicle Herald, 5/30/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:19 PM | Comments (0)

Scientists Develop Software to Turn DNA Patterns Into Music

Vivien Schweitzer, PlaybillArts, 5/30/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:19 PM | Comments (0)

Conversations: Lou Reed - Common Ground

Conversations: Lou Reed
Common Ground, CA - 16 hours ago
Me and John Zorn. [Editor’s note: John Zorn is an avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer and multi-instrumentalist.]

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)

Music Preview: PSO will try to bring out the colors of ... - Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Music Preview: PSO will try to bring out the colors of ...
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, PA - 9 hours ago
The music adviser of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is keen to introduce local audiences to the piece, which has only been heard in Pittsburgh under ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)

The secret of this composer's success? If only he knew. - San Francisco Chronicle

The secret of this composer's success? If only he knew.
San Francisco Chronicle, CA - 2 hours ago
He arrived in Italy in 1960 after studying at Harvard and Princeton, and spent most of the ensuing decade as an avant-garde piano virtuoso. ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)

AAJ Reviews

From AAJ:

31-May-07 Sun Ra
Strange Strings (Atavistic)

31-May-07 Tammen/Harth/Dahlgren/Rosen
Expedition — Live At The Knitting Factory (ESP Disk)

30-May-07 James “Blood” Ulmer
Bad Blood in the City: The Piety Street Sessions (Hyena Records)

30-May-07 Samo Salamon
Government Cheese (Fresh Sound New Talent)

30-May-07 Frank Morgan
Night in the Life: Live at the Jazz Standard, Volume 3 (HighNote Records)

28-May-07 John Russell
Analekta (2004/06) (Emanem)

28-May-07 Carl Ludwig Hubsch
Primordial Soup (Red Toucan Records)

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Sonomu Reviews

From Sonomu:

Bass Communication, Loss (Soleilmoon)
Steven Wilson fronts the UK rock band Porcupine Tree (whose new album, “Fear of a Blank Planet”, has just been released). He also can boast of having collaborated on the very last work by Vidna Obmana, the fourth “act” of the latter´s “Opera for Four Fusion works”. Finally, he presents his solo… [read]
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 09:22, 30 May 2007

Edmund Mooney, The Eighth Nerve (self released)
Fifteen pieces composed mostly for dance between 1998 and 2005 and self-released by the composer in a handsome digipak. Rather than strictly musician, Edmund Mooney seems more of the art community at large, a Brooklyn Renaissance Man whose CV includes dozens of entries for “incidental music”,… [read]
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 09:24, 28 May 2007

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

links for 2007-05-31

Originally from aworks :: "new" american classical music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

Christopher DeLaurenti, "SF Variations"

CdL

Originally posted by jodru from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 04:41 AM | Comments (0)

McPhee Brötzmann Kessler Zerang - Guts

Okkadisk 62 In the spring of 2004, Hatology released of Tales Out of Time, a much-anticipated meeting between Joe McPhee and Peter Brötzmann. Studio-born, with a surprising emphasis on balladic material, its often the disc Brötzophiles point to as...

Originally from Bagatellen, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:01 AM | Comments (0)

Jerry Bergonzi - Tenorist

Savant 2085 Historically speaking, hustling has frequently been an intrinsic aspect of a jazz existence: A jazzman cant rest on his laurels if he wants to keep bread both on the table and in his pocket. Self-promotion and self-reliance...

Originally from Bagatellen, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:01 AM | Comments (0)

Cuneiform Artist News: Part I

Our friends at Cuneiform has sent us a long list of happenings with artists on their label. This is the first part.

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic:
Notes from the Mesozoic (May 2007)

PERFORMANCES
Birdsongs will give a special private performance on June 1st at Jordan Tishler’s Digital Bear Studios for a VIP audience of Boston area music professionals. Contact the band if you are in the Boston area and would like to attend.

NEWS
Birdsongs guitarist Michael Bierylo will perform with Boston’s Snappy Dance Company in “String Beings.” The piece is a cutting edge multimedia production that combines choreography by company founder Martha Mason, music by Berlin-based composer Michael Rodach, and interactive video by Jack Bachrach of MIT’s fabled Media Lab. Bierylo will be performing alongside Boston Symphony Orchestra first violinist Luci Lin. Performances will run from May 30 to June 10 at the Virginia Wimberly Theater at the Boston Center for the Arts.
www.snappydance.com

A CD release concert and party was held in late April for Erik Lindgren’s third solo CD, Classical-a-go-go, with acoustic ensemble The Frankenstein Consort. The disc includes material by Lindgren, Raymond Scott, Erik Satie, and an irreverent hip hop remake of the Edgar Winter Band’s 1972 chestnut “Frankenstein.” Instrumentation consists of flute, clarinet, bassoon, acoustic piano, and percussion, with guest appearances by noted Boston-area musicians on laptop, drums, percussion, and strings. The disc is available from Wayside Music.
www.WaysideMusic.com

Ken Field’s Revolutionary Snake Ensemble was invited to march with the Krewe of Muses for their annual Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans in February. The group traveled to New Orleans on the Amtrak Crescent train, playing along the way for fellow passengers, with a stop in Washington, DC for a performance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Snake Ensemble will perform at Boston’s famed Regattabar on Wednesday May 30th.
www.RevolutionarySnakeEnsemble.org
www.WaysideMusic.com
www.regattabarjazz.com

Field’s original score for the Bridgman/Packer Dance piece Under the Skin has been released on Innova Recordings as part of their select “Short Run” series. The dance, with live music by Field, was presented in Budapest, Hungary in April at an historic theatre where Beethoven once performed, and will travel to Jacob’s Pillow and the Bates Dance Festival in August. Field will be a resident fellow at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire in November 2007.
www.bridgmanpacker.org
www.innova.mu

David Borden/Mother Mallard:

David continues as a beta tester for SAMPLIT, a software program that automatically samples any sound from a hardware or software synth/sampler. The software synths and samplers are the new element, and not all formats are compatible. But once a sound is chosen, the user can stipulate how many velocities and the range. Then after the sampling is done, the user can then fine tune the envelope. After everything sounds the way one wants, the program allows you to format it for a number of software samplers including Kontakt and REASON (NNXT) and several others.

I’m doing this testing in part because Mother Mallard is changing its performance format. Instead of performing on an array of synthesizers for each player, everyone will play on keyboard MIDI controllers attached to laptops via the USB connection. The software used for live performance is REASON 3 utilizing sampled sounds from dozens of hardware and software synths as well as sounds native to REASON. In addition, we will also be using Ableton Live. We have only tried this once at Roulette in New York with good results. The only hardware synth on stage will be the Moog Voyager (Electric Blue version).

In addition, Mother Mallard is expanding. For the past several years we have existed mainly as three keyboardists (Blaise Bryski, and David Yearsley and me). Blaise and David Y. are world class performers. This fall, Conrad Alexander, a percussionist will join us with his MalletKat MIDI controller and laptop. Conrad is a versatile musician with experience in many musical settings. And finally, I am trying out a visual element employing live video projection with both prepared images and live images. The husband and wife team of Franck and Noni Korf Vidal are the video artists. Our first concert with the expanded ensemble will be at Barnes Hall on the Cornell campus in Ithaca New York on Friday evening September 28, 2007.

Two or three new pieces will be premiered including anagram portraits of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn who formed the Denishawn Dancers, probably the very first Modern Dance Company. These pieces will include vintage footage of these two pioneers of modern dance.

Graham Collier:

NEWS from Graham Collier April 2007:
All about Collier on All About Jazz
From April 23rd All About Jazz runs an interview with me, makes my early music available for download in their new MP3 store, reviews Hoarded Dreams, and offers me up to the world for questioning in ‘Catching Up With…’
see http://www.allaboutjazz.com/

Apart from that, I’m now back from my five week birthday tour of northern Europe, with this accolade from The Guardian review of the Derby Jazz Festival commission concluding a highly successful period: ‘Hearing Collier rehearsing his swelling brass chords behind long-time associate Harry Beckett’s skipping trumpet lines was a reminder of what a special place the two of them occupy in UK jazz evolution.’

Amy Denio (Curlew/The Danubians):

Tiptons Sax Quartet:
We had a very successful European tour in March, playing in 25 cities, and taught music workshops in Slovenia, Austria and Germany. We will return to Europe in September, to play a few festivals in Germany.
BOOKING US FALL TOUR: Our next US tour will be in October, 2007, and we are currently booking concerts in Northwest US and California. Please contact us if you are interested in presenting a concert or workshop. We will record our 9th CD at the end of the tour.
BOOKING EUROPEAN SPRING TOUR: Our Spring European Tour will occur next April & May 2008
http://www.myspace.com/tiptons
http://www.tiptonssaxquartet.com

New CD Recordings:
MAISIE: Festa in Casa/Balera Metropolitana
This double CD is coming out soon on Snowdonia, an excellent independent record label from Sicily. The songs are festive and wonderful, and I sang & played various instruments, along with about 20 other musicians. It will be a co-production of my label Spoot Music and Snowdonia. Keep your eyes peeled!
Snowdonia: http://www.snowdonia.it/

KMFDM: Superstar
My friends in KMFDM asked me to play alto saxophone for a song entitled ´Superstar´, on their forthcoming CD.
http://www.myspace.com/officialkmfdm
http://www.kmfdm.net

For more info see www.amydenio.com & www.myspace.com/deniomusic

Nick Didkovsky:

My project Ice Cream Time with ARTE Sax Quartet, Thomas Dimuzio, and myself are touring Europe between Nov. 10 and Nov. 18 2007, supporting a CD release on New World Records (to be released late summer ‘07)

We are looking for bookings during this time period.

More info about Ice Cream Time at http://www.punosmusic.com/pages/icecreamtime/

Far Corner:

Far Corner performed their CD-release concert on February 16, 2007 at Shank Hall in Milwaukee. The group performed a long set, including music from Endangered, Far Corner, and several new works. Upcoming performances include May 19, 2007, in the brand new Lake Mills High School Auditorium, where the group will perform with Strange Land in a concert featuring a premiere of a brand new composition. On June 9, 2007, Far Corner will perform at MARS (Milwaukee Art Rock Showcase), an all-day progressive rock festival featuring ten bands and several solo acts. The concert takes place at Milwaukee’s historic Miramar Theater. For more info, visit the MARS MySpace site: http://www.myspace.com/marsfestival2007.

Bill, Craig and Dan’s other group, Snarling Adjective Convention (also featuring Roger Ebner and Joe Kopecky) is finalizing their CD layout, getting ready for a release later this year. Visit snarlingadjectiveconvention.com for more info.

Bassist William Kopecky just returned from Sweden where he was laying down tracks for the new Par Lindh Project CD. William and Par are also putting the finishing touches on the forthcoming Lindh/Kopecky CD entitled Den Svarta Dorren. William has also recently recorded bass tracks for the upcoming CD from San Francisco-based psych/RIO group Spirits Burning. Kopecky’s atmospheric bass loops will be featured in artist Chele Isaac’s art installment at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madison, WI in May.

Dan Maske’s keyboard instruction book Progressive Rock Keyboard was released in early May. The book, published by Hal Leonard, is available at music stores everywhere, and at most on-line retailers. This instructional method includes a full CD featuring over 90 demonstration tracks, with several complete tunes recorded by members of Far Corner and more. Visit halleonard.com to view selected pages and hear samples from the CD.

Angela Schmidt (cello) recently finished her instruction book 101 Cello Tips: the Stuff the Pros Know and Use which will be available in June, 2007 published by Hal Leonard. While at a photo shoot for the book, Angela was asked to model for the Hal Leonard monthly catalog in an ad for the Peterson Music Stand. Angela also recently recorded cello tracks for Unicorn Record’s recording artist Dimension X for their new CD to be released later in 2007.

Craig Walkner’s main band Bascom Hill just finished up a successful showcase at NACA in April and have booked a large amount of college gigs across the Midwest starting in August. He has been working on a solo album at his home studio and will also be returning to Studio One in Racine, WI at the end of May to finish mixing Yeti Rain’s third album, III. Visit Craigwalkner.com.

Forgas Band Phenomena:

Patrick Forgas’s compositions for the next FBP album were unveiled during the 2006 concerts - yet another 35-minute-plus epic, “Double-Sens”, and a couple of medium-length pieces, “La Treizième Lune” and “La Clef”. It is hoped to record them later this year for release in 2008.

The current line-up consists of Patrick Forgas (drums), Igor Brover (keyboards), Kengo Mochizuki (bass), Sylvain Gontard (trumpet) and new recruits Bogdan Pachod (guitar), Karolina Mlodecka (violin) and Sébastien Trognon (tenor & soprano sax).

Concerts planned for 2007 include a festival in Versailles [nr Paris] on July 8th where FBP will share the bill with Soft Machine Legacy and Belgium’s The Wrong Object; and another Triton concert on November 15th.

Patrick’s debut album, 1977’s “Cocktail”, featuring an all-star line-up of Magma and Zao members, is to be reissued later this year by Muséa; in addition to the original album, over 30 minutes of previously unreleased material will be included as well as booklet notes detailing the genesis of the album.

More info on http://forgasbp.online.fr

Fred Frith

Fred Frith has curated the Stone Club in New York for the month of May, which affords the opportunity to see a wide range of artists known and less known, from Fred, John Zorn, Zeena Parkins, Eugene Chadbourne, Larry Ochs, Lisle Ellis and Pauline Oliveros to a weekend of Montreal’s Ambiences Magnetiques artists, and many exciting young talents such as Norway’s Else Storesund (prepared piano), Oakland’s Theresa Wong (cello) and Ava Mendoza (guitar), the astonishing MaryClare Brzytwa (punk electronics and flute), the virtuoso mridingam player Anantha Krishnan, and many others. For full program see www.thestonenyc.com

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:00 AM | Comments (0)

Cuneiform Artist News: Part II

Cuneiform Artist News: Part III

Third and final post on Cuneiform happenings.

Shawn Persinger (Boud Deun):

Shawn Persinger is Prester John (of Boud Deun) is currently on a 4 month World Tour. Stops have been made in Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt and India. Still to come South East Asia and China.

Shawn has also been doing some writing for GUITAR PLAYER magazine. Look for a piece on his world travels in an upcoming issue.

Shawn Persinger is Prester John
http://www.PersingerMusic.com
http://www.MySpace.com/PresterJohn

Picchio dal Pozzo:

Paolo Griguolo informs us that Picchio dal Pozzo is currently discussing reuniting to present their first live show in 26 years! We will keep you informed as we hear more news about this.

More info on http://www.griguolo.com

Richard Pinhas:

UPDATED TOUR DATES: Richard Pinhas Trio: Richard Pinhas + Antoine Paganotti + Jerome Schmidt

22 June: Cafe Metropol, Los Angeles (DUO PERFORMANCE)
923 East 3rd Street, Downtown Artist District, Los Angeles, CA 90013, www.cafemetropol.com
23 June: In-Store performance at Rhino Records, 2 PM
235 Yale Avenue, Claremont, CA 91711 (909) 626-7774, www.rhinorecords.cc
24 June: Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica, Co-Sponsored by NewTown Arts
1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404, www.highwaysperformance.org
27 June: G3 Lounge, San Francisco, 3910 Geary Boulevard (at 3rd), San Francisco, CA 94118
29 June: 21 Grand, Oakland, 416 25th Street, Oakland, CA 94612, www.21grand.org/calendar.html
1 July: Rotture, Portland, 315 SE 3rd Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97214, www.rotture.com
3 July: Sunset Tavern, Seattle, 5433 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, WA
5 July: MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
12 July: Velvet Lounge, Washington DC
13 July: Baltimore (TBA)

TBC (July 7th-11th): Detroit, Nyack, New Haven, Philadelphia

Time of Orchids:

-Our new album, “Namesake Caution,” is being mixed and will be released in the fall
-We will be touring the US in the fall, hopefully with Cheer-Accident (details coming)
-We will also be touring Europe in late fall/early winter (details coming)
-We would appreciate any help with the booking of either of these
-Our contact information is:
timeoforchids @ hotmail.com
http://www.myspace.com/timeoforchids
http://www.timeoforchids.com

Thinking Plague:

I am about 75% done with composing music for a new TP album. I will not even hazard a guess as to when it may be ready for release. In any event, Stevan Tickmayer (Science Group) is still on board for keyboards and contribute and sonic creativity for the album. And we still expect Dave Kerman to be back on drums and percussion. Developments will be noted on the Thinking Plague website, http://www.thinkingplague.org. The site has had a few updates, including a “musings” section where currently you may read Bob Drake’s entertaining (for SOME people, anyway) “discussion” of the recording of the first TP album, “…a thinking plague”, a must read for the serious “plague affionado”.

Upsilon Acrux:

Upsilon Acrux is up and running again, we’ve made some changes and will now be a 5 piece. We’re excited as f**k to have our album come out and plan on playing as many shows as possible. We have cd release shows set up in LA and SD and soon SF and hopefully the 7 major seas and the houseboats inhabiting them soon. For the first time maybe ever, we’re anxious and able to tour!! So likeminded bands and promoters contact us via myspace.com/upsilonacrux and we’ll get on it and get to your town. More than anything we want to go to Europe and play as many shows and festivals as possible, so help us get this made in the usa rebadged euro art rock back to europe for the very first time, again. We’re also looking to do some east coast stuff and pretty much anything that is a) totally awesome b) f**king amazing c) there’ll be a lot of people and you get free beer or d) Christian Vander related. New songs, old songs, really old songs all revised and updated. New dudes, old dudes, really old dude, our new slogan is “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”, I made that up. And instead of maximalist music we’re be playing marximalist music, you read it here first.

Paul Haines (Curlew/George Cartwright):

Secret Carnival Workers is a meticulously compiled collection of Haines’s poems, short fiction and music journalism from 1955 to 2002. Alternately humorous, sly, cryptic, outrageous and playful, and influenced by jazz, travel, Dada and the Surrealists, this is the first volume to bring together Haines’s writing in all its complex and creative breadth.

Culled from reams of writings only fully examined after his death, and compiled by Stuart Broomer, former editor of Coda Magazine, Secret Carnival Workers brings into full view the insightful voice of an admired artist.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 31, 2007 at 02:00 AM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2007

Gigs I should have gone to

Originally from Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

You can't hide forever from these streets

Originally from Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

Totalistically Tenney

I spoke in my last post of James Tenney's postminimalist streak, which I have always most associated with his Tableaux...

Originally from PostClassic, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)

Monday at Düsseldorf's Kunstraum (Alte Schmiede...

Monday at Düsseldorf's Kunstraum (Alte Schmiede), Morton Feldman & Jürg Frey piano pieces on either side of Schubert's Winterreise as palette cleansers.

Listen here.

Originally posted by ECHO from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 06:44 PM | Comments (0)

Elgar - the first of the new

Elgar was the first of the new. Since Purcell, England had not produced a composer for the European common market. Against -much against- the background of academicians who were destined to remain dilettanti, there emerged a self-taught amateur destined to become a master.

At the time of Elgar's birth Brahms was 24, Dvorák was 16, and Wagner 44. When he died, Vaughan Williams was 62, Walton was 32, Britten was 20 and Schoenberg 60. Elgar's musical fathers were far away; many, almost all of them were of the Austo-German tradition, with Brahms, rather than Wagner, as the most powerful influence; and none of them English.

In a penetrating article in the current issue of Music and Letters Donald Mitchell goes so far as to submit 'that to find Elgar today specifically English in flavour is to expose oneself as the victim of a type of collective hallucination.' Elgar's early success on the Continent, and with Continentals, was indeed striking. It needed a Continental - Hans Richter - to introduce the Enigma Variations, The Dream of Gerontius and the first Symphony (dedicated to him) to English audiences, and Düsseldorf heard Gerontius before London.

Hans Keller writes in Music and Musicians in June 1957, and contradicts the currently fashionable view that Elgar was not appreciated outside England.

Now playing ...

The Dream of Gerontius conducted by Benjamin Britten. The decision of the 'East Anglican' Britten (left) to record Elgar's Gerontius, with its hardline Catholic text by Cardinal Newman, was a surprising one. As a young music student Britten recorded in his diary in February 1931 that he listened on the radio to '1 minute of Elgar Symphony 2 but can stand no more,' and a few months later he condemned the Enigma Variations for their 'sonorous orchestration' which 'cloys very soon'. But in his sleeve note for the original LP release the composer William Alwyn described Newman's text as a 'Passion Play', and this may have appealed to Britten the composer of church parables.

Britten conducted an Aldeburgh Festival performance of Gerontius on June 9 1971, and the recording was made in the same month in Snape Maltings. William Mann described the concert performance as 'urgent, unsentimental and totally lacking in bombast', and Alan Blyth described the original LP release as 'a searing re-creation of the drama that I find at all times involving and convincing...Britten removes the veneer of sentimentality, even sanctimoniousness, that has for long come between us and Elgar's compulsive vision.'

The 1971 recording made by Decca, with the 'dream' cast including Peter Pears (left) and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, is one of the classics of the gramophone. In the section that leads up to the life affirming chorus Praise to the Holiest in the height Britten shows his masterly control of the large forces, and the pre-digital sound is outstanding both for the lower registers and the three dimensional sound-stage captured by the Decca recording team. Elgar was a master composer, and Britten a master musician, this Dream of Gerontius is now back in the catalogue, buy it before it is again deleted.

Inclusiveness is out of fashion in classical music today, which means if contemporary music is your scene late-romantics like Elgar are the musical equivalent of dead meat. Next month we will be at Yoshi Oida's new production of Death in Venice in Snape Maltings. We should all remember that Britten recorded Elgar's great late-romantic masterpiece, Gerontius, in July 1971 in Snape Maltings while he was composing one of the great twentieth-century operas, Death in Venice, for performance in the same venue.

I started by quoting Hans Keller's view that Elgar was 'the first of the new'. We should also remember that Keller (left) championed Britten's music from the 1940s when it was still viewed as 'new' by the establishment. He was joint author of a Britten symposium in 1952, and the composer's 1975 String Quartet No. 3, with its last movement quote from Death in Venice, is inscribed to him. Britten died on December 7 1976, and his String Quartet No. 3 was given its first performance by the Amadeus Quartet two weeks later in Snape Maltings.

Benjamin Britten and Hans Keller recognised the greatness of Elgar's music. They also recognised the importance of inclusiveness, and embraced composers from Purcell to their twentieth-century contemporaries. Two very important messages as the 150th of Elgar's birth on Saturday June 2 approaches.

The music of Britain, and Britten ...

Hans Keller's headline, the first of the new, is a wordplay on the title of a patriotic 1942 film that Elgar would have approved of. The First of the Few was a biography of R.J. Mitchell (left), the designer of the Supermarine Spitfire (the film was renamed Spitfire for US release). The title comes from Winston Churchill who used these words to describe the Battle of Britain aircrews: "Never in the face of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few." And this overgrown path leads us to another great twentieth-century English composer; the soundtrack of The First of the Few, including the famous Spitfire Prelude and Fugue, was written by William Walton.

Contemporary music was as bitchy in the early twentieth-century as it is today. Elgar was not a fan of Walton's music, and said about Walton's Viola Concerto that the composer had murdered the poor unfortunate instrument. Elgar and Walton only met once, according to Lady Walton it was in the lavatory at a Worcester Three Choirs Festival concert. After the Second World War Walton fell out with Britten and Pears, and supposedly said that the all-male Billy Budd should be retitled The Bugger’s Opera or Twilight of the Sods (original production shot above).

Another late-twentieth-century composer who was a surprising champion of Elgar was Michael Tippett whose overseas concerts often included Elgar's music. In his autobiography (Hutchinson ISBN 009175307) Tippett describes a "stunning" Enigma Variations in Brussels with him conducting his beloved Leicester School Symphony Orchestra, and tells how 'afterwards a Belgian composer came to me and said, "What an extraordinary work - more interesting than Brahms' St Anthony Variations!"',

and Tippett describes another Enigma played by the Saint Louis Symphony in 1968 under his baton as "one of the best performances (of the work) in the USA I guess". Tippett (left) was inclusiveness personified and embraced everything from Tallis (he made the first-ever recording of Spem in alium in 1948) through Elgar to the blues. But he also shared some of Walton's reservations about Billy Budd. Tippett stayed at Britten's house in Aldeburgh while the opera was being composed and told the story of 'a marvellous remark in the libretto - I think it got changed - when they were going to clear the decks in order to let off the gun, and the wonderful order, given by Claggart or somebody, "Clear the decks of seamen" I roared with laughter!'

Walton may have been irreverent about Billy Budd, but when the chips were down he came to Britten's aid. In 1942, the same year as The First of the Few was made, Walton appeared as a supporting witness at Britten's successful appeal for registration as a Conscientous Objectors. Britten's pacifism, like Tippett's, was controversial, but if his appeal had failed Britten could well have joined young composers such as Ivor Gurney and George Butterworth whose careers had been cut short by the previous World War, and who were lamented in the elegiac 1919 Cello Concerto of Edward Elgar. Which is where this path started.

For more on Elgar read the excruciating boredom of pure fact.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)

trombones, clones, and microtones

Went to check out Harry Connick Jr. while he was in town last week (cuz my wife is a big fan, and we haven't gotten out of the house together in a while). Say what you will, I think he's a pretty phenomenal pianist in that Jelly Roll Morton/Professor Longhair/Fats Domino/Dr. John tradition, and he's become quite an inventive orchestrator as well. His new project centers on New Orleans music, and not just jazz, as he's reinvented several New Orleans rhythm and blues numbers from the 1970s with big band arrangements that sound as if they're informed as much by Thelonious Monk as by Allen Toussaint. It inspired me to go back and connect with some of that music again via this compilation on Soul Jazz Records (Durkin, if you don't know this one, you oughta). Pretty much anything that's put out by Soul Jazz is worth hearing, but this one is exceptionally good...

It's good to see a "popular" musician examining and re-examining his influences so closely. Besides the R&B stuff, Harry's band can swing like a mother, and he deserves credit for bringing a very sophisticated and true-to-its-roots sensibility into a mainstream genre usually dominated these days by much . The band set up a long, low-down rendition of "St. James Infirmary" that had the entire crowd (several thousand) hollering and cheering for every sustained dissonance, every trumpet growl and trombone smear (courtesy of t-bonist Lucien Barbarin, whose grandstanding I didn't much care for actually) - people were really listening for what kind of instrumental trick technique would come next. Bubber Miley (or Lester Bowie, for that matter!) could have walked into that house and made out like a rock star. I've never seen anything like it.

So it was a pretty entertaining show, and underneath the whole showbiz facade there was some real music happening. Credit where credit's due - this is no studio band, Harry backs himself up with some of the most accomplished players from New Orleans...

Part of the draw for me, anyway, was Harry's longtime trumpet soloist a>, who can absolutely tear it up in that style with one of the sweetest trumpet sounds I've ever heard. New Orleans trumpet players always have such a bright sound - it's the Louis Armstrong influence filtered through generations of parade band trumpeters no doubt - but Leroy sounds as if he's coming more from a King Oliver thing (by way of Lee Morgan perhaps) with that velvety daaark, blues-drenched tone. Such a nice guy too - I sought him out when I was in New Orleans about ten years ago to ask for a lesson. And while he politely let me know that he didn't usually do that, he invited me to be his guest at his hit with the Preservation Hall band that evening. I delightfully accepted, of course.

Sunday evening I checked out quite a different kind of show, new shadow play called "The Follies of Dr. Placebo" at the Folly Bowl in Altadena. I've said it before on this blog and I'll say it again - Kraig is possibly the most under-appreciated and uncategorizable composer making music on this side of the planet.

I've had the pleasure of working with him a bit and I've seen him perform with his orchestra of handmade microtonal instruments before, but never in the context of one of these shadow plays. Loving Kraig's music as much as I do, and knowing his personality well enough, I figured I wouldn't be disappointed in hearing it applied to the theatrical dimension (I can be rather picky on that count - I enjoy listening to opera but not so much watching it; I love Harry Partch's music but don't have much of a taste for the dramatic productions). So I knew I would enjoy it, but I was surprised at how much I really enjoyed it. The moonlit, intimate outdoor location was perfect, the imagery was sublime, and the story - which revolved around issues of cloning, incest, and murder - somehow managed to be laugh-out-loud funny at times. Maybe chalk it up to Kraig's wittily calculated histrionics or his proclivity for the unexpected; "Placebo" was a fascinating peek into the workings of an extraordinarily unique mind. I haven't been so moved by an art work for quite a long time.

Originally from stop the play and watch the audience, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 04:04 PM | Comments (0)

David Does Harvard

Attention Boston (and NY) shoppers! The world-premiere run of David Salvage’s String Quartet No. 2 is at hand. The Arcturus Chamber Ensemble will do the honors, starting this Friday, June 1, at 8pm, at Adams House JCR, Harvard University. They’ll do it again on Saturday night at 7:30 at the First Religious Society, Carlisle and, just to be on the safe side, one more time on Monday, June 11 at 7:30pm, at the Harvard Club, here in the Center of the Universe.

There will be other works on all the programs, probably by dead white guys. The concerts are free and open to the public although the Harvard Club requires you to “look spiffy,” according to Master Salvage. I used to go there years ago with my old buddy Whit Stillman (whatever happened to him anyway) and it was pretty tight-assed then. Probably hasn’t changed much.

Originally posted by Jerry Bowles from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 04:03 PM | Comments (0)

Coming up at the Bohemian National Home

From the Bohemian National Home:

Saturday, May 26th: Faruq Z Bey/Michael Carey/Joel Peterson, Major Dents
A rare trio performance by leading Detroit improvisers. Saxophonist Faruq Z. Bey’s work in Griot Galaxy is stuff of legend; today, his many musical projects continue getting stronger and more diverse. Michael Carey is one of his most frequent collaborators and a member of Odu Afrobeat Orchestra and The Vizitors. Also featuring the young Joel Peterson on doublebass. Opening the show is an even rarer performance by long-time experimental winds duo Major Dents. Marko Novachcoff (Odu, Only a Mother, Soul Power Experience Unlimited Band etc.) and Tim Holmes (Scavenger Quartet) grew up together, learning to play and build woodwinds. Major Dents is their crash course in unusual winds and the crazy stuff you can do with them. The first performance in 3+ years. Doors at 9 pm; sliding scale $5-10.

Sunday, June 3rd: Rob Brown 3tet with William Parker and Gerald Cleaver
Rob Brown is one of the most sought after and respected saxophonist in the current NYC scene. This is due, in large part, to his excellent work with doublebassist William Parker. They’ve played together in many of Parker’s groups, including In Order to Survive and Little Huey Orchestra. The list of collaborators for both men reads like a who’s who of the Free Jazz scene past and present, and Parker’s role as the primary force behind NYC’s Vision Festival has made him indispensable to the music. These heavyweights are joined by Detroit’s own Gerald Cleaver on drums, whose several years in New York have found him deep in thick of its finest players. Doors at 7 pm; sliding scale $10-20.

June 8th & 9th: 2nd Annual FESTIVAL OF JAZZ AND IMPROVISED MUSIC
Currently confirmed to perform:

Friday, June 8th (doors at 6:30 pm)
THE SUN RA ARKESTRA!
Noah Howard/Hakim Jami/Bobby Kapp
The Raw Truth (Michael Carey, Skeeter Shelton, Ali Allen Colding, Greg Cook)
Thollem McDonas (solo)
Faruq Z. Bey Quintet with Anthony Holland, Kenny Green, Ali Colding

Saturday, June 9th (doors at 4 pm)
SABIR MATEEN/DANIEL CARTER/ANDREW BARKER
Engines (Dave Rempis, Nate McBride, Tim Daisy)
Hakim Jami/Salim Washington/Pamela Wyse/Sean Dobbins
Lotte Anker/Gerald Cleaver/Craig Taborn
Triochrome (Charles Waters, Andrew Barker, Nate McBride)
Kyle Bruckmann’s Wrack
Spectrum 2 (Skeeter Shelton, Ali Colding)
Keenan Lawler (solo)

Food by Slows Bar BQ
Record Mart by Peoples Records

Tickets $25 a night (general admission)
$40 for 2 night pass (general admission)
reserved seating $35 a night

2 day passes and reserved seating go on sale May 20th at Bohemian National Home and Stormy Records (Dearborn).

COMING SOON:
6/23 Fibreglass Freakout 2007
7/21 SSM
9/4 Keefe Jackson’s Fast Citizens
9/6 Eye Contact

in September: Eugene Chadbourne and Jimmy Carl Black
10/19 Trevor Watts and Jamie Harris- early show

Bohemian National Home
3009 Tillman, Detroit 48216
313 737 6606

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

Mark Cuban on the future of the music business

Marc Cuban blogs on the future of the music business, and as you might suspect, exhibits an insightful yet controversial set of opinions regarding PC-based listening.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

Bagatellen Reviews

From Bagatellen:

Tarab - Wind keeps even dust away - 29 May 07
Tim Catlin - Radio Ghosts - 29 May 07

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

Musique Machine Reviews

From Musique Machine:

Diskrepant - Into Sleep
Into Sleep’s title is very apt title as you’re lowered into a subtle electronic/noise sound world that seems to exists between realities of dreamscapes and real life. Sound elements and half heard melodies dance by but nothing is ever 100 per clear- giving the whole album a hazy slightly blurred feeling, almost making you feel like you want pinch your self to see if your asleep or awake.

Akercocke - Antichrist
With Antichrist Akercocke have found the perfect balance between brutality,atmosphere and progressive/experimental elements to make an album that’s enjoyable and surprising from start to finish.

People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz - Perpetuum Mobile
Perpetuum Mobile is full to its quirky, bizarre and sometimes tiring brim with kids show like looped brass tunes, strummed Hawaiian guitar waltz’s, stuck cracking piano loops and all manner of snatched easy listing audio chesse. With all manner rhythmic elements, plundetronics and surreal advert or stage show singing over the top.

Zonder - Maybe you can live on the moon in the next century
The American trio Zonder (Dutch for ‘without’) presents a version of heavy rock that needs a few spins to grab you. The music is dense with all kinds of influences, performed with a raw energy.

10 - UFO
I previously reviewed an EP by this Korean/Japanese project by the same name, but this is a full album called UFO. Things haven’t changed much since then, but that doesn’t mean this is worth a listen.

Far Corner - Endangered
Rock is serious business. Well, not really, but by getting it out the sweaty clubs or screaming stadiums this so-called ‘chamber rock’ has acquired the more serious air of classical and contemporary composed music. Yet, while listening to Endangered you’ll find a serious amount of fun as well.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

So Easy a Caveman Can Do It

Have we as a society become too smart for music?

Originally from NewMusicBox, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

An Ugly Future

Harmonic organization is only a small (and shrinking) part of how most of us hear music now. The presence or absence of a steady pulse, for example, is easily as significant as the presence or absence of a tonic among today's listeners.

Originally from NewMusicBox, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

A Tribute to Charles Hamm—Composer, Historian, Educator

An interview with Charles Hamm as well as an appreciation and excerpts from his landmark 1983 book, Music in the New World in celebration of his receiving the American Music Center's first-ever Music Educator's Award (IMPORTANT: CHECK EXACT WORDING OF THIS WITH JOANNE BEFORE PUBLISHING).

Originally from NewMusicBox, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

Winds of change at Glyndebourne

Rows at Glyndebourne are usually confined to polite disagreements over a picnic spot or the staging of The Magic Flute. But the organisers of the quintessential summer opera festival now find themselves at the centre of a planning dispute over a proposed wind turbine that would be higher than the face of Big Ben.

Lewes District Council will determine the fate of a scheme that has divided opinion in East Sussex. Glyndebourne Opera House wants to build a 70m (230ft) turbine in its grounds in the South Downs, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Park designate. It claims that, by using the 850kw turbine to generate electricity, the opera house will cut its carbon emissions by 71 per cent.

However a coalition of four environmental groups – the South Downs Society, the Council for National Parks, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the Ramblers’ Association – is determined to block the application, to Lewes District Council, which is expected to be heard on June 20.

They say that the turbine will ruin the surrounding countryside, destroying views over “hundreds of square kilometres”. While the organisations are in favour of renewable energy, they say they do not want a turbine on land due to become a National Park.

From today's Times. But there's better news on Glyndebourne in Britten's women.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)

Igor Stravinsky, my hero (sigh)

A fun 5-minute documentary from 1965 about Igor Stravinsky. (Click on the image and watch it on YouTube.)

Originally posted by Roger Bourland from rogerbourland.com, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:19 PM | Comments (0)

Virtuosity

Here is the first of some sixteen videos at You Tube of Ki Anom Suroto, probably the best-known of contemporary dhalangs in the Javanese Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet theatre). The dhalang is narrator, actor, puppet master, gamelan conductor, lead vocalist, percussionist, and master of ceremonies both spiritual and otherwise, and in the nine-or-so hours of a wayang performance, the universe -- at least that part of the universe that casts shadows on the screen and makes noises sweet or rough -- is under his or her total control, and he or she does not move from his or her position between the screen and the gamelan.

This set of videos include a series of eleven from the Gara-gara scene and five from the Limbukan. The Limbukan, initially a passing scene of little importance involving an emaciated old servant woman and her enormous daughter, has emerged as the principle scene for humor in the wayang, much of it an opportunity to talk very directly about sex. The Gara-gara (pronounced goro-goro) usually begins around midnight, and was initially a moment of contemplation away from the action of the story, during which the hero, for example Ardjuna in the Mahabharata-based plays, takes refuge and is given comfort and counsel by the group of clown-servants, led by Semar, an enormously fat, old, slow, and flatulent figure who is actually an earthly incarnation of the god of love, Sang Hyang Ismoyo. The Gara-gara (the name indicates a time of great strife, chaos, uncertainty) had been a mostly humorous interlude, but has become, in recent years, the central opportunity for musical display by the dhalang, the gamelan, and the corps of female singers, the pesindhen. Ki Anom Soroto has innovated by including a large number of musical items representing repertoire well beyond the courtly traditions of Central Java, and in the case of this video, provides a musical tour of Java, including traditional works from across the island and representations of more popular genres, among them Kerongcong (with some portugese roots), Jaipongan (an urban music originating in the 70s, often with a highly erotic content), and Dangdut (a genre with cosmopolitan borrowing -- Arabic and Malay music, Indian film music, and recently, house and hiphop). Anom Suroto's virtuosity is well on display in this performance, as he leads his soloists and ensemble smoothly from one musical genre to another, and manages to do so within the framework of the Gara-gara and the tonal universe of the slendro-pelog gamelan.

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)

Mp3 Blog #83: Unsuk Chin, Violin Concerto

Originally from Jacob Sudol, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)

While we were out

While my lovely assistant and I were in Rome last week it appears that a couple of tracks from the new CD were featured on Rob Deemer’s The Composer Next Door radio program along with recent recordings by So Percussion and Duo46. Missed the show? Me too. But check back soon for an mp3 of the broadcast.

Originally posted by brian from brian sacawa | sounds like now, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)

Moses und Aron

John Terauds , Toronto Star, 5/29/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

Calgary commissions opera about Canada's 'dynamite fiend'

CBC , 5/25/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

Conservatoire de Flea

I had no idea that Flea, the habitually shirtless bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, had been such a music geek in high school. So I learned from this Washington Post story, which goes on to describe how Flea has set up the Silverlake Conservatory of Music in his LA neighborhood. (Via ArtsJournal.)

Originally posted by Alex Ross from Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)

Composer in uniform

Here's a military item for Memorial Day weekend. Seth Colter Walls, a journalist who covers the Mideast, sent me links to a personal site and a blog run by Lt. Daniel Todd Currie, who's presently serving as an engineer with the Air Force in Badgad, helping to equip Iraqi security forces. He's also a composer who studied music alongside engineering at Columbia and regularly attended concerts at Miller Theatre while he was a student; his tastes run from Xenakis and Scelsi to Adams and Pärt and on to Trent Reznor and Radiohead. He's obviously had little time for composition since he's been posted in Bagdad, but he's written some excellent ringtones that are available as MIDI files on his site — rather more dissonant and contrapuntal than the norm. He's also using GarageBand to compose some short pieces that he plans to assemble into a suite titled Green Zone Diversions. Waiting to be performed is a new piece for saxophone quartet, Study in Conductivity, which the composer calls "the wildest sax quartet ever written." I've seen the score and it is indeed pretty wild — there's one passage where pulses of 12, 13, 14, and 16 to the bar are layered in rapid streams. Please bear in mind, if you're visiting Dan's blog, that many soldiers' blogs have been shut down for a variety of reasons, so it might be helpful to avoid getting into obvious controversies if you're moved to comment. In other words, don't mention Boulez. Let's hope that he and as many others as possible over there stay safe.

Previously: John Cage in Iran

Originally posted by Alex Ross from Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)

Camerata Pacifica Premieres Wilson’s Messenger Concerto - The Santa Barbara Independent

The Santa Barbara Independent

Camerata Pacifica Premieres Wilson’s Messenger Concerto
The Santa Barbara Independent, CA - May 17, 2007
If playing classical music in the talent-saturated Southern California market is a high-wire act of sorts, then composing original contemporary classical ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)

The 'angular momentum' of Cecil Taylor - Globe and Mail

The 'angular momentum' of Cecil Taylor
Globe and Mail, Canada - 7 hours ago
And because he arrived on the scene around the same time as Ornette Coleman, thus sparking the great avant-garde explosion of the 1960s, Taylor is viewed in ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)

MTT celebrates Prokofiev with 10 days of concerts - Inside Bay Area

MTT celebrates Prokofiev with 10 days of concerts
Inside Bay Area, CA - 5 hours ago
According to his prominent biographer, Harlow Robinson, the Western avant-garde found his music "too old-fashioned." Another biographer recorded Western ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)

A funny thing happened in between symphonies - Mobile Register

A funny thing happened in between symphonies
Mobile Register, AL - 3 hours ago
But when the tracks on Mr. DeLaurenti's CD are heard together, with his theories and the history of the musical avant-garde in the background, ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)

links for 2007-05-30

Originally from aworks :: "new" american classical music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

Since I believe ....

Since I believe that there is in every man the spirit of God, I cannot destroy...human life...The whole of my life has been devoted to acts of creation (being by profession a composer) and I cannot take part in acts of destruction...I believe sincerely that I can help my fellow human beings best, by continuing...the creation or propagation of music.

Statement sent to tribunal for the registration of Conscientous Objectors by Benjamin Britten in May 1942. Britten's War Requiem was first performed on May 30th 1962 in Coventry Cathedral.

Now read how men will go content with what we spoiled and we shall overcome.
Image credit from Prometheus, shows a rehearsal for the War Requiem in Coventry Cathedral. Britten to the right of the podium is talking to the principal conductor Meredith Davies. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

Tarab - Wind keeps even dust away

23five 010 The second release by Tarab (Eamon Sprod), a sound artist based out of Melbourne Australia, follows nicely upon his surfacedrift, issued by Naturestrip a year or two back. While field recordings form the basis of the tracks...

Originally from Bagatellen, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:01 AM | Comments (0)

Tim Catlin - Radio Ghosts

23five 011 The circlet of intertwined steel strings on the front cover of Tim Catlins new disc is an apt illustration of the guitar-generated dronage found within. How much affinity the listener will find with the music depends a...

Originally from Bagatellen, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 30, 2007 at 02:01 AM | Comments (0)

May 29, 2007

Uncontrollable notes

Originally from Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

Lisa Scola Prosek’s new Video Opera BELFAGOR June 1-3 San Francisco

In the new Video Opera BELFAGOR Machiavelli’s satirically comic story is vibrantly brought to life by composer Lisa Scola Prosek. BELFAGOR opens for 3 performances on June 1, 2, and 3, at San Francisco’s Thick House Theater. Based on Machiavelli’s only known novella Belfagor, the production is an evocative window into his relationship with women, money, and Florentine society. Director Jim Cave draws on the physical theater of Commedia Dell’Arte, with Czech filmmaker Jacob Calouseque creating a “Soft Set” by weaving a image montage with interactive real-time video, chilling detail in a large scale projected environment.

The cast of BELFAGOR includes tenor Aurelio Viscarra (Belfagor), baritone Clifton Romig (Amerigo Donati/Hades), soprano Maria Mikheyenko (Onesta Donati/Lucifer), soprano Eliza O’Malley (Signora Donati/Shade), and mezzo soprano Gar Wai Lee (Sorella Donati/Shade).

Lisa Scola Prosek’s new Video Opera BELFAGOR, will be performed Friday-Sunday June 1, 2, and 3, in San Francisco’s Thick House Theater at 1695 18th Street. Performances are Friday, Saturday June 1, 2 at 8 p.m., & Sunday June 3, at 7 p.m.
Tickets: $15; Box Office: 415 401-8081 or visit:www.thickhouse.org

Originally posted by s21concerts from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)

American Voices

American Voices

cawa, saxophones

Innova Recordings

Piece in the Shape of a Square, Philip Glass
Pre-Amnesia, Lee Hyla
pastlife laptops and attic instruments, Erik Spangler
Netherland, Chris Theofanidis
Bacchanalia Skiapodorum, Derek Hurst
Voice Within Voice, Keeril Makan
The Low Quartet, Michael Gordon

American Voices is, without doubt, a CD you need. The performances by Mr. Sacawa are amazing and the music selected is equally so. This is music that every sax player you know needs to perform and that every music listener you know needs to hear.

The first track is an arrangement of Piece in the Shape of a Square (aka Music in the Shape of a Square) and it is hard to imagine that Glass didn’t write it for the saxophone. Mr. Sacawa’s performance is light and effervescent with a great attention to energy. This is “old school” minimalism (whatever that means) at its finest.

The next piece, Pre-Amneisa by Lee Hyla is angular, disjointed, and tremendously captivating. Mr. Sacawa is nimble, musical, and effortless throughout. There are two things about the piece I don’t like: it is too short (I want more! I usually listen to this one 2 or 3 times before going on) and the performance sounds so smooth that many people will think it was easy to play.

Just as the first two pieces on the recording are very different from each other, the third piece is different still. Erik Spagler’s pastlife laptops and attic instruments includes a tape part and live turntables (performed here by Mr. Spagler’s alter ego DJ Dubble8). This piece is funky, lyrical, and sounds more like free improv than it really is. Lots of great beats and textures provide wonderful counterpoint to Mr. Sacawa’s soaring lines. I’m not sure I’m in tune with the dramatic shape of this track, but there are a lot of moments throughout that I love. Definitely worth multiple listens.

Chris Theofanidis’ Netherland is the most “traditional” piece on the CD. The saxophone is set as the lyrical focal point to Wenli Zhou’s piano accompaniment. These two movements are strong, striking and wonderfully melodic.

Pulling the stylistic rug out from us yet again is Derek Hurst’s Bacchanalia Skiapodorum for sax and tape. Once again, Mr. Sacawa takes spastic rhythmic bursts and makes them sound fluid, organic, and darn-near easy. The tape part, made largely from sax samples, provides a disjunct and angular commentary on the live performance. Some of the sounds recall the more “vintage” sound worlds of earlier Davidovsky or Subotnick with the same flair for interaction and texture. This piece is rich, fun, and energetic.

Voice Within Voice once again takes a completely different approach to the instrument. According to the notes, the sax is being used as a “megaphone for the performer’s singing and breathing.” The end result is a piece haunting and mesmerizing. My one regret is that I haven’t seen this piece live. I can only imagine the theatrical intensity required. Truly stunning stuff.

Finally, we have Michael Gordon’s The Low Quartet arranged for low saxes (with a contrabass providing that extra bottom octave when needed). If that isn’t reason enough for you to get this disc, then I don’t know what else to say. The low saxes are, in my humble opinion, the best saxes. And Michael Gordon’s piece is fun, quirky, rhythmic, and absolutely awesome.

Brian Sacawa has done a masterful job performing and selecting music that showcase his instrument in as many different ways as possible. Each piece is radically different than the one before it and equally different to the one that follows. All of them are played with an ease and virtuosity that almost defies logic. This is an excellent recording. Period.

Originally posted by Jay Batzner from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)

The Hybrid: The Two Worlds of Asha Srinivasan

“But he, Siddhartha, where did he belong? Whose life would he share? Whose language would he speak?” These words of Hermann Hesse depict Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) at a pivotal point in his quest to find purpose in the world. He will soon find it, seeing one where he once saw many, finding that the seemingly unrelated are related.

Later in the same book, Siddhartha, is a chapter called “By the River,” which inspired the title of Indian-American composer Asha Srinivasan’s newest work, By the River of Savathi, that will be premiered on June 2nd and 3rd, in New York City, as part of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s “Notable Women Festival: A Celebration of Women Composers”—result of winning first prize, among seventy-four applicants between the ages of twenty and thirty, in the BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) Foundation’s Women’s Music Commission.

Like the protagonist in Hesse’s novel, Srinivasan has been discovering her distinct place in the world—this time, in the realm of music. “The whole process of composition is about learning what one’s voice is,” the composer recently told me via telephone. Finding one’s artistic voice, then translating it into a unique piece of music, is a tremendous challenge: countless composers try, only to find themselves, knowingly or unknowingly, imitating their predecessors.

“You don’t want to end up mimicking somebody—there’s always that fear. You want to try to be as unique as you can be, but at the same time you’re struggling with—can you create something new? Is there anything under the sun? But you are trying to create some kind of unique sound.”

Individuality is a formidable task that has faced artists since the beginning. Some, in trying to find uniqueness, have disregarded accepted conventions within their particular genre (think of Jackson Pollock, atop a ladder, drizzling paint onto a canvas). Others have invented new rules to be inserted into a pre-existing frame (Arnold Schoenberg developed a tonal system in which all twelve tones have equal importance—new rules regarding notes, but most other compositional conventions remaining intact). Still others have essentially adhered to the artistic status quo while outwardly displaying the face of rebellion (Glenn Gould, sitting on a tiny chair, adorned in tweed coat, cap, and scarf, may have looked the rebel, but he was still playing Bach).

At twenty-six years, Asha Srinivasan falls into none of these categories. She aims not for uniqueness for the sake of uniqueness, but for organic, expressive music. As her voice trails upward, indicating significant time spent pondering the subject, she emphasizes her philosophy behind composing. “I’m really trying hard just to think about what sounds good to me, what’s authentic to me, what moves me, without worrying about whether it’s really ‘new.’”

By ancestry alone, Srinivasan is an anomaly in the mostly white and East Asian field of western classical music. Born in Logan, Utah, she spent her formative years—ages two through nine—in Pondicherry, India (near Madras), before returning to the United States (Maryland, this time). She considers herself a hybrid. “I really think of myself as an American, but there’s always a link to being Indian. In some ways, now, I’m going through an investigative period of going back to my Indian roots—not just in music, but in general—because those years were a long time ago and I don’t really remember them.” Srinivasan embraces her Indian heritage, but stops short of holding it to the spotlight. This resistance toward promoting herself as “The Indian Classical Composer” has as much to do with her being both Indian and American as with her genuine humility. “I don’t want to just slap an Indian name on [a composition] because I’m Indian and say, ‘Hey, people will notice that.’ I’m aware of that factor, but I want it to be very authentic.”

When asked about the strikingly low presence of Indian students at music conservatories, she stresses the career risk associated with music as a profession. “It has everything to do with what is thought of as a good career. It has a lot to do with upbringing. That is something that I went through. My parents are very supportive, but they had a lot of reservations about my going into this field”—she laughs when noting that it was her mother, an amateur vocalist, who was most hesitant about her daughter’s decision—“I think they were more open-minded about everything to begin with, so they were willing to give me a chance, which is, I think, more rare.”

Although her memory of childhood in India is vague, Srinivasan was imprinted, at an early age, by Indian music—as a child she studied Carnatic (South Indian) vocal music. It wasn’t until much later, in a high school music theory class, that she began to seriously study western Classical music. In particular, she relished the opportunity to write music. “I started out by breaking the rules and seeing what would happen—coming up with different sounds.”

It was this search for new sounds that led Srinivasan, in her early student years, to write an abundance of music for computer-generated electronics. (One such piece is Falling: Samsaaram, which she describes as representing the movement between samsaaram (attachment) and nirvaanam (detachment). It is an unsettling work: bursts of violent noise periodically disrupt an eerie fabric of extraterrestrial sounds, jolting the listener at unexpected moments.) Although she still writes computer music, she thinks of it as a genre, not as a replacement for human performers. “Performers spend a lifetime working on their instruments. They’re going to have a certain degree of skill that a computer ‘performer’ doesn’t.”

Next year, Srinivasan is set to earn her doctorate of music at the University of Maryland. Despite still being a student, she has been making a mark in the classical music world—winning prizes for Kalpitha (string quartet), Alone, Dancing (flute and computer-generated electronics), and, most recently, BMI’s Women’s Music Commission.

Kalpitha (the title is a Carnatic term for composed, rather than improvised music) is a perfect example of Srinivasan’s hybrid classical/Carnatic style. A gradual crescendo brings the string quartet from virtual silence to subdued waves of sound, interrupted by melodic “sighs” that briefly evoke the first string quartet by early-20th-century composer Béla Bartók. The similarity to the Hungarian composer is brief, however, as the melody bends as seamlessly as wax in a lava-lamp, akin to the vocal slides in Carnatic vocal music. Broken into three attached movements, Kalpitha, a sizable work of sixteen minutes, takes the listener on a journey in which opposite ideas are synthesized: Movement I is plastic; Movement II is static. Movement III fuses the first two movements.

Kalpitha can be viewed as a metaphor of both Srinivasan the person and Srinivasan the composer: childhood in India, adulthood in America; Carnatic vocal study as a child, Western classical music as an adult. Rather than rejecting one, in favor of the other, she prefers to unite the two. Discussing her dual background, Srinivasan is content with her hybrid status. “I’m happy. I don’t want to become ‘Indian.’ I definitely feel strongly that I’m a true Indian-American, a true combination. And I love that… That’s one great thing—that I have both cultures.”

The Orchestra of St. Luke’s, with over seventy CDs and three Grammy Awards, is a new music force; few ensembles would be better suited to bringing new music to the public ear. By the River of Savathi will receive two premieres: Saturday, June 2nd, at 2 p.m., at the Chelsea Art Museum, and Sunday, June 3rd, at 3 p.m., at the Dia: Beacon. (Both venues are in Manhattan.)

Patrick Durek is a classical guitarist (new music proponent), as well as freelance journalist. He is based in northern NJ.

Originally posted by Patrick Durek from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 05:01 PM | Comments (0)

Bach to Bach.

Konstantin Lifschitz at the Town Hall
The New York Times, May 29, 2007

Originally posted by NightAfterNight from Night After Night, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)

Out on the links III.

Alex Ross on a dangerous situation for arts criticism currently brewing in Atlanta. Alex neatly summarizes a reported piece by Steve Dollar that ran this morning on the subscriber-only news page at MusicalAmerica.com. And Mark Stryker boils the entire controversy down to a single, pointed question.

Darcy James Argue on the concert by Sam Rivers, Dave Holland and Barry Altschul last Friday at Miller Theatre. I had to leave town for the weekend immediately after the show, but Darcy offers an overview so vivid, substantial and comprehensive that I have absolutely nothing to add. Nice photos, too.

A few recent albums I've felt strongly about, and said so in Time Out New York:

Maria McKee - Late December (Cooking Vinyl)

Myra Melford and Tanya Kalmanovitch - Heart Mountain (Perspicacity)

Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble - Fujin Raijin (Victo)

Fennesz Sakamoto - Cendre (Touch) + David Toop - Sound Body (Samadhi Sound)

Playlist:

Willie Nelson - Phases and Stages (Atlantic/Rhino)

godspeed you! black emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (Kranky)

Amy LaVere - Anchors & Anvils (Archer)

New Ruins - The Sound They Make (Hidden Agenda)

Nile - Ithyphallic (Nuclear Blast, due July 17)

Arcade Fire - Funeral (Merge)

Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light 'Til Dawn (Blue Note)

King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic (DGM/Virgin)

Alexandra Gardner - Luminoso (Innova)

Johann Sebastian Bach - The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I & II - Wanda Landowska (BMG Classics)

Various Artists - Guitars of the Golden Triangle: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar, Vol. 2 (Sublime Frequencies)

Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 3 - Michelle De Young, Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Bernard Haitink (CSO Resound)

Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks, Vol. 3: Pembroke Pines, FL 05/22/77 (Grateful Dead)

Redhooker - The Future According to Yesterday (Soft Landing)

Originally posted by NightAfterNight from Night After Night, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)

Music: here. Everything else: over there

... just realized that if you asked me about books or films (and probably food or dance or motorcars or visual artworks as well), I could probably rattle off a list of five to ten titles for any best of/worst of category you might come up with. But when it comes to music, putting any of it into lists is a stretch of imagination and will: I don't want to lump the music I value together, let alone rank it. I suppose that's also why I get nervous around folks for whom talk about music mostly turns into references to items in their totally awesome record collections (and which is probably why I can't read much pop and jazz criticism, either): getting close to a piece of music is forgetting the music it resembles or differs from so as to engage the music on its own terms, to change the act of listening into an act essentially indistinct from composition.*

_____
* once again, my debt to Weschler's Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin is self-evident.

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)

Mp3 Blog #18: "Comme un Silène Entr-ouvert"

Originally from Jacob Sudol, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:55 PM | Comments (0)

HIPster’s guide to not winning friends and not influencing people

A couple of days ago I picked up a recording of Fidelio in the library. It’s conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, a “historically informed performance” (HIP) specialist, meaning that his ideal is to calibrate the performance of a piece based on what is known about musical practices and instruments at the time it was written. When I got home I noticed that Opera Chic had blogged some mean things about “Niki The Anaesthesiologist,” as she calls him. I listened to the disk right away, and, well, to my mongrel ears there’s a wonderful clarity to Niki’s Fidelio, and nothing soporific about it. It was kind of disappointing–why do I always have to be one of the uncool ones? After I read the comments in OC’s blog I felt better. There are worse things that being uncool.

(more…)

Tags: classical music, historically informed performance, Music, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, opera, Opera Chic

Originally posted by Robert Zimmerman from Re:harmonized, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)

Approaching the Harp

In advance of the upcoming premiere of his harp concerto, Mark Adamo (seen below in a recent photo, pre-haircut) has written a fascinating description of the challenges involved in writing such a thing, and how he approached it. How do you get beyond the clichés and build something where the harp isn’t just adding some attack to the clarinets or providing noodledy-noodley filigree? How can the harp “own” the material?

Whether or not you have any interest at all in the harp as an intstrument, this is a worthwhile thing to read. It’s a great example of how a smart composer starts a new project by asking questions. Mark’s approach here reminds me of thorough advance work he puts into his stage works. (More on that here.)

1.) Since the harp is, by design, more impressive spelling out harmony than theme—but I want a theme with a real authority on which to organize the piece—can I come up with a melody that’s all harmony and all line at the same time, and yet is still versatile enough to express whatever I need?

2.) Are there unusual technical or timbral resources the harp can muster that are theatrical (read: loud) enough to hold their own in an orchestral texture? Can I design a movement to ask a question to which these timbres would be the answer?

3.) And how do I make this piece not just an orchestra score which happens to have a very large harp part, but a true concerto: one which sounds as if all of its gestures and materials are generated by the soloist? In other words, how do I keep the orchestra, with its limitless melodic potential, from upstaging the harp?

Mark’s Four Angels will receive its premiere at the Kennedy Center on June 7 – 9, 2007 performed by Dotian Levalier and the National Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, conductor.

Mark Adamo on NewMusicBox

Originally posted by Michael Kaulkin from About the Composer, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)

Tomorrow’s Dream - All About Jazz

All About Jazz

Tomorrow’s Dream
All About Jazz, PA - 6 hours ago
If you take the discipline of contemporary classical music and infuse it with improvisation, it might begin to describe this recording. ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)

441 Records

441 Records and their Test of Time imprint are reissuing older left-of-center jazz and as well as putting out new recordings.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)

Piero Scaruffi Interview

An interview of reviewer extraordinaire Piero Scaruffi is available.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)

Craig Taborn Trio Live at the Velvet Lounge Reviewed

A recent Chicago performance of Taborn’s trio is reviewed.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)

links for 2007-05-29

Originally from aworks :: "new" american classical music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

A little less boy please ...

'A bit more Mann and a little less boy, please' demands the Guardian headline over its review of English National Opera's new production of Britten's Death in Venice. A line of thinking that reminds me that the opera was banned from being shown to schoolchildren in Kent, England in 1989

In that year Conservative councillors forced Glynebourne Touring Opera to cancel performances planned for a school's festival. At the time the chair of Kent school's sub-committee said the decision was made because: 'It was felt that the question of homosexuality was not appropriate for all the schoolchildren who would attend.'

Elsewhere the ban was described as 'unbelievable', 'pernicious', and 'scandalous', and it was believed to be the first time any concern had been expressed about the opera since its 1973 premiere. Donald Mitchell of the Britten-Pears Foundation said the decision had been influenced by the controversial Section 28 legislation which prevented local authorities from promoting homosexuality. 'It is appalling that councils should ban a work of this stature by a composer who did so much for children. They have covered themselves in shame', he said."

A spokesperson for Kent County Council said children as young as ten would have seen the opera, and it was felt that its contents were just not suitable. The Section 28 legislation was repealed in 2003, but Kent County Council retained elements of it in their schools curriculum by teaching that heterosexual marriage and family relationships are the firm foundations for society.

Now let's celebrate not one, but two new productions of Death in Venice with Britten's champagne moment.
Sorry, my photo isn't the new ENO production, it's from the Opera Company of Philadelphia, image credit Stevenrickards.com. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)

Super Size Me

While Lucretia was still on tour, Britten left for a brief visit to America - his first transatlantic journey by air - where Peter Grimes was at last to be staged at Koussevitzky's Berkshire Festival at Tanglewood, a vast event involving hundreds of music students, past and present. Three performances were given in early August by a young and enormous cast - enormous in every sense, for Eric Crozier, who had flown over to produce, recalls that in overfed America it was impossible to find a thin child to play the appentice.

The 1946 US premiere of Britten's Peter Grimes recalled in Humphrey Carpenter's book Benjamin Britten, A Biography (Faber ISBN 0571143253). The conductor was the twenty-eight-year-old Leonard Bernstein, his assistant was another musician who has featured here recently, Peter Paul Fuchs.

In 1945 Joan Cross had sung the role of Ellen Orford in the UK premiere of Peter Grimes conducted by Reginald Goodall, read more about Joan Cross here.
In my photo Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts’s holds a definitely not-overfed Apprentice in Opera North's 2006 production of Peter Grimes. Super Size Me is, of course, the title of Morgan Spurlock's 2004 feature film. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 08:11 AM | Comments (0)

A rose by any other name

A jackass in my church choir raised a damn fine question last Sunday, one that I had been mulling for myself and had been, frankly, avoiding and dancing around for years.

He was on his way into church listening to one of the classical music stations in town, which was playing Bach. The voice in the radio said that the station was going to be juxtaposing Bach's sacred works with his secular, in this case, instrumental writing. This jackass (he's not a jackass for his question, by the way) came in demanding my choir director to explain to him what made Bach's sacred works "sacred" and his secular works "secular."

My choir director began to calmly try to work through a few possible solutions, the jackass aggressively countered with his own assertion that the use of sacred text was the only defining characteristic, and I could not help by piping in and breaking the din with the only - and most ambiguous - answer I could muster through my typical frustration and rising guile, "...It has a quality..." and this is the best I could do.

But not the worst. More on that later.

Originally posted by Frank Pesci from Blog - Narcissistic Plate, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 08:01 AM | Comments (0)

(Schoenberg + Scriabin)2 = Leo Ornstein?

Leo Ornstein, Complete Works for Cello and Piano
Joshua Gordon (cello) & Randall Hodgkinson (piano)
New World Records 80655-2

Six Preludes for cello and piano (1929–30)
Composition 1 for cello and piano* (date unknown)
Sonata No. 1 for cello and piano, Op. 52 (1915)
Two Pieces for cello and piano, Op. 33 nos. 1 and 2* (date unknown)
Sonata No. 2 for cello and piano* (ca. 1920)

* World Premiere Recording

Well, not quite. Ornstein was part of that multitude of heralded geniuses at the onset of modernism (back when it was called Futurism). He made quite a splash, prompting one critic to deem him the sum of Schoenberg and Scriabin squared, but posterity has endowed only a fraction of their fame on poor Leo, who disappeared into academia after his initial notoriety.

The new recording by Joshua Gordon and Randall Hodgkinson of Ornstien’s Complete Works for Cello and Piano seems to confirm posterity’s judgment. The compositions on this CD are all very lovely to encounter, but aside from a few haunting moments, they don’t particularly linger in the mind. Back when it was easy to become famous for breaking all the rules, enfants terribles were a dime a dozen, but Ornstein is no charlatan. His musical vocabulary is expansive, and he has a gift for creating a wide variety of textures that, left by themselves, would make fine post-modernist pieces.

However, what emerges as Ornstein’s greatest talent in this collection of five pieces is not any groundbreaking modernity, but rather, a passionate, Russian-Jewish lyricism. (Ornstein rejected Judaism as an adult, but his cultural heritage is never far afield in these pieces. In the fifth of his Six Preludes for cello and piano, he even quotes the triplet piano motif of Mussorgsky’s “Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle”.) Composition 1 for cello and piano is simply one long lament for the cello, much like the first part of Sonata No. 2. On this disc, these languorous melodies abound.

Joshua Gordon sings each melody with a gorgeous, dark tone that is utterly captivating at times. Ornstein was a crack pianist, and like most composers with prodigious piano chops, he writes some miserably complex accompaniments, all of which Randall Hodgkinson plays effortlessly. If these two are coming to your town any time soon, don’t miss them. The only flaw in this recording is the mix, which often lets one instrument overbalance the other.

Originally posted by Jodru from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 08:01 AM | Comments (0)

Scrobbling at the Web

If you look down and to the left, you’ll find a sidebar widget called “Playlist”. These are the tracks spinning at AMN Central as gathered from last.fm. The list is updated in near real-time so stop by often to see what we’re listening to.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 05:00 AM | Comments (0)

No Fun photos, Wikipedia improvements and sharing rare music

Originally from The Hollow Tree Experimental Music Report, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 02:00 AM | Comments (0)

Sylvano Bussotti, "Il Nudo"

From Wergo 60048:

MAURICE FLEURET, Music within music

A kaleidoscope. Sylvano Bussotti's personality and work can be compared to a living kaleidoscope of infinite variety. The matter itself does not change - it has constant characteristics - but the slightest movement, the slightest change of view, causes the crystals to produce new, unanticipated perspectives, a hitherto unknown geometry and endlessly changing meaning.

Bussotti is not satisfied with a more or less linear organisation of sounds. For him music is more than music and he forms it ,,in close association with the arts of symbolism, colour of light, gesture, speech, writing and action". It would not only be wrong, but impossible to separate the composer from the grandiose violinist, from the accomplished exponent of new music, from the poet, analyst, critic, artist and sculptor, who has had 15 exhibitions in the last ten years, from the scriptwriter of cinema and television films, from the actor, producer and set-designer of more than 20 theatre productions from Puccini to Cage. The creative Bussotti is complex, not in the accepted intellectual way, but rather on account of his spontaneous elan. His work is conducted in the same manner as his life, with an insatiable thirst for innovation. In an age in which so many people follow the fashion or outdo it for being left behind, Bussotti is content only to follow or outdo himself, to do what he loves - but he loves so much! Thus, in a land which is full of social, sexual, religious and cultural taboos, he can reconcile the irreconcilable, without being frivolous or naive and without fear of scandal. For he puts on the ascetic cloak of creativity and gives free rein to an eminently Italian power of imagination, seeking the natural in art and artistic in the everyday and expressing himself with ease in the realms of concert and theatre, cinema screen and art gallery. Thus, like Couperin or Schumann, Bussotti is a unique and complex phenomenon, which defies attempts at labelling or categorisation, which takes up its stand on the periphery of every established historical movement, despite largely determining the development of the same.

Bussotti's entire musical output emanates from within. It commands continuity, emanating from living experience by means of a complex system of symbols. None of his pieces can be isolated from the larger context from which it sprang, any more than it could be divorced from those which preceded it or from those which are to follow. Thus, one must judge the corpus of his works from a distance, as part of a development and in relation to the Bussotti landscape. The abundance of references to earlier works, the abundance of symbols, of marginal notes, very often of an esoteric nature, of hints of future developments, all this testifies on every page of music to the unity and timelessness of the works as a whole. It is not without justification that Bussotti claims for himself the language of the "memory of things to come" with the intention of freeing himself of the bonds of time and transience.

Apart from "Phrase à Trois", which is the central piece and principal work of this record, which is to be viewed as a musical whole, the other three pieces on this record demonstrate the close, systematic relationship of Bussotti's works one to another. "Il Nudo" is composed of four fragments, each with its own individuality and architectonic and expressive function within the whole, which itself can be compared to a shorter, concentrated version of "Torso". Meanwhile "Torso" is related to other works inspired by Braibanti or dedicated to purity of voice...

"Ancora odono i colli" is one of the "Cinque frammenti all'Italia", a remnant of a more comprehensive project in the form of a "representation de concert" which Bussotti abandoned. RARA (eco sierologico), for violoncello is the version for violoncello of the work composed for soloists on five instruments, of which each individually and in turn performs on one of a succession of evenings, with a combined offering on the final evening of a six day festival. This procedure was followed at the festival in Rome organised by the Nuova Consonanze Society, which commissioned the work.

As opposed to the "cosmic" music, accomplished by the accumulation of musical happenings or mathematical treatment of masses, which becomes more and more common from Stockhausen to Xenakis, the music of Bussotti is only accessible virtually. That means that its range and meaning can only be appreciated fully by reading the score, and not by listening alone. It would seem to be the conscious intention of the composer to complicate and render almost impossible the execution of his "great forms" through the diversity of the media which he employs. For the "Cinque frammenti all'Italia" alone he uses, for example, the vocal sextet, a mixed choir and 24 mixed voices. An ideal performance of this work can only take place on paper. Thus Bussotti confirms his inclination towards abstraction and his preoccupation with the written mode of expression, the possibilities of which are inexhaustible. Is that to suggest that Bussotti's work is perfect but impossible to perform? Quite the reverse is true. For all, to the very last detail is filled with the breath of life, with an intimate and pathetic pulsation, which could be compared to the music of a state of mind. This, the composer achieves by using his own highly individualistic handwriting combining a peculiarly expressive graphic style with the most precise, elaborate post-Webern notation. Encroached on from many sides, the exponent must exert himself here to the utmost, employing his virtuosity, his imagination and his sensitivity in a kind of loving dialogue with the score. Very few are equal to the task, for it requires more than mere aptitude.

IL NUDO, and string quartet quattro frammenti da Torso, for soprano, piano

After Bussotti had completed "Torso", based on a text by Braibanti, for voice and orchestra after three years' work on it in 1963, he took 4 fragments from this piece, 4 specially selected pieces, to form a suite with the title "Il Nudo" ("The Naked One"). On account of its ingenious construction and almost classical composure he was awarded the first prize in the chamber ensemble class of the composition competition of the International Society for New Music in Rome the following year.

The composer takes up Rilke's idea that the human voice is like a naked body. In "Il Nudo", as in "Torso", he systematically strips the voice of the solo soprano and frees it, little by little, of the instrumental entanglement, until the purity, depth and origins of the voice are exposed. The piano disappears after the first fragment and the string quartet after the third, so that the last fragment is devoted to the voice alone. Thus the work develops asymmetrically, both on account of the progressive reduction in the instrumentation and on account of the elements of the composition themselves. It is a small-scale reproduction of the original work.

The most important pages of the score of "Torso" carry dedications (Max Deutsch, Mario Bartolotto, Heinz-Klaus Metzger, Dieter Schnebel, Henri Pousseur, Romano Amidei) and "Il Nudo" unites the four fragments which are dedicated to the Italian actor Romano Amidei, the composer's intention being to create a kind of musical portrait. In this connection the importance of Romano Amidei's initials for Bussotti's symbolism should be pointed out, especially since they are made to form the word RARA, which recurs in many titles. Finally it should be noted that the underlying unity of this suite can be attributed to the fact that the harmonic material in its entirety consists of a few selected chords, which recur in all possible combinations.

The first fragment is "Quartina II" from "Torso", for voice, piano and quartet, which is based on four verses from a poem on puberty by Aldo Braibanti:

Ecco che spunta gia 1'alba aurora
e tu ridi il tuo gioco spietato
quando viene il mattino hai giascordato
quando viene la sera impari ancora.

Freely translated:

The pale blush of dawn is already appearing
and you mock with your cruel game.
When morning comes, you have already forgotten it,
when evening comes you begin again.

This text is sung by the solo soprano. The instruments contrapunctuate every syllable or letter and form a pointillistic texture of sound which is unusually light and delicate, and from which now and then percussion and all possible kinds of discrete effects ring out. The surprising outcome of keeping the music to a minimum, is a kind of verbal alchemy, bringing forth remarkable utterings made up of the unusual vocabulary of piano and strings and the sounds brought forth by the voice. Further excerpts of the poetical text are to be found after the final pages of the piece. They may well have inspired the composer originally but they are not meant to be heard by the listener and may simply act as a guide to the exponent.

The second fragment from "Torso" - "Quartina III" - illustrates a typical Florentine association of ideas - that of the olive tree and the moon:

Lungo piove l'ulivo
fitti nodi di luna.

In translation:

For long the olive tree rains
the heavy nodes of the moon.

The relationship between the voice and the quartet - which still remains - is no less complex than in the first piece. But the instruments are more sharply separated, and the way in which they develop gives rise to a special annotation on the two pages of the musical text. The vocal part, with its intervals jumping to the extremities of the register, with its groups of melodical suggestions, its unusual structures of equal density and its dramatic interruptions, is reminiscent of the global, sophistic treatment of the voice in Chinese opera.

In the third fragment, "Atto" (Act), the string quartet is left to its own devices. There follows a kind of "instrumental liquidation" in the course of which the four stringed instruments play the sum total of what they had to play in "Torso". They commence simultaneously, but continue independently of each other until the material has been exhausted. In the score, the relevant poetical quotations from Braibanti are to be found in the margin.

The fourth and final fragment follows immediately. It is the one with which "Torso" concludes and that to which the suite owes its title, on account of the single verse which is set to music: "Il nudo violente dolce essenziale corpolinguaggio dell'intuito vitale" ("The violently gentle naked one, essential body-language of vital intuition"). A kind of great cadence, combining all the difficulties of reading and intonation. It is one of the most difficult and brilliantly executed pieces in contemporary music for the human voice without instrumental support.

Bussotti here adapts vocal writing in order to emphasize the underlying polyphony of the texts. He uses special articulation, hesitation, echoes and extra syllables which are produced through phonetic association. It is all borne by the same poetic impulse, without loss of comprehension. Small notes are often set at counterpoint to the main notes, producing the acoustic illusion of many interwoven lines of song. The third part of this piece gives the exponent a certain amount of choice in a large section. Depending on her temperament and possibilities, she must pick her way through overlapping areas, groups of symbols and free, but very suggestive graphic symbols. The last but one page of the score is a precise phonetic and literary analysis of the text, with similar consonants and sounds on one line, thus producing extremities of pitch and intensity.

From beginning to end, the most subtle, enchanting, but also the most conscious, musicality fuse, as do, with the same sensual elan, the spoken effects, murmurs, audible breathing, sighs, the compact masses of appogiatura, the arabesques, the extreme intervals and certain almost electronic distortions of the voice. Everything in the work has its own justification, and right till the cry at the end everything is subject to the logic of perfect, compulsive poetry, to a new vocal ethic rather than a vocal aesthetic. The score of "Il Nudo" was published in 1964 by Hermann Moeck in Celle.

Originally posted by jodru from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:50 AM | Comments (0)

A comic muse

A challenge is now going around to name the best score for a comic film. I suppose a lot depends upon how you define "comic" (I may be alone in defining Eraserhead or O Lucky Man as comic, but I do and their respective scores, by David Lynch and Alan Price, are both fine), and the function of music in a comedy is somewhat different from that in a drama. For example, musical kitsch is almost always a liability in a drama, but in a comic film score it may well be unavoidable and a asset. Here are some favorites:

Bernard Hermann: The Trouble With Harry
Andre Previn: One, Two, Three
Laurie Johnson, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Alex North, Prizzi's Honor
Steven Hufsteter: Repo Man
Toshirô Mayuzumi, Ohayô
John Morris: Young Frankenstein
Charles Chaplin: City Lights

(If I had to choose a favorite, the Morris and Hermann scores are very close, but Mayazumi's wins for its perfect fit to Ozu's sunniest film).

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:48 AM | Comments (0)

Music Review Honoring an Avant-Garde Eminence of the Saxophone - New York Times

New York Times

Music Review Honoring an Avant-Garde Eminence of the Saxophone
New York Times, NY - 20 hours ago
More generally it celebrated the 83-year-old Mr. Rivers, a genial and indefatigable eminence in the jazz avant-garde. And it confirmed the expressive power ...
Honoring an Avant-Garde Eminence of the Saxophone New York Times
all 2 news articles

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:47 AM | Comments (0)

Delirious Nomad | 02.07 - Play by Play

Delirious Nomad | 02.07
Play by Play, MO - May 25, 2007
1: St. Louis Symphony Orchestra chamber group performs avant garde music of Cage & Feldman at Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts (www.pulitzerarts.org, ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:47 AM | Comments (0)

Yes - Tales from Topographic Oceans (Rhino/Atlantic)

I have to go back to all my art-rock favorites once in a while. Selling England by the Pound, the first UK album, Eddie Jobsons first, Happy the Mansome still hold more interest for me than others; Tales remains...

Originally from Bagatellen, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)

Comedy Scores

The Memorial Day meme about great comedy soundtracks has yet to touch on the fact that some of the most memorable themes in movie history are from comedies: The Pink Panther, What's New Pussycat?, The Sounds of Silence, The Odd Couple, to name a few [Alan Silvestri's Mousehunt theme would be in that category if anyone had seen the film].

But writing a memorable full-length score is a bit trickier, and two people come to mind: Carter Burwell and Michael Kamen.

Kamen
Kamen's Die Hard scores are some of the funniest parts of the films and an important counterbalance to the films' violence. His score for another Bruce Willis film, Hudson Hawk, lets him really stretch his comedic legs, and he brilliantly anchors Brazil in the type of hyper-reality that's suggested by Terry Gilliam's visuals. His cue for Central Services' establishing shot is one of the all-time great musical moments in the movies.

Carter Burwell's scores for the Coen Brothers tend to be gorgeous and plaintive, and for the black comedy of Fargo, he strikes a deft balance that keeps the film's dark side at bay. But his magnum opus has to be the score for The Hudsucker Proxy. He writes everything from manic montage music to sappy parody, and keeps the film's grand narrative rolling right along.

Burwell

Originally posted by jodru from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 29, 2007 at 12:28 AM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2007

Scherzando

Terry Teachout throws down a nice challenge today: name a great Hollywood film score written for a comedy. Tough, because, like so much else about comedy, if you notice the score, it's not really doing its job. Comedy is all about efficiency—film scoring is all about luxury. For a comedic one to work, the effort has to be imperceptible.

For an example, let's examine what I think is one of the all-time best comedy film scores: Franz Waxman's for The Philadelphia Story. The first thing you notice is that it's hardly there at all—maybe twenty minutes of music, and that includes some ambient Cole Porter arrangements for the big party scene. Which leaves, what? Ten minutes of actual cues? Maybe less? Yet without those ten minutes, the movie doesn't work at all.

Take the opening scene, a flashback in which Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant acrimoniously end their marriage. She breaks his golf clubs; he winds up to punch her, and instead puts his hand over her face and pushes her to the ground. Pretty tough start for a guy we're supposed to spend the rest of the movie rooting for. Waxman smooths it over with pure cartoon music, mickey-mousing every bit of action with imitative instrumentation. Not only does tip the scene decisively into slapstick, it reassures us that the main dramatic conflict is not serious enough to turn into drama. Waxman doles out a little more of the same later, when, depressed an confused, Hepburn downs an entire tray of champagne saucers. Incipient alcoholism? Nah—the insouciant clarinet line slyly signals that it's the beginning of her salvation.

Waxman brings his full romantic arsenal to bear in only one scene, the late-night dance between Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart—and even here, he sneaks in, ingeniously dovetailing the cue with some languid jazz coming from an on-screen radio. That's his strategy all the way through: slip into the scene, gently tip it in the right dramatic direction, and then slip out again.

Big, epic comedies can produce great scores (John Williams' underrated score for 1941 springs to mind), but such scores are usually forgotten because the resulting movies almost never work. (I'm racking my brains to come up with an example of one that does, and the only one I can think of is Ghostbusters, in which Elmer Bernstein's Stripes-redux score jostles for space with a lot of 80s pop.) Interestingly, some of my favorite music for comedies is pre-existing: Scott Joplin rags in The Sting, Carmen in the original Bad News Bears, the Marriage of Figaro overture in Trading Places. Lisa Hirsch nominates the collective work of Warner Brothers animation composer Carl Stalling—divorced from the films, the music does have a modernist, fragmentary music concréte energy, but that's a response to the structure of the visuals, not an inherently musical inspiration. Alex Ross suggests Danny Elfman's score for Beetlejuice—I'd go back farther to Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Elfman's first score and still one of the best things he's ever done, a pitch-perfect musical embodiment of the movie's loopy atmosphere. I searched high and low for that soundtrack, and when I found it, I wore it out.

That's the exception, though. I remember a few years back, when the Modern Library came up with their list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the last century. I was ticked that the Julia Child-Louisette Bertholle-Simone Beck Mastering the Art of French Cooking didn't make the list, but really, the elegance and wit of that book's writing will always take a perceptive backseat to its functionality. That's what good comedy scores are like: ideally stylish, but necessarily efficient.

Originally from Soho the Dog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)

I'll play, too

One of Terry Teachout's readers asks a simple question, "Is there any classic Hollywood comedy from the golden age with a great or even near-great musical score?" Adolph Deutsch's score to Some Like It Hot (1959) is in the near-great category, at minimum, but I'll allow that the best music is in the actual musical numbers, which weren't by Deutsch. And a special award should go to Woody Allen, for putting together a hilarious all-Prokofiev score to Love and Death (1975).

Alex Ross goes to bat for Beetlejuice; Lisa Hirsch for Carl Stalling and Looney Tunes.

Originally posted by MarcGeelhoed from Marc Geelhoed: Deceptively Simple, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 10:53 PM | Comments (0)

Canadians dominate Montreal music competition

Arthur Kaptainis, Montreal Gazette, 5/28/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)

Canadian Opera Company's ambitious season garners $18M box office

CBC , 5/28/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)

Duke Bluebeard’s Castle/The Seven Deadly Sins, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff

Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 5/28/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)

The Bird Ensemble, "No. 4"

b.e.

Originally posted by jodru from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)

Sylvano Bussotti, "La Passion Selon Sade" (excerpt)

From Dischi Ricordi CRM 1002:

LA PASSION SELON SADE

Extraits de concert

"... Bussotti utilizes - at times to happily ironic effect - the expedients of contemporary musical language, lends them coherence and binds them into a lucid mosaic, but it is obvious that he is definitively concluding a period..."
S. Manzoni, "L'Unlfa", 1966

"... Time has left untouched La Passion: a score as wrinkle-free as the face of its composer..."
M. Tannenbaum, "L'Espresso", 1973

"... A masterpiece; we would like to invite everyone, whether lovers of contemporary music or not, not to miss this rare, precious, jewel of a piece..."
C. Tempo, "II Lavoro", 1973

"...A work that presents remarkable qualities of dramatic integration of the musical values: a musical colour of dark passion, a tormented sense of " envoutement", highly original yet clearly descending from Alban Berg's " Lulu "..."
M. Mils, "L'Espresso", 1965

"... Sylvano's music in this gentle Passion is composed with great transparency in the single parts, with superb "chamber" qualities. The most notable musical passages are a few brief intermezzos for chamber ensemble in which the horn often emerges melodically from oneiric harmonies..."
G, Lanza Tomasi, "L'Ora", 1965

SYLVANO BUSSOTTI Lato 1 LA PASSION SELON SADEi Extraits de concert (1979) Direttore: Marcello Panni Elise ROSS, soprano MARIO ANCILLOTTI, flauto GIANFRANCO PARDELLI, oboe BRUNO INCAGNOLI, oboe d'amore LUCIANO GIUUANI, corno LUIGI LANZILLOTTA, violoncello ANTONIO STRIANO, percussione JEAN LOUIS GIL, organo MASSIMILIANO DAMERINI, pianoforte, armonium CARLO LEVI MINZI, pianoforte, celesta ALESSANDRA BIANCHI, arpa Registrazione dal vivo effettuata dalla RAI il 6.2.1979 presso L'Auditorium del Foro Italico di Roma

Originally posted by jodru from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)

June Events At An die Musik LIVE

An die Musik LIVE has release their June calendar:

An die Musik LIVE! A Classical, Jazz & World Music Concert Venue
409 N. Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201

www.AndieMusikLIVE.com (410) 385-2638

JUNE EVENTS:
Every Monday Night, 7:30 pm Students of Peabody Jazz Department
Jeff Chang
(saxophone)
Devin Arne (guitar)
Blake Meister (bass)
Shareef Taher (drums)
Playing their originals as well as jazz standards. $8/$5 students

Saturday, June 2, 8 & 9:30 pm CREATIVE DIFFERENCES presents
FAB TRIO
Joe Fonda -double bass Barry Altschul - drums Billy Bang - violin

This amazing all star trio makes its Baltimore debut. Their concerts are a
rare commodity .
. . book early! $20 / $18 students & seniors

Saturday, June 9, 8 pm Lafayette Gilchrist 3 – CD RELEASE CONCERT Lafayette
Gilchrist – piano Anthony “Blue” Jenkins – bass Nate Reynolds - drums The
new album 3 showcases Lafayette Gilchrist’s maximalist jazz piano in a trio
setting rather than with his seven-piece New Volcanoes band. Even in the
more intimate arrangement, Gilchrist isn’t afraid to make the box shout;
this is jazz from artists influenced by everything from hip-hop to the D.C.
area’s distinctive go-go sound. $15 / $10 students & seniors

Saturday, June 16, 8 pm CREATIVE DIFFERENCES ANKER/TABORN/CLEAVER
Lotte Anker – saxophone Craig Taborn – piano Gerald Cleaver - drums
This trio had its premiere in May 2003, when the band did a small, but highly
successful
tour in France, Germany and Denmark. Since then ACT has been performing at
festivals and clubs/concert spaces in Scandinavia, Europe, USA and Canada,
They have also released the critically acclaimed CD Triptych (Leo Records).
$18 / $15 seniors & students w/ ID

Sunday, June 17, 3 pm MARK WILLIAMS Presenting his original compositions –
FREE –
“The Anxiety of Influence”

Music by composers Jon Liechty, Andrew Nishikawa, Elnara Dadashova,
Ludwig van Beethoven, and Mark Williams, featuring pianists Rachel
Iwaasa, Mr. Liechty, and Mr. Williams: pianos both real and toy
confront Beethoven, Berg, Boulez, and the innocently bystanding nations

Thursday, June 21, 8 pm CREATIVE DIFFERENCES GANELIN TRIO PRIORITY
Vyacheslav Ganelin – piano, synthesiser, percussion Petras Vysniauskas -
soprano saxophone Klaus Kugel - drums, percussion Ganelin Trio make use of
the method of American jazz in order to listen deeply into the European
musical tradition. That way, they shed light on great gestures of baroque
music, they internalize the painful individualism of Romanticism, and
recapitulate the careless lightness of traditional folk music. It is no
less than trans-European, inter-traditional and multi-sensual improvised
music. $18 / $15 seniors & students w/ ID

Friday, June 22, 8 pm ASTRAL WINDS (Woodwind Quintet) Winners of the 2006
Astral Artistic Services National Auditions, Astral Winds brings together
five woodwind artists with rich backgrounds as soloists, chamber musicians,
orchestral players, and teachers. Astral Winds promotes music from all
continents and styles to appeal to audiences from diverse age groups and
backgrounds. $15 / $12 students & seniors

Saturday, June 23, 8 & 9:30 pm CREATIVE DIFFERENCES Stefano Bollani - solo
piano His outstanding technique, stylistic versatility and sharp wit have
made this 34-year-old Italian hugely popular in his native country. But his
international prestige too is growing steadily. Having made remarkable
appearances on the albums of his former mentor Enrico Rava, Bollani now
makes his ECM début as soloist. “Piano Solo marks a new stage of artistic
maturity: 16 terse miniatures combine spontaneity with melodic flow,
lightning virtuosity with refined melancholy, to form a grand and unbroken
arch.” $16 / $13 seniors & students w/ ID

Sunday, June 24, 2 pm Italienisches Liederbuch by Hugo Wolf (1860 – 1930)
Caitlin Donovan, soprano Jason Buckwalter, baritone MiYeon Han, piano
Anonymous Italian poems sung in German $13 / $10 students & seniors

Thursday, June 28, 8 pm CREATIVE DIFFERENCES VALENTINE TRIO
Fred Lonberg-Holm – cello Jason Roebke - double-bass Frank Rosely - drums
Cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm originally formed what is sometimes called the
Valentine Trio back in 2000, when the group paid homage to pioneering jazz
cellist Fred Katz for a gig at the Empty Bottle jazz festival. The trio has
taken on a life of its own over the years, and its just-released third
album “Terminal Valentine “, is the first to feature all original material.
$15 / $12 seniors & students

Saturday, June 30, 8 pm & 9:30 pm CREATIVE DIFFERENCES
Marilyn Crispel & Louis Moholo-Moholo
Tonight we are proud to present a world premier, South
African drum legend Moholo-Moholo returns to Baltimore for two exclusive
concerts with Marilyn Crispell, one of the most influential pianists of her
generation. This is sure to be one of the year’s most anticipated concerts!
$20 / $18 students & seniors

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)

AMN Podcast: Adrew Violette - Rave

Rave

Download “A Burlesque And A Tarantella” (mp3)
from “Rave”
by Andrew Violette
Innova Recordings

Buy at eMusic

Postminimalism: Chapter One, Metaphorically Speaking

Someday someone will appear who has analyzed more minimalist-influenced music from the 1980s and '90s than I have, and if...

Originally from PostClassic, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)

Помните

In honor of Memorial Day, here's the finale of Dmitri Kabalevsky's 1963 Requiem, "for those who died in the war against fascism."

Kabalevsky: Requiem (Finale: "Pomnite!") (mp3, 7.2 Mb)
Valentina Levko, contralto; Vladimir Valaitis, baritone
Moscow Chorus
Children's Chorus of the Art Education Institute
Moscow Philharmonic, Dmitri Kabalevsky, conductor

Kabalevsky (1904-1987) said that he dreamed for years of writing this piece; I don't doubt that, but, given the timing, it's hard not to hear his Requiem as some sort of Soviet response to Benjamin Britten's War Requiem of 1962. Coincidence or not, it's a classic example of a good piece of music being overshadowed by a similar, great piece. Kabalevsky's music is undeniably effective, and often inspired, but his socialist-realist vocabulary precludes any of the questioning of pro patria mori that produces such crackling tension in the Britten, and Kabalevsky's text (by poet Robert Rozhdestvensky), while solidly dramatic, can't compare with the combination of Wilfred Owen and the timeless Latin of the Mass (which, of course, Kabalevsky eschews). But if all you know of Kabalevsky is the overture to The Comedians and some of his often-anthologized piano pieces, the Requiem is worth a listen. And it's hard to argue with the climax:

Lyudi zemli,—
ubeite voinu!
Lyudi zemli,
proklyanite voinu!
No o tekh,
kto uzhe ne pridyot nikogda,—
zaklinayu,—
pomnite!

People of the world—
kill war!
People of the world,
curse war!
But them
who will never come back—
I beseech you—
remember!

Originally from Soho the Dog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 08:38 PM | Comments (0)

Miriam Makeba: Pata Pata (1966)

I woke up this morning with Miriam Makeba on my mind. I have no idea why, but I searched for her name, found a website that didn’t load for me, but found a recent (May 4, 2007) article by Karen Lotter (suite 101) which begins:

Miriam Makeba, Mamma Africa, lived in enforced exile for 31 years. Since her return to South Africa in 1990 she has become known as an unstoppable great- grandmother.

YouTube hosts quite a number of her videos including her famous “The Click Song” (1966). Because the video is on a DVD collection that is for sale, I am not allowed to embed any of those videos here. Here is “Oxcam” (1966) that was an out-take from that collection. The song is based on ever-repeating chord progression,

I . . .
V/V . . .
V . IV .
I . . .

which in classical terms, is known as a chaconne. The chaconne (never really called a chaconne then) was extremely popular in the 1960s. Songs like “G-L-O-R-I-A,” “Just Like Me,” “Not Your Stepping Stone,” “Satisfaction,” and “Louie, Louie” were all chaconnes, easy for beginning garage bands to cut their teeth on, and all good dancing songs.

In February 1966 Miriam Makeba performed at the Bern’s Salonger in Stockholm, Sweden. This concert was shown on Swedish television in 1967.

And here is a live performance of her most famous song “Pata Pata” shown on television in San Paulo, Brazil (1968). Electrifying!

We love you Miriam: you are a living legend.

[Photo: Courtesy Heads Up International]

Originally posted by Roger Bourland from rogerbourland.com, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 08:38 PM | Comments (0)

Composer in uniform

Here's a military item for Memorial Day weekend. Seth Colter Walls, a journalist who covers the Mideast, sent me links to a personal site and a blog run by Lt. Daniel Todd Currie, who's presently serving as an engineer with the Air Force in Badgad, helping to equip Iraqi security forces. He's also a composer. He studied with Tristan Murail at Columbia and regularly attended concerts at Miller Theatre while he was a student; his tastes run from Xenakis and Scelsi to Adams and Pärt and on to Trent Reznor and Radiohead. He's obviously had little time for composition since he's been posted in Bagdad, but he's written some excellent ringtones that are available as MIDI files on his site — rather more dissonant and contrapuntal than the norm. He's also using GarageBand to compose some short pieces that he plans to assemble into a suite titled Green Zone Diversions. Waiting to be performed is a new piece for saxophone quartet, Study in Conductivity, which the composer calls "the wildest sax quartet ever written." I've seen the score and it is indeed pretty wild — there's one passage where pulses of 12, 13, 14, and 16 to the bar are layered in rapid streams. Please bear in mind, if you're visiting Dan's blog, that many soldiers' blogs have been shut down for a variety of reasons, so it might be helpful to avoid getting into obvious controversies if you're moved to comment. In other words, don't mention Boulez. Let's hope that he and as many others as possible over there stay safe.

MP3: Stravinsky's Feu d'artifice played by the United States Air Force Band on its new album Innovations.

Previously: John Cage in Iran.

Originally posted by Alex Ross from Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 08:37 PM | Comments (0)

Film score top 10

Terry Teachout ponders an interesting question: is there a great Hollywood film score written for a comedy rather than a drama or a thriller? It's hard to think of one, though I am tempted to put Danny Elfman's Beetlejuice in the near-great category. Does Charade, with the fabulous Henry Mancini music, count as a comedy? I agree with much of Terry's top-ten Hollywood film-score list: certainly Vertigo, Chinatown, Adventures of Robin Hood, On the Waterfront, and Laura make the grade. I prefer Copland's Of Mice and Men to The Heiress. I also love Mancini's Touch of Evil (possibly a very dark comedy), Ellington and Strayhorn's Anatomy of a Murder, Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings, and — must be honest — John Williams's Star Wars. Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, Gone with the Wind, and other classics have great title themes, but the scores don't control the unfolding of the narrative as do, say, Jerry Goldsmith's music for Chinatown and Bernard Herrmann's for Vertigo. I've limited myself to one film per composer; otherwise I'd be tempted to pick three or four more Herrmann scores. Vertigo belongs among the great musical works of the century.

Lisa Hirsch has the answer: Carl Stalling.

Originally posted by Alex Ross from Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)

Sylvano Bussotti, "Fragmentations"

Originally posted by jodru from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)

Member News: Wandelweiser Presents Johnny Chang

Originally from ANALOG Arts Ensemble news, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)

Ain't it bleak when you got so much nothin'

Originally from Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)

Umbrella Music Through June 7

From Chicago’s Umbrella Music:

Wednesday, 30 May 2007
The Hideout
10:00PM | Damon Short Quintet
Chuck Burdelik - reeds
Mitch Paliga - reeds
Ryan Shultz - bass trumpet
Larry Kohut - bass
Damon Short - drums
two sets
$6 cover
PLUS | DJ Sets : Tim Daisy spins Great Trio Music

Thursday, 31 May 2007
Elastic
10:00PM | The Rempis Percussion Quartet
Dave Rempis - saxophones
Anton Hatwich - bass
Tim Daisy - drums
Frank Rosaly - drums
two sets
$7 requested donation

Sunday, 03 June 2007
The Hungry Brain
10:00PM | Princess-Princess
Toby Summerfield - strings
Jaimie Branch - trumpet
Frank Rosaly - drums
11:00PM | Ear To The Ground
Dave Rempis - saxophones
Caroline Davis - saxophones
Matthew Golombisky - bass
Quinlan Kirchner - drums

Monday, 04 June 2007
Gallery 37
7:00PM | Josh Abrams Ensemble
Josh Abrams - bass
Nicole Mitchell - flute
David Boykin - bass clarinet
Jim Baker - electronics
Jeff Parker - guitar
Frank Rosaly - percussion
FREE
(but tickets required)

Wednesday, 06 June 2007
The Hideout
10:00PM | Wooley/Adasiewicz/Abrams/Tanaka
Nate Wooley - trumpet
Jason Adasiewicz - vibes
Josh Abrams - bass
Nori Tanaka - drums
11:00PM | Gauci/Håker Flaten/Reed
Stephen Gauci - tenor sax
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - bass
Mike Reed - drums
$7 cover
PLUS | DJ sets
Dave Rempis Spins Personal Favorites From Various Genres

Thursday, 07 June 2007
Elastic
10:00PM | Gauci/Wooley/Håker Flaten/Tanaka
Stephen Gauci - tenor sax
Nate Wooley - reeds
Ingebrigt Håker-flaten - bass
Nori Tanaka - percussion
two sets
$7 requested donation

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Bagatellen Reviews

From Bagatellen:

Kendrick Scott Oracle - The Source - 27 May 07
Burkhard Beins - Disco Prova - 25 May 07

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Ventura’s new-music wizard is leaving for San Diego

Jeff Kaiser is playing a farewell show on the road to academia.

Kaiser, 45, composes and performs “new music,” also described as creative, experimental or avant-garde music. He founded Ventura’s annual New Music Festival in 1990, plays in numerous ensembles and owns the avant-garde pfMENTUM record label and its subsidiary, Angry Vegan Records.

But now, the new-music man has a new venture planned. Kaiser is leaving Ventura to earn a Ph.D. in music at UC San Diego, specifically a program in “critical studies and experimental practices.” His goal is to be a university professor.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Common Ground With Gongs

The music of husband / wife team Susie Ibarra and Roberto Rodriguez is profiled.

This is the soundscape of Electric Kulintang, the venture of wife-and-husband team Susie Ibarra and Roberto Rodriguez that conjugates her Filipino and his Cuban cultural heritage with the experimentalism of the New York improvised music scene they inhabit. Deeply rooted yet entirely new, it is one of those refreshing projects that ushers the listener into a total sonic experience just past the edge of the familiar, in the process subjecting the superannuated concept of ‘‘world music’’ to some much-needed creative destruction.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Sam Rivers Tribute Reviewed

The 70’s version of the Sam Rivers Trio recently reunited to honor Mr. Rivers in NY.

“I didn’t expect to blossom like I did,” the saxophonist Sam Rivers said at the Miller Theater on Friday, reflecting on his 60-year career. His quip sent ripples of appreciative laughter through the crowd, which was generously stocked with musicians, and generally skewed toward extreme jazz erudition.

The Sam Rivers Trio reunited at the Miller Theater, with Mr. Rivers on saxophone, Dave Holland on bass and Barry Altschul on drums.

The occasion was suitably exceptional: a reunion of the 1970s-era Sam Rivers Trio, with Dave Holland on bass and Barry Altschul on drums. It culminated a weeklong tribute organized by WKCR, the student-run radio station of Columbia University. More generally it celebrated the 83-year-old Mr. Rivers, a genial and indefatigable eminence in the jazz avant-garde. And it confirmed the expressive power of collective improvisation, not that the audience needed convincing.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

links for 2007-05-28

Originally from aworks :: "new" american classical music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

Holiday weekend - Aldeburgh

Mstislav Rostropovich relaxes against Benjamin Britten's Alvis in Aldeburg. The photo is undated but was probably taken in summer 1961. Now take a drive through Britten's Aldeburgh, but be careful, the composer was a notoriously speedy driver. Which prompts the question - is classical music too fast?
Photo from Humphrey Carpenter's book Benjamin Britten, A Biography (Faber ISBN 0571143253). Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)

Rivers - Holland - Altschul @ Miller Theatre - 25 May 2007

Originally from Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 08:01 AM | Comments (0)

May 2007 CMC Composer of the Month -- Part 4 [mp3]

Belfast-born composer Deirdre Gribbin talks to Jonathan Grimes about her early musical experiences, the influence of Northern Ireland on some of her works, and her thoughts on audiences and the presentation of her music.

Music excerpts used with kind permission:

Episode 4 [10:26]

Music excerpts used:

1.08: Mare Tran (Alison Wells [Mez-solo], Irish Chamber Orchestra, conductor Stephen Cleoburn) copyright RTE

7.52: What the Whaleship Saw (Karol Szymanowski Quartet) copyright Deirdre Gribbin

From Podcast: Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland: Monthly Podcast.

Originally posted by jeff from cacophonous.org, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 28, 2007 at 05:01 AM | Comments (0)

May 27, 2007

The S21 Editorial Staff at Work

Originally posted by Jerry Bowles from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

Micro-tonal Madman, Monroe Golden (Pell City, AL) ...

Originally from Sequenza21/Composers Forum, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)

Pink Floyd: Arnold Layne (1967)

Here is Pink Floyd’s first single which was written by original band member Syd Barrett. The song is based on a real person who was a transvestite. (Read Wikipedia’s description of the story.) This is a rather bizarre video I had not seen where the band carries a mannequin around a beach. Hmm, what does it all mean?

Originally posted by Roger Bourland from rogerbourland.com, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)

Composition competitions

Daniel Wolf offers up a pair of brave posts on Renewable Music about composition competitions. He, along with David Ocker’s Mixed Meters blog, have joined the front lines of the QUESTION AUTHORITY, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC movement. I on the other hand, having become one with the universe, have thrown down my verbal weapons–wuss that I am–and happy that these guys have the balls to question authority: GO DUDES, GO!

The annual BMI Composition Competition winners were announced recently. Mr Wolf comments:

The composition of the jury, however, should be noted:

Chairman of the competition: Milton Babbitt
Jury members: Richard Danielpour, David Dzubay, Christopher Rouse, Gunther Schuller, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
Preliminary judges: Chester Biscardi, David Leisner, and Bernadette Speach.

This is an East Coast establishment jury with real east coast establishment academic affiliations: Princeton, Julliard, Manhattan School, Curtis Institute, Indiana University, New England Conservatory, Sarah Lawrence; Ellen Taaffe Zwilich teaches at FSU, but could hardly be described as representing a non-establishment voice here; the only member of either jury with even a peripheral connection to the experimental music tradition is Bernadette Speach, who studied with Morton Feldman.

It is often wise to not bite the hand that feeds you and even though I never won a BMI Award (I won two ASCAP awards), I still ended up joining BMI. I was recruited back in my modernist days by James Roy, the predecessor to the current head of Classical Music at BMI, Ralph Jackson. (It is Ralph and Milton who assemble the jury I think.).

When young composers apply for these competitions, I encourage them to make their first few pages filled with notes and complexities that will dazzle the jury. Don’t even THINK about starting a piece with whole notes: BORING. I also urge them NOT to be dissapointed if they don’t win. Many times I know up front that their submissions will not win, knowing who the jury is, but I encourage them to try anyway. It’s like Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown.
Regarding my skepticism about competitions and prizes, retired Boston Globe critic, Richard Dyer actually quoted my sophomoric and flippant remarks in an interview (1982) on a question of how one wins a Pulitzer in music: “Copy any piece by Elliott Carter BACKWARDS, and reorchestrate it for some cool mix of instruments…” Ah… piss and vinegar!

[Photo from bmi.com: Preliminary Judges (l-r): Chester Biscardi, Bernadette Speach, David Leisner, Awards Chairman Milton Babbitt, and Final Judge Ellen Taaffe Zwilch.]

Originally posted by Roger Bourland from rogerbourland.com, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)

Sylvano Bussotti, "Frammento"

Notes From Time 58003:

This piece by Sylvano Bussotti is called FRAMMENTO only on this record and in corresponding performances. It is actually the piece VOIX DE FEMME from the PIECES DE CHAIR II (1958-59), an expanded cycle for piano, baritone and further instruments adjoining sporadically, occasionally gaining the dimension of a chamber orchestra. The original version of FRAMMENTO is for voice and orchestra rather than, as on this recording, voice and piano. The principle of the entire cycle is its non-economy which reaches possibly its extreme, at least in respect to its performance technique, when a female voice and an orchestra are being introduced solely for this single piece. In context it functions as an isolated fragment. When it is isolated from the context, its fragmentary character is no longer perceivable, and it becomes a fragment (FRAMMENTO) all the more. Equally fragmentary is the representation for voice and piano. The piano adaptation was written by the composer himself, who thereby thought to establish the piano arrangement as an autonomous compositional genre. The fragment again consists of fragments, and the totality of the fragmental universe results in its negation, that is, totality. The compositional procedure remains that of a collage as well in respect to the musical material as to the far-fetched texts taken from various languages and books. If in the orchestral version the principle of instrumentation has been replaced, as it were, by the principle of instrumental dramaturgy, i.e. by a disposition of the instruments' entrances and exits, so does this correspond with the principle of correpetition in the piano version which has been developed to a principle of composition.

Originally posted by jodru from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)

Beyond Zero

In the late 20th century, the impulse to re-imagine music from its foundations was a defining one. Whether making music as or through some formal system (serialism, algorithmic composition), or through a reconsideration of compositional habits (Cage), or through playful concreteness akin to a Wittgensteinian language game (extra point: in how many ways can one connect Reich to Cardew), or in a deeper consideration of the physical matter of music and its psychoacoustical apprehension, there is a least common denominator, and that is the the search for a null point, the place where a music might begin.*

My musical youth was marked by an obsession with this search, whether trying ever-new variations on systems for pushing notes here and there and about, building instruments, experimenting with extended vocal techniques, too many all-nighters in an electronic music studio, obsessively recording environmental sounds, or spending hours in an anechoic chamber or a sensory deprivation tank. In those heady days, the notion that a new music might also represent an alternative form of consciousness didn't raise an eyebrow. Wild times, too: one day, everything seemed possible, and the next, nothing. And always the risk of confusing a self-centered and personal search with a musical result worth sharing. (Some colleagues actually got sucked out of music, per se, and ended up in some profitable and therapeutic corner of the human potential movement or whatever it's now called.)

These days, I have to admit to a certain amount of envy for my younger colleagues who are able to look back easily, without anxiety, at music which came out of these progressive impulses and absorb it at face value, as music, unburdened by ontological questions. And even more, they seem to have some exemption from the need to build each new piece up from nothing, an exemption with which I am not yet blessed.

_____
* The OULIPO lucked onto that wonderful word, "potential".

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)

Theory is Not a game!

Okay, maybe it is. I've clearly lost some of my qualifying exam skilz, as only only scored in the 75% mark. Several of my friends are in the top list, though. I did find the snide comments rather annoying, given the self-hating tone. via Elaine.

Originally from Musical Perceptions, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

Does this make me hip?

Chris Foley has informed me that I'm now on MySpace, as part of it's new MySpace News. The 25 main topics for the news aggregator include Music, which is then divided into six subcategories: Classical, Country, Electronica, General, Hip-Hop, and Indie. The Classical page is mostly blog posts by familiar faces like Alex Ross, On an Overgrown Path, Jessica Duchen, aworks, Steve Hicken, the Met's own Anne-Carolyn Bird, Marc Geelhoed, the Well-Tempered Blog, Chris, and myself. There are a few news media items from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the San Francisco Gate, surprisingly no feeds from the New York Times or other really big newspapers. I haven't noticed any visitors from this aggregator yet, and it certainly isn't as complete as New Music Reblog or Blognoggle New Music. There is one blog that isn't part of my blogroll, Richard Friedman's All I Know2. He is a director of Other Minds, a non-profit in San Francisco that promotes new music.

Originally from Musical Perceptions, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

Music in the News

One of the comments on my last post recommends congoo.com for news, so I tried it. Though most of the stuff under music was trash about Brittany or Phil Specter, the top item was very cheery, an announcement that the National Teacher of the Year is music educator Andrea Peterson. It is fabulous that music education is getting recognized nationally. I also love the quote from Ms. Peterson's school superintendent: "Music isn't a subsidiary subject in Granite Falls. It's part of everything we do."

In general I don't follow news aggregators, perhaps I should do more so I have more interesting things to blog about.

Originally from Musical Perceptions, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

In Brief: Memorial Day Edition

Your regular Sunday roundup of links to Blogville and beyond.

Everyone has been having fun with the LOLcats phenomenon, including Wonkette who came up with a political caption for a certain (temporary) resident of Washington: "LOL!!!1! AHM IN UR WITE HAUS, FUKKIN UP UR COUNTREE." Jeremy Denk asks his readers to add to his attempt on musical ones. The Ionarts contribution is at right. [Think Denk]

Our favorite franco- and italophile tells a hilarious story about a French radio show trying to identify the best recording of Che gelida manina. Then she lets you listen to it -- and it's Carlo Bergonzi. [Vilaine Fille]

Peter Conrad previews an upcoming exhibit at London's Tate Modern, Dalí and Film, in which the surrealist's paintings and scenes from films are compared. [The Guardian]

We have reviewed powerhouse soprano Alessandra Marc, whom I called "an extremely potent dramatic soprano, the hydrogen bomb of the female register." La Cieca's latest installment of Unnatural Acts of Opera is La Marc singing the role of Silvana in Respighi's 1934 grand opera La fiamma. [Parterre Box]

Anne-Carolyn Bird has been in the Washington area for several days, but has she called me? Well, she is somewhat busy, preparing a role in the upcoming production of John Musto's Volpone with Wolf Trap Opera. Unfortunately, on opening night (June 22) I will be settling into the summer residence of Ionarts in Siena, Italy. When's the dress rehearsal, ACB? [The Concert]

Daniel Ginsberg, the talented young music critic with the Washington Post, published a great piece on Heinz Fricke, music director of Washington National Opera, which uses references to the recent film about the East German secret police's surveillance of artists, The Lives of Others, as a frame of reference. Nice work, Daniel! [Bloomberg News]

Alex Ross's travelogue article, visiting several orchestras in middle America, was a brilliant idea. His blog has pictures. [The Rest Is Noise]

Originally from ionarts, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)

BSO's Beethoven and Martinů

After a sensitive reading of Bruckner's 7th symphony last week, Günther Herbig was back in front of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for this weekend's concerts. With no concert at Strathmore, it meant a trip to Baltimore's Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Friday night, and well worth the effort. Once again, the musicians and the conductor indicated, by their playing and reactions after playing, that they have considerable respect for one another. The program opened with one of the little string sinfonias (no. 10, B minor) that Felix Mendelssohn wrote as a teenager. Occasionally exceptional students of mine will ask me to look at their compositions. Any teacher would be thrilled to see their 13-year-old student compose something like what Mendelssohn did (he would have been an 8th or 9th grader). The BSO gave a warm and pleasing performance of this one-movement work, which for whatever reason Mendelssohn wrote in five parts, dividing the violas (perhaps he had been listening to the Mozart string quintets).

The Mendelssohn was only the appetizer to a two-course meal of major symphonies, beginning with the sixth and final symphony of Bohuslav Martinů, an Ionarts favorite. Premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1955, during the composer's mostly unhappy sojourn in the United States, the work is a chimeric series of vignettes, loosely divided into three movements, that Martinů called Fantaisies symphoniques. The work seems to revisit the many chameleon-like transformations of the composer's style, chromatic swarms of bees, an atonal main theme in the first movement, folk-based melodic fragments, and even neoclassical film score writing. We commend Herbig for programming this profound modern symphony and for leading such a varied, well-sculpted performance.

Other Reviews:

Tim Page, The BSO on a Very Good Night (Washington Post, May 26)

Tim Smith, Welcome exposure for Martinu (Baltimore Sun, May 26)

The second half of the concert was devoted to one of the most popular works in the symphonic literature, Beethoven's fifth symphony. Martinů refused to comment on the programmatic idea that he claimed lay behind his sixth symphony, although the tension and escape to fantasy seem to be related to the uneasiness of the time of its composition. All Beethoven reportedly said to Anton Schindler about his fifth symphony was that its now famous opening measures represented Fate knocking at the door. Whatever the sound may have meant, those repeated notes pervade the entire symphony, not just the first movement. This was also an excellent performance by the BSO, with Herbig paying particular attention to the soft dynamics, often ignored in Beethoven, which helped make the triumphant sections stand out more. Herbig may have pushed the tempo in the fast movements just a notch too far, as some of the motifs were a little muddied, but this was exciting listening.

Music Director Designate Marin Alsop will lead the Baltimore Symphony for two interesting programs in June, featuring Antonín Dvořák's 9th symphony and the Elgar cello concerto with Alisa Weilerstein (June 7 at Strathmore, June 8 to 10 in Baltimore) and the Brahms 4th symphony and Korngold violin concerto with Jonathan Carney in the season finale (June 14, 15, 17 in Baltimore, June 16 at Strathmore). Günther Herbig will be back with the BSO once next season (November 8 and 9, 2007), for Schubert's 9th symphony and the Sibelius violin concerto.

Originally from ionarts, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)

After a farewell show Saturday, Ventura's new-music wizard is ... - Ventura County Star (subscription)

After a farewell show Saturday, Ventura's new-music wizard is ...
Ventura County Star (subscription), CA - May 24, 2007
Juan Carlo / Star staff Trumpet player Jeff Kaiser, who's been on top of Ventura County's avant-garde music scene for more than 20 years, will soon steer ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)

Kendrick Scott Oracle - The Source

World Culture In a time when concepts like fusion and freedom have been reduced to marketing tactics, its nice to hear a disc that employs both in mainstream but interesting fashion. Kendrick Scott, best known as Terence Blanchards drummer,...

Originally from Bagatellen, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 04:11 PM | Comments (0)

AAJ Reviews

From AAJ:

27-May-07 Joelle Leandre
No Comment (Red Toucan Records)

26-May-07 Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble
Fujin Raijin (Les Disques Victo)

26-May-07 Michael Marcus & Ted Daniel
Duology (Boxholder Records)

26-May-07 John Lindberg - Karl Berger
Duets 1 (Between the Lines)

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

E.S.T. proves more than worthy of ‘Idol’ worship

A rather opinionated article argues the relative merits of avant-jazz group E.S.T.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

AMN Podcast: Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - Self is Gone

Self is gone

Download “Critters” (mp3)
from “Self is gone”
by Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
reapandsow, Inc.

Buy at eMusic

New From Crouton Music

Crouton Music has a pair of new releases:

NOW AVAILABLE:

crou036
RAYMOND DIJKSTRA: “MASKENSTILLEBEN”
LP

We are very pleased to present this special edition LP from sculptor, painter, drawer and composer, Raymond Dijkstra.

Since 2003, his recorded work has been released in small, handcrafted art editions on the Le Souffleur label, all of which are out of print and not easy to obtain. Those who have, have discovered the odd, yet personal world of Raymond Dijkstra, whose recorded solo output relies heavily on the acoustic side of electro-acoustic music.

“Maskenstilleben” is released in a limited numbered edition of 100 in a painted wooden box on 200 gm virgin vinyl.

Full info + online ordering here: http://www.croutonmusic.com/cr36.htm

_______________________________

AVAILABLE SOON:

crou037
TIM CATLIN AND JON MUELLER (with visual artist Thomas Kovacich): “PLATES AND WIRES”
CD + special edition

Following Tim Catlin’s recent release “Radio Ghosts” on 23five, comes this collaboration between the Australian guitarist and American percussionist Jon Mueller. Catlin and Mueller’s approach to their instruments is based on their shared interest in the vibration of material and the changes in sound that result in modifying those vibrations. Over a year in the making, the recording features a series of different situations involving guitars, gongs, snare drums, and bass drum, and their resonant effect upon one another.

Mastered by James Plotkin and released in an edition of 300 featuring artwork from Thomas Kovacich, with a limited edition of twenty-five including an original one-of-a-kind intaglio print.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Musique Machine Reviews

From Musique Machine:

Merzbow - Coma Berenices
Coma Berenices finds Merzbow mining father into rock like elements to make an album that takes in a droning rock like air, that’s heavy with a doomy and sleek blackness, making the simple white on black cover seem very apt indeed.

Mat Gustafsson & Yoshimi - Words on the floor
This is a collaboration between one half of the Boredoms Yoshimi and Swedish sax and noise improviser Mats Gustafsson, and it’s a real treat managing to be equally haunted, alien,beautiful and jagged. It’s 45 minute play time,a trip in the best sense of the word.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

William Parker’s Raining On The Moon in Amsterdam

A performance of Parker’s outfit is reviewed.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

The Lunar Melodies of Holger Czukay

Czukay is profiled and some of his recent works are discussed.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

The latest From Nels Cline Reviewed

Jazz & Blues Music Reviews writes up the latest Nels Cline Singers release:

The gag, of course, is that there are no vocalists. Guitarist Nels Cline, bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Scott Amendola sing through their collective instruments. Cline is most well known for his avant-garde jazz and rock recordings and his unexpected but most welcome stint in the pop rock band Wilco. The Nels Cline Singers allow him to explore a number of different moods and textures in an improvised trio setting.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Jet set maestro's swan-song

A reader in Paris tells me that Valery Gergiev (left) failed to conduct a performance of Lohengrin at the Opéra National de Paris at the Bastille last night due to travel problems. Dresden born Michael Güttler deputised at the last minute and made a big impact. Güttler is a very talented young conductor who is making a career out of picking up the ball in Wagner after Gergiev has dropped it - he first came to prominence when he deputised for Gergiev in the Ring and Parsifal at the Marinsky in 2003.

An apocryphal story tells how Herbert von Karajan gets into a waiting limousine in Vienna during his time with the State Opera there, and the driver asks him where he wants to go. "It does not matter", he responds, "I'm wanted everywhere." What a shame that forty years on maestros are still admired for the tempi of their travel arrangements rather than the tempi of their performances.

It is now common practice to give passengers a refund when a train or plane is late. How about a refund to concert-goers for no-show conductors and soloists to focus attention on travel planning? Other examples from readers of jet-set musicians finding the boarding gate closed will be published here. Meanwhile I suspect Michael Güttler will be getting a lot more career breaks courtesy of galloping Gergiev.

Now see Karajan's private jet and motor-bike
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

Holiday weekend - upstate New York

Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland and Peter Pears in upstate New York during the summer of 1939. Peter Pears (right) is obviously thinking 'tis the gift to be free.
Photo from Humphrey Carpenter's excellent Benjamin Britten, A Biography (Faber ISBN 0571143253). Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)

links for 2007-05-27

Originally from aworks :: "new" american classical music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

New on Bo’Weavil Recordings

Bo’Weavil Recordings is a new UK based label focusing on free jazz and avant folk. Their recent releases include:

NOAH HOWARD - The Black Ark CD & LP (ltd) .

ALAN WILKINSON / JOHN EDWARDS / STEVE NOBLE TRIO - Obliquity CD & LP (ltd)

OREN AMBARCHI - Lost Like A star LP

TIGHT MEAT DUO - Vanishing Fist CD

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 05:00 AM | Comments (0)

New on Erstwhile Records

The latest releases from Erstwhile Records:

Keith Rowe - The Room

ErikM/Dieb13 - Chaos Club

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 05:00 AM | Comments (0)

Welser-MÖst tries it again, twice, after concerto stops orchestra in its tracks

Donald Rosenberg , The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), 5/26/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 01:43 AM | Comments (0)

Problems interrupt orchestra ensemble

Elaine Guregian, Akron Beacon Journal, 5/26/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 01:43 AM | Comments (0)

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on a Very Good Night

Tim Page, Washington Post, 5/26/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 01:43 AM | Comments (0)

Eisler, Brecht, Schoenberg, Sessions, on Shattuck Avenu

Bertolt Brecht Hanns Eisler

As part of the ongoing Berkeley Arts Festival, Jerry Kuderna and Nora Lennox Martin gave an impressive performance of Hanns Eisler's 18 Songs on texts of Bertolt Brecht in downtown Berkeley last night in the abandoned Fidelity Savings building on Shattuck Avenue.

Kuderna began the evening with Arnold Schoenberg's Piano Piece, opus 33b (1933), one of the composer's earliest pieces from his exile in California. And it concluded with Roger Sessions' Piano Sonata #3 (1965).

But the Eisler was the central attraction. It's not clear (at least to me) when these songs, published by Breitkopf as "Die Ausgewälte Lieder", were written. The Brecht poems date from the 30's and 40's and into the mid 50's -- before, during, and after the Second World War.

Eisler was a student of Arnold Schoenberg in the 20's in Berlin, and later worked with Brecht on stage productions, film, and chamber music. Eisler left Europe ahead of the Nazi's, and lived in the US from 1938-48. He earned two Oscars for his film music before being expelled by the House Un-American Activities Committee. From 1949 until his death in 1962, Eisler was an important figure in the musical life of East Germany.

The texts of these songs are, as expected, dark. „Wirklich, ich lebe in finsteren Zeiten“ ("Truly, I live in the darkest times) Brecht writes in the Elegy from 1939. Eisler's accompaniement is colored with irony and foreboding.

The Kuderna/Martin performance was riviting. Nora Martin's angelic voice added a striking contrast to the devastating words of the poet. With translations of the texts conveniently projected on the wall, the audience immediately felt the weight of those darkest times, even as the sounds of the streets outside threatened to overtake the performance. Full, rapt attention was not to be deterred by skateboarders and car horns tonight. This was, after all, an awesome performance.

And I don't think the relevance to the political situation here today escaped many in the audience.

The opening and closing pieces, the Shoenberg and Sessions works, altho some 30 years apart, share a common ground with each other, and with the Eisler. While Eisler abandoned his teacher, Schoenberg, early on, the influence of the second Viennese school could still be heard in his piano writing -- but with a palatable ironic twist.

Sessions, perhaps the lone American composer to have completely fallen under Schoenberg's style, wrote his 3rd Sonata in response to the Kennedy assassination. With it he unleashed a torrent of notes in waves of contrasting emotions. Jerry Kuderna mentioned that it may have taken him six or more years to master this single work and to get to the point where he fully understood it all. Kuderna's mastery of this extreme piece of piano writing was clearly apparent.

There is a wonderful website devoted to the Subject: Hanns Eisler that is worth visiting. For one thing, I didn't realize all the films Eisler was involved in, going back to the 1920's. Some of them are now available on DVD (and have made their way onto my own Netflix queue.)

And, I've been told to expect the video of last night's performance to make it's way onto the Berkeley Arts Festival website sometime soon. Something to certainly look forward to.

Originally from All I Know², ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 01:43 AM | Comments (0)

Notations

You can still hear Ingram Marshall's softly haunting orchestral piece Orphic Memories via an Orpheus Chamber Orchestra broadcast on WNYC.... Residents of Cincinnati should be aware of the Music07 festival June 10-16.... At the annual spring sale of music manuscripts at Sotheby's on Wednesday, Ludwig van Beethoven was once again the clear winner, the only complete manuscript of the "Kreutzer" Sonata fetching 311200 pounds.... For several years the documentary filmmaker Kerry Candaele has been making a film about Beethoven's Ninth — about the manifold modern understandings of this unquenchable work. I'd try to explain the concept behind the movie, but this trailer does the trick. I look forward to the finished film.... On May 30 in San Francisco Formerly Known As Classical presents another concert of "music written in the last 18 years played by performers 18 and under."

Originally posted by Alex Ross from Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)

Diversafest July 7-8, 2006 Tulsa, Okla. - Play by Play

Diversafest July 7-8, 2006 Tulsa, Okla.
Play by Play, MO - 5 hours ago
The avant-garde Colourmusic made up for their average sound by creating a one-of-a-kind artistic performance. Playing behind two massive picture frames, ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)

From The Sunday Times - Times Online

From The Sunday Times
Times Online, UK - 1 hour ago
For years, Yoko Ono was reviled and mocked, but these days she hangs out with Beth Ditto, makes music with Peaches and wows the critics. ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 27, 2007 at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)

May 26, 2007

The iGasm ‘Listener’ - A Potential Avant Garde Music Audience?

With news that Apple is suing the manufacturers of the iGasm it occurred to me last night that this perhaps was a possible new venue for contemporary music. I brought up the subject with a few friends over beers and the debate began, ‘What piece of avant garde music would be the ideal iGasm driver?’

Steve Reich? Philip Glass? Xenakis? Ferneyhough? The winner at the table seemed to be the genre of noize punk. Driving 200 BMP noise. But who knows? Maybe your music could be a hit at this latest of new music venues extended! What piece of music would drive the adventurous iGasm user into sensory overload?

Originally posted by Jeff Harrington from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

Getting teary for Astroland

As a huge roller coaster fan, I've been making the pilgrimage out to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone for decades. (I usually ride ten or twelve rounds, or until mild head and neck trauma sets in.)

This year, however, may be a bit poignant since Astroland, where the coaster is parked, will close after the 2007 season. In November 2006, the park's owners sold it to Thor Equities, which will transform the area into a resort. Thankfully the Cyclone will remain, but this will be its final appearance in its delightfully dilapidated, seedy, retro context. If you've never been out to Coney Island (and I know many who haven't) try to get out there sometime during the summer for one last glimpse.

Originally posted by bhodgesnyc from Monotonous Forest, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

Rivers - Holland - Altschul @ Miller Theatre

Originally from Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)

George Antheil, "Ballet Mécanique" (1953 Version)

>

This "Ballet Mecanique" was originally written as a score to the first abstract motion picture of that name. However, since it was soon discovered that one could not synchronize a motion picture score thatt closely, (during 1924-25), it was written as an independent piece.

I have confined this editing mostly to cutting. Repetitous [sic] measures, intended to synchronize only with the film, have been cut out abundantly, reducing the playing time from the original of more than a half hour to less than eighteen minutes. The player piano has been deleted entirely, its role give to the pianos. The eight original pianos have been cut down to four; the four original xylophones to two, etc. But its basic character has, I hope, remained. It has merely been made more concise.

Interpretively speaking, BALLET MECANIQUE was never intended to demonstrate (as has been erronously [sic] said) "the beauty and precision of machines". Rather it was to experiment with and thus, to demonstrate a new principle in music construction, that of "Time-Space", or in which the time principle, rather than the tonal principle, is held to be of main importance.

To demonstrate. Up until Strawinsky and Schoenberg, most contemporary music had been constructed, architecturally speaking, on the tonal principle. A sonata allegro movement, for example, spread out a tonality, departed from it in the development, returned again in the recapitulation -- usually with a vengeance. It is still an excellent principle. But it neglects "Time-Space".

Strawinsky attempted to move away from its iron grip by making his music "super-tonal" so to speak. Schoenberg, going to the opposite pole, destroyed tonality entirely by removing all tonal centers in the 12 tone system.

BALLET MECANIQUE, while utilizing (subconsciouly, for at the time this work was written, 12 tone-ism was unknown as such) both systems, concentrated on what I then called "the time canvas". Rather than to consider musical form as a series of tonalities, atonalities with a tonal center, or a tonal center at all, it supposed that music actually takes place in time; and that, therefore, time is the real construction principle, "stuff of music", as it unreels. It is the musician's "canvas". The tones which he uses, therefore, are merely his crayons, his colors. The "Time-Space" principle, therefore, is an aesthetic of "looking", so to speak, at a piece of music "all at once". One might propose, therefore, that it is a sort of "Fourth Dimension"-al way of looking at music; its constructive principles may, or may not have been touched in this work, but they have been attempted.

I always hesitate to give any "program" to any piece of music, preferring to have it speak for itself. However, and if this piece had any program beyond that outlined above, it would be towards the barbaric and mystic splendor of modern civilization; mathematics of the universe in which the abstraction of "the human sould" lives. More locally, the first "theme" may be considered that of mechanical scientific civilization; the second and third barbaric ones, not unrelated to the American continent, Indian, Negro. These plus the mathematical 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,7,6,5,4,3,2 principle, and "Time-Space" make up the musical body and spiritual outline of this work, written so many years ago. It has seemed strange, yet prophetic, to delve back into these pages written as a youth of 23-24.

George Antheil,
March 1953

Originally posted by jodru from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 07:59 PM | Comments (0)

Modest Mouse Live @ Royal Albert Hall

I didn´t expect my first Royal Albert Hall experience to be Modest Mouse. Perhaps one of the BBC Proms Concerts or something.

I managed to tape parts of this show. You will hear Johnny Marr kind of rambling on about something near the end of Section 2.

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

The show was actually pretty bad. So I didn´t stick around the whole time. Raced to Queen´s Arms for last drinks.

Originally posted by ECHO from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)

The North/South Chamber Orchestra Premieres Four New Works on June 5 at 8 PM

NORTH/SOUTH CONSONANCE Inc. will present its sixth concert of the current season on Tuesday evening June 7, 2007.

The concert will take place at Christ & St. Stephen’s Church (120 West 69th St, NYC) on Manhattan’s West Side. Admission is free (no tickets necessary).

The program will feature the North/South Chamber Orchestra under the direction of its founder Mexican-born conductor Max Lifchitz in the performance of four recent works by composers from Germany, Greece and the US. Brief biographical information for the featured composers and their music follows:

The program will feature the first performance of the Concerto for MalletKat by Douglas Ovens, a composer and percussionist based in the Philadelphia area. The MalletKat is an electroacoustic vibrophone capable of exciting special effects. The music was written using the MAX/MSP computer program. The composer will be the featured soloist for the occasion.

O dance! O Light! Onami! by Jeremy Podgursky is apiece for clarinet and chamber orchestra that, according to its composers, attempts to reflect the “quixotic characteristics of light.”Podgursky is a young composer from Louiisville, KY who recently received a doctorate in composition from the University of Louisville where he held the Grawemeyer Fellowship. Clarinetist Richard Goldsmith who has played with North/South Consonance since 1986 will be the featured soloist for this work.

The program will open with a performance of the recently completed Helical Designs by Karola Obermüller, the young German composer who is earning a Ph. D. in composition at Harvard University. Ms. Obermüller has received the Bavarian Youth Prize fro Composition (presented by conductor Zubin Metha) and the ASCAP Morton Gould Award. She describes the music for this work as “two entities merging with increasing intensity and pressure… Inside the innermost, a new dawn is breaking. It is here that we leave the music, quietly, gently … shush!”

Greek composer Christos Pittas (b. Alexandria, 1946) has resided in London since 1972 when he joined the music staff of the BBC Drama Department. He is currently working on Cassandra, a music drama basaed on texts by Aeschylus and Tony Harrison. His Idola for 14 instrumnets is based on a “sound molecule” derived from the pitch D. The music combines tonal and contemporary themes in a manner the composers says “not unlike the many different images of the same one object when it appears multiplied and from different angles through a broken mirror.”

NORTH/SOUTH CONSONANCE’s 27th consecutive season is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support for these free admission events comes from the Music Performance Funds from the American Federation of Musicians (Local 802) and numerous individual donors. For more information about its activities please visit http://www.northsouthmusic.org

Originally posted by s21concerts from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 05:01 PM | Comments (0)

Naughty but nice

What are your musical equivalents of chocolate cake? - the performances you know you really shouldn't be enjoying, but do. Here is my menu of 'naughty but nice' music dishes:

Uri Caine's Wagner E Venezia - yes, I know it is a serious taste crime to admit to enjoying the Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg played in the Piazza San Marco by an ensemble that

includes accordion, piano and acoustic bass. But I do. Quite appropriately the recording was made live at the Gran Caffé Quadri, Piazza San Marco, Venice, and is complete with authentic background café sounds which provide a splendid counterpoint to the Tristan Liebestod. If you've never sampled this lovingly crafted, and packaged, chocolate torte from Uri Caine (photo above) I warmly recommend ordering a portion.

Karl Münchinger's Art of Fugue and Musical Offering with the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester reminds us of how Bach used to be

performed before musical scholarship moved on. As one reviewer said: "This lush performance of Bach's complex Art of Fugue is as emotional as Barber's Adagio for Strings." But these 1976 recordings still blow me away. Stunning playing recorded in classic Decca sound in the Liederhalle, Stuttgart by the legendary team of producers Ray Minshull and James Mallinson, and recording engineers James Lock and Martin Fouqué.

Wagner makes his second appearance on my ultimate 'naughty but nice' disc. This is Glenn Gould playing his own transcriptions of Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey and the

Prelude to Die Meistersinger. This reissue is worth the price for these two transcriptions alone. The disc also includes Gould conducting members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in a painfully slow Siegfried Idyll, which at almost twenty-five minutes outstays even Knappertsbusch's interpretation by several minutes. This conducting debut was the last thing Gould recorded before he went on tour with Bach, and it leaves us thankful that he didn't give up the day job. (Photo above shows a young Gould with one of his first teachers).

Bach sung in English may well be considered 'naughty.' But not only is my next nomination 'nice', but it is high up in my list of the greatest recordings ever made. Benjamin Britten set down his account of Bach's St John Passion in April 1971.

With performers including Peter Pears, Gwynne Howell, John Shirley-Quirk, HeatherHarper, Alfreda Hodgson, Robert Tear, and the Wandsworth School Boys' Choir you know this is going to be something special. The English Chamber Orchestra reads like a Who's Who of instrumentalists. Kenneth Sillitoe is leader, Richard Adeney (flute), Cecil Aronowitz (viola) and Adrian Beers (double bass). Philip Ledger plays the harpsichord continuo originally prepared by Britten and Imogen Holst. And the 'naughty' English translation is made by none other than Peter Pears and Imogen Holst.

This recording of the St John Passion was made by Decca in Snape Maltings. It has to be said that if there is a weakness it is the engineering which falls somewhat short of Decca's signature Snape sound. Also watch out for the intrusive low frequency 'thumps' in the opening chorus which producer David Harvey really should have covered from alternative takes. But one factor places this performance in that stellar group of the greatest ever made - Britten's interpretation. Some of the tempi are surprisingly brisk, but this is one of those rare performances where musicality and humanity meet as equal partners. Naughty, but simply sublime.

Purists will consider any Bach transcription 'naughty but nice.' But my third Bach nomination comes just about as close to the spirit of the original as it is possible to get with a transcription. Paolo Pandolfo (right) was a founder member of early music group La Stravaganza, and is recognised as

one of the leading exponents of the viola de gamba. His transcription of Bach's six Cello Suites (BWV 1007-12) on the enterprising Spanish Glossa label is really more of a re-interpretaion that a transcription. Four of the six keys are transposed, the well known G major Suite No. 1 is played in C major, the C minor Suite No. 5 is played in D minor, and so on. But this is done simply to make the most of the range of the viola de gamba, and it works beautifully allowing the warm tone of the gamba to really ring out. These are personal interpretations, and Pandolfo's reshaping of some of the lines will not be to everyone's taste, but this is wonderful music making.

To conclude with a 'naughty but nice' piece that I always find inexplicably moving - the finale to Bernstein's Candide, 'Make Our Garden Grow'. This is classic Lenny, over the top, superbly written, and absolutely heart on sleeve. One reviewer wrote of "its soaring sentimentality". I find it absolutely irresistible - just like chocolate cake. And if you want the recipe for the example seen in my header photo here it is.

Now read about my first classical record
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)

DMG Newsletter May 25th 2007

From DMG:

KEITH ROWE, BERN NIX, PHILIPS GIBBS, DONALD MILLER & JOJO HIROSHIGE (from BORBETOMEGAS & HIJOKAIDAN), WILCO w/ NELS CLINE, JON CATLER’S WILLIE McBLIND, MICHELLE WEBB, MAXIME DELPIERRE (from LOUIS SCLAVIS QUINTET), ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE,

SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM, JOHN CAGE//MORTON FELDMAN 2-CD SET, ALAN WILKINSON/JOHN EDWARDS/STEVE NOBLE, MEMORIZE THE SKY [MATT BAUDER/ZACH WALLACE/AARON SIEGEL], MIKE REED’S LOOSE ASSEMBLY, JORRIT DIJKSTRA’S FLATLANDS COLLECTIVE, 3 from pfMENTUM, THE DEAD C, LEE KONITZ/CLAUDIO FASOLI QUINTET,

PLUS ARCHIVAL RECORDINGS from ORNETTE COLEMAN, NOAH HOWARD, JOE HARRIOTT, 4 from THIS HEAT, 4 from MAGAZINE, SLEEPYTIME’S FIRST , TED CURSON in PARIS, BARNEY WILEN with SYNTHS…

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Avant Garde Project 62: Wolfgang Rihm’s Opera Jacob Lenz

From AGP:

The Avant Garde Project is a series of 20th-century classical-experimental-electroacoustic torrents digitized from LPs whose music has in most cases never been released on CD, and so is effectively inaccessible to the vast majority of music listeners today. This is wild stuff, so check it out if you’ve never heard this sort of music before. The analog rig used to extract the sound from the grooves is near state-of-the-art, producing almost none of the tracking distortion or surface noise normally associated with LPs.

AGP1-59 are now available for direct download in the archive at www.avantgardeproject.org
AGP61 and other recent AGP installments are available at http://thepiratebay.org/user/loudav

NOTE: AGP60 has been withdrawn because 4 of 5 tracks were found to be available on CD after the torrent was initially seeded. The remaining track can be downloaded directly from the AGP archive.

=======================================

AGP62 is a transcription of Wolfgang Rihm’s opera Jakob Lenz, from a 2LP release on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz was a poet, playright, and friend of Goethe’s, who experienced a psychotic breakdown starting in 1777. The year before, he wrote the play Die Soldaten that was the inspiration for Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s opera of the same name, the concert suite from which was featured in AGP10.

Rihm’s opera is scored for chamber orchestra, voices, and chorus, and has a correspondingly spare sound. The instrumentation and vocal techniques beautifully express the emotional tumult experienced by the poet during the emergence of his madness. Jakob Lenz was Rihm’s second opera, composed when he was just 26 years old. Rihm has since become one of the most popular avant-garde composers in Germany, with many works currently available on CD. Jakob Lenz, however appears still to be out of print.

The torrent includes a PDF file containing the English-language liner notes from the original LP release, including a facsimile of the libretto with what appear to be corrections in Rihm’s own hand. The first three pages of this file contain notes from another LP, including an account of Rihm’s career and notes on a work that was originally to be included in AGP61 until I located a currently-available version on CD.

Equipment used for A/D conversion: Lyra Helikon phono cartridge, Linn LP12/Lingo turntable, Linn Ittok tonearm, Audioquest LeoPard tonearm cable, PS Audio PS2 preamplifier, Kimber PBJ interconnect, M-Audio Audiophile USB A/D converter.

01 - Jakob Lenz, scenes 1-5 [20:17]
02 - Jakob Lenz, scenes 6-7 [19:49]
03 - Jakob Lenz, scenes 8-11 [14:28]
04 - Jakob Lenz, scenes 12-end [16:41]

NOTE: To the best of my knowledge, these recordings are currently out of print. If you know otherwise, please let me know ASAP, as I do not wish any artists to be deprived of the royalties that they so richly deserve.

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Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Muhal Richard Abrams: The Advancement of Creative Music

AACM founder Abrams is profiled.

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Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Aoki ‘Rooted’ in immigrant stories

Chicago bassist Tatsu Aoki is profiled.

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Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Featured Artist: Scott Tinkler

Scott Tinkler is an innovative trumpet player with a new release out on Extreme Music.

Recorded in one day, mixed in one day and practiced for twenty three years; “Backwards” is an astounding musical journey from one of Australia’s finest trumpet players and jazz improvisers, Scott Tinkler.

Tinkler, winner of the 1996 Australian Jazz award and two ARIAs for best Jazz album, is well known for his many brilliant incarnations as an ensemble player, recording and touring with such groups as The Australian Art Orchestra, Mark Simmonds Freeboppers, The Paul Grabowsky Quintet and The Dale Barlow Quintet as well as with international artists such as Mark Helias, Joe Lovano, Betty Carter, Branford Marsalis, Han Bennink, Billy Harper, Arthur Blythe, Cindy Blackman, Karaikudi R Mani and more.

With these credentials, Tinkler has a lot of ears trained in his direction. Testament to his talent, “Backwards” is a remarkable and demanding outpouring of musical invention.

When Tinkler was asked by Extreme to record a solo album, something way outside his normal group context and his comfort zone, he had no real idea what the result would be.

“I thought I would be able to blast the trumpet with full gusto but sensitivity to the sound and the space needs to be observed. When I played I had no idea how long I was playing for. I was in a dream state, all of my senses were attuned to the music around me,” explained Tinkler.

“Backwards” was recorded with no overdubs, no edits and no processing. It is a real time experience that was documented and mixed to capture the music as Tinkler heard it when he was playing.

The recording process involved a variety of other instruments in the studio at the time. These ranged from a piano, a bass drum, a cymbal to a bucket of water. Tinkler has a few other tricks up his sleeve, taking his trumpet apart and blowing it in ways only he knows how. (Maybe it’s true that he can play backwards!)

“It was an experience that exceeded my expectations. It exhilarated and exhausted me, both emotionally and physically,” Tinkler affirmed.

By playing solo, Tinkler has effectively laid bare his musical identity. Rewardingly, it is a rich and intriguing musical heritage that comes to the fore. “Backwards” brings an exciting creativity to jazz and music fans alike. A new direction for Tinkler has begun with a bang (and a whimper!).

“Backwards” is the first part in the Antripodean series of releases on Extreme. The Antripodean series is a collection of works showcasing Australian artists exploring the boundaries of music.

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Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

It is viewed as dumbing down ...

The BBC has suffered from lapses in impartiality in its coverage of business by seeking to popularise corporate stories and take the consumer's point of view, according to an independent report published yesterday. The Money Programme, Radio Five Live and the 10 O'Clock News are among the programmes singled out for criticism in the report on the impartiality of BBC business coverage. The study was commissioned by the BBC Trust from a panel chaired by the economist Sir Alan Budd.

Critics have accused the BBC of "dumbing down" its business coverage and failing to represent the shareholders' and employees' perspective on corporate stories. The report said that if companies record large profits, stories tend to focus on the negative aspects, rather than "examining the benefits to staff and society of a British company doing well".

"The need to attract and maintain an audience has led to some changes in the approach taken by business programmes towards a more popular style. In some quarters this is welcomed but in others it is viewed as 'dumbing down'. "We particularly noted this trend in the Money Programme. " Five Live was also singled out for focusing on consumer interests in business stories, and for presenters and reporters giving personal views.

The BBC is considering its response to the report. It was also warned to be careful over blogs. "We noted that the business editor made a scathing attack in his blog on the newly launched Microsoft Vista operating system. This appeared to be against the BBC's guidelines which state that blogs are subject to the same level of editorial care as other content," the report said.

Report from today's Guardian, full report via this link. Now will the BBC Trust commission a similar report on Radio 3?

For more on this read You are looking at the future of radio.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

this piece intentionally left blank (david toub, 2006)

this piece intentionally left blank (david toub, 2006)
performed at california state university, fullerton, may 9th, 2007 by the diverse instrument ensemble led by lloyd rogers, realization by paul bailey

Originally posted by jeff from cacophonous.org, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 05:01 AM | Comments (0)

The Bridge (1962). Sonny Rollins /we all win/

Originally from aworks :: "new" american classical music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 05:00 AM | Comments (0)

Getting teary for Astroland

pAs a huge roller coaster fan, I've been making the pilgrimage out to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone for decades. (I usually ride ten or twelve rounds, or until mild head and neck trauma sets in.)

Originally posted by bhodgesnyc from Monotonous Forest, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 26, 2007 at 02:01 AM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2007

Let It Snow

Today's the first really hot day we've had here in Boston this year—projected high of 91º F, a record for the day. For you all in the South and Southwest who are thinking to yourself 91? That's not even close to hot, I confess: I'm a cold weather person, and once it gets above 75, I start to wilt. (I was telling my dentist this yesterday, and he theorized that I was an Eskimo orphan and my parents never told me.)

Anyway, I started thinking about good records to put on to take one's mind off of the heat, and I realized: I think of those in two categories. There's naturally cold music that, to me, conjures the illusion of arctic wastelands or snow-covered bare trees or iced-over rivers. Here's a few—some are obvious, some not.

Vaughan Williams: Symphony no. 7, Sinfonia antartica

Sibelius: Symphony no. 5

Shostakovich: Symphony no. 14

Feldman: Piano and String Quartet

Grieg songs

David Bowie: Low

Scelsi: I presagi

My lovely wife says, for her, the orchestral versions of Strauss's "Ruhe, meine Seele" and "Allerseelen," along with Wolf lieder in minor keys, produce a nice chill.

But then, there's an entirely separate category of music that is like air-conditioning—a sleek, technological cool that's self-contained and unfailingly comfortable.

Gershwin: concert works

Debussy: Nocturnes

Webern: Concerto, op. 9

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Punch the Clock

Adams: Nixon in China, act 3

Stravinsky: Movements

I'm a child of American excess: Concerto in F and "So What" it is. It's a long weekend: any other suggestions? (Particularly on the pop side—I had to think to come up with those two examples.)

Originally from Soho the Dog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

Musician Deathwatch

del.icio.us/skills/obituary | About this list

This week we bid farewell to the following members of the musical community:

:: Ben Weisman Pianist and songwriter for Elvis
:: Rod Poole Guitarist
:: Bois Sec Ardoin Creole accordionist and singer
:: Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe Highlife musician
:: Bill Carson Guitarist
:: J. Robert Bradley Gospel singer
:: Edgar Evans Opera singer
:: Carey Bell Blues harmonica player
:: Alvin Batiste Jazz clarinetist
:: Zola Taylor Rock ‘n’ roll singer
:: Tommy Newsom ‘Tonight Show’ saxophonist
:: Wojciech Drabowicz Opera singer

Rest in Peace.

Originally posted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson from The Rambler, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

Polite. No way.

When I started this blog, I had intended to write about politics ("musical politics, political music, and just plain politics") . As it happens, there's been very little in the way of writing about -- as Terry Riley once put it -- "the big politics in the sky", and that's for three reasons: (1) my observations or opinions are probably unoriginal or unsurprising; (2) as an ex-pat, finding the right tone is difficult; (3) new and classical music is a relatively weak scene on the blogoplan, with a low level of activity and low readership. Because of this, my first commitment as a musician/blogger has been to make a public case for the artistic and intellectual liveliness of my discipline.

I have, however, written about musical politics and although most of the resonance has been in agreement, there have been complaints about "soiling the nest" (a phrase used in more than one email). The message has been that I shouldn't criticize competition fees or raise suspicion of corrupt jury structures* or make fun of the American Music Center simply because it is more important that these institutions exist and create public presences for new music. In other words, I should just buckle down and accept that althought they're not perfect, they're all we've got. While I agree that it is good that these institutions do exist, and if we don't like 'em, then nothing is stopping us from creating alternatives, I believe that we also have to look at the present low profile and slow pace of public activity in the new music scene and consider the real possibility that these institutions have contributed, whether through corruption or the natural and inevitable lethargy of institutions, to that invisibility and stasis.

Avoiding talk about these topics is, in the long run, bad for us, and worse for our musics. If we are to take music seriously, we have to take seriously the ways in which music is handled in public spaces. AFAIC, music is simply too valuable to be handled either as just another slow moving commodity in a micro economy or as a volleyball in an imagined uptown-downtown struggle or as a token in a process of handing out gigs, jobs, and brownie points. Music is more than all that: more differentiated, more valuable, more subtle, and ultimately, more sweet.
_____
* Let me be clear: I do not believe that any individual jurors in the competitions I have mentioned are corrupt, however, processes through which jurors continue to be chosen from a narrow or targeted aesthetic and institutional pool and the organizers are not up front about these processes are corrupt.

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

Somewhere In The Deep Archives Of The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts Is An Historical Live Recording Of Harry Somer's Opera Louis Riel

Louis Riel
Opera in Three Acts
Music by Harry Somers
Libretto by Mavor Moore, with Jacques Languirand

LOUIS RIEL

Perhaps the most controversial figure in Canadian historiography, Louis Riel was born in the Red River Settlement (in what is now Manitoba) in 1844. After his studies in Montreal, he returned to Red River in 1868. Ambitious, well educated, and bilingual, he rapidly became the leader among the Métis of the Red River. In 1869-1870, he headed a provisional government, which would eventually negotiate the Manitoba Act with the Canadian government. Undisputed spiritual and political head of the 1885 Rebellion, Riel was sentenced to death and hanged in Regina on November 16, 1885.

Harry Somers’ work begins in November 1869, when William McDougall, future governor for Manitoba, is in Minnesota, awaiting a proclamation from Queen Victoria legalizing the transfer of Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company to the Canadian government. Anxious to assume his governorship, he tries to cross the border with a forged document. A band of Métis led by Ambroise Lépine turned back his entourage. Thomas Scott, a violently fanatic Orangeman, attacks the Métis and is arrested… A music drama in three Acts (18 scenes) based on a libretto by Mavor Moore with the collaboration of Jacques Languirand, and Harry Somers; Louis Riel was commissioned for the Canadian Opera Company by the Floyd S. Chalmers Foundation. Produced with the financial assistance of the Centennial Commission, the Canada Council and the Province of Ontario Council for the Arts, the work received its premiere on September 23, 1967 at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre... under the musical direction of Victor Feldbrill. That performance was followed by seven other live performances, including two in Montreal as part of the Expo 67 World Festival. In 1969, the entire opera was telecast in colour over the full CBC-TV English network. It was then performed during the 1975 season of the Canadian Opera Company, including a performance on October 23, for which a historical live recording from Washington's Kennedy Center has been produced.

Source

Wendell Margrave of the Washington Star described the opera as 'one of the most imaginative and powerful scores to have been written in this century.' Using a broadcast tape from this 1975 US performance, Centrediscs produced a three-record set of the complete opera (CMC-24/25/2685-3). (Wikipedia)

Canadian-American Politican Louis Riel, Canadian Composer Harry Somers, and Canadian dramatist and librettist Mavor Moore.

Photo credits: Wikipedia Commons and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Moore). With thanks.

*

Louis Applebaum and Mavor Moore's opera Erehwon was performed by Canada's Victoria Opera in March, 2000.

Originally from Renaissance Research, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

Gazing west

On a day when the city of Chicago has officially lost its mind, considering raising the cost of riding the El during rush hours to $3.25 and Donald Trump wondering why no one wants to live in his eyesore hotel/apartment building, northern California quickly becomes attractive. I mean, UC Berkeley posts video program notes with pianist Sarah Cahill and composer Paul Dresher, Dresher's opera The Tyrant will open in June, and the San Francisco Symphony begins The Music of Prokofiev, a 10-day Prokofiev festival on June 14. Where else can you hear pianists Yefim Bronfman and Mikhail Rudy within five days? This RadiOM is also pretty darn fantastic, starting with Alan Hovhaness and building from there. (Cahill/Dresher tip via Richard Friedman). On top of the music, they also have nice weather, I'm told, and people tend to smile.

Cahill discusses Frederic Rzewski's North American Ballads and Variations on The People United Will not Be Defeated!, smiling all the while. She still has the envelope containing the manuscript to Snippets 2, too, which Rzewski wrote for her. Of course, everyone's heard the minute-and-a-half podcast eighth blackbird did with Rzewski, right? Dresher's talk is a model of how to talk about music technically without losing 3/4 of the audience. Closer to home, there's some Holst-hatin' going on among eighth blackbird.

Originally posted by MarcGeelhoed from Marc Geelhoed: Deceptively Simple, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

more on eMusic

Two really good friends of mine thought I might have been a bit harsh regarding eMusic's catalog selection. I meant no such disrespect in all honesty---my point is just that eMusic is not a panacea. There are some great things there, but perhaps they're not as easy to find.

So I did a more diligent search, and in addition to the Terry Riley and Harry Partch stuff I had previously found, I grabbed my full allotment for the month with these gems:

* Wozzeck (the more recent Karl Bohm recording, which is almost as good as Bohm's old LP version with Evelyn Lear; I downloaded this one to complement my existing Barenboim recording, which is ok, but I miss the original Karl Bohm records I listened to a very long time ago)

* A ton of stuff by Giacinto Scelsi. I grabbed a bunch of his piano music and reed pieces. I've known his music for some time and always liked it, but now I really love it and need more of it.

* A string quartet by Julia Wolfe (there are supposed to be two more on the album, but only one was available)

* Some organ music by Schoenberg and Ligeti (the latter's Ricercare)

* A bunch of piano works by Stockhausen

* In the "I can't believe I did this" mode---the first and second piano sonatas by Boulez. Yes, I know he's not my favorite composer by a long shot, but I liked my old LPs of these two pieces (particularly the second sonata as performed by Pollini) and figured it was worth another look. I still am not warm to his music, but these two works are tolerable---better than the third piano sonata, which is aleatoric but nowhere near as great as indeterminate pieces by Cage, Feldman and others.

* Fog Tropes by Ingraham Marshall (an oldie and still a goodie)

* Channels Passing by Paul Dresher (like the Marshall work, I have this on LP and am just too lazy to digitize it right now)

* Night Peace and The Far Country of Sleep by John Luther Adams

That all maxed out my account until Feb. 20th. I'm going to keep it going for now, since there is a lot of good stuff. I'd like to see more releases from Mode on there, but I'm told that will be coming. I'd also love it if they might provide album art, but that's a small point. A larger issue is that some albums, like some of Glenn Branca's symphonies, are there but you can't download any of the tracks, which is as good as their not being in the catalog. In other cases, some tracks of an album may be available but others aren't. Perhaps it's a copyright issue?

So there---it's a good service, relatively cheap, with a growing catalog of new music, and it's easy to download things on a whim that one might not otherwise experience, just like I used to do with LPs when they were really cheap and plentiful. And there's no DRM, which is a real plus!

Originally from david's waste of bandwidth..., ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

Newly discovered Mendelssohn sold at Sotheby's

Jennifer Clark, Gramophone, 5/24/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

New Music News Wire

Twenty composers honored by American Academy of Arts and Letters, Tobias Picker is named Artistic Advisor to Dicapo Opera, and a $35 Million Increase in NEA funding has been approved.

Originally from NewMusicBox, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)

Born in the U.S.A.

Artists–composers, painters, writers, the whole motly lot–have always depended upon the kindness of strangers. Timely financial interventions of the Lorenzo de’ Medici here, the Nadezda von Meck there, the Paul Sacher over there have greased the skids for the makers of many of the world’s great masterpieces. Alas, those sort of patrons aren’t that plentiful nowadays and so a new “community” model of patronage has sprung up in which arts organizations pool their resources to commission new works. I call it the “Biegel” method after S21 blogger and pianist Jeffrey Biegel. I suspect he wasn’t the first to do it but he has turned joint financing of commissions into an art and a bustling career.

Joan Tower’s Made in America, which will be released by Naxos next Tuesday, is the latest example of the art of the deal, new music-style, and it adds an intriquing new wrinkle–a corporate sponsor. The project began as an attempt by 65 small orchestras from around the United States to pool their resources to commission a new work by a major American composer. With the help of the American Symphony Orchestra League, Meet The Composer, and Ford Motor Company Fund, the latter patronage leading to the fortuitous branding, Ford Made in America, a project that brought the Tower’s piece to towns nationwide.

Made in America, premiered in Glens Falls, New York in October 2005, and has received over 80 performances—making it perhaps the most-performed piece of new music in recent history—and is still making the rounds on the concert circuit.

The new Naxos recording marks the first appearance of new Music Advisor Leonard Slatkin on record with the Nashville Symphony.

As for the music itself: it’s not Ligeti but you knew that. Made in America is more like a Copland chocolate plucked from a Whitman Americana Sampler. Gooey, but you kind of like it.

Originally posted by Jerry Bowles from Sequenza21/, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 05:01 PM | Comments (0)

Art's Place in Everyday Life

"Toward the seven deadly arts Sam had had the inarticulate reverence which an Irish policeman might have toward a shrine...

Originally from PostClassic, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)

Beethoven: Symphony for Conductor and Laptop

Originally from Shake It and Bake It!, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 03:27 PM | Comments (0)

'Pan Cogito! If You're A Cultural Economist, As You Claim To Be, Why Don't You Ever Talk About Economics And The Arts?'

"Americans for the Arts is proud to announce the release of Arts & Economic Prosperity III, our third study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry's impact on the nation's economy. These studies are the most potent and oft-cited advocacy tool used to justify public- and private-sector support to nonprofit arts organizations. This new study is our largest ever, featuring findings from 156 study regions (116 cities and counties, 35 multicounty regions, and five states). Data were collected from a remarkable 6,080 nonprofit arts and culture organizations and 94,478 of their attendees across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

America's nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity every year— $63.1 billion in spending by organizations and an additional $103.1 billion in event-related spending by audiences.

The economic activity from America's nonprofit arts and culture industry supports 5.7 million jobs nationally and generates $29.6 billion in government revenue. Between 2000 and 2005, the nonprofit arts and culture industry grew 24 percent, from $134 billion to $166.2 billion.

Event-related spending by the audiences of nonprofit arts and culture organizations boasts an even greater increase of 28 percent—from $80.8 billion in 2000 to $103.1 billion in 2005."

*

House Bill Would Give Arts and Humanities Endowments Bigger Budgets in 2008

"An appropriations panel of the U.S. House of Representatives endorsed legislation on Wednesday that would provide the largest spending increase ever for the National Endowment for the Arts.

The bill, which still faces votes by the full Appropriations Committee as well as the entire House and U.S. Senate, would provide $160-million for the arts endowment in the 2008 fiscal year, a $35-million increase over the 2007 figure and $32-million above President Bush’s request.

The bill would also provide $160-million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, $19-million over the president’s request. The provisions for the cultural endowments are part of broader legislation to finance the Interior Department and other agencies in the next fiscal year, which begins on October 1."

Kelly Field News Blog of The Chronicle of Higher Education May 24, 2007

Mariinsky Cultural Center, New Holland
St. Petersburg, Russia
Samitaur Constructs, Developer

St. Petersburg is not an assemblage of discrete buildings. Rather it is a chronology of monumental spaces that sweeps one along from plaza and canal to building and monument. Buildings originated in different eras and were built in various styles. But the consistent lessons are scale and power. There is no consigning the asymmetry of those public spaces to a sedate conclusion. To architecturally intervene in the area is to exploit its spatial message. The tradition of long diagonal views and expansive public space is open ended. There is room for more.

The reconstitution of New Holland is not merely a location for new building “events” in the historic center of St. Petersburg, but rather an attempt to understand the site as an extension of the existing organization of the historic district. The city’s historic center consists of a linear arrangement of the Winter Palace and Hermitage, Palace Square with Alexander’s Column, the Admiralty, and St. Issac’s Cathedral along a west-east axis. The grand tree-line dnogvardeiskiy Boulevard continues west from these landmarks and terminates at New Holland, making it a pivotal site in St. Petersburg that can both continue the cultural corridor as well as create new ones.

Caption and photo credits: (c) www.ericowenmoss.com. With thanks.

*

David Throsby, 2005. "On the Sustainability of Cultural Capital," Research Papers 0510, Macquarie University, Department of Economics.

Review of ECONOMICS AND CULTURE. BY DAVID THROSBY.
CAMBRIDGE: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 2001.

Originally from Renaissance Research, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 03:27 PM | Comments (0)

Addled in Atlanta

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is making a grave mistake. It has decided to eliminate several lead critic jobs, including that of Pierre Ruhe, a stylish and preceptive classical critic. From a story in Musical America by Steve Dollar: "Bert Roughton Jr., managing editor of the paper's newly minted print division..., insists that cultural coverage will not diminish. It will simply change. 'The volume of local arts coverage will increase,' Roughton said, promising a stronger emphasis on enterprise reporting across all the arts beats, and, in particular, what he calls the 'business of culture.' 'This will help round out our coverage. Not only will readers get criticism [of local arts events], they'll understand the context that the work is produced in.'... According to Roughton, there will still be reviews of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He just can't say under whose byline they will appear, or if they will appear as frequently as they do now." This is all contorted nonsense. Critics such as Ruhe play a crucial role in the cultural ecosystem of a city. The Atlanta Symphony, which is experiencing remarkable growth under Robert Spano, will suffer without informed reports on its activities — and its principal activity isn't behind-the-scenes bustling around but making music. What's more, I predict that the Journal-Constitution will suffer as well. No doubt the paper believes that it is adapting to modern reality by doing away with criticism in favor of profiles, process pieces, and the like, but it will probably only drive away loyal readers without attracting new ones. Spano writes in a letter to the editor: "Atlanta deserves a newspaper of substance — one that contributes to a city that values expression, ideas and creativity." It's not too late for the paper to commit itself to the arts once again.

Originally posted by Alex Ross from Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)

EST proves more than worthy of 'Idol' worship - Inside Bay Area

EST proves more than worthy of 'Idol' worship
Inside Bay Area, CA - 2 hours ago
Excuse me if I'm missing something, but when exactly did mediocrity replace jazz as "America's music?" And wasn't Sweden, the homeland of EST, ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)

Sylvano Bussotti, "O Atti Vocali"

Originally posted by jodru from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)

Burkhard Beins - Disco Prova

Absinth Theres something of the sketchbook in Burkhard Beins new solo album, Disco Prova (I believe its his first solo effort, as near as I could tell). Its not just the relative brevity of most of the seven tracks...

Originally from Bagatellen, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)

Sarah Discusses Rzewski

Music by Frederic Rzewski will be featured as part of the Berkeley Edge Fest June 8 & 10 in Hertz Hall, with Ursula Oppens performing. Click on the photo on the left to watch Sarah Cahill discuss Rzewski's music.

The Cal Performances website has more videos and information.

And, there's an interview with Paul Dresher talking about his solo opera, The Tyrant, also to be performed at the Edge Festival.

Composer Interviews
Sat, June 9, 2-4 pm
125 Morrison Hall (Department of Music, UC Berkeley Campus)
Free and open to the public
Pianist and radio host Sarah Cahill will talk with Edge Fest artists in successive interviews. First Frederic Rzewski with pianist Ursula Oppens, then Paul Dresher, will take the stage to discuss their music and the process of collaboration in the creation of new work. These sessions will bring forward some of the more significant and compelling aspects of the work performed at Edge Fest concerts.

Originally from All I Know², ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)

Apropos of Ablinger

The freedom that the listener has to make choices. In Ashley, or Reich, there is a freedom in the music for the listener to make choices in their concretisation of the piece. How does this part relate to this? In later European composition, as much as I love listening to it, that freedom is sometimes lost to me, I feel that I have instead a responsibility to decode the correct (or one of a series of correct) meanings. How do you get from note to note? If, after all, it is just a way of generating material and form, then why be so careful about those notes? Why write them down in detail at all? (This isn’t a question of complexity, which has its own aesthetic dimensions; rather that large, carefully notated middle ground that is neither ‘complex’ nor ’simple’.)

Paradoxically, I feel quite free listening to Boulez’s Structures. I feel less free listening to Kreuzspiel, the rhythm of which is easier to come to grips with, but harder to pull away from. In Structures, it is enough to know - and it really doesn’t take the greatest pair of ears to hear it - that here there is a procedure being composed out. What that procedure is is, contrary to Reich, beside the point. It is enough to hear it and to trust it. This trust frees us to navigate our way around this crystalline world, to concretise its internal relationships in a form that we can make sense of. It is in this respect exactly the same as Cage’s Music of Changes, an old cliché that like all the best contains a great deal of truth. With this freedom the listener gains power; and as Spiderman knows, with great power comes great responsibility. With some later European music I find that I’ve lost some of that power, and only been left with the responsibility. Whether this is a consequence of composers being afraid to grant it to me, or me being afraid to use it, I don’t know, but it is an anxiety. Which is why I’ve been so pleased recently to discover the music of Peter Ablinger, in which there does seem to be a return to the mutual trust that is the only way the 50s avant garde made sense. In Ablinger’s music, the processes are to a degree transparent, and they’re engineered in such a way as to suggest the need for a response without ever determining what that response might be. It is strange, but liberating music. This CD on Kairos is where I’ve started, and seems as good a place as any to begin.

Originally posted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson from The Rambler, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)

Splash

I couldn’t resist installing this fun trinket. Certainly more will follow as Tim falls in love with its sublime interactivity.

So, in the spirit of American Idol…

d="polls-2-loading" class="wp-polls-loading">

#8230;

Originally posted by Michael from thirteen ways, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)

Swing (laid) low (Updated)

Alan Cubbage, Northwestern's VP for Public Relations, writes in an email that the jazz program "has NOT been cancelled." It has been "suspended.")

I get paid twice when I publish something here that originated at the Time Out Chicago blog:

Northwestern’s School of Music announced last week that incoming students could no longer enroll as Jazz Studies majors, or, less politely, that the Jazz program is being axed. Citing declining enrollment, dean Toni-Marie Montgomery said in a statement that “Most years, only two or three new students have enrolled.” The major was among the youngest on campus, having only been instituted in 1999.

Predictably, this has raised the ire of those who did study jazz at Northwestern, and who don’t like seeing their program slapped around. They set up Friends of NU Jazz to defend the program and to organize letters to Dr. Montgomery. With letters of support from Jamey Aebersold, who basically founded the entire notion of jazz education through his jazz play-a-long recordings and summer jazz camps, to historians like Ted Gioia and musicians such as saxophonist Dave Liebman, it’s an impressive list.

Chicago-based jazz pianist Dan Cray graduated from NU in ‘99, and made up his own jazz studies major while he was there, he wrote in an email. “[T]he program was rising—there were 2 big bands, and enough cats for 6-7 combos,” he continued. Cray plays regularly around here, holding down a Tuesday slot at the new Pops for Champagne downtown.

Too bad—for musicians, for listeners, for Northwestern’s own students—it wasn’t rising fast enough.

Addendum: The scholars of Destination Out have opened up their space to their Best Jazz of the '90s poll, to breathtaking results. The first three parts are up, with two more to come. I didn't get around to submitting my own ballot, which I'll post here shortly.

Originally posted by MarcGeelhoed from Marc Geelhoed: Deceptively Simple, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)

I've Got You Under My Skin

A request: I'm working on a follow-up to this tattoo post from a few weeks back. If you're a classical musician with body art, or have a classical-related design, I'd love to hear from you: use the e-mail address at the bottom of the sidebar.

Originally from Soho the Dog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)

Stravinsky: Sketches for Petruchka

A veritable treasure trove of manuscripts are now available online. The Juilliard Manuscript Collection is a flash-based website with images of 99 manuscripts, and 8000 pages of high resolution scans of manuscripts by “famous” classical composers. I immediately gravitated to Stravinsky, finding early sketches for PETRUCHKA, which started out its life as a piano concerto, so I wonder whether this passage is actually from it. The roots for this manner of composing, or sketching, was what later became known as a “cut-away score”–showing only the instruments that were playing. My theory teacher from UW-Madison, Robert Crane, didn’t not care for this tradition: “Silence is music too and the score should show that.”
[© Juilliard Manuscript Collection]

Originally posted by Roger Bourland from rogerbourland.com, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)

Jean Michel Jarre: Oxygene 4

The ur-electronica music from the late ’70s, Jean Michel Jarre is very cool here in this original video of his ongoing Oxygene series. Ah, those were the days where it was sooo cool to have a room full of keyboards, racks, rigs, flashing lights. Of course you really need all that equipment to play those bitchin’ minor arpeggios.

Originally posted by Roger Bourland from rogerbourland.com, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)

While Classical WETA-FM Lite Finds 6,000 Supporters Of American Music-Less Format; Kennedy Center Feigns Interest In Building World Class Conservatory

May 22, 2007 (Tue)
6 pm
San Francisco Conservatory [FREE]
Millennium Stage Conservatory Project
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 23, 2007 (Wed)
6 pm
Oberlin Conservatory [FREE]
Millennium Stage Conservatory Project
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 24, 2007 (Thu)
6 pm
Berklee College of Music [FREE]
Millennium Stage Conservatory Project
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 25, 2007 (Fri)
6 pm
Eastman School of Music [FREE]
Millennium Stage Conservatory Project
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 26, 2007 (Sat)
6 pm
Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University [FREE]
Millennium Stage Conservatory Project
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 27, 2007 (Sun)
6 pm
Shepherd School of Music, Rice University [FREE]
Millennium Stage Conservatory Project
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

John F. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage Conservatory Project.

American music-less Classical WETA-FM Lite, in Nation's Capital today featuring:

10:30pm: Symphony in D Major
Frederick the Great of Prussia
CPE Bach Chamber Orchestra
Hartmut Haenchen (conductor)
[Capriccio 10.064]
Buy now

Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia. American classical music-less Classical WETA-FM Lite's, in the Nation's Capital, featured composer of the Millennium.

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons. With thanks.

Originally from Renaissance Research, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)

Once Home To World-Class Opticians, Lens Cutters, Librettists, And Composers, Germany Now Accounts For 52% Of The World's Installed Solar Panels

"The former East Germany, once one of the world's gloomiest places, has become home to one of the world's brightest industries: solar power.

In late April ground was broken at a former Soviet air base near Leipzig for a $176 million, 40-megawatt photo-voltaic power plant, four times the size of the largest existing solar plant in the world. The facility, being built by Germany's Juwi International, is scheduled to begin production in late 2009. When it does, it will add significant capacity to eastern Germany's mushrooming solar power industry.

Germany has invested $1.3 billion in photovoltaic research over the past decade, creating a $5 billion industry that accounts for 52% of the world's installed solar panels. Of 45 producers in Germany, 33 are start-ups in the former East Germany, employing 70% of the industry's 8,000 workers, with 2,000 new jobs on the way. Even companies headquartered in the west have most of their production in the east.

The manufacturers have found a new foothold in an economically depressed place, which has an educated labor force, 20% unemployment, and old industrial complexes with redevelopment potential. Eastern Germany was the engineering center of the Eastern bloc, and top tech schools and research centers pepper places where solar manufacturing is now booming - near the world-class opticians and lens cutters of Jena and the old industrial centers of Dresden and Chemnitz." ...

Michael Dumiak, Fortune Magazine "Eastern Germany's sunny future" via CNNMoney May 22, 2007

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/
fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100049624/
index.htm?postversion=2007052206

'Let the sun shine in'.

[Click on image for enlargement.]

Dresden's Drama House, below, Zwinger Baroque Era Palace [including the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery)], center, and Semper Opera House, above.

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons. With thanks.

Originally from Renaissance Research, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)

Musical Form

When I was a kid my brothers used to talk about musical form, but they also used to talk about chess openings. I thought that they were the same kind of thing: formulas that were of little use to me. Boy, was I wrong. My little brother had piano lessons and studied the classical repertoire. My older brother just seemed to know how classical pieces were put together without really studying. I never had piano lessons and didn't make it far enough as a violin-playing kid to play anything in any of the big classical forms. Most of the flute repertoire I studied was either baroque or from the 20th century, and none of the teachers I studied with ever mentioned the concept of the form of a piece having something to do with the interpretation of a piece.

I recognized patterns, but I never knew that there was a whole tradition of writing music in a way that set forth themes, developed them, and followed patterns of modulation. I could play classical concertos from memory, but I had no idea when I was in the exposition or the development section of a movement, or, for that matter, what a development section actually was. Maybe everyone assumed I knew.

At Juilliard our "Literature and Materials of Music" course started with analysis of a few songs, but I believe we spent most of our time on harmonic analysis. What good is harmonic analysis if it is not taught in a musical and preferably formal context? Maybe the people who designed that course assumed that everyone knew about form already.

I thought I knew a lot about music. I know that played a lot of music. But I feel like I missed out on a great deal of the experience of listening and playing because I was unaware of what was actually happening in the music.

I only began to understand form when I started writing music, and I only started writing music seriously when I was close to 40. When I read Edward Cone's Musical Form and Musical Performance and Donald Francis Tovey's The Forms of Music, I started to understand what I wish I had learned as a child or as a young adult. Maybe I should have asked my brothers what they were talking about.

Originally from Musical Assumptions, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)

Pandit Pran Nath - Ragas of Morning and Night

Hindustani classical singer Panith Pran Nath has become an important figure in both India and the Western world. He is a devotee of Dhrupad, a slow repetitive form of devotional singing. His music is a major influence on Western artists such as La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Jon Hassell, and Don Cherry.

Ubuweb, the essential archive of modern sounds, now offers an out-of-print 1986 album of a live 1968 performance titled Ragas of Morning and Night. Two ragas, each over 20 minutes in duration, displays Panith Pran Nath’s austere but beautiful stylings. This is sacred music of the finest, a meditative and mystical masterpiece that truly can be called New Age. If there is anything that should be called an essential download on Free Albums Galore, this would be it.

The album is available as two separate tracks in 192kbps MP3.

Download

Originally posted by freealbums from Free Albums Galore, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)

Danish filmmaker's 'Dancer in the Dark' to be made into opera

Canada.com, 5/24/2007

Originally from Classical Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)

Addled in Atlanta

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is about to make a grave mistake. It has decided to eliminate several lead critic jobs, including that of Pierre Ruhe, a stylish and preceptive classical critic. From a story in Musical America by Steve Dollar: "Bert Roughton Jr., managing editor of the paper's newly minted print division..., insists that cultural coverage will not diminish. It will simply change. 'The volume of local arts coverage will increase,' Roughton said, promising a stronger emphasis on enterprise reporting across all the arts beats, and, in particular, what he calls the 'business of culture.' 'This will help round out our coverage. Not only will readers get criticism [of local arts events], they'll understand the context that the work is produced in.'... According to Roughton, there will still be reviews of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He just can't say under whose byline they will appear, or if they will appear as frequently as they do now." This is all contorted nonsense. Critics such as Ruhe are crucial members of the cultural ecosystem of a city. The Atlanta Symphony, which is experiencing remarkable growth under Robert Spano, will suffer without informed reports on its activities — and its principal activity isn't behind-the-scenes bustling around, Mr. Roughton, but making music. What's more, I predict that the Journal-Constitution will suffer as well. No doubt the paper believes that it is adapting to modern reality by doing away with criticism in favor of profiles, process pieces, and the like, but it will probably only drive away loyal readers without attracting new ones. Spano writes in a letter to the editor: "Atlanta deserves a newspaper of substance — one that contributes to a city that values expression, ideas and creativity." It's not too late for the paper to commit itself to the arts once again.

Originally posted by Alex Ross from Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)

Delirious Nomad | 02.07 - Play by Play

Delirious Nomad | 02.07
Play by Play, MO - 3 hours ago
1: St. Louis Symphony Orchestra chamber group performs avant garde music of Cage & Feldman at Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts (www.pulitzerarts.org, ...

Originally from "contemporary classical" | "avant garde" music - Google News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)

Globe Unity Orchestra 40th Anniversary

last year’s 40th Anniversary concert of the Globe Unity Orchestra gets reviewed.

Four decades ago a band hit the stage of the Berlin Jazz Festival and caused a sensation. Alexander von Schlippenbach’s composition, Globe Unity, was the first time the precepts of free jazz had been applied in an orchestral setting. The name of the composition became the name of an orchestra, and in Novermber 2006, the Berlin Jazz Festival presented the 40th anniversary concert of the Globe Unity Orchestra to a sold-out house.

Globe Unity’s concerts, typically seventy-five minute non-stop continua of high-intensity musics, invariably leave no room for neutral reactions. Their Berlin 1966 and Chicago 1987 concerts left press opinion divided into either love or perplexity tempered with active dislike. During the two concerts this commentator has heard (Lisbon 2005 and Berlin 2006), the initial audience reserve was rendered into palpably engaged enthusiasm as the music evolved. It seems to take a while for an audience to get into the variegated swing of things but the Globe Unity Orchestra possesses a transcendent stage personality that draws listeners into the musical experience.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

International Contemporary Ensemble in New York

A recent performance of the International Contemporary Ensemble is reviewed:

In recent years the International Contemporary Ensemble has proved itself one of the most adventurous and accomplished groups in new music. This 30-member collective, based in Brooklyn and Chicago, has earned a reputation for stylistic eclecticism, taking on modernism and Minimalism with equal gusto while devoting valuable attention to emerging composers. Lately it has also been very busy. From April 25 to May 5 its members took part in nine separate concerts around New York, and then the group presented a four-hour Steve Reich marathon in Chicago.

On Tuesday night at P.S. 122 members of this voracious ensemble took on a work that was daunting even by its own bold standards: “A Floresta é Jovem e Cheja de Vida” (“The Forest Is Young and Full of Life”), an electro-acoustic theater piece by the Italian avant-garde composer Luigi Nono. The score calls for a soprano, a clarinetist, three reciters and five percussionists, all amplified, in dialogue with electronically distorted counterparts on tape.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

New on Free Albums Galore

We haven’t inventoried Free Albums Galore in a while. Here are some of their most recent offerings:

Pandit Pran Nath - Ragas of Morning and Night
Genre: World, New Age
Hindustani classical singer Panith Pran Nath has become an important figure in both India and the Western world. He is a devotee of Dhrupad, a slow repetitive form of devotional singing. His music is a major influence on Western artists such as La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Jon Hassell, and Don Cherry.

Noam Buchman - Solo Flute
Genre: Classical
Flautist Noam Buchman performs a program of solo flute compositions. Six pieces are works by contemporary Israeli composers. The album is rounded out by a partita by Johann Sebastian Bach and the Sonata in A Minor by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach.

The Houston Drone Concern - Variations For Bob Ostertag
Genre: Avant-Garde
As far as drones go you can’t get more basic than the music created by Daniel de Los Santos a.k.a.The Houston Drone Concern. Long notes continue on and on until replaced by longer notes with no real relationship to melody or rhythm. This is minimalism at its most basic. However, there is something absolutely riveting about how the artist fits it all together.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

Mike Patton Interviewed

A recent interview of the eclectic Patton is available.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

The Roscoe Mitchell Trio at UMASS

A recent Mitchell performance is reviewed.

25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on May 25, 2007 at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

Jazz Listings in New York

Jazz in NY from the New York Times:

SAM RIVERS FESTIVAL If you happened to tune in to 89.9 FM this week, you have already reaped the benefits of the Sam Rivers Festival, a comprehensive celebration of this august saxophonist, flutist and composer. The broadcast, which began last Friday afternoon and concludes tonight at 9, is a characteristic labor of love (and, yes, obsession) by that station, WKCR. And in many ways the marathon format suits its subject. Mr. Rivers, above, has been an indefatigable and often prolix presence in jazz over the last 60 years, and even in his 80s he can seem impervious to fatigue, as anyone who attended last year’s Vision Festival will attest.

Tonight he brings his energies and expertise to the Miller Theater for the festival’s thrilling finale: a reunion of the 1970s Sam Rivers Trio, with Dave Holland on bass and Barry Altschul on drums. This was the experimental group that Mr. Rivers led during the intensely creative period in New York that has come to be known as the “loft era,” in honor of artist-run performance spaces like Studio Rivbea, which Mr. Rivers and his wife, Beatrice, operated throughout the ’70s. The trio was fairly well documented in its time, though usually on bootleg recordings and sessions for shoestring-budget European labels. At the start of this week WKCR marched through that terrain, playing albums like “Paragon” (Fluid, 1977) alongside unreleased concert tapes. It all sounded fantastic, and the smart money says that tonight’s performance will be just as compelling. (The Sam Rivers Trio performs tonight at 8, Miller Theater, 2960 Broadway, at 116th Street, Morningside Heights, 800-838-3006, wkcr.org; $25.) NATE CHINEN

THEO BLECKMAN AND BEN MONDER (Tuesday) Mr. Bleckman, a vocalist, and Mr. Monder, a guitarist, share a fondness for diaphanous atmosphere, as they demonstrate on “At Night” (Songlines), their mysterious new album. At 10 p.m., Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, near Bleecker Street, East Village, (212) 614-0505, bowerypoetry.com; cover, $8.

JEF LEE JOHNSON BAND/ROB REDDY TRIO (Tonight) Groove is the common denominator of these two progressive trios, the first led by the guitarist and vocalist Jef Lee Johnson, and the second organized by Rob Reddy, a saxophonist. At 9, Jalopy Theater, 315 Columbia Street, Brooklyn, (718) 395-3214, jalopy.biz; $10. (Chinen)

TONY MALABY’S NOVELA (Tomorrow) Yet another adventurous new project from the tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby, with Nate Wooley on trumpet, Ben Gerstein on trombone, Angelica Sanchez on piano, Jason Ajemian on bass and Chad Taylor on drums. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen)

BEN MONDER (Thursday) In the hands of Mr. Monder the electric guitar is a coloristic instrument. He features his coolly convoluted pieces for a trio with Chris Lightcap on bass and Ted Poor drums. At 10 p.m., Barbès, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177, barbesbrooklyn.com; cover, $10. (Chinen)

★ NEW LANGUAGES FESTIVAL (Tonight, tomorrow and Thursday) Advancing an ideal of cross-fertilization, this Williamsburg, Brooklyn, festival is organized partly by the alto saxophonist Jackson Moore, who leads a trio tomorrow night at 10. The schedule also includes Attack/Adorn/Decay, a project of the trumpeter Nate Wooley (tonight at 10); Heavy Merge, a trio led by the pianist Russ Lossing (tomorrow night at 8:30); and the Indo-Pak Coalition, assembled by t

New Music reBlog

May 31, 2007

Last Night in L.A.: “Partch” plays Partch

Up on getting up, I'm down on what I got up for

While I was out

Dancing about urban planning

I hate your blog. You ain’t logged in in a month and a half, and I, for one, am aghast

Bottoms Up

Glenn Gould - the ultimate download

Summer Projects 2

Music and the Self

Polyphonic Flute

New music, vocally speaking

Side-street sunset agenda

Steve’s click picks #29

If I Swallow Anything Evil, Put Your Finger Down My Throat

Grrr...

Thomas Kilpper

Open Conversation with Todd Reynolds on Saturday, 4:30-6:30 in Room 209

Zappa lives! (sort of)

reviews, take 2

Dancing Well

They're wired differently!

Variations

Winding down and winding up

Juan Tizol: Caravan(s) (1937)

Mp3 Blog #13: Vivier, "Wo Bist Du Licht!"

Composer Derek Charke collects sounds for Kronos

Scientists Develop Software to Turn DNA Patterns Into Music

Conversations: Lou Reed - Common Ground

Music Preview: PSO will try to bring out the colors of ... - Pittsburgh Post Gazette

The secret of this composer's success? If only he knew. - San Francisco Chronicle

AAJ Reviews

Sonomu Reviews

links for 2007-05-31

Christopher DeLaurenti, "SF Variations"

McPhee Brötzmann Kessler Zerang - Guts

Jerry Bergonzi - Tenorist

Cuneiform Artist News: Part I

Cuneiform Artist News: Part II

Cuneiform Artist News: Part III

May 30, 2007

Gigs I should have gone to

You can't hide forever from these streets

Totalistically Tenney

Monday at Düsseldorf's Kunstraum (Alte Schmiede...

Elgar - the first of the new

trombones, clones, and microtones

David Does Harvard

Coming up at the Bohemian National Home

Mark Cuban on the future of the music business

Bagatellen Reviews

Musique Machine Reviews

So Easy a Caveman Can Do It

An Ugly Future

A Tribute to Charles Hamm—Composer, Historian, Educator

Winds of change at Glyndebourne

Igor Stravinsky, my hero (sigh)

Virtuosity

Mp3 Blog #83: Unsuk Chin, Violin Concerto

While we were out

Moses und Aron

Calgary commissions opera about Canada's 'dynamite fiend'

Conservatoire de Flea

Composer in uniform

Camerata Pacifica Premieres Wilson’s Messenger Concerto - The Santa Barbara Independent

The 'angular momentum' of Cecil Taylor - Globe and Mail

MTT celebrates Prokofiev with 10 days of concerts - Inside Bay Area

A funny thing happened in between symphonies - Mobile Register

links for 2007-05-30

Since I believe ....

Tarab - Wind keeps even dust away

Tim Catlin - Radio Ghosts

May 29, 2007

Uncontrollable notes

Lisa Scola Prosek’s new Video Opera BELFAGOR June 1-3 San Francisco

American Voices

The Hybrid: The Two Worlds of Asha Srinivasan

Bach to Bach.

Out on the links III.