So I arrived to discover I had 45 extra minutes of air time tonight! I used it well by playing Terry Riley’s In C (the awesome CBS recording with Riley from the late 60s). I enjoyed it. I played it because if you mosey on up to Wiliam Paterson University Monday night (11/30) at 7:30 pm, you’ll be able to catch a performance of In C by the school’s New Music Ensemble, led by Peter Jarvis. Information here: http://www.wpunj.edu/College_of_Arts_and_Communications/music/index1.php?p=newmusic
Bach, JS – Contrapunctus VII – American Brass Quintet
Adams, J – Alleged Dances: 1 – London Sinfonietta
Ravel- Pavane for a Deceased Infanta – Georgian Festival Orchestra , cond. Vato Kaho
Lang, D – Anvil Chorus – from the film (untitled)
Sur, D – Berceuse for Violin and Piano – Collage New Music
Tirmer. L – Karankawa -Sinfonia Iuventus, cond. Dariusz Wisniewski
Harbison, J – North and South, Book II – Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, chamber ens
Brandt, A – Creeley Songs: The Rhythm – Karol Bennett, Brian Connelly
Herbert, V – Mlle. Modiste: Love me, love my dog – Ohio Light Opera
Hey- so I’m in a closet this week so I’m a little far from a computer to update my playlist… on it would be:
Beethoven’s SQ in A minor (middle movement) by the Emerson Quartet
Carson Cookman’s The Revelations of Divine Love
Andres Cardenes playing the Barber Concerto for Violin
and
Nancy van de Vate’s Nemo Act II
I’m really excited to let you all know about a give away we’re doing at WRSU. We have four copies of Mikel Rouse’s new album Gravity Radio to give away on the air. I’ll be giving away a copy this coming Wednesday (11/18) during the show sometime between 8 and 9 pm. You just have to call in when we play a track from the album at 732-932-8800.
You can also get a copy ANOTHER way. If you have a twitter account, all you’ll need to do is retweet my tweet about the album. I’ll pick a user at random on Wednesday (again, 11/18) at 8pm.
Good luck – I think the album’s pretty awesome!
Prosa – Gaude virgo gratiosa – Anonymous 4
Kinosian, M – The American Story: Cry in the Wilderness – The Upton Trio
Rouse, M – Gravity Radio: Wait for Me – Mikel Rouse
Copland, A – Violin Sonata: I Andante Semplice – Andres Cardens, Sinfonia Varsovia
Deatharage, I -Emozioni Classiche – Isaac Deatharage
Sur, D – A Neo-Platonic Epistrophe While Crossing Times Square – Collage new Music, cond. David Hoose
Adams, J – Gnarly Buttons: Put Yourn Loving Arms around Me – Michael Collins, London Sinfonietta
Harbison, J – Book or Hours and Seasons – Emily Lodine, Chicago Chamber Musicians
Brandt, A – The Birth of Something: Prologue – Karol Bennett, Michael Chioldi, Mala String Quartet, Blake Wilkins, cond. Jonathan Shames
Horwood, M – Percussionique No. 4 – Toronto Percussion Ensemble
Turner, K – Concerto fo Low Horn: mvmt 4 – Charles Putnam, Sinfonia Iuventus, cond. Dariusz Wisniewski
Anonymous – Alleluia: Quinque prudentes virgines – Anonymous 4
Mason, B – Higland Balls and Village Halls – Alarm Will Sound
Schoenberg, A – A Survivor from Warsaw – Daniel Olbrychski, Polish Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of Krakow, cond. Szymon Kawalla, chor. Bronislawa Wietrzny
McConnell, Philip – Elegy fo Strings – Church of hte Painted Window Orchestra, cond. Joel Lish
Stravinksy, I – Violin Concerto in D: Toccata – Aruthur Grumiaux, Royal Concertgebouw Ochrestra, cond. Ernest Bour
Last August I decided to start doing a link round up of cool things I come across each week. I just discovered the draft. These are too good to not post about though:
(Twelve Tone Advertisement)
Yo Yo Ma playin the Cello
From here
I was hoping that with Explorations wrapping up until 2010, I would have some time to post on some other things that have been on the back burner, but life has not dealt me those cards. Or so I think. I’m going to attempt the trick where I try to write something now even though I don’t really have the time for it and see if I’ll start automatically finding time in the near future. Wish me luck…
I know a lot of people who have a difficulty grasping really complicated music from the 20th/21st Century and/or find minimalism to be so simple that its boring and/or listen to Cage on my urging and say “what’s the point?” One of these days I’m going to strangle one of these people.
I imagine that this same group of people would respond to Rothko as untalented, or say that ANYONE could do what Mondrian did. (I have in fact disrupted the peace of an art museum once when my ex-girlfriend said that to me, actually)
I think these people are looking at those works in a way they weren’t intended to be looked at. On a much smaller level, its like looking at a painting of a bowl of fruit and saying “I don’t get it, that landscape is TERRIBLE.” Its like listening to Clapping Music and wondering when the Soprano is going to enter with her Aria.
At the heart of this, in my mind, is musical (and art) literacy. If a person doesn’t know what they’re listening for, it is going to be much harder for them to appreciate it. If you don’t understand that one aspect of minimalism is to experience small changes over time, you might appreciate the gorgeous sororities (of bouncing juggling balls), but you’re missing a huge part of the music. If you don’t approach Cage’s music with the serious playfulness he approached his own music, you’re going to be left feeling like you missed the point or that the music was dumb. If you’re presented with an electroacoustic soundpainting without understanding that the piece is an exploration of timbre (you would, understandably, also need to know what the hell Timbre meant.), you might find the work abrasive and unmusical.
I personally love to just wash my eyes out in the colors of Rothko or consider my different reactions to various Mondrian pieces that are only slightly different. I’m not expecting to be moralised to or told a story or worship the Heavens when I see this sort of art. If I was, I’d be left a little bewildered.
One more thing… I know I already linked to it, but the Reich Clapping Music Video with Jugglers is GREAT. Also, it really helps to illustrate the music and teach someone what the big deal is because you can see the different juggling balls bouncing. You can see the music and hear it, and that’s really awesome.
Brittelle, W – Hey Panda – Mohair Time Warp
Xenakis – Rebonds 8 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziQjykdLDVU
Verdi – Otello, Act2- Credo in un Dio crudel (Jago) - Leo Nucci (Jago), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, conductor
Mussorgsky, M – Night on Bald Mountain – Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Ligeti, G – Movimento preciso e meccanico – Alarm Will Sound
Ligeti, G – Requiem, Lacrymoso - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, The London Voices, Jonathan Nott
van de Vate, N – Gema Jawa – Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Zzymon Kawalla
Miguel Bolivar’s Saxophone Quartet will finish up this Set of Explorations. The work is an energetic frenzy requiring excellent technique, communication across the ensemble, and a nuanced handling.
Bolivar is a tenor saxophonist and composer residing in Elizabeth, NJ. He earned degrees from Montclair State University and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins. His compositition teachers include Robert Livingston Aldridge and Michael Nathaniel Hersch, and his saxophone teachers include David Bixler, Dr. Jeremy Justeson and Gary Louie. He enjoys salsa dancing and tennis when away from music.
Additionally the piece is performed by the AM/PM Saxophone Quartet, a quartet dedicated to the promotion of new music. They recently performed at the Look Listen Festival in Brooklyn, among other engagements. Hopefully they’ll post a 2010 schedule shortly.
The Saxophone Quartet was written in 2007 and premiered by AM/PM in Baltimore in 2008. In four movements, with two running consecutively, the quartet explores contrasting settings for the musical material heard at the very beginning of the work. Starting off slow and then quickly snowballing into a furious rush, the first two movements don’t resolve so much as fall to the feet of the third movement. This movement builds a tense groove where the lower instruments find ways to come out of the background texture to play with the soprano saxophone. The final movement reviews the opening gestures but in a somber tone with meditative space between each idea. The work proves to end in this manner, proving to be a somber conclusion to the tension that existed throughout the first three movements.
What fascinates me about the work is how music that appears to be themes prove to be transitions to much more declarative material. The form is fluid in that sense, even thought feels well defined from section to section. The energy also is maintained from beginning to end, which is a credit to not just the composer but the ensemble.
I’m exhausted. Yes, I sort of phoned this one in.
Beethoven, L – Quartet in Eb, op 127; mvmt 1 – Emerson String Quartet
Horwood, M – Piece Percussionique No. 6 “Requiem” – Toronto Percussion Ensemble
Tremblay, G – Croissant – New Music Ensemble
Bach, J S – Partita 4 – Andras Schiff
