File Under?

Stumbled across this broadcast of the premiere of Babbitt’s “No Longer Very Clear,” a 1994 setting of the John Ashbery poem. It features a characteristically charming interview of the composer by John Schaefer.

The latest addition to Q2′s programming schedule is Olivia Giovetti’s “The New Canon.” Yesterday, she featured youngish indie classical composers alongside downtown composer Julia Wolfe (the embed player featured a free download of the latter!). The music was great fun but the highlight was an interview with composer Du Yun on her latest, more pop-oriented, release Shark in You (New Focus).

I’ve previously enjoyed Giovetti’s writing for Time Out and her blog, but she’s also a fine interviewer and an entertaining broadcast presence. I’m looking forward to many Monday mornings of “The New Canon.”

I’m so glad to learn that NPR is hosting Robert Hilferty’s documentary about Milton Babbitt on their Deceptive Cadence blog (Video embed below).

Some scenes from this were screened at a Babbitt event I attended a few years ago at CUNY Graduate Center, but, due to Hilferty’s passing in 2009, a finished film never appeared publicly.

Today, Alex Ross ran a post about the film at The Rest is Noise, indicating that Laura Karpman has helped to edit this posthumous version of the work.

Ross also wrote his own tribute to Babbitt here. He was kind enough to include several links to other Babbitt-related media and articles about the composer. He even linked our coverage here (Thanks Alex!).

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra announced the winners of the Project 440 competition tonight. The four winners will create new works for Orpheus to be premiered in 2012.

They are:

Alex Mincek

Clint Needham

Andrew Norman

Cynthia Lee Wong

It was quite  a rigorous vetting process with some very talented competition. Congratulations to all!

Hilary Hahn was on Soundcheck yesterday, promoting the release today of her recording of Jennifer Higdon’s Violin Concerto. The other big contemporary classical artist with a release today, Nico Muhly, gets a cameo. She very kindly name checks Sequenza 21 at ca. eighteen minutes in…

Today (Wednesday, September 8 ) the remaining 30 composer-contestants in the Project 440 competition are being featured in a 24-hour marathon on Q2. The internet radio station will be featuring works by the composers, including a number of private recordings, many of them live, previously unavailable for the delectation of new music listeners.

The contestants are all vying for one of 4 commissioning slots for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s 2011-’12 season.

It’s pretty daring for these emerging composers to share unreleased recordings with the world. It demonstrates a few things:

-In the internet/social media age, there’s been a change in attitude about sharing music hot off the presses. Recordings that might have been kept under wraps or only shared in private hearings or small masterclasses are now posted on the web; oftentimes, warts and all.

-Q2/Project 440 must have had these composers working overtime to get their music cleared for broadcast.

-The composers are being very thoroughly vetted for this commissioning opportunity. Individual web pages, blogging, dealing with comments and votes in a public forum, and now carrying a leg in a broadcast marathon!

Whoever wins this thing will have been tried and tested – and will also have been given a great deal of visibility. One can question how well the reality program model translates to selecting a composer of concert music – one can even have fun selecting the contestants who shoulda’ woulda’ coulda’ been up there – but there’s little doubt that this is an extraordinary way to introduce the next generation of new composers to the audience.

Our friends at Q2 are featuring the work of Paola Prestini today. the festivities include Prestini commenting on featured tracks at the top of every hour and this nifty live cut (available for download on the Q2 site):

and this video: