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	<title>Sequenza21/ &#187; Chamber Music</title>
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	<link>http://www.sequenza21.com</link>
	<description>The Contemporary Classical Music Community</description>
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		<title>Cygnus Ensemble at the Library of Congress</title>
		<link>http://www.sequenza21.com/2012/02/cygnus-ensemble-at-the-library-of-congress/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sequenza21.com/2012/02/cygnus-ensemble-at-the-library-of-congress/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:20:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Armando Bayolo</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Chamber Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Concerts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contemporary Classical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Experimental Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Premieres]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Washington D.C.]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sequenza21.com/?p=7032</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Washington, D.C. readers may have noticed that the new music scene in the District has been exploding lately.  This week brings another significant event when New York&#8217;s Cygnus Ensemble makes its Washington debut at the Library of Congress.  The concert, part of a mini-residence by Cygnus at the Library, is presented as a tribute to legendary [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/artists/orchestra/Cygnus_Ensemble.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="344" />Washington, D.C. readers may have noticed that the new music scene in the District has been exploding lately.  This week brings another significant event when New York&#8217;s <a href="http://www.cygnusensemble.com">Cygnus Ensemble</a> makes its Washington debut at the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html">Library of Congress</a>.  The concert, part of a mini-residence by Cygnus at the Library, is presented as a tribute to legendary violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler.  Rarely heard music by Kreisler from the Library&#8217;s Fritz Kreisler collection will be performed, featuring guest violinist <a href="http://www.mirandacuckson.com/">Miranda Cuckson</a> on Kreisler&#8217;s own Guarneri del Gesù violin.</p>
<p>Most notably for new music fans, the concert features the world premiere of <a href="http://haroldmeltzer.com/">Harold <em>Meltzer&#8217;s</em></a> <em>Kreisleriana, </em>for violin and piano, commissioned by the Library of Congress&#8217; McKim fund.  The concert also features Meltzer&#8217;s Pulitzer-Prize finalist work <em>Brion, </em>commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for the Cygnus Ensemble.</p>
<p>The concert begins at 8:00 p.m. at the Library&#8217;s Coolidge Auditorium.  There will be a pre-concert discussion by Mr. Meltzer and Cygnus founder William Anderson at 6:15 p.m. at the Library&#8217;s Whitall Pavillion.  No tickets are required for the pre-concert talk.  Tickets to the main concert are free but require reservations and may be obtained by contacting <a href="http://www.ticketmaster.com">Ticketmaster</a> online or at 202.397.7328.</p>
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		<title>Happy 75th Birthday Philip Glass!</title>
		<link>http://www.sequenza21.com/2012/01/happy-75th-birthday-philip-glass/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sequenza21.com/2012/01/happy-75th-birthday-philip-glass/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:09:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christian Carey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Birthdays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chamber Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Composers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[File Under?]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minimalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Philip Glass is 75 today. The American Composers Orchestra gives the American premiere of his 9th Symphony at Carnegie Hall tonight. My interview with Dennis Russell Davies, who is conducting the ACO concert, is up on Musical America&#8217;s website (subscribers only). If you&#8217;re looking for a terrific way to celebrate PG&#8217;s birthday, Brooklyn Rider&#8217;s latest [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><img class="alignnone" title="Brooklyn Rider plays Glass" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510rElUsbPL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Philip Glass</strong> is 75 today. The <a href="http://www.americancomposers.org/"><strong>American Composers Orchestra</strong> </a> gives the American premiere of his 9th Symphony at <a href="http://www.carnegiehall.org"><strong>Carnegie Hall</strong></a> tonight.</p>
<p>My interview with <strong>Dennis Russell Davies,</strong> who is conducting the ACO concert, is up on <strong>Musical America&#8217;s</strong> <a href="http://www.musicalamerica.com">website</a> (subscribers only).</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re looking for a terrific way to celebrate PG&#8217;s birthday, <strong>Brooklyn Rider&#8217;s</strong> latest CD on <strong><a href="http://www.orangemountainmusic.com/">Orange Mountain Music</a></strong> includes Glass&#8217;s first five string quartets. The earthiness with which they play the music may surprise you at first, but it provides a persuasive foil for some of the more motoric, &#8220;high buffed sheen&#8221; toned performances of minimalism that are out there.  In a 2011 video below, they give a performance of a more recent work, a suite of music from the film <em>Bent.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/2012/01/happy-75th-birthday-philip-glass/"><em>Click here to view the embedded video.</em></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Contemporary Classical Music Is Where It&#8217;s At In LA Next Year</title>
		<link>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/12/contemporary-classical-music-is-where-its-at-in-la-next-year/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/12/contemporary-classical-music-is-where-its-at-in-la-next-year/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:33:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christian Hertzog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Chamber Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classical Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Concerts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contemporary Classical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Experimental Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christopher Rouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Cage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Luther Adams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[steve reich]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sequenza21.com/?p=6881</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the LA Weekly, I compiled a list of what appear to be the best classical music events next year in Los Angeles. (Of course, the 2012-13 seasons haven&#8217;t been announced yet, so there will likely be events in the fall that I&#8217;ll be crazy about, and REDCAT had not published its Winter/Spring concert schedule [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 490px"><img class=" " src="http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/assets_c/2011/12/stevereich003-thumb-480x321.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="321" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Steve Reich and Music for 18 Musicians comes to Disney Hall on Jan. 17</p></div>
<p>For the LA Weekly, I compiled a list of what appear to be the best classical music events next year in Los Angeles. (Of course, the 2012-13 seasons haven&#8217;t been announced yet, so there will likely be events in the fall that I&#8217;ll be crazy about, and REDCAT had not published its Winter/Spring concert schedule by the time I turned my copy into my editors)</p>
<p>Just about all my picks involve 20th/21st century music (there&#8217;s lots of pre-20th century music at Ojai, and although Mahler may not seem 20th-century to many classical music mavens, over half of his output was composed after 1901).  Here they are, in order of Most-To-Least Amount of Regret One Will Have For Not Attending The Event:</p>
<p>1) Steve Reich played by the Bang on a Can All-Stars and red fish blue fish, <a title="Music for 18 Musicians comes to LA!" href="http://www.laphil.com/tickets/performance-detail.cfm?id=4668" target="_blank">Jan. 17</a></p>
<p>2) The LA Philharmonic&#8217;s <a title="Veni! Veni Creator Spiritus!" href="http://www.laphil.com/tickets/mahler/index.cfm" target="_blank">Mahler Project</a>, but in particular the rarely performed 8th Symphony</p>
<p>3) The Ojai Festival&#8211;lots of new music, but especially the West Coast premiere of John Luther Adams&#8217; Inuksuit on June 7</p>
<p>4) Jacaranda&#8217;s <a title="Concert information" href="http://jacarandamusic.org/0317.php" target="_blank">March 17-18 concerts</a>, featuring the LA premiere of Christopher Rouse&#8217;s astounding String Quartet no. 3, played by the group which commissioned it, the Calder Quartet</p>
<p>5) Violinist Shalini Vijayan will perform Cage&#8217;s One6 and One10 with musical sculptures by Mineko Grimmer (which Cage approved as appropriate companion works to his music), as the opening concert of <a href="http://www.swmusic.org/performances/calendar.html" target="_blank">Cage 2012</a></p>
<p>My story, along with lots of links and videos, can be read <a href="http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2011/12/best_classical_concerts_la_2012.php" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p>Some observations and amplifications I couldn&#8217;t squeeze into a 500-word story:</p>
<ul>
<li>REDCAT is doing a<a href="http://www.redcat.org/event/john-cage-centenary-festival" target="_blank"> 2-night Cage Festiva</a>l, including performances of 103 and Fifty-Eight on the first evening. But from what I can see right now, that and Southwest Chamber Music&#8217;s Cage 2012 are the only big birthday celebrations going on for Cage in his native city. Green Umbrella will present Cage&#8217;s Concerto for Prepared Piano, performed by Gloria Cheng and conducted by John Adams; the other works scheduled for that program include Stockhausen&#8217;s <em>Tierkreis</em> (the &#8220;Carnival of Venice&#8221; for new music groups) and a new work from <a href="http://www.oscarbettison.com/" target="_blank">Oscar Bettison</a> which is more likely to be in Cage&#8217;s spirit than Stockhausen&#8217;s goofy Zodiac pieces.</li>
<li>The all-Andriessen <a title="Everybody loves Louis" href="http://www.laphil.com/tickets/performance-detail.cfm?id=4695" target="_blank">Green Umbrella concert</a> looks very promising&#8211;2 multimedia works, (the lurid <em>Anais Nin</em> and <em>Life</em>) plus the US premiere of <em>La Giro</em>. It&#8217;s worth attending just to see the riveting <a title="I have rarely seen a classically-trained singer with the stage presence of this woman" href="http://www.cristinazavalloni.it/english_version/default_english.asp" target="_blank">Cristina Zavalloni</a>, who&#8217;s become one of Andriessen&#8217;s chosen interpreters</li>
<li>I feel sorry for all the other composers on the above Jacaranda program (Richard Rodney Bennett, William Schuman, and Leon Kirchner)&#8211;memory of their music will be completely obliterated by Rouse&#8217;s compositional juggernaut, his Third Quartet. There&#8217;s a video of the Calder Quartet ripping it up (the West Coast premiere) <a title="Rouse in da house" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se3bDYdztfo&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;hd=1&amp;t=1h5m17s" target="_blank">here</a>. The Calder will also play Rouse&#8217;s Second Quartet, but the ending to that work has always <a title="My review of Rouse's 2nd Quartet as played by the Calder Quartet, along with Compline" href="http://local.sandiego.com/arts/la-jolla-summerfest-from-rome-to-russia-with-love" target="_blank">struck me as contrived</a></li>
<li>Jacaranda has 2 other exciting programs coming up: the American premiere of <a href="http://jacarandamusic.org/0520.php" target="_blank">Terry Riley&#8217;s <em>Olson III</em></a>, a work from the time of <em>In C</em>, and a <a href="http://jacarandamusic.org/0121.php" target="_blank">January concert</a> of chamber music by Dutilleux, Takemitsu, Ung, and Saariaho. It was a real coin toss for me to choose between <em>Olson III</em> or Rouse Third Quartet, but I ultimately went with Rouse because the Calder knows the work cold, and a successful performance is certain (unlike <em>Olson III</em>)</li>
<li>In addition to Inuksuit, JLA&#8217;s <em>Red Arc/Blue Vei</em>l and the two-piano-plus-tape version of <em>Dark Waves</em> will be heard at Ojai. Marc-Andre Hamelin, a pianist I would not associate with JLA&#8217;s music, will be performing in the latter 2 pieces&#8211;I look forward to hearing what he does with the piece. I imagine he&#8217;ll get authoritative guidance from Steve Schick, his partner in<em> Red Arc</em>, and from JLA himself. Amusingly, John Adams&#8217; <em>Shaker Loops</em> will be on the same program as <em>Dark Waves</em>. I wonder how many inattentive audience members will think they&#8217;re works by the same composer? Much more up Hamelin&#8217;s alley: Ives&#8217; <em>Concord Sonata</em> and Berg&#8217;s Four Songs, op. 2, and following his performance of <em>Dark Wave</em>s with Leif Oves Andsnes, the pianists will play Stravinsky&#8217;s 4-hand arrangement of <em>Rite of Spring</em> (done on 2 pianos, because the hand crossings and elbow bumpings are ridiculous)</li>
</ul>
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		<title>Carter Giveaway #2: CDs and Signed Photos!</title>
		<link>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/12/carter-giveaway-2-cds-and-signed-photos/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/12/carter-giveaway-2-cds-and-signed-photos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Dec 2011 02:24:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christian Carey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Birthdays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chamber Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contemporary Classical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[File Under?]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sequenza21.com/?p=6807</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Courtesy of Boosey and Hawkes, Bridge Records, and Naxos Records, we have another special giveaway that will benefit those not able to attend Elliott Carter&#8217;s 103rd birthday party on Thursday in New York. We’re giving away two signed CDs of “Music of Elliott Carter: volume 5” (Bridge 9128), and two of String Quartets Nos. 2, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Carter_Signed-1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5918" title="Carter_Signed (1)" src="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Carter_Signed-1-254x300.jpg" alt="" width="254" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>Courtesy of <strong><a href="http://www.boosey.com">Boosey and Hawkes,</a> <a href="http://www.bridgerecords.com">Bridge Records,</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://naxos.com">Naxos Records,</a></strong> we have another special giveaway that will benefit those not able to attend <strong>Elliott Carter&#8217;s </strong>103rd birthday party on <strong><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/12/fred-sherry-on-elliott-carter-at-103/">Thursday</a></strong> in New York.</p>
<p>We’re giving away two signed CDs of <em><strong>“Music of Elliott Carter: volume 5” </strong></em>(Bridge 9128), and two of <em><strong>String Quartets Nos. 2, 3 and 4 </strong></em>(featuring the <strong><em><strong>Pacifica Quartet</strong></em></strong>; Naxos 8.559363), along with a signed 8&#215;10 photo to accompany each.</p>
<p>Once again, I&#8217;ll be selecting the winners via a random drawing. If you&#8217;re interested, send me an email at: <a href="mailto:s21managingeditor@gmail.com">S21managingeditor@gmail.com.</a> The contest will be open until noon on Thursday.</p>
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		<title>Toshio Hosokawa: &#8220;Landscape V&#8221; (Video)</title>
		<link>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/11/toshio-hosokawa-landscape-v-video/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/11/toshio-hosokawa-landscape-v-video/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 Nov 2011 01:39:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christian Carey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[CDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chamber Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contemporary Classical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[File Under?]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sequenza21.com/?p=6768</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On the File Under ? blog tomorrow, we&#8217;ll be discussing Landscapes, Toshio Hosokawa&#8217;s first portrait CD for the ECM imprint. The new recording features an orchestral arrangement of this 1993 work, originally scored for shô and string quartet. I certainly wouldn&#8217;t want to be compelled to prefer one to the other: Landscape V is a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JYqf-LzzlGY" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JYqf-LzzlGY"></embed></object></p>
<p>On the <a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey">File Under ? </a>blog tomorrow, we&#8217;ll be discussing <em>Landscapes, </em><strong>Toshio Hosokawa&#8217;s </strong>first portrait CD for the <strong><a href="http://www.ecmrecords.com">ECM</a></strong> imprint. The new recording features an orchestral arrangement of this 1993 work, originally scored for shô and string quartet.</p>
<p><div id="attachment_6769" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/hosokawa-landscapes.jpg"><img src="http://www.sequenza21.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/hosokawa-landscapes.jpg" alt="" title="hosokawa landscapes" width="300" height="300" class="size-full wp-image-6769" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">ECM&#039;s new release features a different view of &quot;Landscape V&quot;</p></div><br />
I certainly wouldn&#8217;t want to be compelled to prefer one to the other: <em>Landscape V </em>is a haunting tone poem in both its intimate and fuller incarnations.</p>
<div id="attachment_5824" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 160px"><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Toshio-Hosokawa.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-5824" title="Toshio Hosokawa" src="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Toshio-Hosokawa.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="210" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Toshio Hosokawa</p></div>
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		<title>Spears and Supko share Galapagos double bill</title>
		<link>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/11/spears-and-supko-share-galapagos-double-bill/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/11/spears-and-supko-share-galapagos-double-bill/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:03:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christian Carey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brooklyn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chamber Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Composers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Concerts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[File Under?]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Amsterdam]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Time Out New York&#8217;s Steve Smith is sparing with the 5-star CD reviews, but he gave his highest score to Drawn Only Once, Due East&#8217;s New Amsterdam release. It features two beguiling multimedia works by John Supko, which feature video, electronics, Due East (Erin Lesser, flute and Greg Beyer, percussion), as well as a number of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_5793" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/due-east-photo-peter-dressel.jpg"><br />
<img class="size-medium wp-image-5793" title="due east photo peter dressel" src="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/due-east-photo-peter-dressel-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Due East. Photo: Peter Dressel</p></div>
<p><em>Time Out New York&#8217;s</em> <strong>Steve Smith</strong> is sparing with the 5-star CD reviews, but he gave his highest score to <em>Drawn Only Once,</em> <strong>Due East&#8217;s</strong> <strong>New Amsterdam</strong> release. It features two beguiling multimedia works by <strong>John Supko, </strong>which feature video, electronics, Due East (Erin Lesser, flute and Greg Beyer, percussion), as well as a number of other instrumentalists and vocalists. These various elements are overlaid in a busy patchwork quilt, sometimes contemplative, at others dizzying: but it&#8217;s always a beguiling sound world. Despite the sometimes dense colloquy of events found on <em>Drawn Only Once, </em>the release will likely draw listeners back to fathom its depths in successive hearings.</p>
<p>Lesser and Beyer live in Wisconsin and Illinois, respectively. But on Monday night, they&#8217;re bringing Supko&#8217;s music to <strong>Galapagos Art Space,</strong> which will be bathed in the glow of video and the envelopment of surround sound.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" title="spears requiem" src="http://f0.bcbits.com/z/12/42/1242061575-1.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="350" /></p>
<p>Sharing the bill with them is another New Amsterdam artist &#8211; <strong>Gregory Spears</strong> &#8211; whose newly released <em>Requiem</em> is his debut CD. This is another disc that&#8217;s spent a lot of time in the short stack near my favorite listening spot, ready to be pressed into service for repeated hearings.</p>
<p>Spears combines early music instruments and singers with a 21st century aesthetic sensibility in a contemplation of mortality that eschews both dogmatism and morbidity. Although it&#8217;s a far more ambient motivated work than the <strong>Fauré </strong><em>Requiem, </em> Spears&#8217; essay in the genre shares a comforting and cautiously affirming demeanor with its predecessor, as well as a sensuousness of sound and intriguing modality that is most fetching.</p>
<p>Doors open at 7:00 and the show starts at 8.</p>
<p><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=47358082&amp;msgid=662636&amp;act=BVDX&amp;c=306126&amp;destination=http%3A%2F%2Fgalapagosartspace.com%2F" target="_blank">Galapagos Art Space</a> is located at 16 Main St, Dumbo, Brooklyn.</p>
<p>Call <a href="tel:718%2F222-8500" target="_blank">718/222-8500</a> for more information.</p>
<p><BR><br />
<iframe width="400" height="100" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=1454474734/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"><a href="http://gregoryspears.bandcamp.com/album/requiem">Requiem by Gregory Spears</a></iframe></p>
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		<title>Brave New Works Comes to Town</title>
		<link>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/11/brave-new-works-comes-to-town/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/11/brave-new-works-comes-to-town/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:24:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Garrett Schumann</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Chamber Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Concerts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contemporary Classical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Music Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michigan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sequenza21.com/?p=6744</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For those of you in the area, the highly-lauded chamber ensemble Brave New Works is returning to their old stomping grounds in Ann Arbor for two performances this weekend. The first is at Ann Arbor&#8217;s beloved Kerrytown Concert House on Friday November 18, at 8 PM. The program will feature works by Joseph Schwantner, Chen [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For those of you in the area, the highly-lauded chamber ensemble <a href="http://bravenewworks.org/home.php"><strong>Brave New Works</strong></a> is returning to their old stomping grounds in Ann Arbor for two performances this weekend.</p>
<p>The first is at Ann Arbor&#8217;s beloved <a href="http://kerrytownconcerthouse.com/"><strong>Kerrytown Concert House</strong></a> on Friday November 18, at 8 PM. The program will feature works by <a href="http://www.schwantner.net/"><strong>Joseph Schwantner</strong></a>, <a href="http://www.presser.com/composers/info.cfm?name=chenyi"><strong>Chen Yi</strong></a> and UM&#8217;s own <a href="http://evanchambers.net/"><strong>Evan Chambers</strong></a> and <a href="http://www.brightsheng.com/"><strong>Bright Sheng</strong></a>. Tickets are $5 for students, $10-25 general admission</p>
<p>The second concert is the following evening (Nov. 19) at 8 PM in the McIntosh theater at the UM School of Music, and features an all-Michigan program of <a href="http://eriksantos.com/bio.cfm"><strong>E</strong><strong>rik Santos</strong></a>, <a href="http://www.michaeldaugherty.net/"><strong>Michael Daugherty</strong></a>, <a href="http://www.kristinkuster.com/"><strong>Kristin Kuster</strong></a> and <a href="http://www.paulschoenfield.org/"><strong>Paul Schoenfield</strong></a>. This concert is free.</p>
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		<title>Too Many Shows: Zombie-clone reviewers frowned upon!</title>
		<link>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/11/too-many-shows-zombie-clone-reviewers-frowned-upon/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:02:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christian Carey</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Bang on a Can]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chamber Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Concerts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Downtown]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[File Under?]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opera]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sequenza21.com/?p=6599</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Once again, we find ourselves in the thick of things. The New York concert season is reaching a fever pitch of pre-holiday season intensity, in which presenters and ensembles try to get their programs heard before the inevitable onslaught of Messiahs, Nutcrackers, tree-lighting ceremonies, and caroling elbows its way to the forefront of New York&#8217;s calendar [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Once again, we find ourselves in the thick of things. The New York concert season is reaching a fever pitch of pre-holiday season intensity, in which presenters and ensembles try to get their programs heard before the inevitable onslaught of <em>Messiah</em>s, <em>Nutcracker</em>s, tree-lighting ceremonies, and caroling elbows its way to the forefront of New York&#8217;s calendar of musical events &#8211; ready or not. While we can&#8217;t be in two places at once (I still think Steve Smith has a magic ring that enables this power!), hopefully between the various new music enthusiasts in the Sequenza 21 community&#8217;s NYC cadre, we can support these &#8220;hot tickets.&#8221;</p>
<div id="attachment_5660" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Opera-shorts-Tom-Cipullos-the-Husbands-in-Rehearsal.jpeg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-5660" title="Opera shorts Tom Cipullos the Husbands in Rehearsal" src="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Opera-shorts-Tom-Cipullos-the-Husbands-in-Rehearsal-300x223.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="223" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Tom Cipullo&#39;s The Husbands in Rehearsal</p></div>
<p>11/4 at 8 PM at Weill Recital Hall: <strong>Opera Shorts 2011</strong></p>
<p>The third annual installment of the <strong><a href="http://www.remarkabletheaterbrigade.com/">Remarkable Theater Brigade&#8217;s</a></strong> Opera Shorts program is this Friday. These mini-operas &#8211; ten minutes or less &#8211; are an emerging composer&#8217;s dream: a chance to hear a brief slice of their work on the stage. But Opera Shorts draws some heavy hitters to the mini-opera game as well. The 2011 installment features works by prominent songsters <strong>Jake Heggie, William Bolcom,</strong> and <strong>Tom Cipullo, </strong>as well as emerging creators <strong>Marie Incontrera, Mike McFerron, <strong>Davide Zannoni,<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span></strong>Anne Dinsmore Phillips, Patrick Soluri, </strong>and <strong>Christian McLeer. </strong>Given the length of that list, it&#8217;s lucky that none of them have Wagnerian ambitions &#8212; this time out at least!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/OperaShortsCarnegie-1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5661" title="OperaShortsCarnegie (1)" src="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/OperaShortsCarnegie-1.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p>
<p>11/4 at 8 PM on the water: <strong>Bennett Brass at Bargemusic</strong></p>
<div>Can&#8217;t decide whether you&#8217;d prefer an evening of early music or present day fare? <strong>Bennett Brass</strong> (trumpeters <strong>Andy Kozar </strong>and <strong>Ben Grow</strong>, hornist <strong>Alana Vegter,</strong> trombonist <strong>Will Lang,</strong> and tubist <strong>Matt Muszynski</strong>) has got you covered. Friday night at <a href="www.bargemusic.org"><strong>Bargemusic</strong>,</a> they are presenting a program that works with both of the venue&#8217;s series: &#8216;Here and Now&#8217; and &#8220;There and Then.&#8217; The latter is represented by a <strong>Rameau </strong>suite  and <strong>Elgar&#8217;s</strong> <em>Serenade for Strings</em> (but this time arranged for &#8230; you guessed it &#8230; brass!).  Among the more recent music is <em>Fanfare for All </em>by the Dean of Dodecaphony: <strong>Milton Babbitt. </strong>His compositional antipode <strong>John Cage</strong> is also on the bill, as are some still-living figures: <strong>Ted Hearne, Nick Didkovsky,</strong> and <strong>Dan Grabois</strong>.</div>
<div>
<div id="attachment_5659" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Bang_on_a_Can_All-Stars-CREDIT__2011_Pascal_Perich___Julien_Jourdes.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-5659" title="06/2011-New York, NYC- Portrait of  Bang on a Can All Stars. From left to right: Ashley Bathgate - Cello, Evan Ziporyn - Clarinets, Robert Black - Bass, Vicky Chow - Piano, David Cossin - Drums and Percussion, Mark Stewart - Guitars, Evan Ziporyn - Clarinetscredit should read Pascal Perich/Julien JourdesFor editorial reproduction please contact:Kenny Savelson, Executive DirectorBang on a Can80 Hanson Place, Suite 701Brooklyn, NY 11217 USAtel: +1 718.852.7755fx: +1 718.852.7732kenny@bangonacan.orgwww.bangonacan.orgFor commercial reproduction please contact Julien Jourdes1211 Avenue of Americas, 6th floor New York, New York 10036+1-646-283-9075  mobile | Skype: julien 237credit should read Pascal Perich/Julien Jourdes" src="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Bang_on_a_Can_All-Stars-CREDIT__2011_Pascal_Perich___Julien_Jourdes-300x228.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="228" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">BoaC. Photo: Pascal Perich and Julien Jourdes</p></div>
</div>
<div>11/5 at 9 PM at Zankel Hall: <strong>Bang on a Can&#8217;s 25th NYC season opener!</strong></div>
<div><strong><br />
</strong></div>
<div>BoaC celebrates 25 years of gigging in New York City with a show at a &#8216;modest&#8217; venue &#8211; <strong>Zankel</strong>, the theater downstairs at <strong>Carnegie Hall!</strong> The centerpiece of the show is the New York premiere of <strong>Louis Andriessen’s</strong><strong> </strong><em><strong>Life</strong></em><strong><em> </em></strong>with film by <strong>Marijke Van Warmerdam</strong> (postponed from a previous season due to that unpronounceable volcano in Iceland). There&#8217;s also <strong>David Lang’s</strong> <em>sunray</em>,  <strong>Michael Gordon</strong>’s <em>for Madeline</em>, <strong>Kate Moore</strong>’s <em>Ridgeway</em>, three pieces commissioned by Bang on a Can from <strong>David Longstreth</strong> <strong>of the Dirty Projectors</strong> (<em>Instructional Video</em>, <em>Matt Damon</em>, <em>Breakfast at J&amp;M</em>), and <strong>Lukas Ligeti</strong>’s <em>Glamour Girl</em>. The concert serves as a live preview of the All-Stars’ first studio album in five years: a two-CD set titled <strong>Big Beautiful Dark and Scary </strong>(out January 2012 on <a href="www.cantaloupemusic.com">Cantaloupe Music</a>). Ticket info is <a href="http://www.carnegiehall.org/Event.aspx?id=5061">here</a>, but we&#8217;ll let you in on a nice perk for early attendees: the first 200 to arrive get a free drink at the Zankel Bar!</div>
<div><strong></p>
<div id="attachment_5667" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 206px"><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Gorecki©Gerry-Hurkmans.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-5667" title="Gorecki©Gerry Hurkmans" src="http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Gorecki©Gerry-Hurkmans-196x300.jpg" alt="" width="196" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Gorecki. Photo: ©Gerry Hurkmans</p></div>
<p></strong><strong> </strong></p>
</div>
<div>11/8 at 7:30 at Le Poisson Rouge: <strong>IN MEMORIAM HENRYK MIKOŁAJ GÓRECKI</strong></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; color: #333333; font-size: small;">Seems like yesterday, but it&#8217;s been a year since Gorecki&#8217;s passing. To commemorate the first anniversary of his death, the <strong>Polish Cultural Institute</strong> is hosting a concert at <a href="http://lepoissonrouge.com/events/view/2619"><strong>Le Poisson Rouge</strong></a> on Tuesday. The program includes <em>Kleines Requiem für Eine Polka</em> (1993), performed by <strong>Ensemble Signal, </strong> conducted by <strong>Brad Lubman</strong>,  as well as <strong>JACK Quartet</strong> playing the 2nd SQ (&#8220;quasi una fantasia,&#8221; 1991). </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; color: #333333; font-size: small;">It&#8217;s a free show so long as you email rsvp to </span><a style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" href="mailto:gorecki@lprnyc.com" target="_blank">gorecki@lprnyc.com</a>.</div>
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		<title>A Red Hot Start to Michigan&#8217;s New Music Season</title>
		<link>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/10/a-red-hot-start-to-michigans-new-music-season/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/10/a-red-hot-start-to-michigans-new-music-season/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:14:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Garrett Schumann</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Chamber Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Concerts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contemporary Classical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michigan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sequenza21.com/?p=6523</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Up until this last weekend, the true new music season was yet to begin at the University of Michigan. True, fabulous the Symphony Band and members of the performance faculty have already made fabulous presentations of contemporary music (as I’ve written about), but the two groups most dedicated to the work of living composers – [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_6525" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 224px"><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Lees-Headshot.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-6525" src="http://www.sequenza21.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Lees-Headshot-214x300.jpg" alt="" width="214" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Conductor Christopher James Lees</p></div>
<p>Up until this last weekend, the true new music season was yet to begin at the University of Michigan. True, fabulous the Symphony Band and members of the performance faculty have already made fabulous presentations of contemporary music (as I’ve written about), but the two groups most dedicated to the work of living composers – the students of the Composition Department and the Contemporary Directions Ensemble – did not start their engines before last Saturday.</p>
<p>Although it is gaining momentum at the University of Michigan, the Contemporary Direction Ensemble is one of Ann Arbor&#8217;s best kept secrets, thanks in large part to its dynamic director <a href="http://www.christopherlees.net/Christopher_James_Lees/Home.html"><strong>Christopher James Lees</strong></a>. Maestro Lees’ commitment to new music is only matched by his charisma and musical ability. In the case of the group’s first concert of the season on Saturday, all three of these qualities were overshadowed by Mr. Lees&#8217; perspicacious programming. If I wanted to be understated, I would say the selection and ordering of works was immaculate, but I prefer language more elaborate. I was entrained from beginning to end by the beguiling ebb of instrumental strength, musical style and length as each work passed to the next. Collectively, the pieces Mr. Lees selected attacked me, beckoned me, mesmerized me, connected me to an imagined past, nuzzled me, astonished me and drove me to tap me feet. It was the most engaging, well-constructed and consistent new music event I’ve ever attended. So, without discussing (or identifying!) any of the individual works and performances, I can confidently declare that, at least on Sunday night, Maestro Lees and his performers were far beyond reproach.</p>
<p>The first work on the program was <a href="http://www.theofanidismusic.com/"><strong>Chris Theofanidis</strong></a>’ <em>Raga</em> (1992), scored for pierrot-plus. As the program note mentioned, the piece makes many allusions to Indian music, mainly through the use of drones, melodic slides and the bongo drums’ ‘faux-tabla’ groove. Overall, the work moves from simplicity – one note colored variably in the ensemble – to more melodic complexity. <em>Raga</em> is tied together by the consistency of the melodic material and the two percussion parts: the bongos are omnipresent and gong hits accompany most of the important structural delineations in the piece. As I’ve indicated, all the melodic/harmonic material is very closely related throughout, so development takes place in subtle ways such as increased ornamentation when melodies return, thickening the contrapuntal landscape (which produces a kind of whitewash effect since the mode is shared in all the lines), and so forth. The only notable contrasting ideas come in the form of dissonant clusters in the piano, which play an important role in leading the piece to its climatic conclusion of towering, static harmonies.</p>
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<p>Surprisingly, there was only one other piece on the concert’s first half written for a group of players – <a href="http://www.martinbresnick.com/"><strong>Martin Bresnick</strong></a>’s <em>My Twentieth Century</em> (2002). I was excited to see this piece was on the program because I had never heard it live, though I cannot lie I had a few trepidations about the quality of the mid-performance reading. Granted, the players at Michigan are supremely talented, but, nevertheless, public speaking isn’t their primary activity. To my great pleasure, every speaker was convincing and evocative, thanks – I’m sure – to the coaching they received from <a href="http://lindsaykesselman.com/"><strong>Lindsay Kesselman</strong></a>, a fantastic soprano and wife to Maestro Lees. The speakers&#8217; success rose in significance Saturday night because the musical performance was killer – it would have been ashamed is some sheepish reading had put a blemish on the playing. <strong>Dylan Perez</strong>, the pianist, and <strong>Janet Lyu</strong>, the violinist, stood out the most for me in an ensemble of the best chamber players in the building. Although their prominence was aided by the structural significance of each of their parts (the piano’s importance is obvious from the work’s outset, but you can’t overlook the way the violin line effects change in the music’s highly repetitive texture), both Dylan and Janet should be especially credited for commanding the musical side of the piece so confidently and deftly.</p>
<p>Intervening between <em>Raga </em>and <em>My Twentieth Century</em> were two dramatic works for soloists (primarily…): <strong>Berio</strong>’s <em>Sequenza I for flute solo </em>(1958) and the song ‘i had no reason’ from <a href="http://www.davidlangmusic.com/"><strong>David Lang</strong></a>’s opera <em>the difficulty of crossing a field</em> (1999). The Berio really shined for me thanks to flutist <strong>Charlotte Daniel</strong>’s captivating performance. I have heard the work multiple times in concert and it has always come across impressively because of the technical mastery required to pull it off. Yet, Charlotte added an expressive level to the music I had never experienced before. Of course, the notes were all there, but a level of drama – a quality present in other members of the <em>Sequenza</em> series, to be sure – came across as well, giving the piece an almost seductive level of energy not easily associated with the disjunct, angular lines Berio favors in the work. Similarly compelling was mezzo-soprano <strong>Maureen Ferguson</strong>’s performance of David Lang’s ‘i had no reason’. The song was presented with her in a spotlight on a dark stage and, though a violinist eventually accompanied her singing, the focus of the audience was magnified upon her voice and facial expressions for the whole duration of the performance. The music is very repetitive and modal, placing even more emphasis on Ms. Ferguson’s ability to express her character’s feelings through subtle inflections in her voice and physiognomy. I think the whole room was absolutely transfixed by the steady beauty of her singing and overall portrayal of the excerpt. At least I was.</p>
<p>The second half of the concert was a little more brief, but no less potent, than the first. It began with <em>Visual Abstract</em> (2002), by <a href="http://www.pierrejalbert.com/"><strong>Pierre Jalbert</strong></a>, a former professor of mine at Rice University. This work is a little different than anything else of his I had heard because it is intended to accompany a video by <strong>Jean Detheux</strong>, and do so with pretty close synchronization seeing that there is a visual/metronomic countdown on the video at the beginning of each movement. One of the most wonderful aspects of this piece, for me, was Mr. Jalbert’s use of percussion – it was always used to color another idea present in the ensemble. Not only did interesting timbres result from this strategy, but the percussion also felt like it was more integrated into the musical environment than if it had just been an independent entity. Admirably, this aspect of the piece lent the group’s sound a sense of cohesion even when the music was webbed with contrapuntal ideas.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.augustareadthomas.com/"><strong>Augusta Reed Thomas</strong></a>’ <em>Rumi Settings</em> (2001) was the program’s penultimate work, a duo for violin and viola appropriately placed to set up the evening’s raucous conclusion – <a href="http://evanchambers.net/"><strong>Evan Chambers</strong></a>’ <em>Crazed for the Flame </em>(2002). Despite its limited forces, Ms. Thomas’ work is very dynamic in terms of energy level, achieving both repose and explosion thanks to the fantastic work of violist <strong>Linnea Powell</strong> and – once again – violinist <strong>Janet Lyu</strong>. The movements essentially alternate texture with the thick, chromatic, ‘pesante’ counterpoint of the first movement leading to the pointillism and prevalent pizzicato of the more subdued second. This air of introspection continues in the third movement, which features the violin prominently in solo sections set against drone-like material in the viola. The final movement is denoted by double stops and an unprecedented attitude of aggression, expressed with remarkable beauty by Ms. Lyu’s violin playing. <em>Crazed for the Flame</em> is an indulgent, over-the-top, high-energy musical romp – the perfect way to end this concert. The work opens with an expansive chord on which the players seemingly vamp (I’m sure everything is notated, but it had the character of a vamp). This idea repeats, is interrupted by a groove in the percussion and then repeats again with less force as before. From this point forward, more lyrical moments emerge in dialogue with the preceding groovy/high-energy music. An alternation between these two musics persists but not without change – the high-energy moments become more vivid as the work approaches its ending, which is best described as a ‘bang’.</p>
<p align="center">***</p>
<p>Monday’s season-opening student composers’ concert began in the same fashion as the Contemporary Directions Ensemble concert ended – with musical fury. Much to their credit, DMA students <a href="http://davidbiedenbender.com/"><strong>David Biedenbender</strong></a>, <strong>Bret Bohman</strong>, <a href="http://www.pauldooley.net/"><strong>Paul Dooley</strong></a> and <a href="http://www.michaelfoumai.com/"><strong>Michael-Thomas Foumai</strong></a> assembled a ‘chamber orchestra’ identical in instrumentation to the group <a href="http://www.alarmwillsound.com/"><strong>Alarm Will Sound</strong></a>, and put on works they had written for the famed ensemble while participating in the University of Missouri’s annual <a href="http://newmusicsummerfestival.missouri.edu/"><strong>New Music Summer Festival</strong></a>. Given the works’ premise (i.e. they had been written for a particular group with a particular brand of new music they known for playing well), I was not surprised by the consistently overpowering energy level of the concert’s four opening pieces – I am happy to say listening to them back-to-back was like shooting four shots of musical espresso.</p>
<p>Mr. Biedenbender’s <em>Schism</em> (2011) opens divisively, repeatedly pitting a very high and very low sonority against each other, then a switch flips and a jazzy, blues-based groove (complete with a wa-wa-ing trumpet part) takes over and stays in control for most of the piece. The regularity of the rhythm is broken periodically, ultimately for the purpose of recollecting the higher half of the piece’s initial idea. Despite these brief interruptions, the groovy music is well in control until the work’s closing wherein the opening idea returns in full force and is elaborated slightly before the music&#8217;s motor gives out and the audience’s ride is over. Mr. Foumai’s <em>Big Rip </em>(2011) – the title refers to a scientific theory about the creation of the universe – picks up the pace left to the listeners by <em>Schism</em> with the repeated, upward sweeping gesture that begins the piece. There is a moment of repose with a solo in the piccolo and then – after a reentry of the very beginning’s material – the flute, before the rhythmic pattern that dominates the entire work emerges to the foreground. The most prominent harmonies in <em>Big Rip</em> are much more tertian than the blues-based material of <em>Schism</em> and, when combined with the music’s frenetic activity level, gave me a sense of imaginary pursuit. In contrast to the opening, most of the piece is not very gestural – just highly rhythmic – and the work&#8217;s initial ideas return or are referenced with great clarity, ostensibly adding disorder to the musical system we’re accustomed to and bringing about the work’s explosive conclusion.</p>
<p>Mr. Dooley’s <em>Point Blank </em>(2010) is furiously rhythmic like the works that I’ve already discussed, but employs a few more delicate textures (in relative terms) than the surrounding music. The piece begins with a variety of glissandi and other interesting string colors like artificial harmonics and passages of scratch tones. Pro Forma, a fast groove is set in the percussion, but Mr. Dooley uses this more as a foundation upon which he can layer longer, contrapuntal lines. Like <em>Schism</em>, <em>Point Blank</em> favors wa-wa sounds coming from the trombone and trumpet both with harmon and (for the trumpet) plunger mutes. Instead of ending with a bang, the texture weakens and the last sounds we hear is very high pizzicato in all the strings. Mr. Bohman’s <em>Speed </em>(2011) closed this quartet of intensity with – as the name suggests – high volume and high energy. The opening is loud, but unstable and the music doesn’t gain confidence until a very fast groove enters. Despite the presence of this section’s rhythmic stability, the music is not as uniform in terms of dynamics as its predecessors. <em>Speed</em> is particularly different than the three earlier works because the drumset is not a constant participant in the music and doesn’t really take over until the final breakdown, which was epic and my favorite of all four works&#8217; groove-based sections (this is <em>purely</em> based on my love of heavy metal, which makes my taste for grooves very finicky – <em>Speed </em>just got it right, its no fault to the other pieces).</p>
<p>The first half of the concert closed out with <a href="https://plus.google.com/106539827935838703280/posts"><strong>Zac Lavender</strong></a>’s <em>The Study of Waves</em> (2010), <strong>Justin Aftab</strong>’s <em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB8Y6UlTVcA">Landscape 4:54</a> </em>(2010), <a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/2010/11/live-from-ann-arbor-chapter-2-a-focus-on-composer-performers/">which I already reviewed</a>, and <strong>Piere Derycz</strong>’s <em>Reflections</em> (this was announced from stage) and Michael Schachter’s <em>Jig </em>(2011). This concert featured some repeat works from last year’s concerts because it is a ‘tune-up’ for next year’s Midwest Composers Symposium. Therefore, I will only cover the pieces that were new to me.</p>
<p><em>The Study of Waves</em> represents Mr. Lavender’s attempt to put the tradition-rich instrumentation of a string quartet in opposition to an electric guitar. At first, the two acoustic forces work together – there is a collective exploration of harmonics which transitions rather nicely into a less sustained texture of pizzicato in the quartet and shorter-lasting ideas in the guitar. The first concrete melodic idea enters suddenly in the cello, and it is from here that Mr. Lavender contrasts tradition and modernity most clearly. First, there is a pizzicato fugue and than a sequence of lyrical, neo-romantic harmonies in the strings before the electric guitar reenters the conversation and brings back the melodic idea that broke the more guitar-predominant texture of the beginning.</p>
<p>Like Mr. Lavender who played electric guitar in <em>Study of Waves</em>, Mr. Derycz delivered a very beautiful of his solo cello piece <em>Reflections</em>. The piece is in three movements, each of which explores a different ‘side’ of the cello. The first is reminiscent of the Bach cello suites with implied extend tertian harmonies and, ultimately a fair amount of double stops. However, the language is (obviously) much more free and explosive, with several climactic – yet restrained – bursts of thorniness in the middle of movement. The second movement is like a whirling rondo rooted in a detached yet subdued introduction. The intervening section contrast strongly with the opening material, and gradually begin to lose control of themselves, spinning off bursts of music colored more and elaborately until the music just stops. The final movement is lush and dulled by a gray patina of mourning or, maybe, regret. The sense of introspection is bolstered by yearning double-stop sequences with beautiful suspensions. Though most of the musical direction is downward, the movement takes a different turn as it ends and the final idea is an ascending scale of harmonics reaching as high as the instrument is able.</p>
<p>Michael Schachter’s <em>Jig</em>, for piano and cello, shared traits with <strong>Andy Ly</strong>’s solo piano piece <em>In the style off…</em> (2011), which was the second work on the second half, following my work for two marimbas <em>Dark Spiral </em>(2011). <em>Jig</em>, reflective of Mr. Schachter’s wont, uses traditional harmonic and rhythmic elements, with the classic triple meter dance rhythm associated with the work’s title breaking irregularly with the main theme’s tendency towards hemiola. This syncopated feeling also extends to the harmonic rhythm, but not so dramatically as to contend with the overwhelmingly Romantic sensibility of the music. The melodic ideas remain pretty close to home, though they do vary noticeably in terms of rhythm and, most importantly, syncopation, which – to my ears – lends the piece, particularly towards the end, the spirit of ragtime music. <em>In the style of…</em> was written, literally, as a style study of Bartok’s <em>Mikrokosmos</em>. Mr. Ly captures the essence of those miniatures to perfection, particularly in the first movement with its abounding canons and predominating dissonances: major and minor seconds. The second movement offers a more varied texture, though it begins with similar contrapuntal ideas as the its predecessor. However, these eventually give way to a slower, more expansive and lyrical piano texture that occupies much of the movement’s short duration before the initial fast music returns.</p>
<p>Because <a href="http://josephprestamo.com/"><strong>Joseph Prestamo</strong></a>’s <a href="http://josephprestamo.com/music/sketches-for-solo-piano/"><em>Sketches</em></a>, <a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/2010/11/live-from-ann-arbor-chapter-2-a-focus-on-composer-performers/">which I reviewed last year</a>, and <strong>Chaz Allen</strong>’s <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyPahWp88oA"><em>Magnitude</em></a>, <a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/04/on-brains-babbitt-and-the-end-of-the-year/">which appeared on the final composers&#8217; concert last year</a>, were the final two pieces on the program, I’ll finish this review <a href="http://jeremycrosmer.com/"><strong>Jeremy Crosmer</strong></a>’s <em>Sonata for Bassoon and Continuo</em>. As I mentioned more than once in last year’s posts, Mr. Crosmer is an exceptional cellist who also bothers to be a pretty good composer in his spare time. His <em>Sonata</em> showcased both abilities as he performed the cello part of the ‘continuo’. The first movement opens slowly, ultimately evolving into a faster, more contrapuntal situation dominated by the piano and bassoon. The cello is more active as a melodic contributor in the next movement, which begins with unaccompanied pizzicati, and moves quickly to a lovely duet between the bassoon and cello (now arco) before the piano enters, imitating the opening plucked line in the cello as the bassoon continues its melodic musing. The final movement is a little more dynamic in mood, and includes some beautiful moments of inter-ensemble orchestrating on Mr. Crosmer’s part, namely a moment with the cello has harmonics paired with high, high sonorities in the piano. To be honest, the entire piece is pretty impeccably written, exposing the virtuosity of the players and there instruments in a neo-classical harmonic language that – although it isn’t always my favorite – is very true to Mr. Crosmer’s personality. The ensemble is handled rather masterfully throughout, and it seemed very evident that color, in addition to harmony, was an important consideration in most of Mr. Crosmer’s compositional decisions.</p>
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		<title>That Pioneering Spirit</title>
		<link>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/10/that-pioneering-spirit/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sequenza21.com/2011/10/that-pioneering-spirit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:15:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Elliot Cole</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Chamber Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opportunities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Performers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Premieres]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sequenza21.com/?p=6484</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Watching the beginning of a new ensemble is always exciting.  But there&#8217;s a difference between a group that sets up camp in known territory &#8212; say, in the mineral-rich lands of string quartet literature, or in the breadbasket of Pierrot &#8212; and a group that strikes out for the wilderness, to make a repertoire [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_6485" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.sequenza21.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Screen-shot-2011-10-18-at-4.08.14-PM.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-6485" title="The DZ4" src="http://www.sequenza21.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Screen-shot-2011-10-18-at-4.08.14-PM-300x194.png" alt="" width="300" height="194" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">DZ4: Alicia Lee, Brad Balliett, Alma Liebrecht, Arthur Sato</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Watching the beginning of a new ensemble is always exciting.  But there&#8217;s a difference between a group that sets up camp in known territory &#8212; say, in the mineral-rich lands of string quartet literature, or in the breadbasket of Pierrot &#8212; and a group that strikes out for the wilderness, to make a repertoire where there had been none.</p>
<p>In the last year, I&#8217;ve seen the launch of two groups with this mission.   The <strong><a href="http://deviantseptet.com/Home.html" target="_blank">Deviant Septet</a></strong> went to that place Stravinsky discovered in &#8220;L&#8217;histoire du Soldat&#8221; but that was never settled by others &#8212; clarinet, trumpet, trombone, bass, bassoon, violin, percussion.  They added two new pieces, by Ruben Naeff and Sefan Freund, at their incredibly fun inaugural concert in May.  By next May there will 12 more by 12 new composers, all based on Stockhausen&#8217;s <em>Tierkreis.</em></p>
<p>The <strong><a href="http://dz4.org" target="_blank">DZ4</a> </strong>wind quartet (that&#8217;s oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn) has a similar mission, to build a repertoire from scratch through projects that involve many composers tackling similar projects.  Their debut concert, &#8220;One Hot Minute,&#8221; featured 20 one-minute compositions by 20 different composers (I got to be one, and was much rewarded by their terrific musicianship and heartfelt enthusiasm).  This Friday they&#8217;ll perform their second project, &#8220;The Well-Tempered DZ4,&#8221; in which 24 composers each take on a different minor or major key.</p>
<p>These groups are doing something that I, especially as a composer, find really inspiring &#8212; they&#8217;re committing to an unknown music.  Composers, go write for them!  They&#8217;re stellar players, great to work with; check out the concert and say hi.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>The Well-Tempered DZ4</strong><br />
Friday October 21st, 2011<br />
10:15pm<br />
Greenwich House<br />
46 Barrow Street, New York<br />
C Major- <a href="http://www.jacobgarchik.com/">Jacob Garchik</a><br />
A Minor- <a href="http://bradleydetrickmusic.com/default.aspx">Bradley Detrick</a><br />
G Major- Karl Kramer<br />
E Minor- Lauren Winterbottom<br />
D Major- Pauline Kim<br />
B Minor- <a href="http://www.jonrussellmusic.com/">Jonathan Russell</a><br />
A Major- <a href="http://www.evanpremo.com/">Evan Premo</a><br />
F# Minor- <a href="http://thegflo.tumblr.com/">Gareth Flowers</a><br />
E Major- <a href="http://www.wubbelsmusic.com/">Eric Wubbels</a><br />
C# Minor- <a href="http://janecornish.com/">Jane Antonia Cornish</a><br />
B Major- <a href="http://www.jamesblachly.com/index.html">James Blachly</a><br />
G# Minor- <a href="http://www.tedhearne.com/">Ted Hearne</a><br />
F# Major- <a href="http://www.mohammedfairouz.com/">Mohammed Fairouz</a><br />
Eb Minor- <a href="http://www.calebburhans.com/">Caleb Burhans</a><br />
Db Major- <a href="http://mikeblock.net/">Mike Block</a><br />
Bb Minor- David Byrd-Marrow<br />
Ab Major- <a href="http://www.charlieportermusic.com/">Charlie Porter</a><br />
F Minor- Glenn Cornett<br />
Eb Major- Nathan Burke<br />
C Minor- <a href="http://mattmcbane.com/">Matt McBane</a><br />
Bb Major- <a href="http://www.ryancarter.org/">Ryan Carter</a><br />
G Minor- <a href="http://www.ktonline.net/">Ken Thomson</a><br />
F Major- Zachary Detrick<br />
D Minor- <a href="http://www.ryananthonyfrancis.com/">Ryan Francis</a></p>
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