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MUSIC NEWS
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Nobel Literature Prize
Jelinek is the first Austrian to receive the honor, and only the 10th woman to do so since the literature Nobel was instituted in 1901. Jelinek was born on 20 October 1946 in the town of Mürzzuschlag in the Austrian province of Styria. Her father, of Czech-Jewish origin, was a chemist and worked in strategically important industrial production during the Second World War, thereby escaping persecution. Her mother was from a prosperous Vienna family, and Elfriede grew up and went to school in that city. At an early age, she was instructed in piano, organ and recorder and went on to study composition at the Vienna Conservatory. After graduating from the Albertsgymnasium in 1964, she studied theatre and art history at the University of Vienna while continuing her music studies. In 1971, she passed the organist diploma examination at the Conservatory. Jelinek has written numerous novels, essays and theater pieces and is well-known in central Europe for her political activism, notably to combat sexual and other violence against women and in opposition to the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party. Her best-known work in the English-speaking world is the 1988 novel The Piano Teacher, which was adapted into a 2001 film by Michael Haneke starring Isabelle Huppert. Jelinek
has written three opera librettos: Robert, der Teufel (music by Hans
Werner Henze, 1985), Bählamms Fest (after Leonora Carrington's Baa-Lamb's
Holiday, music by Olga Neuwirth, 1999) and Lost Highway (after the film
by David Lynch, music by Olga Neuwirth, 2003).
Old Stuff An Interview with Tobias Picker Handmaid Tale's Debuts in English Rautavaara Joins B&G Who's Afraid of Julia Wolfe Derek Bermel's Soul Garden The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of Wladyslaw Szpilman John Adams' Atomic Opera A Bridge Not Far Enough Turnage Signs With B&H Sophie's Wrong Choice Copland's Mexico On Being Arvo Rzewski Plays Rzewski Praising Lee Hyla David Lang's Passing Measures
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Philadelphia Stories / UFO Composer: Michael Daugherty Performers: Evelyn Glennie, percussion / Colorado Symphony Orchestra / Marin Alsop, conductor Naxos Something
of a coup for Naxos’ American Classics series matching world famous percussionist
Evelyn Glennie with Gramophone Artist of the Year Marin Alsop and the Colorado
Symphony Orchestra with one of America's most intriquing composers.
Daugherty has the uncanny ability to be all things to all listeners without
seeming to comprise either seriousness or an enjoyable listening experience.
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Orchestral Works Composer: Harry Partch Performer: Johnston, Pippin, et al. New World Records These works span the first six years of what American maverick composer Harry Partch (1901–1974) called the "third period" of his creative life. They show him moving away from the obsession with "the intrinsic music of spoken words" that had characterized his earlier output (the vocal works of 1930–33 and 1941–45) and towards an instrumental idiom, predominantly percussive in nature. The Eleven Intrusions are among the most compelling and beautiful of Partch’s works. The individual pieces were composed at various times between August 1949 and December 1950, and only later gathered together as a cycle. Nonetheless they form a unified whole, with a nucleus of eight songs framed by two instrumental preludes and an essentially instrumental postlude. |
Busoni the Visionary, Volume II Jeni Slotchiver, piano Centaur No one plays Busoni's piano music with greater clarity or depth of understanding than Jeni Slotchiver. As she demonstrated in Volume I of this series, this is music she clearly loves and understands both intellectually and intuitively. There is no finer, or more committed, advocate for this greatly underrated composer working today. See Slotchiver's notes on Busoni the Visionary here. |
Chamber Works Composer: Dan Locklair Albany Records Dan
Locklair is an organist by trade and although he has written a wide body
of works--his prolific output includes symphonic works, a ballet, an opera
and numerous solo, chamber, vocal and choral compositions--one may be forgiven
for identifying him first with that glorious instrument. These chamber
works show that Locklair's command of musical language is far broader
and deeper than a single instrument. These fresh and engaging
works are musically challenging and yet a real treat for the ear.
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Music in Fifths/Two Pages Composer: Phillip Glass Performer: Bang on a Can Cantaloupe These are transcriptions of two early Glass works ("Fifths," originally performed and recorded by Philip Glass with Jon Gibson and Dickie Landry in the original version for saxophones and electric organ) and ("Two Pages", originally done by Philip Glass on electric organ and Michael Riesman on piano). As always the Bang on a Can All Stars do a... well... bang up job and bring a fresh perspective to two of the seminal works of Glass' early career.
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Orchestral Works Composer: Herman D. Koppel Nina Kavtaradze (piano) Aalborg Symphony Orchestra/Moshe Atzmon DACAPO This is the third volume of the symphonies of the Danish composer Herman D Koppel who lived from 1908 to 1998 and wrote seven symphonies between 1930 and 1961. Born in Copenhagen the son of Polish Jewish immigrants, Koppel fled to Sweden during World War II and his Symphony No. 3, written there, is an intensely personal work that mirrors the fears and anxieties of that period. No. 5 is more hopeful and steady but lacks the raw energy of the 3rd. |
Guernica, Symphony no 4, Zapata Composer: Leonardo Balada Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra/Salvador Mas Conde Balada’s Guernica, completed in 1966, during the height of the Viet Nam War, was inspired by Picasso’s large-scale mural of 1937, which has come to represent a protest piece against all wars. Balada writes in a personal modern idiom, although there are traces of his apprenticeships with Dello Joio and Aaron Copland. Neither a serialist nor neo-classisist Balada is modern in ways that are highly individual and sometimes hard to follow. But, he's an original and a little patience from the listener is well worth the effort. |
Symphonies Nos: 4, 5, 6 Composer: Josef Tal NDR RadioPhilharmonie/Israel Yinon CPO German-born
Israeli composer Josef Tal, whose work I had never heard from this CD,
is said to have derived his musical style from the second Viennese
school and has remained an unrepentant modernist. He has also been an innovator
and pioneer, one of the first to combine a live instrument with a studio-generated
tape recording; he founded the Israel Center for Electronic Music and imported
the first Moog Synthesizer into his adopted country. These three symphonies
reveal a composer with a strong personal voice working at the height of
his powers. Very powerful.
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Baltic Voices 2 Performer(s): Estonian Phil Chamber Choir, Paul Hillier Harmonia Mundi The second volume of Paul Hillier's exploration of the choral treasures of the Baltic Sea countries features sacred music from composers representing all three branches of Christianity that are practiced in the Baltic region: Orthodox (Schnittke, Grigorjeva), Catholic (Sisask, Tulev), and Protestant (Nørgård). The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is in superb form and Hillier's choice of material is impeccable. |
Music from The Hours Composer: Philip Glass Michael Riesman (piano) Orange Mountain Music Piano Transcriptions of music composed by Glass for the Virginia Wolfe-inspired film played by longtime collaborator Michael Riesman. Glass writes great music for the piano as demonstrated by his wonderful Etudes for Piano but stripped of orchestration these pieces seem slight and unfinished. Still, for us fanatics, no scrap of Glass is unwelcome.
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Symphony No. 3 'Liturgique' Pacific 231 Mouvement Symphonique No. 3 Rugby Pastorale d’été Composer: Arthur Honegger New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/Takuo Yuasa Naxos Five of the best pieces by one of the 20th Century's most underrated composers, played handsomely by the New Zealand Symphony. There may be better versions of all these pieces around but at this price you can't go wrong. Essential listening for anyone who is serious about modern music. |
The Sea Composer: Frank Bridge Enter Spring, Summer, Two Poems , The Sea New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/James Judd Naxos Another underrated composer represented by some of his very best work. Young Benjamin Britten once said that upon hearing The Sea he was “knocked sideways”. And, indeed, it is a brilliant piece, filled with the mood of crashing waves and great expanses of open water. Indispensible. |
Peter Grimes, Op.33 Composer: Benjamin Britten London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Sir Colin Davis LSO Live This is Sir Colin's third recording of Peter Grimes and his experience is clearly reflected in the extraordinary performance by the London Symphony, especially in the famous Interludes that frame Britten's tragic story. This is not the best cast Davis has ever recorded the opera with but the singing is very good, even excellent, in places. (Hard to top Peter Pears and Jon Vickers). But, the orchestra shines in this recording and makes it a must-have for Britten fans. |
Canticle of the Sun, Preludes for Cello Solo, In Croce Composer: Sofia Gubaidulina Pieter Wispelwey (cello), Collegium Vocale Gent, Daniel Reuss Channel Classics Gubaidulina’s Christian mysticism, born of her Russian Orthodox heritage, pervades most of her work but expecially in The Canticle of the Sun, which is based on a text by St. Francis of Assisi. The vocal part is restrained and reverent, with the text often presented in a coloristic and fragmentary manner. Wispelway plumbs the emotional depth of the music as he navigates music that requires not requires a staggering technique but a keen spiritual intensity. Also featured on the disc are Gubaidulina’s solo cello Preludes and In Croce for cello and bajan (Russian chromatic button accordion). |
Two American Classics Ives: Concord Sonata Barber: Piano Sonata Marc-André Hamelin (piano) Hyperion The two best piano sonatas ever written by Americans played by the best piano player alive. Period. This is Hamelin's second recording of the Ives Concord Sonata, a piece he has played for over 20 years in performances that have often been regarded as definitive. Now, we have a new definitive recording. |
Mystery System Composer: Lukas Ligeti Tzadik With a name like Ligeti you'd better be good and Lukas, son of György, demonstrates that he is more than just a chip off the old block in this clever blending of traditional music from places as diverse as Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Florida, Egypt, and the Ivory Coast with the latest techniques in computer and electronic work from Stanford University's computer music lab. Haunting, original and compelling musical ideas that point toward a bright future for contemporary music. |
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