Author: Steve Layton

Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical

Thanks for All the Fish

As stated in Oberlin College’s ‘Oberwiki’:

“…to enter you needed to take a sugar pill with a dot on it…and you rolled the dice, cause 1/3 of the dots were LSD…”

Yep, that’s our (currently) eldest composition teacher speaking of Oberlin’s glory days when he was but a wee lad out of grad school. Randy Coleman is many things, best summed up as “a real post-modern feminist old-time patriarch from Virginia.” He is most feared for his red pen marks on freshperson’s melody assignments and for the fabled “piece-per-day” routine with private students. His music contains much variety, with each new piece vastly different than what had come before. Also, as a result, he takes a long time in writing these pieces.

For the past 15-20 years, every course that Randy has taught has been called “Postmodernism.” He has taught at Oberlin since 1965, placing him as the conservatory professor with the second-longest post at Oberlin, second only to David Boe.

After forty-three years of showing impractical, starry-eyed composition students how it’s really done, Randy Coleman is moving on. A fine appreciation is here; On Friday May 8th at 8pm, The Contemporary Music Ensemble there is giving an all-Coleman farewell concert bash, featuring Bellagio (2007-09), a concerto for piano and large ensemble with Ran Duan, piano; Apparitions (2003) for string ensemble and piano, Tom Fosnocht, piano with videodance by Nusha Martynuk and Carter McAdams;  Soundprint III (1973),  in memoriam Ezra Pound for dancer and percussion, Nusha Martynuk, dancer; The Great Lalula (1988) for voice and chamber ensemble, Molly Netter, voice, with dance choreographed by Nusha Martynuk and performed by Cleveland GroundWorks Dance Company. It’s at Hall Auditorium, Room ID_1 @ 67 North Main Street, Oberlin, OH, and absolutely free.  If you’re close come on by; this composer gave in a big way, and it seems only fair to give back.

by Steve Layton
Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Music Events, New Amsterdam, New York

All Your Fridays Are Belong To Us!

Almost everyone in and around the New Amsterdam Records scene has been written up by us. Many are good and long-time visitors, contributors and pals of S21. But screw that; the real reason we follow this crew is that they’re an awesome bunch of composers and performers, with a fresh, open and energetic approach to this whole art-music thingy-ma-jingy. They’re proving it again this May, with… Aww, just let the poster tell you:

Makes a nice prelude to the BOAC “oldsters” Marathon, dontcha think?

by Steve Layton
Birthdays, Contemporary Classical, Online, Publications

I Would Have Gotten You a Card

To paraphrase a comment I spotted once on Myspace, “We would have got you a card or something but we spent all of our money on booze, speed, and hookers”…  So let’s just do with this shout-out to NewMusicBox, the American Music Center, the whole unsung crew and of course the one-and-only Frank J. Oteri, for seeing this most vital and consistently important modern classical site through its first decade.

Before appearing May 1st, 1999 there had never, ever been such a resource for living composers, performers and their music-hungry audience. Ten years on, there’s still no equal. It’s our island and oasis; though we might visit a host of other wonderful and worthwhile sites, we must visit NewMusicBox. Perfectly perfect? No. Plenty important? Yes!  Here’s to the next ten, Frank.

by Steve Layton
Chamber Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, New York, Performers

The S.E.M. All-Stars

The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble, founded and directed by Petr Kotik, joins forces with the acclaimed FLUX Quartet and the international chamber orchestra Ostravská banda for an evening of adventurous music: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 8:00 PM, Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater. Tickets are a steal, only $15 for a real wealth of music.

Highlights include three new pieces by self-taught composers: the premiere of Christian Wolff’s Trio for Robert Ashley (2009), performed by members of the Flux Quartet; the American premiere of Sicilian-born composer Salvatore Sciarrino’s Vento D’ombra (2005), performed by The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble; and the premiere of Petr Kotik’s String Quartet No. 1, Erinnerungen an Jan (2007–09), performed by the Flux Quartet. The program also features renowned Belgian pianist Daan Vandewalle in Elliott Carter’s Dialogues for Piano and Orchestra (2003), and award-winning Czech violinist Hana Kotková in György Ligeti’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1990–92) — both making their debuts at Alice Tully Hall. Petr Kotik conducts The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble as well as Ostravská banda.

Kotik writes: “To me, Ligeti’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra always sounded strange, as if something were out of place. When I was asked by the Prague Spring festival to conduct the piece last May, I worked to solve the puzzle, but to no avail. Then moments before the start of our first rehearsal with Hana Kotková and the Ostravská banda, I suddenly got an idea. I walked up to Hana and said, ‘You’ve got to play the piece like a gypsy would. That’s how it should sound, I think.’ She looked at me and immediately understood what I meant. Hana grew up in a family that made folk music for generations. She has participated in performances since the age of four, often alongside fiddlers and cimbalom virtuosos, who were often Romani. She comes from the Silesian part of Moravia, right next to the Carpathian region from which most of Ligeti’s melodies come. No one can understand this music better than Hana. It was a thrill to conduct Ligeti Concerto with her as the soloist and I am delighted that she was able to accept this appearance at Alice Tully Hall.

Since the premiere of John Cage’s complete Atlas Eclipticalis by then newly formed The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble (86 musicians) at Carnegie Hall in 1992, S.E.M. has made a significant contribution to new music here in the U.S. and in Europe. And with Ostravská banda, founded at Ostrava Days 2005, a group which combines musicians from both sides of the Atlantic was a natural thing (Ostrava Days is a new music institute and festival taking place every other year at Ostrava in the Czech Republic). Ostravská banda consists of young musicians from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Holland and the United States, who are focused on the performance of new music. It is not necessary to introduce the New York-based FLUX Quartet. At Alice Tully, they will be performing the pieces by Wolff and Kotik. In January, when I asked Christian for a piece for this concert, he decided to compose Trio for Robert Ashley as there was my new string quartet on the program. He had recently attended Robert Ashley’s opera Dust and was very moved by the work. The title reflects his admiration for Ashley’s music, its rhythms and structural movements.”

— If you can’t make it, S21’s own Christian Carey will be there and will be filing a report post-concert.

by Steve Layton
Bang on a Can, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Downtown, Music Events, New York, Online

Want some free tracks & tix? The hunt is on!

Apropos this Wednesday’s Michael Gordon Trance performance mentioned just a few posts previously:  Besides the pre-concert talk and videotaping, we’ve got a bit more fun for you all…

Along with the good folk at Bang On A Can and Cantaloupe Records, Michael Gordon himself had the idea of offering the tracks to Cantaloupe’s Trance CD, performed by Icebreaker, as free downloads for you all. The only catch: Each of the seven tracks are hosted at a different blog, and it’s up to you to follow the clues to find all seven.

Besides the music itself, there’s a further reward for the quick: the first three people to correctly identify all seven blogs in an e-mail to promotion@firstchairpromo.com will receive a free pair of tickets to the April 22nd concert at Le Poisson Rouge!

We get to lead off the hunt with the simplest clue of all: a link directly to the first track. And to get to the next blog & track you only have to decipher this:

The most famous bridge in New York City carries the name of this borough, where a person who avoids eating any animal product like the plague blogs about all events musical, metal, comedy — or whatever’s happened to grace the fair city this or that week.

Those wishing to experience the full sonic glory of the physical Trance CD can purchase it here. Good luck!

by Steve Layton
Broadcast, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Music Events, New York, Performers, Video

Trance Talking

Michael Gordon‘s huge and hugely wonderful, 50+ minute riff- and throb-fest Trance, composed in 1995, is being dusted off for what promises to be a memorable performance by the ensemble Signal, 7:30pm April 22nd at Le Poisson Rouge.

The fun and games begin at 6:30 pre-concert in the bar, however; Gordon himself, along with Ronen Givony (from Wordless Music and Le Poisson), Signal director Brad Lubman, bandmate/composer Ken Thomson (who also does duty in Gutbucket) and others, will talk about producing and performing new works with emphasis on the whys and whats of a piece after their first presentation. Trance was premiered at Bang on a Can in 1997, and hasn’t been played in New York since. Who owns the problem of presenting new works after their premiere?

Not only that, but S21’s own fearless leader Jerry Bowles will be moderating, and the whole roundtable will be videotaped and YouTubed shortly after for your viewing pleasure. Space in the bar isn’t huge, so come early to catch the conversation or join in.

Last but not least, we’re actively soliciting questions and comments for the panel from you, our loyal readers. Something you want to know or share about the perils of performance, premieres, getting that work into a second or third production… Just pass them along to sequenza21@gmail.com, and we’ll try and add you to the dialogue.

by Steve Layton
Contemporary Classical

Well, that’s certainly a new one!

From the Ojai Music Festival blog comes word of the latest twist on an old scam:

We can’t really believe that this is happening. Last week, someone started calling the offices claiming to be Steven Mackey – the great American composer, and featured performer on the 2009 OMF lineup. His story was pretty complicated, but the gist of it was this: poor fellow got stuck in Jamacia over spring break, and now needs our producer to wire him money to get home. Our producer works remotely for most of the year, so after speaking with “Steven,” we called her. She was occupied, so she asked us to call Steven ourselves, and we found him, sitting rather undramatically in the dentist’s office. Just yesterday, the scammer tried calling again. Turns out he couldn’t tell us anything about his world premiere composition that he’ll be performing here in June… 

by Steve Layton
Competitions, Downtown, New York

Care to Try Your Hand(shake)?

Elizabeth Ferguson is a coordinator for this year’s Make Music New York event, and has a little offer for NYC-based composers/musicans. I’ll let her take it from there:

Make Music New York is a unique, free outdoor celebration performed by anyone who wants to play, and enjoyed by everyone who wants to listen.  Last year, some 875 performances took place on streets, sidewalks and parks in all 5 boroughs on the first day of summer, June 21st.

MMNY is now accepting submissions for this year’s “musical handshake“: a single melody serving as the secret lingua franca for musicians on Sunday June 21st, 2009. As part of the third annual festival, hundreds of musicians are taking part in “Mass Appeal” performances, playing pieces written for single types of instruments. Huge ensembles of clarinets, crotales, French horns, hub caps, violas, accordions, saxophones, and more will perform across NYC’s five boroughs.

The “musical handshake” will allow these musicians to greet one another throughout the day, beyond their own bands of instruments, with the hope that momentary handshakes will turn into longer, improvised musical conversations. In the evening, the composition will receive its public premiere at the Mass Appeal afterparty in Central Park. The winning handshake will be selected by a panel of judges and announced in
May.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

• Participants must be residents of the New York City area and in attendance on June 21st.  [Ed. note: this is the one rule that we don’t get at all. Tons of composers living in NYC didn’t start out there, so who cares where the tune comes from, really?]
• A musical handshake is a short melody, up to 10 seconds long, consisting of two phrases, so that two musicians can use it to greet each other with a call and response.
• Nearly all instruments and all musicians – from amateurs to professionals – should be able to play the musical handshake.
• No more than two submissions per composer will be accepted.
• Entries are due by midnight on Friday May 1st, 2009.
• Entries must be submitted in standard musical notation.
• Please email submissions as PDF attachments to musicalhandshake@makemusicny.org.
Or mail your composition, on a single 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, to:
Mass Appeal “Musical Handshake”
c/o Make Music New York
PO Box 1164
New York, NY 10013
• Include your name, address, phone number, and email address on the same page as your composition. (Judges will not see this information when choosing a handshake.)
• By submitting a musical handshake, you affirm that the composition is your own, and agree that, if selected, your submission will become the property of Make Music New York, Inc.

by Steve Layton
Classical Music, Click Picks, Contemporary Classical, News

Keeping Up Made Easy

Most S21 regulars know about these already, but for all our newer visitors I thought I’d mention how most of us keep on top of what’s what, day-to-day, in the classical and “non-pop” world.  The secret is to visit a few of the aggregation sites intrepid volunteers have set up, that comb the news sites and blogs for current tidbits of interest. It’s really pretty easy on your part, requiring just three quick clicks (besides our humble and happy abode, of course!) once a day (or twice or thrice, even better):

NetNewMusic Reblog — Jeff Harrington’s site probably has the most eclectic mix of news, gathering not only classical sites but experimental, art-jazz, electro-whatever and etc. as well.

Chris Foley’s Classical Pageflakes — Chris’ effort focuses more strictly on the classical end of things; the bonus with Pageflakes is that you can see snapshots of each website’s homepage.

Blognoggle | New Music — Our own fearless leader Jerry Bowles’ contribution to the mix, the site tracks 100 of the most read and most pertinent blogs, whether classical, jazz, new-music or even a few more general art sites.

There’s not much better way to easily find the major (and much of the minor) news of the day, than to give these three links a daily visit.  Bookmark ’em, Danno…

by Steve Layton
Click Picks, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Festivals

Time Machine

On this very page back in 2007, one of my ‘click picks’ told you about a great historic recording available to hear on the web: one of John Cage’s and Lou Harrison’s earliest all-percussion concerts, presented at the Cornish School in Seattle, May 19th, 1939. As I wrote in my earlier post:

The performers heard include Cage, his then-wife Xenia, and the dancer Doris Dennison. (and quite possibly Lou Harrison himself. The photo here shows Lou, John, and Xenia behind, Doris and Margaret Jansen in front).

The pieces on these recordings represent the core of the West-Coast experimentalist group (I know, I know, Harry Partch; but he was off on his own very different journey): Lou Harrison’s Counterdance in Spring, Henry Cowell’s Pulse, two movements from Cage’s own Trio, Johanna M. Beyer’s Tactless and Endless, William Russell’s Three Cuban Studies, and again Harrison with his Fifth Simfony. You just can’t get much closer to sitting in on the roots of this exciting period.

Well, turns out there’s another way to get close to this event: to honor the 70th anniversary of these concerts, Cornish (College now, no longer just a ‘school’) is having a festival in which much of this same music and more will once again inhabit the same space. Titled “Drums Along the Pacific” (the same name the intrepid 1939 group’s first tour used), The schedule for the March 26-29 shindig follows:

The Music of Henry Cowell , March 26, 8:00 pm
The Music of Lou Harrison, March 27, 8:00 pm
Presentations – Free Event!, March 28, 1:00 pm
John Cage Marathon: Part I, March 28, 4:00 pm
John Cage Marathon: Part II, March 28, 8:00 pm
Presentations – Free Event!, March 29, 1:00 pm
Festival Finale: Gamelan Pacifica, March 29, 4:00 pm

Performers include the Pacific Rims Percussion Quartet, pianist Steven Drury, tenor John Duykers, the Seattle Chamber Players, and Gamelan Pacifica. It’s $15 per concert, but $40 will get you a pass to the whole thing. That link up there will take you straight to Cornish and the rest of the info, like programs for each concert, directions, contact and such. Oh, to be back in Seattle right now!…

by Steve Layton