“Classical Discoveries” host Marvin Rosen (WPRB, 103.3 FM, or always streaming online, too) reminds us that he’s got a special added edition of the show Tuesday morning from 5:30 to 8:30 AM EDT. The program will include the Symphony No. 5, “Western Hemisphere” by American composer William Grant Still (1895-1978) , Pipa Concerto by Chinese composer Xiaogang Ye (1955- ), Concierto para violonchelo y orquesta by Mexican/American composer Samuel Zyman and much more. On Marvin’s regular Wednesday show (same early-bird hours) you’ll hear the American broadcast premiere of From Ancient Times for wind ensemble (2008) by Belgian Composer Jan Van
Read moreApropos our earlier news about the cutbacks to Marvin Rosen‘s “Classical Discoveries” and “Classical Discoveries goes Avant-Garde” programs on WPRB radio: I’ve just received the good word from Marvin himself that — due in large part to all your messages of support —the station has decided to keep “Classical Discoveries goes Avant-Garde” in the schedule, each Wednesday from 11AM until 1PM ET. Marvin also writes: “I’ve been asked by the Classical Director to let you all know how WPRB feels. Please see her quote to me below”: “Please thank your listeners for me and for the whole of WPRB management,
Read moreWasn’t it just a couple weeks ago we were singing praises to WPRB’s Marvin Rosen for his annual all-day, all-modern radio marathon — not to mention how great his year-round advocacy for promoting new and lesser-known music in general was? So imagine the shock to learn just this week, that WPRB is suddenly cutting Marvin’s regular Wednesday 5:30AM to 11:00 “Classical Discoveries” show to run only from 6:00 to 8:30, and deleting his afternoon “Classical Discoveries Goes Avant-Garde” program altogether! For more than a decade Marvin has been sharing his wide listening experience and deep enthusiasm with all kinds of
Read moreYes, it’s Proms season again here in the UK/GB (see link for the differences.) The “worlds greatest music festival” kicks off on Friday and I thought I would put together a vaguely ‘contemporary’ programme for those so inclined. Included are composers who are still alive regardless of ‘style’, and a few 20th century composers I thought relevant (excuse my subjective and rather fuzzy criteria; Stravinsky and Bartók are included for instance, Debussy, Ravel and Shostakovich are not; feel free to berate me in the comments section.) All the concerts listed will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and will
Read moreMichael 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
Read moreOne of our English connections (and good S21 pal), Edward Lawes sent along a note reminding us that György Ligeti is BBC3’s Composer of the Week, so be sure to check the schedule for lots of good listening on the menu. Not only that, but This Tuesday (10 March) evening brings us a great all–Xenakis broadcast on the Beeb’s Performance on 3 program. That feast includes Tracees, Anastenaria, Sea-Nymphs, Mists, Nuits, Troorkh, and Antikhthon. This stuff is generally archived for a week or so, meaning you can be fashionably late yet still not miss a note. Ed’s own blog, Complement.Inversion.Etc., is
Read moreJust imagine the impression you will leave with your guests, as you drop sparkling bon mots on combinatoriality, pitch accumulators, harmelodics, and gradual phase shifting!… If they haven’t fled for the door yet… I’m really just reminding you that the American Music Center, as part of its absolutely wonderful and essential web-service Counterstream Radio, has the first four podcasts in their “Crash Course” series available. Each gives you a quick, expert-led introduction to some facet of American contemporary music: Matthew Guerrieri on American serialism, Kyle Gann on minimalism, Tom Lopez on acousmatic music, and Lara Pellegrinelli on post-jazz jazz. If you’ve
Read moreMaybe it’s all that cold, dark and ice; stuck inside with nothing else to do for a lot of days must be conducive to composition. At least it feels that way with regard to Canada, since this huge but relatively sparsely-populated space has what seems a disproportionate number of composers that I just love. And now the Canadian Music Centre has made it awfully easy for YOU to love them as well; at their site you’ll now find a service called CentreStreams, which offers streaming access to the Ann Southam Audio Archive. This comprises a huge number of concert and radio recordings made by
Read moreWhat better way to ring in the year than to take in a couple ensembles, from opposite ends of the spectrum, showing in much the same way what the whole point of playing is? Wojciech Kilar is a Polish composer from the same 60’s group that gave us Penderecki and Gorecki, but is notable for his detour into film music (Like Coppola’s Dracula). This is his utterly simple/hard 1988 piece Orawa (there are a bunch of other video performances of this on YouTube, but this one with Agnieszka Duczmal conducting the Chamber Orchestra “Amadeus” has them all beat for pacing and
Read moreThe Prom Concert on August 10, given by the BBC Symphony, conducted by Edward Gardner, included two first performances, both of them commissioned by the BBC for this season of the Proms. These were among the 13 first performances and 7 UK first performances on the Proms this season. Michael Berkeley’s Slow Dawn is a revision and reorchestration of a work written three years ago for wind band, which had been commissioned by the British conductor and horn player Tim Reynish as a memorial piece for his son William. Berkeley intended it as a depiction of dawn in Wales where
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