On those longer, cooler, grayer days, stuck inside with a little time on our hands, one of the nicer pastimes for the music buff is to wander through the Flickr music photo pools. Two especially for the contemporary musician: the Classical Music pool and the Experimental Music pool. Between them, with some thousands of amateur-to-pro photographers clicking away in all corners of the world, you can get a feel for the people, activities and concerns that make our music live and breathe today. Often, a striking image will mention a name or two that will get me started googling (or is that “binging” now?), and lead me to some wonderful composer, performer or event that I might otherwise have never encountered. But more than anything it’s just that glimpse of all the people in that bigger world, who have our same shared passion and work at it every day, that puts a little smile on my lips while browsing.
For a lot of you Vancouver, British Columbia is one of those “way out there” places. But coming from its U.S. “way out there” sister Seattle, I know that the art and music scenes are anything but moribund (though the Canadian government seems well on its way to getting in line with the venerable U.S. tradition of “screw the arts, let them find their own damn money!”).
One of the things keeping it hopping is Vancouver New Music, whose 2009-10 season is underway. As part of said season, VNM is presenting a fairly mind-stretching festival, the 21st through 24th of October, titled “Copyright/Copyleft.” The four-day festival will rely heavily (but not only!) on electronic musicians, many of whom appropriate and transform existing music, video and audio material into their own work.
The line-up is adventurous: Andrew O’Connor‘s large analog tape-loop soundscapes; Jackson 2Bears‘ remix and re-narrative of American Native cultures; grandaddy of “Plunderphonics” John Oswald, Eric Hedekar‘s; Jake Hardy‘s and Aja Rose Bond‘s extended-DJ techniques; Percussion/improv/thinking-man legend Chris Cutler; People Like Us (aka Vicki Bennett‘s) disjunct enviroments; Sonarchy‘s “miserabilism”; Scanner‘s highly influential electronica; David Shea‘s unique mix of electro and acoustic; Mark Hosler‘s (Negativland) film, presentation and critique of mass media and culture; and Uri Caine‘s phenomenal reworking of the music of composers such as Bach, Beethoven and Mahler.
The VNM Festival website will give you all the details about dates, locations, times, tickets, as well as info on and preview sounds from each artist. While you’re over there, do check out the rest of Vancouver New Music’ great season, too. Maybe you’ll be able to find some time come and visit the excellent stuff that happens “way out there.”
(UNTITLED), an original film satire of New York’s avant-garde art scene, will appear in theaters across the nation this fall. By poking fun at the idiosyncrasies of 21st century Bohemia, (UNTITLED) introduces American audiences to some of the best that contemporary art has to offer, notably a score by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang, who merges the artistic expressions of the composer protagonist with his own musical voice.
(UNTITLED) revolves around melancholy composer Adrian (Adam Goldberg) and his whirlwind affair with a Chelsea gallerist (Marley Shelton), who unbeknownst to Adrian sells vacuous commercial works to high-paying corporate clients. The film explores the idea of true art and the question of integrity lost through commercialism – all with tongue in cheek. At the beginning, Adrian’s music comprises cliché contemporary classical music elements, such as crinkling paper and breaking glass. Once his perspective and emotions achieve depth and insight through his blossoming romance, his music becomes more profound.
John Clare had a chance to send questions to both David Lang and Adam Goldberg. In the first post, here are Lang’s answers about (UNTITLED):
1. Often with a joke, there is some seriousness or truth behind it. Is there some truth to this movie even though there is some fun being poked?
There is a lot of truth in this movie, mostly about how people in the arts become passionately committed to something they believe in that may look unbelievable from the outside. I think that creative commitment is captured very well, as is the distance between the committed people and the people watching the committed people.
2. How cool is it for the composer to “get the girl” in this movie? Did it influence your music for the film?
Getting the girl didn’t influence my thinking in the movie, although it didn’t hurt. The progression of the character musically is that he begins by making music only for himself, because that is how large his world view is; when he meets the girl his senses and optimism and maybe even his idea of audience expand, and his music changes accordingly. I definitely tried to make that shift happen in the music. (more…)
Ahead of its Oct 23rd general release date Adam Golberg, the actor who portrays all-too-well a modern “avant-something” composer/performer in the new film (Untitled) (with score by David Lang), will be making an appearance on CBS’ Late-Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight at 12:35 AM. (Hey, if you can’t get actual new-musicians on the mainstream media, might as well settle for someone who plays one!) Here’s hoping Ferguson picks up on the quirky charm and knowing ribbing, rather than the more typical “I just don’t get these losers” read. Sure, hipster new-music meets hipster gallery is an exotic, pretentious, even meaningless place for most of us out of (and perhaps even in!) that scene, but every dog deserves its day.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muCPjK4nGY4[/youtube]
So I was amused to find this as I was checking news this morning:
(CNN) — Scientists at NASA have discovered a nearly invisible ring around Saturn — one so large that it would take 1 billion Earths to fill it. Its diameter is equivalent to 300 Saturns lined up side to side. And its entire volume can hold one billion Earths, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said late Tuesday. The obvious question: Why did it take scientists so long to discover something so massive?
The ring is made up of ice and dust particles that are so far apart that “if you were to stand in the ring, you wouldn’t even know it,” Verbiscer said in a statement. Also, Saturn doesn’t receive a lot of sunlight, and the rings don’t reflect much visible light. But the cool dust — about 80 Kelvin (minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit) — glows with thermal radiation. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, used to spot the ring, picked up on the heat.
Coincidence? Maybe not. And of course, Zaimont has a charming piano suite “Callisto” based on the moons of Jupiter, as well as other astral works: ASTRAL… a mirror life on the astral plane…; Sky Curtains: Borealis, Australis; and Chroma: Northern Lights. Look for video of the new concerto in an upcoming Composing Thoughts.
Here are the program notes supplied by Zaimont about the new concerto:
I. Outward Bound (10:00)
II. Nocturne (Lunar) (8:40)
III. Ad astra per aspera (6:50)
Concerto “Solar Traveller” is absolute music, following no implicit program. Yet the work and its individual movements carry descriptive titles rather than the more traditional tempo markings. This is because the Concerto is one of several of my works drawing inspiration from the impress upon our consciousness and imagination of the vastness, wonder and beauty of the natural world of sky, season and space. These pieces (all instrumental works) share a dramatic and coloristic emphasis, and their forms are far from traditional. (This inspirational thread began with the twelve solo-piano preludes of A Calendar Set, and continues in similar works, including the orchestral Chroma – Northern Lights and the piano trio ZONES.)
While the Concerto outwardly observes the usual three-movement large form, its individual movements digress in key ways from an orthodox ‘concerto’ template. “Outward Bound” contrasts two themes, one heroic, energetic and the second inward and moody. The motive-filled first theme is announced by the piano and soon becomes a communal statement for soloist and ensemble. When the second theme enters, it too is stated by the piano alone and it remains predominantly soloist’s terrain throughout. Extensive development centers on extrapolations of the heroic theme; to balance, the cadenza is devoted entirely to the second theme. The movement concludes heroically .
“Nocturne (Lunar)” is the soloist’s terrain, punctuated and frequently partnered by the ensemble in music largely expansive, as if in ‘stopped’ time. As it proceeds a tune arises (heard first as a flute solo above quiet piano accompaniment), fashioned from the simplest of materials; each of the tune’s appearances anchors the movement, calming the mercurial, fragmentary outbursts from the piano. At times as desolate and unfamiliar as a lunar landscape, the nocturne eventually calms, concluding serenely.
A driving sprint, “Ad astra per aspera” grows from an insistent rhythmic cell freshened by hemiolas and other cross-rhythms and chromatic clashes. Percussion is spotlighted throughout, and the soloist shifts frequently from foreground to combining with the ensemble — a change of function which in itself becomes textural counterpoint to the forward thrust. A brief respite (trumpet solo) occurs during which the incessant beating disappears, but the essential rhythm returns shortly in full force. Towards the end the Nocturne’s theme enters in the ensemble, in overlapping meter with the soloist, who continues the main drive; just prior to the vehement close a fragment of the heroic first movement is again heard.
The work ties together through a technical feature: Each movement is built from the raw material of a progressively smaller interval.
Outward Bound’s themes are built from 3rds and all of the development highlights that consonant interval. (At one point there is a scale upwards across two-thirds of the keyboard in parallel thirds, played entirely by the left hand). Built from 2nds, the Nocturne achieves its uneasy, fragmentary quality from the clash of 2nds hammered loudly or (stretched to 7ths and 9ths) in glittering scherzo filigree. “To the stars, through adversity” is formed by ultimate compression: pounding unisons. Thus, the Solar Traveller pianist physically experiences the compressive forces and increased tensions we associate with space travel’s incredible speeds, through the analog of progressive intervallic compression throughout the piece.
Suzanne Fiol, founder, artistic director, and driving force behind ISSUE Project Room, died yesterday. The web site announcement reads in part: Born on May 9, 1960, Suzanne died at 1:05 pm on Monday, October 5, 2009, after fighting a courageous and inspiring battle against cancer. Suzanne passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Details are here.
Gustavo Dudamel is here! But I should quote the posters on buses, lamposts and billboards: “Pasion Gustavo”, “Radiante Gustavo”, “Dramatico Gustavo” (please forgive the absence of diacriticals). The home page of the Los Angeles Times, the still-staid Times, has a special section on Dudamel, down to an article on his childhood (gosh, that’s recent history) complete with photos at age 5, treatment awarded to the most headline-worthy. With the posters on buses, I really don’t think that the Phil is trying to sell concert tickets to bus riders. Instead, they are blanketing the area with the word that something exciting is happening. The parking lot attendant at the central courthouse, who works weekends at Disney Hall, told me how exciting it was to have Dudamel in Los Angeles and asked if I would be coming to the concerts.
I don’t think the Philharmonic’s advertising people created the buzz, but they recognized that this was happening and really decided to ride the waves with it. The Phil has supported a Dudamel video game here, and you can play the on-line version if you choose. The Phil organized a well-thought-out community affair as the welcome concert at the Hollywood Bowl: first individual community groups, primarily of young people; then the Youth Orchestra, conducted by Dudamel; and finally Dudamel conducting the Phil in Beethoven’s 9th. To top things off, they made the concert free (with contributions by Target). I don’t think the Phil quite expected the demand for tickets they received, since they let people stand in line for tickets that had long since been sucked up on the internet. But the people at the Phil learn from mistakes, and for the opening concert at WDCH, they provided a lottery for the free tickets to watch the concert on the large screens mounted in the Music Center plaza. Even the decidedly non-classical alternative newspaper, LA Weekly, did its part in recognizing the rock star level of interest by doing a cover story on Dudamel here. And a single article wasn’t enough, so they brought back our dean of music critics, Alan Rich, (whom they had earlier jettisoned as extraneous) for a nice article here. I particularly commend Mr. Rich’s essay to your attention.
How long has it been since there has been this sort of enthusiastic buzz in classical music? There was the “3 Tenors” fad, but that was only for an occasional concert, not a series. I can remember when Van Cliburn won the Tchaikovsky contest and we rushed out to buy that first record. Several people compare the Dudamel arrival to the appointment of Bernstein, but I didn’t experience how New York reacted and that meant nothing to me. Reading history, there used to be some wild affairs at the Hollywood Bowl, like the orchestrated marriage of Percy Grainger, so perhaps that’s the most comparable. Whatever; we enjoy the attention being given to the music we love.
In a coming post, I’ll talk about the new music high points across Los Angeles in this new season. For this post, let me merely point out that in all but a single program by Dudamel this season there is at least one major modern or contemporary major work of music, not merely a fanfare. That one exceptional program is when he will lead Verdi’s “Requiem”. Perhaps I’m cheating a little by including a program in which the “modern” work is Berg’s Violin Concerto; you’d think that by now the piece would be too old to be considered modern. This year looks pretty good. And next season EPS returns, as well.
One of the totally unexpected perks that has come along with producing my podcast is all of the press releases that started showing up in my inbox, and even CDs in the mail once in a while. Well, last night was another first for me: an invitation to screen a new film before its release. I like films and like to follow what some of my favorite directors and screenwriters are up to, but I am far from an aficionado—so I won’t pretend to be one here.
If you hadn’t heard, there is a new film coming out this month about a hairy composer who writes “difficult” music (read: breaking glasses, ripping paper, dropping chains in buckets), and who is seduced by a tall, sexy, smart, blonde…wait for it…Chelsea art gallery owner. What?! Does that really happen? Really?! The composer is played by Adam Goldberg, and the gallery owner by Marley Shelton. But here’s the really great part: the music and score is by David Lang!
I have no idea how the general public will feel about this film; I think I’m too close the subject to be objective about it. However, if you are a composer or artist, if you are an art collector or like to commission new music, if you curate a gallery or produce concerts–you will relate to the characters and their situations and struggles. When you see the funny parts you’ll laugh because you’ve been there, when you see the artists and composers struggling you’ll sympathize because you’ve been there. Again, I’m not going to say that this is a great film or a bad film–but, if you are part of this community at all, it’s worth seeing. The movie addresses the questions we all ask ourselves about success: Is it okay if only six people show up to the concert? Is it okay to be overtly emotional in our music? Is it okay to steal your brother’s girlfriend? All of your questions will be answered in this movie.
(Untitled) opens on October 23 in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It’s not clear if there are plans for it to open in other markets, so keep your fingers crossed if you don’t live near one of those cities. In the meantime, check out the trailer, the website, and join me in congratulating David Lang on his first film score!
Update on openings…
November 6: Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Seattle, Washington DC. November 13: Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, Providence. Enjoy!