The Hilary is Hahn, with her monthly installment of a video chat with a composer; the Harold is Meltzer, one of those composers with lots of great awards and commissions (finalist for the Pulitzer this year, no less), whose work always grabs my ear with interesting things unfolding, but whose recorded output is pitifully small! The awards and concerts are wonderful; but the few thousand who’ve had the chance to experience his inventive music could easily be multiplied by some factor of ten, with just a few more good recordings released. Here’s hoping… In the meantime, you can watch all
Read moreLike Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham‘s fame will always be for his use of multiple electric guitars, often in non-standard tunings and often at just-about-ear-splitting volume. The slight shame is that the guitar stuff is only one part of Chatham’s long and restless musical exploration: there’s also all his work as a trumpeter, as well as works for everything from two gongs to just-tuned piano to wind ensemble to full orchestra. And while the massed guitar resources may be similar to Branca, I’ve always felt that Chatham’s clang/clash/drone carried something almost ‘lyrical’, compared to Branca’s body blows. A major force in
Read moreFor all you Angelenos and outlying: word from Paul Bailey that this Thursday evening there’s a midnight performance of Terry Riley‘s In C, and you’re all invited to come on over and participate. Bailey’s eponymous ensemble will be joined by the Los Angeles New Music Ensemble and others — now, said others can include you! The place is Juanita’s (5930 York Blvd., Highland Park); there’s a 10:30pm load-in, 11:30pm rehearsal, and the midnight performance. In C is shaping up to become this century’s new Messiah — except we don’t need no stinking Christmas to trot it out and have a
Read moreSome notable NY concerts worth taking up space for: Tuesday, Aug 4th, at Joe’s Pub ( 425 Lafayette Ave., NYC / Tickets: $15 at joespub.org or 212.967.7555) ACME (the American Contemporary Music Ensemble) is teaming up again with vocalist Craig Wedren, to present composer Jefferson Friedman’s genre-bending 3-song set titled On in Love, written for the ensemble and singer/songwriter Wedren (formerly of the band Shudder To Think). ACME and Wedren premiered On in Love in February at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, and you can see video of that performance at Friedman’s own website. The concert at Joe’s Pub will also
Read moreOne fateful morning in the fall of 2004, I opened the door to pick up my New York Times and found instead a wooden basket containing a pale homo sapien wearing large black glasses who appeared, at first glance, to be a nerdish cousin of Edgar Winter but, as it turned out, was a young graduate student named David Salvage, fresh out of Sweet Apple, Ohio. David was pursuing a Ph.D. at CCNY while earning a few bucks on the side as a loneliness counselor at the late, lamented Tower Records classical shop. This is about the time that I
Read moreFrom: Eve Beglarian hi my friends, some of you already know that I’ve developed an obsession with the Mississippi River and its place in American culture, politics, and geography. I’ve spent the last several months getting ready to journey down the river at a human-powered pace, investigating what the river means at this particular moment in our shared lives. I’ll be starting at the headwaters at Lake Itasca, Minnesota on August 1 and expect to arrive in New Orleans in late November or early December. I’ll make work in response to the journey, and then next season I imagine
Read moreOver at La Folia (for all its simplicity still the most interesting online source for contemporary CD reviews), Grant Chu Covell gives an illustrated account of his visit to the great composer Giacinto Scelsi‘s (1905-1988) house in Rome — now the Fondazione Isabella Scelsi. No, don’t expect to get any images of the famously photo-shy composer; but there are a number of other great pics and observations.
Read moreAnd now, God help us, The Blues, Up and Down. One..two…
Read moreThis Monday night (July 27), 7PM the 701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia, South Carolina hosts a concert devoted to a potent movement active on the fringes of (or maybe quietly threading its way all through?) the current classical scene: the Wandelweiser Group. Described as “the evaluation and integration of silence(s) rather than an ongoing carpet of never-ending sounds,” Wandelweiser was formed in 1992 by Dutch flautist Antoine Beuger and German violinist Burkhard Schlothauer. Their ranks have slowly grown over the years, and include Swiss clarinetist Jürg Frey and pianist Manfred Werder, American guitarist Michael Pisaro and trombonist Craig
Read moreIf you thought there couldn’t possibly be any more we could tell you about Bang on a Can events the past couple months, you’re so so wrong! Starting today and running to the end of the month, The “Banglewood” summer festival at Mass MoCA is underway in North Adams, Massachusetts. (Mass MoCA is the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art there, and the fest’s co-sponser.) Head on up to find public performances, workshops for participants in everything from Balinese music to improvisation, master classes, music business seminars, and more. Festival events open to the public this year include daily gallery recitals
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