It’s that time of year again when critics make lists. The New York Times musical luminaries have made their choices which include, by the way, a couple of items on my list which I’ll be revealing in these very digital environs in due course. First, however, I thought we should do a community list. What were your favorite new music releases in 2007? Oh, hell, let’s make it favorite live performances too.
Big news on the time-marches-on front. Deutsche Grammophon (DG) yesterday became the first major classical record label to make the majority of its huge catalogue available online for download with the launch of its new DG Web Shop.
The DG Web Shop allows consumers in 42 countries to download music, including–the press folks claim–markets where the major e-business retailers, such as iTunes, are not yet available: Southeast Asia including China, India, Latin America, South Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe including Russia.
Almost 2,400 DG albums will be available for download in maximum MP3 quality at a transfer bit-rate of 320 kilobits per second (kbps) – an audio-level that is indistinguishable to most of us from CD quality audio; and which exceeds the usual industry download-standard of 128-192 kbps (as well as EMI’s 256 kbps on iTunes, the press folks helpfully observe). Most prices are in the $12 range, which is not too bad I suppose although they’d be making a nice profit at half that.
The best feature, from my perspective, is that 600 out-of-print CDs are now available again as downloads.
From the BBC:
Croatia rose to the occasion in their crucial Euro 2008 defeat of England – after an apparent X-rated gaffe by an English opera singer at Wembley.
Tony Henry belted out a version of the Croat anthem before the 80,000 crowd, but made a blunder at the end.
He should have sung ‘Mila kuda si planina’ (which roughly means ‘You know my dear how we love your mountains’).
But he instead sang ‘Mila kura si planina’ which can be interpreted as ‘My dear, my penis is a mountain.’ –more–
Today’s topic–embarassing public performances. Your own or others.
If you’re in the San Diego/Tijuana region today, or if you happen to be at your computer at 6 pm PST, tune in to KSDS FM (88.3), our beloved jazz station, to hear yours truly and Ellen Weller interviewed about our forthcoming Unsilent Night performances.
I don’t know if this is a first for Unsilent Night worldwide, but we are entered as a participant in a holiday parade: The North Park Toyland Parade, Sat. Dec. 8 at 11 am, marching down University Ave from Utah to 32nd St. I set up a Facebook page called Unsilent Night San Diego with more details, plus photos from one of our performances last year.
Our traditional (well, five years old anyway) stroll through the Gaslamp Quarter will take place on Sat. Dec. 15 at 7 pm, starting at the Gaslamp Quarter trolley stop. If you want more information and don’t want to register with Facebook, send me an email at christianDOThertzogATgmailDOTcom.
Your town doesn’t have an Unsilent Night performance? Go to Phil Kline’s site and learn how you can join the electronic caroling fun.
The new Pope with the Prada slippers whose name nobody can remember, and who is, by the way, German, is apparently banning modern music in the Vatican. Seems he thinks that Pope Gregory pretty much nailed it and is backing his chief enforcer–Mgr Valentin Miserachs Grau, director of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, which trains church musicians, who says that there had been serious “deviations” in the performance of sacred music.
“How far we are from the true spirit of sacred music. How can we stand it that such a wave of inconsistent, arrogant and ridiculous profanities have so easily gained a stamp of approval in our celebrations?” he said.
He added that a pontifical office could correct the abuses, and would be “opportune”. He said: “Due to general ignorance, especially in sectors of the clergy, there exists music which is devoid of sanctity, true art and universality.”
The Pope is also considering having the Sistine Chapel ceiling painted to remove any hint of perspective.
I have a vague recollection of an article in the Sunday Times sometime in July of one of the last ten or so years which compared the decline of twelve-tone music (or maybe atonality or maybe modernism in general, but I think it was twelve-tone music) to the fall of the Soviet Union. I wonder if anybody remembers it and can possible cite its date and author.
Thanks
Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to keep up with the spam attacks our little wiki have suffered and have been forced, because of bandwidth charges, to take it temporarily down. I don’t mind spending a few bucks for the new music world; I’m just not that interested in spending bucks for creepy botboys.
I’ll be looking for some plugins or other solutions in the meantime. Sorry for any inconvenience. All of the data is fine – including a zillion links to sex toys, viagra, ciallis in our articles and then there’s the spam stuff too! Just kidding… and stay tuned.
P.S. It’s back up. I upgraded to the latest version and installed two new spam-blocking systems. One, unfortunately, requires that you verify you’re not a bot by typing in 2 words. Any help, removing all of the krrrrrap those jerks put into our wiki would be appreciated.
All the ooh-ahh flutter over Golijov’s Ayre, or even the recent Dudamel & Co., and then you spot something like this:
Loredana: Marioara de la Gorj (2001)
Loredana is a Romanian Madonna pop-diva clone (here’s a more typical example from her new CD, where Roma kinda meets the Black Eyed Peas), but here shows that underneath her roots are second nature. All props to the Dude & kids, Ms. Upshaw, O.G. (and especially Gustavo Santaolalla, the real mastermind behind the sound of Ayre), but even this MTV-style context should show that the lessons of this kind of approach and energy are already all around.
Here’s some great news for the Sequenza21 community. The super-hot Philadelphia-based chamber ensemble Relâche is presenting a concert of new works, including the premiere of our own Galen H. Brown’s Waiting in the Tall Grass, at the Greenwich House Music School in downtown Manhattan on November 30, followed by a repeat performance the following night at the International House in Philadelphia. The concert will also include new pieces by Duncan Neilson, Brooke Joyce and, Paul Epstein.
Says here in the press release (Galen is much too modest to make a call or send me a heads-up e-mail himself) that
…Brown’s music has been described as “bright, passionate music for a brighter, more passionate new day” by Kyle Gann, former critic for the Village Voice. With roots in both Minimalism and electronic rock, he writes rhythmically driven music where melodic riffs and fragments shift against each other, evolving an intricate counterpoint beneath a surface which is sometimes propulsive, sometimes placid.
Describing his new piece, Brown says “While this piece isn’t at all programmatic, the title Waiting in the Tall Grass is intended to evoke the sense of a sort of purposeful stasis, with perhaps a hint of foreboding. The ‘tall grass’ is, of course, where the predator lies in wait for its prey.”
Brown lives in New York City. He holds a Masters degree from New England Conservatory, where he studied with Lee Hyla; his other primary teachers were David Rakowski and Jon Appleton. A contributing editor at Sequenza21.com, he regularly reviews concerts and CDs, and writes on issues ranging from compositional techniques and history to aesthetic philosophy to the structure of the music industry. Sequenza21 won an ASCAP Deems Taylor award in 2005.
Founded in 1977, Relâche has been a significant force in new classical music for 30 years, from co-presenting the landmark New Music America festival in 1987 to annual performances of Phil Kine’s classic Unsilent Night. The new works on this concert are the latest in a rich history of commissions from composers such as John Cage, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, and Pauline Oliveros.
Well done, Galen. As we say down in Appalachia where I grew up: “We’re right proud of you.”
There’s a sample of the piece here. The rather strange picture was taken by me in the Sequenza21 office at Starbucks on 57th between Eighth and Ninth.