David Rakowski has gone mildly YouTube crazy over the past few months, and has videos of 29 of his 80 piano etudes. Most of the performances are by Amy Briggs Dissanayake and Marilyn Nonken. [youtube]cNX6HPMCecY[/youtube] His etudes are true “etudes” in the sense that each is an exploration of a specific musical idea. “Martler,” in the above video, is an etude on hand-crossing; “Taking the Fifths” is on fifths; “Schnozzage” requires the pianist to play with her nose; “Bop It” bops; “12-Step Program” is on chromatic scales and wedges. And they kick butt. [youtube]Vsor316E90E[/youtube] (The title of this post, incidentally, is more of a Bob
Read moreAfter we arrived in New York in 1968, my first freelance gig was writing previews of upcoming art exhibitions for Arts Magazine. For five bucks a review, I would trot around the area that is now Soho, climbing rickety, dangerous stairs to look for the next Jackson Pollock. Lofts were illegal for living in those days so I learned a lot about fake walls and how to cleverly hide bedrooms and kitchens from prying building inspectors. I thought of those days this morning when I read the strange news of the lady who besmirched a bone-dry white Cy Twombly painting on exhibition in France by planting a lipstick-drenched kiss
Read moreMy copy of the Miller Theater Fall and Spring schedule landed on the window sill via carrier pigeon yesterday. As always, Columbia University’s indispensible new music venue has some humdingers on tap. The Composer Portrait series this season includes Esa-Pekka Salonen, Wolfgang Rihm, David Sanford, Gerald Barry (in the first large-scale New York exposure for the Irish composer), French spectralist Phillipe Hurel, George Crumb and Peter Lieberson. Except for Salonen and Rihm, the composers are set for pre-concert discussions, live and in color, so to speak. Also on the schedule for December 7, 8, 9 and 11 is the New York stage
Read moreA quick addendum to my recent “click pick” visit to the Eastern Front: My good and long-time i-friend Rudy Carrera pointed me in the direction of the young Russian composer Dmitry Subochev (b.1981), who’s posted a couple frenetically fun (and challenging) Moscow performances on video at YouTube. Cheglakov and His Shadow was made in collaboration with Subochev’s fellow composer and cellist Dmitry Cheglakov: [youtube]AhrU-CEk4uk[/youtube] As well, Subochev teams up with Tatiana Mikheeva to terrorize the inside of a piano in Pandora’s Box: [youtube]gbzi3LCQ1so[/youtube] Whether as something integral or as optional accompaniment, my very really grand prediction is that video will become ever-more essential to both performers
Read moreSurprisingly good news for all those who still harbor hopes of major orchestras as dynamic, living institutions: the New York Philharmonic has just announced that Alan Gilbert will be its new music director, beginning 2009. Alex Ross has more.
Read moreOver the past couple of years, ISSUE Project Room has become one of the hot spots for contemporary music in the city and earned a well-deserved reputation for presenting new and artistically challenging work. It has outgrown its funky silo on the Gowanus Canal and has just launched a $350,000 capital campaign with the goal of expanding its programs and moving to a larger, more centrally-located home. As often happens, though, a great opportunity has come along and the group needs to raise a bundle of cash by July 24 to take advantage of it. ISSUE is one of two finalists
Read moreMarvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries program is a special one this week involving, as it does, several members of the S21 community. Marvin’s doing the first radio broadcast of OgreOgress’s world premiere recording of Alan Hovhaness’s Janabar, a 37-minute Sinfonia Concertante for Piano, Trumpet, Violin & Strings. The recording features Christina Fong on violin, Paul Hersey on piano, and Michael Bowman on trumpet, with the Slovak Philharmonic, conducted by Rastislav Stur. The piece is scheduled for Wednesday, July 18th during the 10am EST hour. The program, from Princeton, NJ, can be heard locally on 103.3 FM or online. Lots of details about the new recording here. Also scheduled is the one hour Symphony
Read moreBlogging as a substitute for productive behavior has just turned 10 years old, according to today’s Wall Street Journal. To which we say a hearty “Mazeltov” and welcome into the S21 fold composer Judith Shatin who is spending a Semester at Sea and sharing her adventures with us. We’re also delighted to welcome back Alan Thiesen, who has returned after spending a “brutal” year in post-doctoral studies. Our amigo Marco Antonio Mazzini reports that his Musical Marathon for clarinetists competition is closed for new entries. You can now listen to the submissions (all different versions of a piece called Convalecencia) and vote for your favorite. Go hither and
Read moreJerry Hadley has apparently attempted suicide.
Read moreI wasn’t able to make the premiere screening on July 4 but I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about a new documentary film called The End of New Music, which follows Judd Greenstein, David T. Little, and Missy Mazzoli, the founders of Free Speech Zone, as they tour the East Coast with the groups Newspeak and NOW Ensemble, playing concerts in unlikely venues like clubs and bars and bringing new music to audiences that might not otherwise be exposed to it. The film, directed by Stephen S. Taylor, takes a verite approach to the tour, combined with interviews and various
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