Contemporary Classical

Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Seattle

Abrahamsen’s Schnee at Seattle Symphony’s [untitled]

[untitled] is the moniker given by Seattle Symphony to its thrice-annual Friday night new music events. Staged in the lobby of Benaroya Hall, it’s a semi-formal atmosphere in which the Symphony can deploy its musicians in smaller groupings better suited to the exigencies of postmodern music. The first [untitled] concert of the new season took place on October 12, and featured the regional premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s Schnee, offering listeners in the Pacific Northwest an opportunity to judge how well this work has earned the considerable attention it has received in its brief ten-year lifetime. Scored for two piano quartets (one conventional,

Read more
by Michael Schell
CDs, Chamber Music, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Þráinn Hjálmarsson on Carrier Records

Þráinn Hjálmarsson Influence of Buildings on Musical Tone Caput Ensemble, Krista Thora Haraldsdottir, Icelandic Flute Ensemble, Ensemble Adapter, Nordic Affect Carrier Records Composer Þráinn Hjálmarsson’s latest CD, Influence of Buildings on Musical Tone, revels in the exploratory sound world of effects and extended techniques. That said, his work is more than an assemblage of alternative ways to treat instruments. Rather, the technical extensions serve to expand Hjálmarsson’s considerable palette of expression. The five different pieces on Influence of Buildings each employ a different ensemble. The title work features the Caput Ensemble, while “Grisaille” is performed by the Icelandic Flute Ensemble.

Read more
by Christian Carey
Contemporary Classical

Attn: New Music Freak Shoppers: Pre-Order The Definitive Biography of Vincent Persichetti and Save Big

We’re very excited about Andrea Olmstead’s The Definitive Biography of Vincent Persichetti which is about to be published.   So excited, in fact, that if you pre-order it before November, you’ll save 50% off.   Here’s a factoid for those of you who don’t know much about arguably the most influential music teacher of the 20th century:  His 40-year teaching career at Juilliard included students Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Jacob Druckman, Peter Schickele (P. D. Q. Bach), Einojuhani Rautavaara, and many other prominent composers. To pre-order, go to Rowman.com and enter  discount code RLFANDF30, or call (800) 462-6420 ext. 3024 and mention the discount

Read more
by Jerry Bowles
Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles, Women composers

wasteLAnd Opens Season Six in Los Angeles

Season six of the wasteLAnd new music concert series began on Friday, October 5, 2018 at Art Share LA in downtown Los Angeles. Katherine Young is the featured composer this season and her work was front and center in a program consisting of three of her pieces, including a world premiere. Ms. Young stated in the liner notes that “…each of these pieces to different degrees and in different ways blur out of linear ‘musical’ forms and into sonic meditations through the use of drone, saturating textures, and/or spatialization.” The ample Art Share space was filled to capacity with an

Read more
by Paul Muller
Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Los Angeles, Violin

wild Up in Santa Barbara

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art hosted the violin section of wild Up on Thursday, September 27, 2018, for a concert of new music titled Gradient. A good crowd materialized, despite the fact that the outside of the museum was cloaked in scaffolding and fencing for an extensive renovation. The Davidson Gallery was the venue, and this space also contained TV Clock, the video installation by Nam June Paik, inspiring wild Up violinist Andrew McIntosh to program four innovative contemporary works. During the museum’s renovation, ensuring the building was safe and free from any environmental hazards was crucial. This included

Read more
by Paul Muller
Chamber Music, Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles

The Music of Juan Pablo Contreras at USC

On Saturday, September 15, 2018, at the Newman Recital Hall in the heart of USC, the music of Juan Pablo Contreras was heard in a concert titled The Sounds of Mexico. The occasion was his final DMA recital, and only a few empty seats could be seen in the spacious hall on a sunny summer afternoon. The concert was presented jointly by the USC Thornton School of Music and the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles. Juan Pablo Contreras is already one of the most prominent young composers in Latin America. His music has been widely performed by major

Read more
by Paul Muller
Composers, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Flute, Music Instruments, Performers, Resources

Glissando Headjoint for Flute

The Glissando Headjoint for flute was invented by performer, composer, improviser, and inventor Robert Dick. Essentially, it adds a carrier tube to the standard C flute headjoint. The lip plate can be moved along the carrier tube to create true glissandi. Much of Dick’s work with the headjoint is in an improvisatory style; most of my work with it has been largely through commissioning works. One of the most rewarding things about this activity as a performer is seeing the variety of sounds composers require from the headjoint in their works. The minimal repertoire for glissando flute compared to the

Read more
by Tammy Evans Yonce
Canada, CDs, Contemporary Classical, Drone, Experimental Music, File Under?, Minimalism

Jessica Moss – “Particles” (CD Preview)

  On October 25th, Constellation Records will release Entanglement, the second solo release by Jessica Moss. A violinist and vocalist who is one of the central members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and co-founder of Black Ox Orchestar, Moss draws upon a prodigious range of influences: from the post-rock and avant-klezmer of the aforementioned groups, to drones and loops reminiscent of post-minimalism. Over the past year, she has honed the material of Entanglement at over eighty concerts, developing a side-long piece, “Particles,” and a suite of four “Fractals.” Impassioned, moody, and slow-burning, her compositions are some of the most compelling

Read more
by Christian Carey
BMOP, Boston, CDs, Concerts, Contemporary Classical

BMOP: An Interview with Gil Rose

Gil Rose directs the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, or BMOP. The orchestra’s in house label, BMOP/Sound, has released a spate of vital CDs of American music. I recently interviewed Rose about recordings already released on the label and a preview of the rest of 2018’s live and recorded events.   In recent years, BMOP has released several recordings that “crossover” into pop, what some writers have described “Indie classical.” Which of these projects do you think have most effectively helped the ensemble to grow musically? Do you approach conducting differently when a groove supplied by a rhythm section or drum kit is part of

Read more
by Christian Carey
Contemporary Classical

The Proms–Coleman, Pärt, Holt, Farrin, Xenakis and INSPIRE

The Proms concert on August 14, which was presented by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, for inexplicable reasons added at the beginning of the concert the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin by Tschaikovsky (possibly because starting with a five minute orchestra piece was better than starting with a concerto?). In any case, the first half of the concert was the Tschaikovsky Violin Concerto, with Lisa Batiashivili, as soloist. The concert ended with The Poem of Ecstasy by Scriabin. The second half of the concert began with the first London performance of Looking for Palestine by David Robert Coleman.

Read more
by Rodney Lister