Big news from Finland: Sketches of what appear to be Sibelius’s Eighth Symphony (long thought destroyed by Sibelius) have emerged. Here’s a clunky Google translation of the Finnish web site announcing this incredible discovery, along with an orchestral reading of those sketches. At the original Finnish link, you can access a video and hear the realization of the sketches. Those of you who don’t speak Finnish will want to jump ahead to ca. 2:00, where the music actually begins. Yes, it sounds like Sibelius, but a more chromatic and fragmented Sibelius than we’re accustomed to. A more comfortably written article
Read moreWe’re pleased to announce details for the 2011 Sequenza 21/MNMP Concert featuring the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). The following entries from the call for scores have been selected for inclusion in the program: James Stephenson (UK) – Oracle Night Robert Thomas (NJ) — Sixteen Lines Jay Batzner (MI) – Slumber Music Rob Deemer (NY) – Grand Dragon Sam Nichols (CA) – Refuge David Smooke (MD) – Requests Dale Trumbore (CA) –How it Will Go Laurie San Martin (CA) – Linea Negra James Holt (NY) – Nostos Algea The concert will be on October 25 at Joe’s Pub at 7 PM. It will
Read moreMaking the classical aspects of the burgeoning indie classical movement abundantly clear, crossover albums are now crossover marketing musical scores. Via his website, composer Owen Pallett has released a limited edition score for the music on Heartland, his latest Domino recording. Joined by the Czech Symphony Orchestra and a host of guests (including composer Nico Muhly) Pallette has crafted his most consistently engaging music to date. In some critical circles, indie classical has, rightly or wrongly, been under the microscope for making pop into a ‘longhair’ genre, robbing it of its immediacy in favor of overt sophistication. I’d submit that
Read moreS21 friend Peter Mueller passed along the good news that: The Library of Congress has completed digitization of another batch of the compositional sketches of Elliott Carter. These are now available on our web site. This current release consists of the following material: Pocahontas (18*) Symphony No.1 (224) Piano Sonata (20*) Minotaur (108) Emblems (192) Woodwind Quintet (141) Eight Etudes and a Fantasy (140) Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello & Harpsichord (51) Variations for Orchestra (771) Double Concerto (161*) For technical reasons, these are not all complete yet. Numbers in parens indicate page (image) counts; an asterisk indicates digitization is
Read moreLast year I mentioned seeing an exhibition here in Houston, “Every Sound You Can Imagine“; a compilation of all kinds of newer musical manuscripts and scores. Then just yesterday I was reading of a show at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, “Notation, calculation and form in the arts“. All, of course, continuing the tradition of John Cage’s and Alison Knowles’ seminal 1969 book Notations (available complete online right now as a PDF download). Which seems all the more reason to mention the long-awaited Notations sequel just released: Notations 21, brought together by Theresa Sauer. Besides the book, the Notations
Read moreEnglish imprint NMC is celebrating its twentieth anniversary with a special 4-disc CD boxed set. NMC Songbook features vocal music by a number of the UK’s finest and most prominent contemporary composers: Birtwistle, Davies, Weir, Goehr, Finnissy, Bryars, Harvey, Turnage, and many, many more. These are interspersed with galliards by British Renaissance composer Thomas Morley, arranged for modern forces by Colin Matthews. For those who’d like to perform some of this repertoire, it’s available for download at Sheet Music Direct. Featuring both composers associated with vocal music and those for whom song is a comparatively rare venture, the songbook
Read moreAccording to the FB post of composer Lanie Fefferman, Patelson’s Music Store in NYC is closing as of 4/18. I’m assuming this is not a faux rumor, and if I’m creating a false run on Patelson’s inventory, I apologize. Anyway, many of us grew up in a time where including a trip to Patelson’s, even if just for browsing scores, was de rigeur anytime we were in Manhattan. I’d go there all the time from NJ, and back in the 70’s and early 80’s, it wasn’t too expensive to purchase a score or two, some violin music, some notation paper
Read moreMy first year in college (1974-5), we were treated to an exhibition of the original score pages selected by John Cage and Alison Knowles for their highly influential 1969 book Notations (currently available as a free PDF download at UbuWeb). For young composers at the time, these bits and pieces of anything-but-standard notation were eye- and ear-opening, sent us scouring the library stacks for more, and led us all to go a little crazy trying to mimic or out-write what we saw there. Then as sequel this year, Theresa Sauer carried the idea up to our own time with Notations 21, an updated
Read moreHi everybody. Just a quick reminder that the deadline for score submissions for consideration in the upcoming Sequenza21 concert is fast approaching. All submissions must be postmarked by July 16th. Here‘s a link to the original posting of the guidelines and its comments thread. To submit scores, get David Salvage’s e-mail address from the masthead and send him a message. He’ll give you a mailing address and answer any questions. As a quick reminder, the performances will be on December 4th at the Walz Astoria Cafe in Queens and on the 5th at the Good Shepherd Church in Manhattan. This
Read moreRenewable Music‘s long-time American-in-Deutschland, Daniel J. Wolf, had the idea of inviting composers to contribute to an album for piano, simply centered around this moment and season. No publishers, no glitzy “call for works”, just a friendly invitation for any interested. The result is the A Winter Album, twelve piano pieces of quite diverse hues, for each and everyone of us to freely peruse in our gray and inclement hours. The composers may not be known to you, but all the better; they’re a stellar bunch in my book: Dennis Báthory-Kitsz, Jon Brenner, Steed Cowart, Elaine Fine, Hauke Harder, Ben.Harper,
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