Kalevi Aho, Lowell Liebermann, Áskell Másson, Þorsteinn Hauksson, Haraldur Sveinbjörnsson, Eiríkur Árni Sigtryggsson, Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson, Atli Heimir Sveinsson, Atli Heimir Sveinsson, Björk, the Sugarcubes, Quarashi, Sigur Rós, Minus, Olga Bochihina, Caspar Johannes Walter, Nicolaus Richter de Vroe, Michael Hirsch, Juliane Klein, Vladimir Nikolaev, Moritz Eggert (photo above), and Iraida Yusupova are just some of the contemporary composers from around the globe who have featured On An Overgrown Path during the last week. New music comes in out of the cold in Iceland highlighted the flourishing new music scene in that remarkable country while A Who’s Who of contemporary composers featured
Read moreOur weekly listen to and look at composers and performers that you may not know yet, but should… And can, right here and now, since they’re nice enough to offer quality listening online: Recordings of New Music from Indiana University Rather than a single composer, here’s a whole gaggle of them all in one tidy location. For the past decade, Indiana University in Bloomington has been actively exploring ways to get work out of their halls and on to a wider public by using the internet. One result is this page, which will take you to MP3s by many members
Read moreThere seemed to be an universal agreement with Soho the Dog when he posted his famous 8 sentences, but on half of them, he was either being way too literal or just wrong. “Jazz is America’s classical music.” Yeah sure, Johns Adams & Corigliano and their peers are this continent’s contributions to the field of classical music, but this, dear fellow, is what we call a metaphor. In this case, it applies to the fact that jazz is an aesthetic that is entirely unique and has risen to the serious-minded plateau of traditional classical music. Why is that so
Read moreHey Folks, Just wanted to offer an early thanks to those who recently helped us reach our fund-raising goal of $2000. We’re going to keep the PayPal link open just in case any of you out there still feel generous. The money may not go to this concert, but (believe it or not) there’s already been a little whispering about the next Sequenza21 concert, and it would be nice to have a little piggy bank to draw from. And who knows? Maybe some unbelievably horrible disaster might occur between now and concert time that would require us to hunker down
Read moreJerry was nice enough to ask if I’d maybe post here once a week, each time sharing a few links to sites where I’ve encountered composers and performers offering excellent work to listen to online. Forgive the length, but once the pleasantries are out of the way in this post, the rest will be to-the-point. Why me? Besides being a composer lo these past 30-something years, and having a life-long receptivity to music from across the temporal and cultural spectrum, since I first got online in the mid-90s I’ve actively pursued new work that composers and performers have been kind
Read moreSix weeks to the concert and I’m told we now have $850 towards our goal of $1000. Amazing! (And of course if we go over, our musician friends will get a little extra than the pittance we’re planning on giving them). I was going to try and say something funny and encourage you guys to send us a few bucks, but instead, I’ll be reflective. Mainly because I’m a little hung over. And my ears hurt from working on an organ piece. And what with the rehearsals, the people I hear are coming and the success so far with the
Read moreIn my continuing efforts to find volunteer reviewers who will actually write reviews, this is my latest tack. All of the wonderful CDs you see below are currently in my possession and available to be shipped to your mailbox. The rules are this: You can request up to 3; first e-mail request wins (list a couple of alternatives in case somebody else has beaten you to your first choice). You have one week per CD to write and post a review on the CD page and you must agree to accept one CD of my choice for every one of your choice.
Read moreIan Moss is hungry. (Scroll down the page and look to the right. You’ll see.) Ian Moss is hungry . . . for a Sequenza21 concert!!!! This is good news for you. You know why? A Sequenza21 concert needn’t cost that much money. In fact, as little as $25 would be very much appreciated. But, hey: you pay more, you get more. By the end of this week, the concert committee will have decided on an incentives package for those of you who find it in your heart to donate $100 or more. Whichever shape the package takes, one thing
Read moreWhat we know to be not possible, Though time after time foretold By wild hermits, by shaman and sybil Gibbering in their trances, Or revealed to a child in some chance rhyme Like will and kill, comes to pass Before we realize it: we are surprised At the ease and speed of our deed And uneasy: It is barely three, Mid-afternoon, yet the blood Of our sacrifice is already Dry on the grass; we are not prepared For silence so sudden and so soon; The day is too hot, too bright, too still, Too
Read more