Contemporary Classical

Bang Those Canners!

Seriously nasty review of the Bang on a Can Marathon over on the Huffington Post (HuffPo, to its friends) by somebody I don’t know named Jan Herman. The review is faint enough but the killer is the tacked on comment at the end:

“Look at these photos,” a friend writes, “and think of a bunch of dipshits making music with coffee grinders or Volan’s arty little piece appropriating South African tunes to make another of the limp-spined Left’s innocuous, feel-good, PC statements (and written about 30 years ago which makes its status as new music rather questionable). Beehive music is a good term for Bang on a Can. It’s a collective of yuppie drones and worker bees legitimizing blinkered Honkiness with cute Kultur.”

Why can’t we all just get along?

by Jerry Bowles
Composers, Contemporary Classical, Minimalism, Music Events, Odd, Spain

Sonata for Piano and Dirt Bike

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb50kHf7Tw0[/youtube]

Carles Santos has been a force on the Spanish “downtown” scene (taking musicians like Santos, Llorenç Barber and Maria de Alvear in opposition to the “uptown” likes of Cristobal Halffter, Joan Guinjoan and Tomás Marco) since the early 1970s. This “downtown” movement had a huge impact on Spanish musicians in the 80s, and still carries through to today.

Starting as a formidable young pianist who’d breeze through the Second Viennese school, Santos turned his attention to a combination of minimalism and theatrical spectacle (often with himself as protagonist). But aside from his fanfare composed to open the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, very little of his music has ever reached the U.S.  A lot of it has to do with the personal and theatric nature; so much is wedded to the visual and dramatic action (much of it with an over-the-top, campy and/or erotic agenda).

You’re still not going to find much in the CD bins, but Santos has slowly been building a nice website, and stocking it with a lot of clips from his work over the last 30-some years. This particular clip shows the “foreplay and consummation” between Santos’ piano and 6-time world champion rider Adam Raga’s motorcycle from the show “Ebrofalia Copulativa”, live in Ulldecona in 2008.

by Steve Layton
Contemporary Classical

Matthew Sperry: Gone but Never Forgotten

Matthew Sperry and daughter Lila
Matthew Sperry and daughter Lila

On June 5, 2003, SF Bay Area musician Matthew Sperry was killed by an inattentive driver while riding his bicycle to work.  Grieving friends in the Bay Area music community gathered spontaneously at 21 Grand at that time to play together in his memory, and every year since then, there’s been a Festival in honor of Matthew.  It’s grown to include national and international artists drawn from Matthew’s wide circle of inspiration and collaboration — Tom Waits, M.C. Schmidt, Johannes Bergmark, Sean Meehan, Ellen Fullman, and many others have contributed to SperryFest in past years.  I was first invited to join a SperryFest large ensemble in 2005, and I’ll never forget local composer and cellist Theresa Wong using Matthew’s bicycle as an electro-acoustic instrument.

Organized by musicians and Sperry collaborators Gino Robair and John Shiurba, SperryFest convenes the Bay Area creative music community not simply in remembrance and reunion, but to make new work and uncommon musical events drawn from Matthew’s notebooks.  Each year there’s another recording released from Matthew’s unpublished discography, revealing new insights into his art and life.

Concerts begin this evening, June 2, at Studio 1510 in Oakland, CA. Trumpet player Lesli Dalaba returns to the Bay Area for a musical reunion with Fred Frith with Jason Hoopes, and rare duets with trombonist Gail Brand from the UK, with whom Matthew frequently collaborated. On Thursday, June 4th at San Francisco’s Luggage Store Gallery, Outsound Presents hosts a concert featuring works for large ensemble and the reprise of a composition based on Matthew’s quick sketch of a Jurassic karaoke machine called “Treasure Mouth” — which requires a band to follow along to lyrics as fast as they can be written out for them by others.  The final concert on June 5 at The Hillside Club in Berkeley features Gail Brand in a series of duos, trios and quintets with Morgan Guberman, Gino Robair, John Shiurba, Tim Perkis and Tom Djll.

Tickets to the first two concerts are $6 – $100 sliding scale, and Hillside Club admission is $15.00.  If, like me, you never had the privilege of knowing Matthew Sperry, you should still come by and witness the Bay Area new music community at its best.

by Polly Moller
Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Music Events

Balliett House, San Antonio TX

doug Monday last week I headed over to San Antonio to hear a house concert hosted by composer and San Antonio Symphony bassist Doug Balliett. The program included two new pieces by P. Kellach Waddle, “Louange a l’Eternite de Jesus” from Messiaen‘s Quartet for the End of Time, and selections from Balliett’s arrangements and reinventions of Schumann‘s Dichterliebe for ensemble and tape. Balliett also contributed three new songs and arrangements of two by Mendelssohn, sung by Ken-David Masur.

It was hot. The audience, which ranged from symphony players to kids and families, made do with hand-fans but, now that I think about it, maybe the heat got to our brains in a good way. Balliett’s inquiry into Dichterliebe — sometimes faithful to Schumann, sometimes wild, gorgeous — stood out as an encouraging example of how the politics of old/new fall by the wayside in enthusiastic and creative hands.

I’m always encouraged by informal events like this. It’s refreshing to remember that institutions don’t have a monopoly on the music I love.

Performances (in attendance or on tape) by Stephanie Teply-Westney, Benjamin Westney-Teply, Lauren Magnus, PK Waddle, Alison Fletcher, Mollie Marcuson, Catherine Turner, Tal Perkes, Matt Zerweck, Ilya Sterenberg, Rachel Ferris, Doug Balliett and Ken-David Masur.

by Elliot Cole
Contemporary Classical, Uncategorized

If it’s June…it must be Buffalo

Buffalo
Since Christian Carey’s wonderful post on June in Buffalo sounded so enticing, I figured it was time I see what all the hubbub was about. From getting there just in time to hear the first piece on the afternoon’s concert to eating wings with many of the participants at the Tap Room to thoroughly enjoying the evening concert to literally closing the seemingly popular Tap Room with the Meridian Arts Ensemble…methinks I got a good taste of it.

The overall structure of each day during the festival seems to be a lecture by one of the guest faculty, followed by workshops between the faculty and the participants, then an afternoon concert by one of the guest ensembles performing works by the participants, and ending with an evening concert by another guest ensemble which includes works by one or more of the guest faculty.

Yesterday’s afternoon concert had the New York New Music Ensemble putting six participant works through their paces and the result was a straightforward demonstration of avant-garde techniques and concepts. Prepared piano, bass clarinet multiphonics, percussionists dancing wildly from one instrument to the next, overblown alto flutes…you want ’em, they got ’em…yet, curiously, the two instruments who didn’t get much showcasing were the violin and cello. (more…)

by Rob Deemer
Click Picks, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Uncategorized

Force of Nature – Frederic Rzewski Solo Piano UC Davis

Photo:Jerome de PerlinghiIt’s sometimes said that composers are either German or French, and American vanguard one Frederic Rzewski, with his much vaunted admiration for Beethoven, is clearly on the German side.  But how could he not be when some of his composition teachers like Dallapiccola and Babbitt forsook a flowing lyric line for a jagged dramatic one, whose aim is not to seduce the ear, but to wow with intellectual rigor?  But that doesn’t mean that Rzewski’s work is insincere, or lacks power — it has that in spades — but that it tends to be aimed at the mind and not the heart. It’s often confrontational, too. But that’s a good thing because any real musical interaction, like any real human one, has a built in   confrontational element, and confrontations help us grow.

Rzewski’s 1976 solo piano piece The People United Will Never Be Defeated (El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido) is certainly a work in which he confronted the musical possibilities of all kinds of things that had been appearing in his output until then.  He was 38 at the time he wrote it and his discoveries here power lots of his subsequent work. I t’s as much as a watershed piece for him as Glass’ massive ensemble work Music In 12 Parts (1971-74) was for him.  It’s also a kind of compendium of rhythmic, harmonic and coloristic approaches to Chilean composer Sergio Ortega’s song for Salvador Allende on which it’s based. There are 6 variation sets of 6 each plus a coda, and Rzewski seems to use every possible pianistic device in it. (more…)

by Michael McDonagh
Interviews, Performers, Podcasts, viola

My Ears Are Open. This week on the podcast: John Pickford Richards

161406554_2a1aeaa283 This week on the podcast, I wrap-up the month of violist interviews with John Pickford Richards. For those of you not sure who John is, he’s best known as the violist in Alarm Will Sound and the JACK Quartet. Our three violists in May posed some important questions, not just for composers, but for performers as well. Beth Weisser asked, “What is the core of what we do?” Nadia Sirota encouraged us to embrace who we are. John Richards asks, “What is the opposite of a cheerleader?” Also, have you ever wondered if John has been hit by a composer? Listen to this weeks episode and find out.

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I wish I could tell all of you how excited I am about the interviews lined up for the summer, but I need to keep a few of them a secret until I actually finalize and record them. For now, I will just mention that July is devoted to the members of a certain unique string quartet, and August and September will feature musicians from outside New York (and even a few from outside the US).  In the meantime, check back in June for my interviews with Seda Röder and Brad Lubman. And thanks again to Beth, Nadia and John.

For those of you in NYC, I’ll see you today at the Bang on a Can Marathon!

by James Holt
Contemporary Classical

Great Noise Ensemble at the Kennedy Center – tonight!!!

Great Noise Ensemble
Good gravy, how could I have forgotten to post this…Armando Bayolo’s Great Noise Ensemble will be performing their Kennedy Center debut TONIGHT with the Congressional Chorus at 7:30 pm in the Terrace Theatre at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Works featured include the world premiere of Daniel Felsenfeld’s “The First Time I Saw Snow”, and Armando Bayolo’s concerto for violin and orchestra, Musica Concertante, with violinist Jameson Cooper. Sorry for the tardy posting, but if you’ve got time tonight, check ’em out!

by Rob Deemer
Concerts, Contemporary Classical, New York, Performers, Piano, Premieres, Recitals

Review: Xiayin Wang at Alice Tully Hall


[We previewed this concert a couple weeks ago, and were hoping to file a quick review following the performance. Due to unforseen circumstances it’s a few days later than we’d like, but reviewer Eric Johnson came through in the end:]

..      ..       ..       ..

Xiayin Wang offered two world premieres on her May 18 recital at Alice Tully Hall. Ms. Wang’s career is on the rise, with a number of orchestral appearances, solo recitals, and her new CD release of music by Scriabin on Naxos. The New York Sun recently praised her for a “robust, confident performance,” attributes she displayed here as well. In addition to Haydn, Chopin, Ravel, Scriabin and Liszt, we heard Richard Danielpour’s Second Book of Preludes and Sean Hickey’s Cursive.

Danielpour says that “the Preludes are evocative memories of real life,” but no explicit narrative was provided for any of the seven movements. The opening “Persepolis” hinted strongly at neoclassical Stravinsky, followed by an angst-filled second movement, an “Elegy” resembling Barber, and a spastic rag. I was particularly fond of the straightforward appeal of “Elegy”; not only in the music but Wang’s performance. Simplicity can often create the most eloquent music, and that was surely the case here.

Sadly, I’m not sure anyone but Ms. Wang and Mr. Danielpour really know what the fifth prelude sounds like. Shortly after the beginning of the piece, a particularly rude audience member answered a phone call in the concert hall. She then proceeded to walk out very slowly, talking in a stage whisper all the while. It’s fair to say that the pianist was the only one not glaring at her!

Sean Hickey has firmly grounded his career in jazz and chamber music, as well as composing for film and theatre. Hickey’s notes for Cursive speak of a desire to write seamlessly, a “mostly unbroken line,” but to these ears it was anything but seamless. The piece was filled with seemingly unrelated ideas — more like sketches than cursive calligraphy. Yet Ms. Wang gave a compelling performance, tying the loose threads together. Wang’s enthusiasm and daring shone clearly in her commitment to these two living composers’ pieces.

The standard repertoire was engaging too, every selection displayed wonderfully. Indeed, the most exciting portion of the program was the final movement of Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit. Ms. Wang practically lifted herself off the bench as she pounded out Ravel’s exotic, even sultry depiction of Scarbo’s moonlit flight. A complimetary highlight was Chopin’s Ballade No. 2 in F Major – a thing of rare beauty, played most delicately.  ~~ Eric Johnson

by Steve Layton
Contemporary Classical

Entrepreneurial Spirit

Necessity being the mother that it is, it’s always intriguing to find folks within the new music community who see a need and break out the grindstone. Here’s two examples of online entrepreneurs who have created their own niche markets:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quQnNpt6kDE[/youtube]

The brainchild of pianists Hugh Sung and SoYoung Lee, the AirTurn wireless page turner removes one of the major difficulties in piano performance – dealing with page turns (Galen mentioned this back in December). They offer a universal wireless device and several choices in pedals as well as a music scanning software that allows for digital annotations on the score.

MusicTeacherTools

Composer Rafael Hernandez has been busy coming up with all sorts of goodies both for music educators and composers at his MusicTeacherTools site. His various woodwind fingering fonts (see below) come in very handy when working with extended techniques and how many other composers have actually invented their own card game?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFI9SeAZCfY[/youtube]

These are only two examples of online entrepreneurs…got any more?

by Rob Deemer