Hahn. Hilary Hahn. The violin superstar is about to premiere a new work by Jennifer Higdon tomorrow (Friday) night, attend the Grammy Awards this Sunday with two chances to win for Best Classical Album and Best Instrumental Performance with Orchestra, and then go on a recital tour playing Ives and Ysaye. She took out a few minutes to talk about the new piece and about the Grammys.
Part 1 (having a piece tailor made for her)
Part 2 (attending the Grammy Awards)
She has also just updated her YouTube Channel with Schoenberg’s grandson Randy:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjW4aDQa0Vg[/youtube]
She mentioned that she’ll interview Higdon on her website, will perform at the Grammy Awards preshow and can be seen online, and if you haven’t seen it, her violin case twitters!
If you’ve been following the stimulus bill, you probably know two things: It includes $50 million for the NEA, and on Tuesday the Senate Democrats announced that they don’t have the votes to pass it and they’re looking a ways to cut it down. John Gizzi at the conservative publication Human Events reported tuesday that, in a press conference on Monday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs indicated that cutting the NEA funding was not likely. I’m not sure about Gizzi’s interpretation of Gibbs’s statements, but as they say: interesting if true.
Also on Tuesday, according to the best FL sportsbooks Reviewed on Thesportsdaily, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) took a bold stand against rotating pastel lights when he offered an amendment which would prohibit stimulus spending in a variety of cultural areas:
“None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, arts center, or highway beautification project, including renovation, remodeling, construction, salaries, furniture, zero-gravity chairs, big screen televisions, beautification, rotating pastel lights, and dry heat saunas.”
– Page S1462 of the Senate Congressional Record
The big question, of course, is whether $50 Million to the NEA for economic stimulus is a good idea or not.
Vicki Ray put together an imaginative, clever program which was beautifully performed in last night’s Piano Spheres concert at Zipper Hall of Colburn School. She’s a marvel; she seems to be able to do any work in any style. In December she gave a tremendous concert, “Vic Ray Electric”, of electro-acoustic music. In January she was pianist for this Monday Evening Concert. I’ve never heard her play any Mozart, but this clip implies she just might do so some time. The theme of last night’s program was piano concertos without an orchestra; her program notes described her selections as forming a rondo with two cadenzas sandwiched between three concertos.
The program opened with Igor Stravinsky’s seldom-programmed Concerto for Two Solo Pianos (1935) which he wrote to play with his son in money-making concerts. Julie Steinberg came south from the Bay Area to provide the second pianist. The performance sparkled; many of us were smiling with pleasure as we listened. The “cadenza” following this was awhirl (2008) by Rand Steiger; Ray gave the world premiere of this piece in her December concert in REDCAT. It’s a duet for single piano, in which electronics take the piano sound and use it to extend, supplement, and challenge the pianist. It was even more enjoyable to hear the second time.
A sure way to win a bet in a “who wrote THIS?” contest would be to play Eros Piano (1989) by John Adams. It’s a work for piano with orchestral accompaniment, written as a tribute to the jazz great Bill Evans, to composer Toru Takemitsu, and to pianist Paul Crossley. There’s not a single Adams machine chugging away in this work. You’ll find the piece recorded in “American Elegies” with Adams as conductor, along with typically great Upshaw performances of five Ives songs and a delightful Feldman piece. Vicki Ray played the work as written and asked Adams if she could transcribe a few orchestral elements to enable the work to be played for solo piano, and we heard the premiere of this version of the work last night. This would have served as the high point of many another concert.
But Vicki Ray closed the program with a work by Julia Wolfe, my lips from speaking (1993). This tribute to Aretha Franklin was written to be played by six pianos in a British festival for mutiple pianos. It was then rearranged for Lisa Moore in a version for piano solo and tape. Ray’s performance was invigorating, thrilling. We could have stayed as long as she was willing to keep giving us encores, but she closed the evening with her own arrangement of “My Funny Valentine”, for toy piano. A treat.
The recent deaths of both George Perle and Lukas Foss are part of the sad but expected passing, of composers who came of age in the 1940s and 50s. But a slight shock went through me with Douglas Britt’s surprising news in the Houston Chronicle blogs that pioneering composer, percussionist, visual and sound artist Max Neuhaus (b. 1939) has just died as well. Neuhaus is from the generation that gives us Lucier, Ashley, Young, Reich, Glass and Riley.
He semi-retired some time ago from pure composition and performance, preferring to focus on sound art and installations (one of which quietly hums day and night just down the street from me here in Houston, a few steps from Rothko Chapel). Neuhaus’ own website gives a good overview of where his imagination took him these past years, and you can pay homage to his earlier self — percussion iconclast and champion of the likes of Stockhausen, Brown, Feldman, Cage — by revisiting his seminal 1960s recordings courtesy of UbuWeb.
CDs, Chamber Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Experimental Music, File Under?, Music Instruments, New York, Performers, Recordings
Various Artists – the language of
QUIET DESIGN RECORDS
the language of is a compilation CD of ten pieces by eight emerging composers in NYC, many of whom are associated with the Wet Ink Ensemble. Released by Quiet Design Records in Austin, TX, this compilation is a forward-thinking treatise on a constantly evolving new music scene. The production, recording, and design chores were undertaken by the composers and their colleagues, thus comprising a very personalized aesthetic. the language of is an essential purchase, not only for its DIY approach, but because it contains a variety of exciting, well executed compositions. And due to the wobbly legs of the music industry, resourceful composers could do well by using this CD as a business model.
There is an immediacy and yearning to the music featured on this CD. The emotional content (which, of course, varies from piece to piece) is enhanced by the recording techniques used to create the myriad sound-worlds, an approach that is both startling and engaging. There is not one ounce of sonic sterility that one might find on pristinely recorded chamber music CDs. Many of the recording techniques used are in-your-face, close mic’d, compressed, and manipulated to each pieces’ ambient requirements. Some of the pieces that most represent traditional chamber music are ambient mic’d, a representation that provides a bird’s-ear-view (sorry about that one) for the listener, or an aural realism, if you will. The variety of production from piece to piece is therefore more akin to the world of rock, jazz, and experimental music. The packaging, designed by composer Clara Latham, is an attractive and environmentally friendly cardboard cover that features nothing in the form of liner notes (this may be one of my only complaints, but it definitely adds a veil of mystery to the release).
A brief overview of each piece follows after the break: (more…)
Lukas Foss died yesterday at age 86. I didn’t know his music that well (I had heard Phorion), but still have his great performance of Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety with the composer conducting. He apparently even dabbled in minimalism, which I’d love to hear. A lot of the older guard seems to be passing away this year.
Check out this video from the 2008 Comedy Festival Gala in Melbourne. Make sure you watch all the way to the end of the bit, where it goes all “I Am Sitting In A Room.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i69Xb2ZMgGI[/youtube]
CDs, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Festivals, File Under?, Los Angeles, New York, Orchestras
Saturday night at 8 pm, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, under the direction of Michael Christie, gives the US premiere of Enrico Chapela’s Noctámbulos, a piece for rock trio and orchestra. Chapela will also participate in a panel discussion on Latin American Identity in Music at 4:30 (details below).
Chapela is a composer on the rise; Boosey and Hawkes added him to their roster in 2008 and he’s recently received several high profile commissions. I spoke with him on Thursday about the BAM event and his other activities. Born in Mexico, he started out his musical career as a rock guitarist, playing SXSW with a band in the nineties. He currently resides in Paris, where he’s finished a Master’s degree at the University of Paris and is pursuing a Ph.D. His dissertation topic is the two-hundred year history of symphonic music in Mexico.
An earlier version of Noctámbulos, titled Lo Nato es Neta, can be heard on Chapela’s debut CD, Antagonica. Lo Nato es Neta is scored for rock trio and acoustic quintet. Chapela readily acknowledges the cross-pollination present in the work, “It explores a wide range of rock styles – everything from metal to Pink Floyd to King Crimson.” I hear a fair bit of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in its juxtaposition of rock solos with angular melodic fragments, spiky post-tonal verticals, and Stravinskyian ostinati.
The piece was entered in a composition competition, but didn’t place. Happily, one of the judges dissented from the majority and separately arranged a commission for the Dresden Sinfoniker. The result: Noctámbulos, a revisioning of Lo Nato es Neta that features the rock trio as concerto soloists. It also incorporates more improvisation.
This is an exciting time for Chapela. He’s playing the guitar part in the premiere. Simultaneously, he’s working hard to finish a commission for the LA Philharmonic. “At first, I thought it would be too much to be the solo guitarist at the Brooklyn Philharmonic performances while trying to finish the piece for LA. But then I realized, who could ask for a better gig than this? Between practicing and writing, I told my wife to not expect to see me much for a couple of months!”
CROSSING BORDERS: A discussion on Latin American identity in music
Saturday, January 31, 2009 / BAM Hillman Attic Studio, at 4:00PM
Moderated by Carmen Helena Téllez / Invited panelists: Gabriela Lena Frank, Enrico Chapela, and Paul Desenne
NUEVO LATINO MAINSTAGE – Saturday January 31, 2009 at 8:00 PM
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
Michael Christie, conductor; Virginie Robilliard, violin; Chapela Trio; Enrico Chapela, guitar; Jesús Lara, bass; Luis Miguel Costero, drums
Gabriela Lena Frank: Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout (NY Premiere of string orchestra version)
Paul Desenne: The Two Seasons (NY Premiere)
Enrico Chapela: Noctámbulos (US Premiere)
From Sarah Baird:
Aurora Natola-Ginastera, internationally renowned cello virtuoso and wife of the late composer, Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983), passed away on Sunday, January 25, in Geneva. She was 85 years old. (Alberto wrote his second Cello Concerto for her, at least. What would our repertoire look like if not for composers in love?! ) The funeral information follows. All best. ~ Sarah
Ceremony, followed by burial:
Tuesday, Feb 3, 10 a.m. / Eglise St-Joseph / Rue Petit-Senn / 1207 Geneva
Burial:
Cimetière de Plainpalais / Rue des Rois 10 / 1204 Geneva
JB Note: Valentine’s Day is not that far away. Good time to discuss great music inspired by love.
Have you heard the Locrian Chamber Players yet? If not, you’re missing out. The group has a unique mandate: they only play pieces less than a decade old. This results in stimulating, varied, and stylistically catholic programs.
With members that include some of New York’s finest performers of contemporary music – pianist Emily Wong, flutist Diva Goodfriend-Koven, and violinist Calvin Wiersma among them – the music is exquisitely well-prepared. Admission: FREE.
Locrian’s next show is this weekend, Saturday, January 31 at 8 PM, 10th Floor Performance Space, Riverside Church, and features these works:
Milton Babbitt: Little Goes a Long Way
Earle Brown: Special Events
Nils Vigeland: Aurochs and Angels
David Dzubay: Kukulkan
To reach Riverside Church by subway, take the 1 or 9 train to 116th street. By bus, take the M4 or M104 to Broadway and 120th Street. Enter Riverside Church at 91 Claremont Avenue (one block west of Broadway, between 120th and 122nd streets). Parking is available at the Riverside Church garage, located at 120th Street and Riverside Drive.