Mark Swed wrangled himself a trip to Budapest and came back with a brilliant piece on the world that shaped György Kurtág.
Read moreFrom the CBC: Toronto composer James Rolfe has won the $7,500 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for his contemporary work raW, the Canada Council for the Arts announced Thursday. raW, written during the buildup to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, won the award designed to encourage the creation of new Canadian chamber music. It was chosen from a field of 115 new compositions. The work “was written by filtering J. S. Bach’s Second Brandenburg Concerto through Bob Marley’s War (first movement), Burning Spear’s The Invasion (second movement), and John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever (third movement),” Rolfe
Read moreOur friend Marco Antonio Mazzini is inviting all clarinetists to participate in the first “Musical Marathon – Prize for Most Creative Interpretation” contest that will take place on the web, from January 10th to August 10th, 2007. Each contestant must make and submit a recording of “Convalescencia“, a solo clarinet piece by Argentinean composer Juan María Solare. This score is available HERE. All the details are here. “The title of this event focuses on the ‘creative’ word: the piece we selected can be played (technically) by any average clarinet student, but the fun is…what to do with it,” Marco says. “Also, it can be
Read moreFinally, my top 10 for the year. Okay, so I’m a conservative old fart…but these are the recordings I enjoyed most during the year. I gave most of the more adventuresome stuff to our crackerjack reviewers whom I hope will weigh in with their own choices. Number One Rilke Songs; The Six Realms; Horn Concerto Peter Lieberson Lorraine Hunt Lieberson mezzo soprano, Peter Serkin, piano William Purvis, horn, Michaela Fukacova, violoncello Odense Symphony Bridge Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s untimely death this year adds a bittersweet note to this extraordinary Grammy-nominated recording of husband Peter Lieberson’s settings of five Rilke poems, recorded live at the
Read moreOur regular listen to and look at living, breathing composers and performers that you may not know yet, but I know you should… And can, right here and now, since they’re nice enough to offer so much good listening online: Hanne Darboven (b. 1941 — DE) What better way to mark a new year than with something that is only and utterly about time, history and the march of events (or their stubborn recurrence)! Only one piece to listen to, but it’s a full hour-plus. Darboven’s Opus17a for solo double bass was composed in 1996 for her massive artwork “Kulturgeschichte
Read moreFor articles on every one of the contemporary composers pictured above, and more, click on Overgrown Path’s People of the Year for 2006.
Read moreHmm . . . The Kennedy Center Honors. Always forget about these things until December. Always find them exasperating and inspiring at the same time. Be nice to get one someday . . . Ah – there’s Zubin Mehta. Bet most viewers haven’t even heard of him; geez, I hope the awards continue to pay tribute to classical musicians in the future . . . Ug, couldn’t they have come up with something other than Fritz Kreisler for the tribute? Sigh. Suppose beggars can’t be choosers . . . Wouldn’t it be nice if the Kennedy Center honored Steve Reich
Read moreYes, you read that right. 2007 brings the fiftieth anniversary of Jean Sibelius’ death, and his tone poem Finlandia was written as a protest against Russian influence in Finland at the end of the 19th century. Joan Baez sung her own a cappella version on Michael Moore’s 2004 Slacker’s Uprising Tour, and in anticipation of the composer’s anniversary year On An Overgrown Path has the full story and an audio file in Sibelius – his genius remains unrecognised.
Read moreOur friend Marvin Rosen will be airing the entire 6 hour seven minute version of Morton Feldman’s String Quartet No. 2, by the Flux Quartet, beginning at 11 am, EST on Friday, December 29, as part of a special 9 hour Classical Discoveries program devoted to American contemporary music. Two members of Flux–Tom Chiu and Dave Eggar–will join Marvin to discuss the work after the performance. I believe it is safe to say that Marvin is the only broadcaster in America who both can and would undertake such a mission. Classical Discoveries is broadcast via WPRB 103.3 FM in Princeton, NJ. and over
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