Classical Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Music Events, S21 Concert

Let the Countdown Begin

We’re just hours away from the first real-world Sequenza21 concert which begins promptly at 7:30 on Monday night at the Elebash Recital Hall at the CUNY Graduate Center, 34th Street and Fifth Avenue.  Admission is absolutely free and there will be wine and cookies.  I hope to see you there.

We are enormously grateful to the following folks for their financial contributions which have made it possible to actually pay the musicians and put together a program.

Concert Sponsors:
Bridge Records
Metropolis Ensemble

Contributors:
Activist Music
Anonymous
Carrie and Yorke Brown
Mr. Galen H. Brown
Mr. Eric Bruskin
Mr. Jeffrey Harrington
Mr. Franklin Hecker
Jeffrey W. James Arts Consulting
Mr. Ian Moss
Ms. Annette Salvage
Mr. David Salvage
Mr. Jordan Stokes
Mr. David Toub
Mr. Scott Unrein
Mr. Tom Myron
Mr. James Wilson

 

I also want to thank Steve Smith for the shoutout in TimeOut this week.  Much obliged. 

by Jerry Bowles
Classical Music, Composers, Uncategorized

Really nice to see so many young people

All too often today, appealing menus of new music turn out to be measly meals relying heavily on technical gimmickry, self-serving cliques, bitchiness and cynicism. By contrast the Britten Sinfonia at Lunch project is a nourishing meal whose courses include imaginative commissioning, innovative and open-minded programming, a truly international perspective, and some damn hard work from the musicians.. But don’t take my word for it. Here are the words of clarinettist Joy Farrall (above) as she introduced the Huw Watkins first performance at today’s Britten Sinfonia at Lunch concert – ”It is great to see such a large audience for this concert, and it is also really nice to see so many young people here.

For the full story of a pioneering contemporary music project visit New music lunch box

by Pliable
Classical Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Music Events

More Famous Than You or Me

Fresh from the lede in a New York Times article this very morning (“provocative star turn”), Corey Dargel is performing tonight at The Tank, 279 Church Street btw Franklin and White in Manhattan. 

Corey will perform new and unreleased material including “policy-anthems” in alternative tuning systems and a set of songs about the Virgin Mary. Joining Dargel are composer/violinist Jim Altieri and expert videographer Oleg Dubson.

Kamala Sankaram and Squeezebox will present bloodletting, an original horror film with live music, depicting (it says here) the tension between artmaking and the daily survival of young working artists. Borrowing from the stylistic sensibilities of German expressionists like F.W. Mirnau, the film’s unsettling visual environment provides a poignant frame for Sankaram’s intimate and deceptively simple songs.Dargel and Sankaram open the evening with two songs from Nick Brooke’s Tone Test, a chamber opera for two vocalists and phonograph, based on experiments in which Thomas Edison invited audiences to compare the sound of his newly invented phonograph to the sound of a live singer. Tone Test premiered at the 2004 Lincoln Center Festival.

If any of you can attend and want to write about the show for S21, send Corey a note and he’ll get you in free.  If you haven’t seen Corey in action, you should.  I saw Streisand in Funny Girl in 1963 (my first Broadway show) and she was pretty good, too. 

by Jerry Bowles
Uncategorized

Letter from Boston: BMOP drops six more into the kitty

When BMOP (the Boston Modern Orchestra Project), now in its 10th season, says “Project,” that’s exactly what they mean. Everything on their recent (Nov. 3) Jordan Hall concert — some six works by four composers — was slated for commercial recording immediately afterward. This done, the BMOP discography will have rolled up an impressive 20 releases.

They’re strong on the “Orchestra” part too. One reward (or even danger) in a program like this one, where everything was so “for” such an ensemble — BMOP’s personnel positively drips with class — — is that a listener could sit back mindlessly, pull the shades on his mean-spirited analytical tendencies and just let all those instrumental timbres, massed or individual, thrice-familiar or newly minted, wash over him. It was a rough evening for ascetics.

First came was “High Bridge Prelude” (1999), an autonomous instruments-only spinoff from his imposing soloists/chorus/orchestra cycle on texts of Hart Crane, which showed the veteran Charles Fussell hardly ever putting a foot wrong. Surely there was some sort of narrative in there? Correct — the sad short course of the poet’s life, as it turned out. The ear sensed this partly from the sure, canny pacing, but even more so from this composer’s un-ironic working of a tonal idiom that would once have been dismissed as “Hollywoodish.” Instances: the troubling, grayish wind chords over darkly suggestive unison low strings; the mean stalking pizzicato bass line doubled by timpani; and the art of the long-building glowery climax. The overall impression was of a noirish texture (velvety black to gritty pale) on the move, judiciously reined in by a sense of beginning, middle, and end.

About Fussell’s curtain-raiser you knew for sure that it wasn’t going to go on forever or anywhere close to it. Which was not the case at all with Derek Bermel‘s exuberantly sprawling, ethnologically informed, labile, damn-it-all-I’ve-got-the-microphone “Thracian Echoes” piece (2002), the kind of dazzler that in a different age (say, Leopold Stokowski’s lifetime) might have borne a hokey title like “Bulgarian Rhapsody.”

But back then Bermel wouldn’t have gotten away with it. Would symphonic musicians then have been nearly as confident at “bending” notes as BMOP’s wind players were, or for that matter improvising, or barging their way through fierce metrical thickets, or playing out of phase, or abandoning themselves to an esthetic that knows what it is to go much too far and goes right ahead anyway?

“Thracian Echoes” is an exciting piece by a composer with what seems to be — on this single scrap of evidence — an extraordinary ear for translating his ethnological adventures into orchestral music that is itself adventurous and, in the doing, making it quite personal as well. Who else could have made all that up? “Thracian Echoes” was the hit of the concert.
The Fussell and Bermel pieces were sited on opposite ends of a very well-filled program. In between (and frankly threatening to fade from the memory) came a pair by BMOP’s new Composer in Residence Lisa Bielawa — “Unfinish’d, Sent” (2002) and “Roam” (2001) — in which an undoubted love for high-class literary texts sat uneasily at times with a magpie, somewhat naive composing persona. This showed a talent in the making, if nerviness and ambition have anything to do with it. Bielawa’s c.v. mentions Philip Glass, Brian Ferneyhough, Yale, and cabaret. “Keep tuned,” it all seemed to say.

The recurrent problem with the late Establishment heavy Jacob Druckman‘s music — as it was here, with his “Nor Spell Nor Charm” (1999) and “Quickening Pulse” (1988) — was that you couldn’t always be sure that the exquisitely wafting timbres weren’t the be-all and end-all. Or is it that the music isn’t as performance-proof as it has seemed?

As to that and the rest, no doubt time — and the forthcoming BMOP recordings — will tell. All throughout, the orchestral playing under Gil Rose‘s direction, unshowy but energizing, seemed to be speaking volumes. It inspired trust.

RICHARD BUELL may be reached at rbuell@verizon.net

by Richard Buell
Classical Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, S21 Concert

So What Will a Sequenza21 Concert Sound Like Anyhow?

I know I haven’t contributed much to the intellectual discourse on these pages since the new format of the site went live, but–believe me–it hasn’t been that I’ve lost interest. In one of life’s strange convergences, the reformat of Sequenza21 occurred almost simultaneous with my return from China at which point I have plunged myself into a torrent of freelance writing assignments in order to pay for the 82 CDs and suitcase of books I brought back. I’m only now starting to get unburied. Plus, of course, the NewMusicBox deadlines never go away but that’s the same no matter what so it’s no excuse.

Anyway, I wish I could have written that I haven’t had a chance to write in because I’ve been so crazed on a deadline to complete a musical composition.  We all know how much spending time on S21 takes away from composing! Ironically, as luck would have it, Sequenza21 is actually contributing to my work as a composer this month since a piece of my music will be featured on their debut concert next Monday night at the CUNY Graduate Center.

And while I can think of fewer honors greater than having a soloist of the caliber of David Starobin performing a work of mine, part of me wonders if a real “Sequenza 21” concert ought instead be a group composition that one of us starts (pretending to write a solo work in the Berio tradition), perhaps followed by everyone in the audience sequentially creating variations on it in turn for the rest of the evening. But who knows what else everyone else is cooking up for next week. You’ll just have to show up to find out!

by Frank J. Oteri
Classical Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Music Events

A Little Water Music

Tania León, a wonderful composer and musician and one of the nicest people in this crazy business of ours, is the featured composer this week at a spectacular new classical music space called the Gatehouse, a beautifully renovated old Romanesque Revival building that once served as a pumping station for water flowing from the Croton Reservoir to the taps of New York City.

The new space is operated by Aaron Davis Hall Inc., Harlem’s long time center for the performing arts, which has been re-named Harlem Stage.  Of course, the actual Aaron Davis Hall, which is just across the road from the Gatehouse, is still Aaron Davis Hall.  Got it?

The inaugural program at the Gatehouse is called Water Works, with this week’s installment devoted to the Cuban-born Leon.  The program will include the premiere of Reflections for Soprano and chamber ensemble, Batey, Ritual, Momentum  and Tumbao  for solo piano and O, Yemanja from Leon’s opera Scourge of Hyacinths. 

Tuesday through Saturday nights at 7:30, 150 Convent Avenue, at West 135th Street, Hamilton Heights, (212) 650-7100, harlemstage.org; $35.

Sequenza21 concert.  Next Monday night.  Free.  Live Music. Cheap wine.  Be there or be square.  See the bum (actually Ian Moss) on the left for the address and details.  Did I say it was free?

Update:  David Salvage’s mom is bringing home baked cookies.

by Jerry Bowles
Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Strange

Start Me Up Monday

The moment you’ve all been waiting for has arrived.  I refer, of course, to Robert Fripp’s 4-second start-up theme for the Windows Vista operating system.  Soon to be the most played musical signature of all time.

On the Window Vista blog, Jim Allchin writes that the new intro is “made of dual ascending ‘glassy’ (Edit note: as in Philip Glassy) melodies played on top of a gentle fading Fripp ‘AERO’ Soundscape.” 

Win-dows Vis-ta…(Click on play under the photo)

by Jerry Bowles
CDs, Classical Music, Uncategorized

Contemporary art loves contemporary music

The demise of Tower Records mean tough times ahead for the independent record labels, so it’s great to welcome an unlikely new label which was launced this month with real fighting talk. The FRED label is the brainchild of Fred Mann. Following the success of his contemporary art gallery, Fred [London] Ltd Mann decided to look at his other great love, Music. The label will work as a sister company to the gallery and, like the gallery, will respond in a close knit and creative way to the recording artists it seeks to nurture and promote.

FRED has been set up to record, produce, distribute and promote new music by a wide range of artists. The label, unlike a large slice of the established indie or major labels has the luxury of being able to respond to projects by different recording artist as and when they come up. Rather than setting out to release rock, R&B, classical or pop, FRED will cross musical genres. Despite the variety inherent in how the label will work, FRED has a commitment to quality of the first order and to encourage innovation and experimentation throughout their releases. To celebrate this spirit of diversity, their first two releases are suitably wide reaching.

FRED’s first release is Convivencia (sleeve art above) which features soprano Catherine Bott and an an eclectic instrumental mix of vihuela, lute, guitar (all played by David Miller), oud (Abdul Salam Kheir) and tar, tablah, tbilat and douf (Stephen Henderson). For more on the contemporary art gallery that loves contemporary music, and for a review of Convivencia, follow An Overgrown Path

by Pliable
Contemporary Classical, Photographs, Uncategorized

Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky

sky.jpgHow about a nice round of applause for Jeff Harrington who blogged all three nights of the Keys to the Future Festival.  Bravo, well-done and many thanks for giving me an excuse to focus on more lucrative (hopefully) projects this week and to gloat over certain current events.  I refer, of course, to the beginning of the return to sanity of American government and the exciting Rutgers victory over Louisville.  When West Virginia knocks off Rutgers on December 2, revenge will be complete.   

Ten days and counting until the Sequenza21 concert.

by Jerry Bowles
Click Picks, Contemporary Classical

Steve’s click picks #6

Our weekly listen 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 right online:

Andrew McKenna Lee (US)

A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Andrew began his musical studies on the guitar at age twelve, going on to pursue composition in his late teens. He completed his undergraduate work at Carnegie Mellon University in 1997 and finished his Masters degree in 2000 at the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers have included Leonardo Balada, Richard Danielpour, Louis Andriessen, Magnus Lindberg, David Del Tredici and Steven Mackey. He’s currently in the Ph.D. program in composition at Princeton University.

As a guitarist, he’s studied privately with James Ferla and David Leisner, and is currently a student of Laura Oltman at Princeton University. In recent years, his music’s been performed by the Brentano String Quartet, ensemble ereprijs, Talujon, the New Jersey Symphony, Kroumata, Proteus, Janus, and eighth blackbird. He’s participated in numerous festivals, including the International Music Festival of Toroella de Montgrí, Spain, International Gaudeamus Week of the Netherlands, the Stockholm Arts and Sciences Festival, and the Aspen and Norfolk Chamber Music Festivals. His music has also been heard on WNYC’s New Sounds series with host Jonathan Schaefer.

Take a long and leisurely browse through the “Music” link on his sharp-looking site. There are recordings for many, many of his excellent works, and Lee’s own performances on guitar are just phenomenal (for a stunning combination of the two, find his Variation, Fixation, and Fantasy after a Prelude by Bach or his Scordatura Suite).

Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980 — US)

Missy (Melissa) Mazzoli is one of the new wave of scarily smart young composers, who don’t see why their command of the “serious” side of modern classsical should have to sit behind any boundary between it and the culture we actually live in day-to-day. Born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania to a “wonderfully supportive and happily tone deaf family”, she began playing piano at age 7, and composing at age 10. During high school she played piano and percussion with local orchestras and guitar with several punk bands. From 1998 to 2002 she attended Boston University, studying composition with John Harbison, Richard Cornell, Charles Fussell and Martin Amlin, and piano with Maria Clodes-Jaguaribe. In 2002 Missy received a Fulbright grant and traveled to the Netherlands, where she studied with Louis Andriessen, Martijn Padding and Richard Ayres at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. In 2004 she was composer-in-residence at STEIM, Amsterdam’s center for electronic music, where she created electro-acoustic works for the Utrecht-based Insomnio Ensemble. In May, 2006 she received her Master’s degree from the Yale School of Music, where she studied composition with Aaron Kernis, Martin Bresnick and David Lang. At the “audio” link under her “Contents” menu, you’ll find a number of MP3s well worth your while.

Steve Peters (b. 1959 — US)

Long a force in the new-music scene in New Mexico but relocated to Seattle these last couple years, Steve creates music and sound for galleries, museums, public places, dance, theater, film/video, radio, recordings, and concerts. The work is often site-specific, made with recorded sounds of the environment and found/natural objects, or through exploration of acoustic phenomena; instruments and spoken text occasionally make an appearance. He no longer performs live, except as a member of the Seattle Phonographers Union. Steve also works as a freelance producer, writer and curator, and runs a non-profit called Nonsequitur which presents a monthly series of events related to all of the above.

….And truth told, he’s also a pal of mine from way back; we missed each other at the same college by only a year. He fell into some of my old circle of friends there, sent me a letter or two, and struck up a friendship that’s going on 25 years now. Many of Steve’s pieces of “music” are very long, meaning that the 10- or 15-minute MP3s here are often excerpts; still, they’ll give you a very good idea of his own particularly beautiful, enigmatic sound world.

by Steve Layton