Don’t miss Alex Ross’ wonderful portrait of Steve Reich in the new New Yorker. Yes, the New Yorker. Robert Gable has a video link to the London Steve Reich Ensemble on YouTube playing Reich’s Eight Lines. Reich is the current featured composer in the Sequenza21 shop. Stock up for Christmas or whatever you do at your house. Anybody see the latest production of The Cave last week at John Jay? It’s one of the great ones.
Read moreTomorrow (Nov 6) soloist Nicholas Daniel (left) and the Britten Sinfonia give the world premiere of John Tavener’s oboe concert Kaleidoscopes at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. The new work is Tavener’s tribute to Mozart, but, as well as an oboe soloist and chamber orchestra, the score calls for the distinctly non-Mozartian forces of a very large gong and four Tibetan temple bowls. Any John Tavener premiere is big news, but this one is even bigger news because Nicholas Daniel is blogging as he prepares for the first performance. For the full story and links take An Overgrown Path.
Read moreYou don’t need to be a rock star to have a different take on the music of John Dowland. Jazz pianist, cellist, accordion player and envelope pusher Huw Warren (left) uses piano, keyboards and samples in his treatment of Dowland’s Lachrymae which is released on CD as Infinite Riches In A Little Room. And Warren’s latest off-the-wall project is a major new work with his Orchestra Helclecs titled This is Now! (Nawr!) featuring the virtuoso guitarist John Parricelli, hip hop MC Nobsta Nutts, singer Lleuwen Steffan and an ensemble originally formed for a concert at Brecon jazz festival in 2004. For more Infinite Riches In A Little
Read moreSeason two of Keys to the Future, a festival of contemporary music for solo piano, takes place next week, November 7-9 (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) at Greenwich House’s Renee Weiler Concert Hall. The six participating pianists are Lisa Moore, Blair McMillen, Tatjana Rankovich, Lora Tchekoratova, Polly Ferman, and myself. On the first night (Tuesday, 11/7), the brilliant pianist Blair McMillen will perform Fred Hersch’s gigantic piece called 24 Variations on a Bach Chorale. Here are some notes by the composer: The original chorale melody is by Hans Leo Hassler (1562-1612), but was borrowed several times by J.S. Bach, mostly famously as “O
Read moreOur weekly listen 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 a good chunk of listening online: Larry Polansky (b. 1954 — US) Larry Polansky’s been a one-man compositional exploratorium for at least thirty years now. Audiences may not be too familiar with him or his work, but composers of all stripes are. He’s always moved easily between east-coast rationalism, digital-electro-geekdom, “downtown” experiments, and west-coast looseness, any and all of which can show up in his next piece. A happy champion of
Read moreLeach_Xantippe_sRebuke_pg12[1].pdf From Sequenza21 regular Mary Jane Leach: Xantippe’s Rebuke, for oboe soloist and eight taped oboes, is an intense study in sound that tickles your ears. It will be performed on the Sequenza 21 Concert by Matt Sullivan. I’ve written about my approach to writing it, which I hope you will find interesting. My work has primarily been concerned with exploring sound phenomena – combination, difference and interference tones. I work very carefully with the specific sound properties of each instrument that I write for, qualities that change from instrument to instrument. Initially this was done in rather direct, almost
Read moreThe clock is ticking and things are pretty tense here in the old control room. The fate of the Republic hangs in the balance. I refer, of course, not just to next week’s election which is only the most important one we’ve had in the past 250 years but to tonight’s showdown between number 3 West Virginia (yea) and number 5 Louisville (boo). May rightousness (my team) prevail in both encounters. With that in mind, it seems like a good day to talk about graphic scores. What are they? Who does them? And, most importantly, why? Start here with Roger Bourland’s post
Read moreJeff Sackmann has an extra ticket to the Gidon Kremer/ Brahms sonatas concert at Carnegie Hall tonight. I can’t go but if you send him an e-mail stat, you probably can. jeffsackmann@gmail.com.
Read moreMorton Feldman An 80th Birthday Celebration Merkin Concert Hall Saturday, October 28, 2006 I am perpetually late with birthday greetings. This past Saturday, as my wife and I entered the city for the Morton Feldman concert, I called my grandmother to wish her a happy birthday two days late. I felt a little better about myself when my wife pointed out that Morton Feldman’s 80th birthday celebration was being held a full nine and a half months after his 80th birthday. I am just glad that the concert came together, though. The number of people who attended is a testament
Read moreAnybody know who’s writing the Intermission: Impossible blog for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center? Clever writer. Check it out today for Fred Sherry’s Top 11 Approaching Newness picks. Who wants to review this Audio-DVD for Sequenza21? (Must actually write review.) John Cage: Two3, Inlets, Two4 / Tamami Tono, Glenn Freeman, Christina Fong
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