Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Anthony Cheung at Tanglewood

N.B. Anthony Cheung is one of the six Composition Fellows this summer at Tanglewood. He's currently in the D.M.A. program at Columbia, and his bio is disgustingly accomplished. I'd hate his guts, except for two things: he's a great guy and his music is fantastic; he deserves every accolade that comes his way. He sends us this report from the TMC, and he says we'll be hearing from him again. Let's hope so. -- D.S.

It's August in the Berkshires, and contemporary music is in the air, at least here in Lenox, MA. From August 4 to 8, friends of new music will descend on the Tanglewood Music Center's (TMC) annual Festival of Contemporary Music. This year, the festival is being directed by John
Harbison, and will feature works by Boulez, Dallapiccola, Carter, Birtwistle, Benjamin, Harbison, Babbitt, Ran, Brouwer, Thomas, Cohen, Schuller, Skrowaczewski, Tower, Perle, Maw, Wyner, Mackey, and others. A concert by the Tanglewood Music Center orchestra on August 8 will
also feature freshly-penned works by Lee Hyla (a new commission), Julian Philips, and Steven Stucky (this year's Pulitzer-winning Second Concerto for Orchestra).

Contemporary Music has always occupied a special place at Tanglewood, where new works are often featured alongside standard favorites. The Boston Symphony Orchestra tends to serve up standard fare, though it has repeated a few adventurous selections from last season, most
notably in a take-no-prisoners program of new works by Harbison (Darkbloom Overture) and Wuorinen (Fourth Piano Concerto), paired with some classic Var�se (Am�riques) and Gershwin (An American in Paris). The fellows of the TMC orchestra have been busy as well, garnering rave reviews for an all-Wagner concert with new BSO music director James Levine, and offering a moving reading of Dutilleux's recent masterpiece, The Shadows of Time. As is evidenced by his controversial BSO programs during the year, Levine is committed to the cause of challenging programming, and has made it known that he plans to make contemporary music an even greater part of Tanglewood in future years. This year, a commissioning project celebrating the 65th anniversary of the TMC has resulted in short new concert-openers by William Bolcom, Derek Bermel, Ramon Zupko, Montserrat Torras, Simon Bainbridge, and Lukas Foss. Among many wonderful chamber music performances in Seiji Ozawa hall, a particularly powerful Ligeti horn trio stands out in my memory. Remember the name Todd Sheldrick; he's the superhuman horn player in the Ligeti who makes anything look easy, and who is writing a book on extended techniques for the horn.

The six composition fellows have benefited from the interaction with six faculty composers (Steve Mackey, Bright Sheng, George Benjamin, Augusta Read Thomas, John Harbison, and Michael Gandolfi) as well as occasional guests. We are enjoying each other's company immensely and are learning a great deal from one another. In the first week, we bonded over a project that had us writing for vocal ensemble (SATB soloists) and clarinet quintet, comprised of fellows of the vocal program and the New Fromm Players. The workshop, directed by Steve Mackey and Lucy Shelton, provided us the rare opportunity to try out new ideas with enthusiastic performers every day. None of us were used to writing under such time constraints, but the payback was enormous, and we produced enough music for a concert at the end of June. Another project had us working with Bright Sheng on producing opera scenarios. Although no music was written, we were forced to think about issues of staging, narrative, and practicality. We have also been very fortunate to come into contact with at least a few fellows who are deeply devoted to furthering the cause of new music.

Come out to the Berkshires this week for your new music fix - it's only a few hours from both Boston and New York. The festival opens tonight with a slew of audience-friendly works by Boulez, Dallapiccola, Carter, and Birtwistle. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.bso.org.

posted by David Salvage 8/04/2005