Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Naxos Dreaming

If you happen to be around my local Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Triangle (which is what the real estate developers call the area around Lincoln Center these days), around 7 pm on Monday, you'll want to stop in and visit with José Serebrier, his wife Carole Farley, and Ned Rorem who will be signing their latest releases which just happen to be on the Naxos label.

Serebrier's recording of Rorem's three symphonies at the time of the composer 80th birthday garnered three GRAMMY nominations and their latest collaboration, Rorem's Flute Concerto (world premiere), performed by Jeffrey Khaner, principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Violin Concerto with Philippe Quint and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Serebrier, is simply outstanding.

Farley will be on hand to sign copies of her new DVD on VAI of the fully-staged operas La Voix Humaine by Francis Poulenc and The Telephone by Gian-Carlo Menotti with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by busy José.

Meanwhile in another part of the forest, Glenn Freeman writes:

Brief report from Bratislava, Slovakia. OgreOgress productions is completing its first orchestral recording project. The repertoire is Alan Hovahenss's Shambala, Janabar and Talin. The performers are the Slovak Philharmonic under the direction of Rastislav Stur. The musicians and conductor are first rate and the studio of the Slovak Philharmonic along with its recording technician, staff and equipment, are at the highest level. We are excited about the planned release of this recording on high resolution Audio DVD (96kHz/24bit) in the Spring of 2007. If you want this recording, or any of our future recordings, on CD then ask Naxos to release it in this format...we'll work out a deal with them they
cannot refuse.

Memo to Glenn: Probably should have gone with José Serebrier.

posted by Jerry Bowles 9/09/2006

Friday, September 08, 2006

Reich@70: Let the Celebrations Begin

Steve Reich turns 70 on October 3 and already the party has begun. Yesterday, he was awarded Japan's Praemium Imperiale award for music. The other winners of the 18th annual awards were Japan's Yayoi Kusama for painting, France's Christian Boltanski for sculpture, Germany's Frei Otto for architecture, and Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya for theater and film.

Major surveys and programs are scheduled around the world. Boosey & Hawkes has set a special page called Steve Reich @ 70 with all the details. The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center have joined forces to present complementary programs of his music, and in London, the Barbican is mounting a major retrospective.

posted by Jerry Bowles 9/08/2006

Thursday, September 07, 2006

The Bi-Coastal Jefferson Friedman

Jefferson Friedman, one of our favorites among the young turks out there, has a couple of nice gigs coming up next week. On the 13th, 15th and 16th, the Chiara Quartet will be playing his sublime String Quartet No. 2 at Miller Theater, with choreography by Brian Reeder, as part of its New Ballet Choreographers series.

And on Thursday night, Leonard Slatkin will lead the LAPhil at the Hollywood Bowl in Friedman's The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly. Something called Carmina Burana fills out the program.

The fact that Friedman mentions Sequenza21 rather prominently in his bio has absolutely nothing to do with his being featured here.

Couple of new calls for scores over in the Sequenza21 Workspace. Don't forget to check there every few days.

posted by Jerry Bowles 9/07/2006

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Violins Invade Indianapolis

Want to see and hear 16 different interpretations of Bright Sheng's new piece written especially for the Indianapolis Violin Competition? You can catch the performances LIVE, or recorded, beginning today at the competition's website.

The competition--the 7th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis--opened on September 1 featuring 45 violinists representing 19 countries.

May the best fiddler win.

posted by Jerry Bowles 9/06/2006

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

John Cage (born Los Angeles, 5 September 1912; died New York, 12 August 1992).

Don't forget the special online preview recording (semi-final version) of John Cage's longest Number Piece, the 121-minute Two3 (1991), for sho and conch shells this afternoon at around 4pm EDT at contemporary-classical.com

I just put together a Mostly Cage page in the shoppe.

posted by Jerry Bowles 9/05/2006

Monday, September 04, 2006

The People United Will Never Be Divided

Happy Labor Day, class warriors. Lots of neat things coming up as we head into the fall season.

The nice folks at OgreOgress invite you to listen to a special online preview recording (semi-final version) of John Cage's complete 121-minute Two3 (1991), for sho and conch shells tomorrow (John Cage's birthday) afternoon at around 4pm EDT at contemporary-classical.com

Two3 is Cage's longest Number Piece and this is the first recording.

Marvin Rosen will be observing the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on his radio program Classical Discoveries this Wednesday morning, September 6 from 6:00 to 11:00 am. The program titled "In Memoriam" will be totally devoted to works written in memory of the victims of this horrible disaster. The program can be heard on WPRB from Princeton, NJ.

Jen Stock of Soundbook One is curating what looks at great concert this coming Saturday at 3 pm in Washington Square featuring work by Paul Lansky, So Percussion, Luke DuBois, Joan La Barbara, Daedelus, Jerseyband and Carl Stone's Acid Bop.

Carl Stone is one of the pioneers of live computer music, and his music is rarely heard on this coast. Daedelus is another West Coast-based experimental electronic composer. Jerseyband is an experimental rock ensemble that fuses heavy-metal sounds with jazz instrumentation. They'll play a solo set and a collaborative set with So Percussion. Joan La Barbara is a well-known composer, performer, sound artist, and pioneer of a broad vocabulary of extended vocal techniques. Luke DuBois presents selections from Timelapse (Cantaloupe) and a live electronic set. Paul Lansky, well, you know who he is. So Percussion will play new works from the its upcoming album Amid the Noise (Cantaloupe), featuring original compositions by ensemble member Jason Treuting and Lansky's "Threads.”

The concert is free on the Southeast Plaza Stage, Washington Square Park unless it rains in which case it will be at the Gallery @ King Juan Carlos Center, 53 Washington Square South.

In you're in the mood for one of those Memories of Underdevelopment type of stories, take a look at my ode to the Sears catalog at Enterprise Web 2.0

posted by Jerry Bowles 9/04/2006