The Original New Music Community
Nicholas Maw, the British-born composer who was probably best-known for the violin concerto he wrote for Joshua Bell, the lengthy orchestral work Odyssey and the opera, Sophie’s Choice, died yesterday in Washington at the age of 73.
Interesting take from Telegraph critic Michael White
More to come
Tom Myron has a lovely photo and tribute here.
The brilliant young pianist Xiayin Wang will perform back-to-back world premieres of Sean Hickey’s Cursive and Richard Danielpour’s Enchanted Garden, Preludes Book 11, two new works for piano, in her performance at Alice Tully Hall Monday night, May 18th at 8 PM. Included in the program are works by Haydn, Chopin, Ravel, Scriabin and Liszt.
Of Cursive, Hickey says “The piece begins with a seven-note ostinato in the right hand which serves as a fixed idea throughout the entire work. But the nature of this falling pattern is such that it immediately spawns other related figures. The piece concludes with a flurry of arpeggiation and hand over hand runs, as if this were the denouement of an agitated story, written in a florid prose.”
Danielpour says of Enchanted Garden: “The “garden” in question refers to the garden of the mind. In [this] second book, the preludes are evocative of memories in real life, which, when recalled, have their own “dreamlike” quality. To the philosopher, the question, “what is reality” will come to mind, while to musicians and music lovers, both our dreams and realities celebrate life.”
Wang’s debut CD on Naxos arrives May 26th and is devoted to the piano works of Alexander Scriabin arcing his early, middle and late period compositions.
To celebrate the 45th anniversary of In C, the Kronos Quartet is “curating” a star-studded gathering of musicians who will perform In C in Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall for the first time tomorrow (Friday) night. This once-in-a-lifetime concert has an ensemble that includes Kronos Quartet, Terry Riley, and original In C performers Stuart Dempster, Jon Gibson, Katrina Krimsky, and Morton Subotnick.
Not to mention: Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, Sidney Chen, Dennis Russell Davies, Loren Kiyoshi Dempster, Bryce Dessner, Dave Douglas, Trevor Dunn, Jacob Garchik, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Harrison, Michael Hearst, Scott Johnson, Joan La Barbara, Saskia Lane, Alfred Shabda Owens, Elena Moon Park, Lenny Pickett, Gyan Riley, Aaron Shaw, Judith Sherman, Mark Stewart, Kathleen Supové, Margaret Leng Tan, Jeanne Velonis, Wu Man, Yang Yi, Dan Zanes, and Evan Ziporyn. Also with Koto Vortex, Quartet New Generation, So Percussion, members of the GVSU New Music Ensemble, and members of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City.
Tickets start at $21. Read more about it at Sidney Chen’s blog or the Kronos Facebook page.
Steve Reich has been awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Music for Double Sextet. Frank J. Oteri has details here.
To which I say: it’s about damned time.
UPDATE:
Things have been pretty quiet over at the S21 Naxos blog for awhile but there is a terrific post up now by Collin Rae, Naxos of America’s Marketing and Special Projects Manager, who recently started a series of email discussions with composers, all of which which have been posted on PMS #286 Appreciation Society, the Naxos of America blog. This discussion with composer David Lang yielded some interesting answers— including a list of terrific musical favorites. Harold in Italy?
And, speaking of blogs, Charles Colman has a splendid new one called The Downtown Interlude. Any man who loves Sweet Pea’s “Lush Life” is ok in my book.
And, hey, today is Andre Previn’s 80th birthday which raises the musical question–do you think they’re still doing it? You can leave your best wishes here.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irPSvEkQl8Q[/youtube]
Hey, remember a couple of weeks ago when I asked if anyone knew a video blogger for a special project. I found one and not only is she a terrific interviewer (not to mention cute as a button) but i hear she plays a pretty mean fiddle. Here, Hilary interviews violinist and YouTube symphony member Ben Chan about his experience via video Skype.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZhqE0sVfV0&annotation_id=annotation_681278&feature=iv[/youtube]
Congratulations to our Peruvian-born, Belgium-abiding amigo Marco Antonio Mazzini who was one of the 90 or so musicians from 30 countries chosen from submitted videos to play in the YouTube Symphony. The orchestra will appear on April 15 at Carnegie Hall, with Michael Tilson Thomas as conductor, and music by Tan Dun.
Schuyler Chapin, the legendary former general manager of the Met, died yesterday at 86. Composer Matthew Zachary Johnson, who served as Mr. Chapin’s secretary for the past four years, has a tribute here.
There are beings that are just too special for this world. They arrive, fully-formed, on the messy little stage of your life and immediately dazzle you with their stunning beauty and charisma and goodness. They capture your heart so completely that you are always a little fearful that something this perfect cannot last. Howard arrived in our household eight years ago, at a time when we were still mourning the loss of a previous companion. By the second day, previous cats were forgotten. He seemed to have two speeds—full and stop—careening around our apartment and crashing into furniture like a furry bowling ball. As an adult, he slowed down, but not much. “He’s never going to be an elder statesman,” my wife would often say and something inside me sank each time. He could have been a contender on the show cat circuit but he chose to be our best friend, a lovable maniac, a love sponge who could never have his ear rubbed quite enough and a complete nudge, which is Yiddish for charmingly demanding. He talked a lot; there were things he wanted to say. He was a gentleman, incapable of getting angry or biting or scratching anything except his own furniture. In short, he was perfect.
On Tuesday morning, he came and sat with us on the floor in front of the TV as we read the morning papers and watched the news. As usual, he planted himself on my newspaper so my hands would be free to rub his ears. After awhile, he asked my wife to go ‘feed’ him which was a trick he taught us that required one of us to stand over and rub his head a few times before he would eat. As always, he drank some water and went to lie down for his morning nap. A couple of hours later, Suzanne went over to the table and reached down to pet him. And he was gone. We were never more than 10 feet away.
He was eight years old, which is pretty young for a cat, and never sick for a moment. There were no warning signs. A heart attack or an aneurysm, the vet said. He died instantly.
For those of us who lived in his enormous shadow, the loss is deep and painful. But, we are comforted by the knowledge that we were able to share our lives, albeit too briefly, with a true superstar. Like JFK and Marilyn and James Dean, and other special beings who left too soon, he will never age, or suffer, or get old. He will simply live on in our minds and hearts as the perfect friend and a reminder of the fragility and the awesome power of beauty, innocence and pure love.