Author: Jerry Bowles

Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical

Play That Funky Music, Monk Boy

The new Pope with the Prada slippers whose name nobody can remember, and who is, by the way, German, is apparently banning modern music in the Vatican.  Seems he thinks that Pope Gregory pretty much nailed it and is backing his chief enforcer–Mgr Valentin Miserachs Grau, director of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, which trains church musicians, who says that there had been serious “deviations” in the performance of sacred music.

“How far we are from the true spirit of sacred music. How can we stand it that such a wave of inconsistent, arrogant and ridiculous profanities have so easily gained a stamp of approval in our celebrations?” he said.

He added that a pontifical office could correct the abuses, and would be “opportune”. He said: “Due to general ignorance, especially in sectors of the clergy, there exists music which is devoid of sanctity, true art and universality.” 

The Pope is also considering having the Sistine Chapel ceiling painted to remove any hint of perspective.

by Jerry Bowles
Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, Philadelphia

The Less I Say the More My Work Gets Done

galen.jpgHere’s some great news for the Sequenza21 community.  The super-hot Philadelphia-based chamber ensemble Relâche is presenting a concert of new works, including the premiere of our own Galen H. Brown’s Waiting in the Tall Grass, at the Greenwich House Music School in downtown Manhattan on November 30, followed by a repeat performance the following night at the International House in Philadelphia. The concert will also include new pieces by Duncan Neilson, Brooke Joyce and, Paul Epstein.

Says here in the press release (Galen is much too modest to make a call or send me a heads-up e-mail himself) that

…Brown’s music has been described as “bright, passionate music for a brighter, more passionate new day” by Kyle Gann, former critic for the Village Voice. With roots in both Minimalism and electronic rock, he writes rhythmically driven music where melodic riffs and fragments shift against each other, evolving an intricate counterpoint beneath a surface which is sometimes propulsive, sometimes placid.

Describing his new piece, Brown says “While this piece isn’t at all programmatic, the title Waiting in the Tall Grass is intended to evoke the sense of a sort of purposeful stasis, with perhaps a hint of foreboding. The ‘tall grass’ is, of course, where the predator lies in wait for its prey.”

Brown lives in New York City. He holds a Masters degree from New England Conservatory, where he studied with Lee Hyla; his other primary teachers were David Rakowski and Jon Appleton. A contributing editor at Sequenza21.com, he regularly reviews concerts and CDs, and writes on issues ranging from compositional techniques and history to aesthetic philosophy to the structure of the music industry. Sequenza21 won an ASCAP Deems Taylor award in 2005.

Founded in 1977, Relâche has been a significant force in new classical music for 30 years, from co-presenting the landmark New Music America festival in 1987 to annual performances of Phil Kine’s classic Unsilent Night. The new works on this concert are the latest in a rich history of commissions from composers such as John Cage, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, and Pauline Oliveros.

Well done, Galen.  As we say down in Appalachia where I grew up:  “We’re right proud of you.”

There’s a sample of the piece here.  The rather strange picture was taken by me in the Sequenza21 office at Starbucks on 57th between Eighth and Ninth.

by Jerry Bowles
Cello, Classical Music, Contemporary Classical

Chilly Scenes of Winter

The Boston Symphony premiered Elliot Carter’s Horn Concerto over the weekend and will debut a piano concerto (already completed) next year.  And, there’s a five-day festival planned for Tanglewood this summer.  At 98, Carter is proving that the key to a glorious career is to live a very long time, hold onto to your chops, and be friends with James Levine.

Which is not to imply that Carter is not very good; he’s just very good in a way that I find a bit too abstract and cold to love.

My favorite old dude these days is Ned Rorem, who is often overshadowed by more famous contemporaries and dismissed as a writer of charming art songs.  Naxos has been churning out a stream of wonderful Rorem recordings over the past couple of years that have convinced me, at least, that he is terribly underrated. Listen to the recordings of Symphonies 1-3; the violin and flute concertos, and the just released Piano Concerto No. 2 and Cello Concerto and tell me he isn’t a major talent.

UPDATE:  Forgot to mention that Miller Theater is doing the New York premiere of What Next?, Carter’s only opera, on December 7, 8, 9 and 11–which happens to be Carter’s 99th birthday.

by Jerry Bowles
CDs, Classical Music, Contemporary Classical

BMOP a Lula

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) has just become the latest classical music organization to launch its own CD label. BMOP Sound will debut in January 2008 and will be devoted exclusively to new music recordings, many of them pieces commissioned by BMOP.

BMOP Sound is scheduled to release five world premiere CDs at the start of 2008: John Harbison’s Ulysses; Michael Gandolfi’s Y2K Compliant; Gunther Schuller’s Journey Into Jazz featuring Gunther Schuller (narrator); Lee Hyla’s Lives of the Saints, featuring Mary Nessinger (mezzo-soprano); and Charles Fussell’s Wilde, featuring Sanford Sylvan (baritone). With 28 more recording projects in the works, the company plans to issue four to six CDs each year. Albany Music Distributors will handle the real world distribution and BMOP is planning an interactive website with digital download capabilities for later in 2008. BMOP has an existing catalog of 13 commercially released CDs (from Albany, Arsis, Cantaloupe, Chandos, Naxos, New World, and Oxingale labels).

I’m one of those people who believe that the DIY model is the salvation of new music recording and distribution, a boon to both the people who composer and perform music and those of us who listen, and the ultimate final nail in the coffee of traditional record labels that fail to adapt. Good riddance.

by Jerry Bowles
Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, New York

The Sun’s Not Yellow, It’s Chicken

If you’ve been wondering who is responsible for dumbing down American musical culture, it’s people like Ronen Givony and me.  Givony, as many of you know, is the mini-Sol Hurok who is responsible for New York’s priceless Wordless Music series.  Like me, Givony is not a composer or musician or even someone who reads music.  But, also like me, he loves new music and wants to help nurture and promote the talented people who do.  The web has given us both platforms to indulge our desire to do so.  

According to Andrew Keen, that makes us the worst kind of well-meaning but dangerous and misinformed schmos.  We are”amateurs,” in the most perjorative sense.  Keen’s new book The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing our Culture blames the equalitarian nature of web publishing and self-promotion for everything from Britney to global warming.

I dunno.  Seems to me that influential “amateurs” have always been with us.  Weren’t a lot of the explorers and scientists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries people who simply pursued their discoveries, quite often using their own resources?  

I’m sure this august group can think of many examples of amateurs who have had some influence on the advancement of new music.  Share some of them with us, please.

p.s.  By the way, I am no longer an amateur web site builder and manager.  My first paid-for site called MyVenturepad opened for business yesterday.  Nice article today on the front page about the changing of the guard at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe.

by Jerry Bowles
Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, Critics

You Can Leave Your Hat On

If you haven’t read Galen’s rather lengthy piece called Imprecations and Exhortations: A Rather Lengthy Defense of Richard Taruskin over in the Composers Forum, you should do so immediately.  I’ve been taking a short nap for the past couple of days and just go around to it and it’s very thoughtful and very good.  (I say that because on my first day of journalism school as Horace Greeley and I were checking in, our first prof said “Never say ‘very.’ If you must, write ‘damn’ instead.”)  Damned fine work, Galen.

by Jerry Bowles
Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical

Did You Ever Go Clear?

Translating pop music into more ambitious musical forms is a risky business that sometimes produces surprising results.  Who would have guessed, for example, that Twyla Tharp’s recycling of Billy Joel’s songs to tell the central story of the Sixties generation would be such a compelling and moving theatrical experience–an effect greatly heightened by having those songs reproduced note by note on stage by the world’s best tribute band.  Once you’ve seen it, you’re forced to admit that Joel (who you might have previously taken lightly, as I did) writes really intelligent songs that display a wide and deep musical versatility.  It’s one of those ‘aha’ moments like seeing Fleetwood Mac and realizing that without the undersung Lindsay Buckingham’s fabulous guitar work and arrangements, they’re pretty much another lounge act.

On the other hand, who would have thought that a stage musical built around the music of Bob Dylan would reveal him to be a writer of archly pretentious lyrics of little musical grace, played with three majors and a minor?

But, I digress.  What we’re talking about here is Philip Glass’s Book of Longing – A Song Cycle Based on the poetry and Images of Leonard Cohen, which was performed this summer at the Lincoln Center Festival and has just now been released in a 2-CD package by Orange Mountain Music, Glass’s own music label.  I’m a person who knows the difference between W.H. Auden and literate pop songwriters like Cohen and Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon, but the combination of Cohen’s wry, spare words and Glass’s wry, spare settings creates something that approaches a higher art form.  Not quite Auden/Britten but something not embarassed to be seen in that neighborhood.  I’ve played it a dozen times and keep discovering witty surprises and  hidden delights.  All the piece needs is a video by Yasujirō Ozu (or, his still-living contemporary disciple Jim Jarmusch) to be the complete multimedia package. 

I also realized, for the first time, that A Thousand Kisses Deep is probably the best song ever written inspired by oral sex.

by Jerry Bowles