Author: Christian Carey

Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

NJPE Loses its Pulse


As Anthony Cornicello reported on Saturday, William Paterson University of New Jersey is letting Peter Jarvis go from their faculty. Sequenza 21 last reported about Jarvis just weeks ago, announcing a concert on which he was premiering pieces by several faculty composers at TCNJ, another small institution in the New Jersey state college system. This type of activity, supporting the work of area composers through dedicated, well-prepared performances, is just one of the many ways Pete has contributed to the musical vitality of a number of institutions of higher education in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. He’s also commissioned a number of pieces for solo percussion and worked to get them published.

As Director of the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble at WPUNJ (check out their ’09 schedule here), Jarvis has not only been a mainstay on the local scene, but has been a powerful advocate for new music as a performer, conductor, and concert organizer.

Times are tough all over, but retrenching Jarvis’s position is a mistake on WPUNJ’s part. That’s why I’d urge Sequenza 21 readers to write letters in support of retaining Jarvis on the faculty at WPUNJ. Let’s aim for supportive letters on Peter’s behalf, not angry messages to the school.

The address:

Arnold Speert, President
William Paterson University of New Jersey
300 Pompton Road,
Wayne, New Jersey 07470

Peter Jarvis

by Christian Carey
Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, New York

Poul Ruders 60th Birthday Concert and Celebration

Poul Ruders and David Starobin

Thursday, March 26, 2009, at 7:30 pm

Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue at 38th Street

Scandinavia House and Bridge Records are hosting a birthday concert for Poul Ruders tomorrow night. The program features the world premiere of Pages I-X (2008) performed by guitarist David Starobin, and the US premiere of Serenade on the Shores of the Cosmic Ocean, performed by avant-accordionist Mikko Luoma and the iO String Quartet.

Also on the program are:

Regime (1984), Juilliard Percussion Ensemble

Star Prelude and Love Fugue (1990), Vassily Primakov, piano

New Rochelle Suite (2005), David Starobin, guitar; Daniel Druckman, percussion.

Ruders will be in attendance and will speak about his music and the works on this program. Tickets for the Ruders Birthday Concert are $15, and $10 for American Scandinavian Foundation members. 212-879-9779 for tickets reservations and sales.

by Christian Carey
Concerts, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Music Events, Performers

Jarvis at TCNJ

It might be a small, unassuming, and verdantly appointed campus, but within lurks a strong new music contingent! The College of New Jersey is having a faculty composer recital next week.

Peter Jarvis, director of the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, will be performing the premiere of Carlton Wilkinson’s piece for drum set Jungle 5-7675, a work he commissioned, on the program this coming Thursday. Four other composers on faculty will also be featured.

Music Faculty Composers Recital

Featuring works by Robert Young McMahan, Teresa Nakra, Ralph Russell,

William Trigg, and Carlton Wilkinson.

Thursday, March 5, 2009 @ 8 PM

Mildred & Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall, Music Building

Free and open to the public.

For more information, please email music@tcnj.edu or visit www.tcnj.edu/~music

TCNJ is located at 2000 Pennington Road, Ewing, NJ 08628-0718.

Parking for music events is available in lots 3-6.

by Christian Carey
Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, New York

Monday at Merkin: Six premieres by the New York New Music Ensemble


Two of New York New Music Ensemble’s members, clarinetist Jean Kopperud and pianist Stephen Gosling, will be premiering six new pieces at Merkin Concert Hall on Monday, Feb. 23 at 8 PM.

The pieces were composed for the duo by Eric Moe, Paolo Cavallone, Steve Ricks, David Felder, James Primosch, Jason Eckardt, and Harvey Sollberger.

Apparently they’re calling this the Rated X Project, but we’re hoping everyone at Merkin keeps their clothes on. Really.

by Christian Carey
ACO, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Downtown, Electro-Acoustic, File Under?, New York, Orchestral, Orchestras, Philadelphia, Uncategorized

Short chat with David Schiff: ACO premieres Stomp (re-lit) Friday at Zankel and Sunday in Philly

David Schiff

While well-known for his writings about music, including books about Elliott Carter and George Gershwin, David Schiff is also a prolific and active composer. A professor at Reed College, he’s visiting New York this week to hear the American Composer’s Orchestra premiere a revamped version of Stomp, a piece that celebrates the music of James Brown. The concert, part of the Orchestra Underground series, also includes premieres by Margaret Brouwer and Kasumi, Rand Steiger, Fang Man, and Kati Agócs.

 Carey: Stomp was written in 1990 for Marin Alsop. How did you decide to write in homage to James Brown?

Schiff: I was asked for a concert opener and somewhere in the process I realized that one of my rhythmic motives was from James Brown’s “I Feel Good” (as recorded Live at the Apollo). I then re-conceived the piece as a tribute.

Carey: Have other rock or jazz legends figured in your music?

Schiff: There’s a big Motown section in my Scenes from Adolescence (1987) and my Slow Dance for orchestra (1989), written for the Oregon Symphony, has a lot of Charles Mingus in it, but I have also had the great honor of working with two living legends in jazz, Regina Carter and Marty Ehrlich.

Carey: What’s “re-lit” about this new version for the ACO?

Schiff: ACO asked me to reduce the size of the orchestra slightly to fit in Zankel Hall. This gave me the opportunity to re-score the entire piece. The wind section now is much better suited to the style of the piece: flute, E flat clarinet, two saxes, trumpet horn, trombone and tuba. But there are also a lot of musical changes everywhere. I think that in the years since I first wrote Stomp I have become more experienced with the style. The new version is much hotter than the original–even though the orchestra is smaller.

Carey: You’re currently at work on a book about Duke Ellington. Is that research infiltrating your composing at all?

Schiff: Ellington’s music influences everything I do. I go to school with his music every day and I find his melodies, rhythms, harmonies and instrumentation endlessly inspiring.

by Christian Carey
CDs, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Festivals, File Under?, Los Angeles, New York, Orchestras

Tonight at BAM: US Premiere of work by Enrico Chapela at Brooklyn’s Nuevo Latino Festival

Saturday night at 8 pm, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, under the direction of Michael Christie, gives the US premiere of Enrico Chapela’s Noctámbulos, a piece for rock trio and orchestra. Chapela will also participate in a panel discussion on Latin American Identity in Music at 4:30 (details below).

Chapela is a composer on the rise; Boosey and Hawkes added him to their roster in 2008 and he’s recently received several high profile commissions. I spoke with him on Thursday about the BAM event and his other activities. Born in Mexico, he started out his musical career as a rock guitarist, playing SXSW with a band in the nineties. He currently resides in Paris, where he’s finished a Master’s degree at the University of Paris and is pursuing a Ph.D. His dissertation topic is the two-hundred year history of symphonic music in Mexico.

An earlier version of Noctámbulos, titled Lo Nato es Neta, can be heard on Chapela’s debut CD, Antagonica. Lo Nato es Neta is scored for rock trio and acoustic quintet. Chapela readily acknowledges the cross-pollination present in the work, “It explores a wide range of rock styles – everything from metal to Pink Floyd to King Crimson.” I hear a fair bit of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in its juxtaposition of rock solos with angular melodic fragments, spiky post-tonal verticals, and Stravinskyian ostinati.

The piece was entered in a composition competition, but didn’t place. Happily, one of the judges dissented from the majority and separately arranged a commission for the Dresden Sinfoniker. The result: Noctámbulos, a revisioning of Lo Nato es Neta that features the rock trio as concerto soloists. It also incorporates more improvisation.

This is an exciting time for Chapela. He’s playing the guitar part in the premiere. Simultaneously, he’s working hard to finish a commission for the LA Philharmonic. “At first, I thought it would be too much to be the solo guitarist at the Brooklyn Philharmonic performances while trying to finish the piece for LA. But then I realized, who could ask for a better gig than this? Between practicing and writing, I told my wife to not expect to see me much for a couple of months!”

CROSSING BORDERS: A discussion on Latin American identity in music

Saturday, January 31, 2009 / BAM Hillman Attic Studio, at 4:00PM

Moderated by Carmen Helena Téllez / Invited panelists: Gabriela Lena Frank, Enrico Chapela, and Paul Desenne

NUEVO LATINO MAINSTAGE – Saturday January 31, 2009 at 8:00 PM

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House

Michael Christie, conductor; Virginie Robilliard, violin; Chapela Trio; Enrico Chapela, guitar; Jesús Lara, bass; Luis Miguel Costero, drums

Gabriela Lena Frank: Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout (NY Premiere of string orchestra version)

Paul Desenne: The Two Seasons (NY Premiere)

Enrico Chapela: Noctámbulos (US Premiere)

by Christian Carey
Chamber Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Be There or Be Ionian!

Locrian Chamber Players

Have you heard the Locrian Chamber Players yet? If not, you’re missing out. The group has a unique mandate: they only play pieces less than a decade old. This results in stimulating, varied, and stylistically catholic programs.

With members that include some of New York’s finest performers of contemporary music – pianist Emily Wong, flutist Diva Goodfriend-Koven, and violinist Calvin Wiersma among them – the music is exquisitely well-prepared. Admission: FREE.

Locrian’s next show is this weekend, Saturday, January 31 at 8 PM, 10th Floor Performance Space, Riverside Church, and features these works:

Milton Babbitt: Little Goes a Long Way

Earle Brown: Special Events

Nils Vigeland: Aurochs and Angels

David Dzubay:  Kukulkan

To reach Riverside Church by subway, take the 1 or 9 train to 116th street. By bus, take the M4 or M104 to Broadway and 120th Street. Enter Riverside Church at 91 Claremont Avenue (one block west of Broadway, between 120th and 122nd streets). Parking is available at the Riverside Church garage, located at 120th Street and Riverside Drive.

by Christian Carey
Chamber Music, Composers, File Under?

Kirchner is 90: Claremont plays at Miller tonight

Miller Theatre at Columbia University continues its Composer Portraits series with a 90th birthday celebration for composer Leon Kirchner. The concert will include performances of a recent piece for flutist Paula Robison, the Claremont Trio playing Kirchner’s Trio No. 1, and the 1960 Double Concerto for violin, cello, winds, and percussion. The show starts at 8; there’s a talk onstage with the composer; tickets range from $7-$25. 

by Christian Carey
Contemporary Classical

Animal Collective Roars!

 

While the spotlight on Tuesday will be on the inauguration, it’s also a big day for the music business. Among several important CD releases is the new full length from Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino). Hua Hsu wrote an article about the building interest in the band leading up its release in Sunday’s New York Times. 

It’s interesting to note that Merriweather is already posting significant sales numbers, particularly for an ‘out’ rock release, on strength of the vinyl version alone (released Jan.6). The recording has quickly become the darling of the blogosphere, garnering a cherished high rating from Pitchfork.

What one imagines will be of even more interest to S21 readers is the level of experimentation Animal Collective deploys on Merriweather. Noise has become an intrinsic part of the band’s soundworld; samples of breaking glass and feedback squalls compete on equal footing with the more conventional materials of pop song. True, part of their aesthetic comes out of the psych-rock movement; but there’s certainly more than a casual nod to daring electronics of the contemporary concert music persuasion.

And, one hastens to add, this is no Kid A, where Radiohead was able to indulge their penchant for new music (including sampling Lansky) by salvaging the songs for pop consumption; placing more ‘widely palatable’ material above the debris. Merriweather is full of the unexpected throughout, entreating listeners to wade into decidedly off-kilter music-making, particularly for an album with this much mainstream buzz (pardon the pun!).

by Christian Carey
CDs, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Piano, Recordings

Veda Hille: Indie Pop = Hymnals plus Hindemith?

Veda Hille – Indie pop plus Hindemith!

 

Vancouver’s Veda Hille is an indie singer/songwriter who fashions classical instrumentation and catchy tunes into an erudite pop style. This Riot Life, her latest CD, draws on a wide assortment of influences. Its frequent eschatological references and cryptically, messianic-tinged lyrics (“Ace of the Nazarene,” “Book of Saints, ““Rose of Sharon”) represent a recent find: an old hymnal belonging to her grandmother.

The harmonic sophistication and extended formal designs of her songs reflect Hille’s classical training, as does an unorthodox rendition of “The Moon,” a Shelley setting by Paul Hindemith. Prog-rock inflections are present too; “Book of Saints’” hook cribs the chord progression from the final section of Yes’ “Starship Trooper.” And “Lucklucky” combines minimal ostinati and a chamber orchestration with an abundantly appealing chorus. Who would’ve thought that Hindemith could rock?!?  

 

by Christian Carey