The Original New Music Community
Malcolm Arnold died over the weekend. He was a deeply troubled man who had a remarkably productive life against the odds. He was, in my view, the most underrated symphonist of the post-war 20th century.
A far more colorful obituary from Australia.
An excellent interview/profile from last year by Pliable.
Alex Ross has a moving tribute to Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in this week’s New Yorker. “She was the most remarkable singer I ever heard,” he writes, and it’s hard to argue with that.
Speaking of Alex, he’ll be chatting with Mason Bates, Corey Dargel, Nico Muhly, and Joanna Newsom at BargeMusic at 10 pm on October 7 as part of the New Yorker Festival. Alas, the event seems to be sold-out.
Alan Rich in L.A. Weekly on why he didn’t hang around for Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Hollywood Bowl:
The night had turned cold; the gin had run low; there are few works I despise more thoroughly, and for a greater number of reasons. Just the thought of this bespectacled, small-minded pedant amusing his Führer by constructing this lurid travesty, assuming the small fragments out of ancient German songbooks and twisting them into beer-hall jabberings as if to reinvent a new musical language, is offensive enough. The ugliness of this vulgar work would offend me even if the text were pure, serene and biblical; it is none of these.
Of Jefferson Friedman’s The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly, on the same program, Rich writes:
Young (32) Friedman was on hand; he plans to incorporate his shiny, charming piece into a musical triptych honoring “outsider” artists and their inspirational, shimmering artworks. This one certainly does.
Thanks to Jerry Zinser for passing the Rich item along. The full review doesn’t seem to be up on the L.A. Weekly web site yet but it should be in a few days. Meanwhile, read some nice words from Rich about Kyle Gann.
Congrats to Roulette, the experimental music organziation which has moved into shiny new digs at 20 Greene Street in SOHO. With this new space, Roulette will be expanding activities to include over 100 concerts, sound installations, longer runs of music theater and other large productions such as the “Avant Jazz Still Moving” festival and the annual “Festival of Mixology.” Also, check out the new Roulette Blog for excerpts of its artists’ music, podcasts featuring interviews with the artists and Roulette TV clips, and musical discussion.
Check the Workspace for some news about applying for the Rome Prize.
Michael Gordon’s new post-rock opera What To Wear opens tonight at the Redcat Theater in downtown LA. Richard Foreman wrote the libretto and directs the stage production.
According to our sources (Michael, who “guarantees a good time will be had by all”), What to Wear is a raucous and bitingly funny work about fashion. There are 4 main characters (all called Madeline X) and 2 ducks,
a small one and a big one. There are ten singers, ten actors and 7 musicians all under the musical direction of David Rosenboom.
“What to Wear postulates a world in which military tanks and nightmare toy ducks take turns threatening would-be fashion models, who are trying to escape reality by dressing in bizarre outfits that semi-disguise them as lost children who never found out how to be lovable,” Gordon explains, helpfully. “They inhabit a large red room, dominated by four giant images of colorful abstract demons, suggesting that whatever one does finally wear, worse nightmares will eventually turn even the most riotous party inside out. They sing again and again, ‘I am Madeline X, beautifully dressed’. But as everyone on-stage turns less and less beautiful– something more ecstatic than beauty slowly reveals its awesome 21st century face.”
Whatever.
The Recat Theater is CalArts’ downtown center for innovative visual, performing and media arts and is located in the Walt Disney Concert Hall. What To Wear runs through October 1
John Zorn is officially a genuis. The 53-year-old composer, improviser, saxophonist, provocateur, and ardent promoter of experimental music through his Tzadik recording label, was one of 25 new MacArthur Fellows named today. Like his fellow honorees, Zorn will receive $500,000 in “no strings attached” support over the next five years. Unlike most other awards, MacArthur winners don’t apply but are picked by a secret committee of “experts.” One day you get phone call that says you don’t have to worry about next month’s rent.
The award notes that Zorn is a “largely self-taught artist who, since the mid-1970s, has been at the center of what has come to be called “downtown” music, based on his residence and collaborations in lower Manhattan.”
Speaking for the S21 community (always a dangerous thing to do), let me offer a hearty “Nice going, Johnny.”
Speaking of genius, Christina Fong posted some thoughts on that very subject a few days ago.
I like Mark Swed’s writing a lot and find I normally agree with his tastes but I can’t make sense out of his review of the Carl Orff/Jefferson Friedman concert at Hollywood Bowl that we hyped a little last week. I am particularly baffled by this line:
As in “Carmina,” there is much to like musically in “Throne,” as long as you hold your nose. The political implications in both scores are troubling. Orff was, if not a Nazi sympathizer, at least a National Socialist opportunist.
Okay, but I can’t for the life of me see a parallel in anything else in the review that would make me think Jeff Friedman is an awful person. What exactly are the “politics” of Friedman’s The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly? Is Friedman some kind of closet skinhead?
Read Mark’s review and tell me what I’m missing.
Daniel Wolf, who hangs around these parts from time to time, has written a terrific piece about our resident tech adviser Jeff Harrington who, in addition to knowing how to do a 301 redirect, is also a composer of some talent. Daniel applauds Jeff for being the first composer to put all of his bets on the web rather than the traditional ways composers try to get their works heard.
Daniel also has some nice things to say about Jeff’s work. Check it out.
And while we’re praising Jeff, now might be a good time to thank him for all he does to keep S21 up and running as our official, if unpaid, webmaster.
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.