Remember how last year’s music Pulitzer was awarded to Ornette Coleman’s “Sound Grammar” even though the album wasn’t entered into the competition? I argued at the time that by awarding the prize to a composer who hadn’t entered, the Pulitzer committee had essentially voided the requested $50 “handling fee.” This is significant because the number of people who apply for the prize each year is quite small–last year there were only 129 entries for the music prize. Presumably what happens is that only people who think that they write in the right style and have the right connections and national profile bother
Read moreNaxos has a spate of exciting releases coming out, including recordings of works by Carter, Wuorinen, Coates, and Hersch, all of which will be covered in subsequent columns. Today’s posting focuses on their recently released new music sampler. Various Artists Sonic Rebellion Naxos WWW.Naxos.com Want to familiarize yourself or your loved ones with modern classical music, but not sure where to begin? Sonic Rebellion, a compilation of excerpts from Naxos recordings, is an excellent single disc starter kit. The CD features composers in most of the main stylistic idioms prevalent in recent times: modernism, minimalism, aleatory, neo-romanticism, and even electronic
Read moreI am not, generally speaking, a big fan of movie music although the ability to produce useful art on demand appeals to my lifetime hack sensibilities. I don’t think Bernard Hermann and Miklos Rozsa are overlooked concert hall geniuses who might have been among the greats had they not traded their souls for big houses in Beverly Hills. They are what they are. Writing for films is a craft, not an art, but it is a demanding craft that not every composer–even a great one–can do. In Andre Previn’s memoirs of his Hollywood years (which is called No Minor Chords because Irving Thalberg once degreed
Read moreThe past few months have seemed depressingly full of deaths, including some of the grand figures of our time. But sadder still is when we lose a wonderful musical voice far too soon. I just learned over at NewMusicBox that the highly talented composer and pianist Jennifer Fitzgerald lost her life to cancer just a few days before Christmas. Only 32 years old, but already crafting some really beautiful, exciting music… One of the strange artifacts of the Internet age is that a person can leave and yet appear to be around through their webpages, busy and happy, like nothing at all had happened
Read moreThe music year in Los Angeles is getting off to a good start with an exciting mini-festival by the L.A. Phil, led by David Robertson. What’s even nicer is that the Phil has given Sequenza21 readers a chance to win two tickets to next Friday’s concert, January 11, the program that appropriately includes “Sequenza X”. The contest ends tomorrow night, so enter now! First, let me tantalize you just a little with some details of the series. Next week there will be the premiere of a new Michael Gordon work with Bill Morrison, “Dystopia”, with the Boulez “Explosante-Fixe” as the
Read moreRenewable Music‘s long-time American-in-Deutschland, Daniel J. Wolf, had the idea of inviting composers to contribute to an album for piano, simply centered around this moment and season. No publishers, no glitzy “call for works”, just a friendly invitation for any interested. The result is the A Winter Album, twelve piano pieces of quite diverse hues, for each and everyone of us to freely peruse in our gray and inclement hours. The composers may not be known to you, but all the better; they’re a stellar bunch in my book: Dennis Báthory-Kitsz, Jon Brenner, Steed Cowart, Elaine Fine, Hauke Harder, Ben.Harper,
Read moreOne of our greatest musical thinkers in these last fifty years, Leonard B. Meyer has passed away. His series of books from 1956 onwards are still avidly bought, read and discussed in 2007, and that’s no mean feat. Some of his work was pioneering, some spookily prescient, and a lot of it has stuck in this head since my earliest college days. Thanks for all the fish, Leonard.
Read moreAnd you thought the only ones who needed to worry were the illegal file-sharers? After reading this article, think again: …in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased
Read moreLast week, Democrats gave up their fight to block $70 billion in unrestricted war funding and on December 19, Congress sent the $556 billion omnibus spending bill to President Bush, who is expected to sign it. Included in this bill is a historic increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Funding for the NEA will be increased by $20.144 million, or about 16%, to $144.706 million for FY08. This is less than the $160 million appropriation proposed in the House version of the bill, but more than the Senate proposal of $133.412 million and more than the President’s requested $128.412
Read moreI missed this little diatribe from Bernard Holland in the Times. Thanks to Carmen Tellez for bringing it to my attention: Unpleasant truths were another topic brought back forcefully by a concert at the Kitchen in September, by the fine young group Either/Or. Here was a program of 1960s arrogance and self-absorption, with people like Cornelius Cardew, Christian Wolff and Earle Brown as the main offenders. Listening to a collection of composers sharing inside jokes and private messages in music that reeked of contempt for the public made me get down on my knees and give thanks that an era
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