Contemporary Classical

Contemporary Classical

Last Night in L.A.: eighth blackbird

The County Museum of Art didn’t cancel all serious music:  just the Monday Evening Concerts.  Under new management, the music program now offers occasional concerts on any night but Monday.  They try to relate the bookings and programming to the art.  Thanks to one other difference — being willing to do some PR — a good crowd came to LACMA to see eighth blackbird.  The ostensible tie-in to the art was with the smashing special exhibition on Magritte and art he influenced.  (Unfortunately the museum is closed on Wednesdays so that for the attendees the art was limited to a distracting slide show behind the musicians.) 

The six musicians of eighth blackbird gave us a well-chosen program in which some of the works did resonate with the attitudes and approaches of the exhibit.  My favorite was by Stephen Hartke, USC professor and composer of this summer’s The Greater Good at Glimmerglass.  The program opened with his The Horse with the Lavender Eye (1997).  This is a work of four disparate movements for violin, clarinet, and piano.  Magritte might well have appreciated the music inspired by history and art images.  The first movement, “Music of the Left” has all three played only by the left hands.  (The clarinetist was allowed to use his right hand to support the instrument, but the violinist had to perform his pizzicati on the neck of the violin.)  The finale, “Cancel My Rhumba Lesson” was inspired by an R. Crumb comic.

Ending the program was Joseph Schwantner’s Rhiannon’s Blackbirds (2006), written for the group and receiving its West Coast premiere.  In justaposition of title and performer this was another nice gesture to the exhibition.  It’s a very good work.  On first listening, this work seemed a story of constant evolution, with shifts of color, rhythm, harmony, volume, texture.  The program notes describe use of a palindrome as a key element, but I was too occupied in the moment to get any sense of shape.

The three works in between were by Gordon Fitzell, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and Gordon Beeferman.  Fitzell’s Violence (2001) was, to me, a non-violent meditation.  (A sample is available here.)  The Sanchez-Gutierrez Luciernagas [Fireflies] (1998) was a mood portrait of flickering lights exemplifying souls of the murdered residents from a now-deserted Salvadorian village.  Beeferman’s Reliquary (2005) was inspired by the composer’s going through his grandmother’s attic.  This was another work written for eighth blackbird and being given its West Coast premiere.

The group has been selected to serve as music director of the Ojai Festival in two years, and I’m looking forward to hearing their influence on the programs.  They have taste as well as talent.

by JerryZ
Contemporary Classical, Piano

Hugh Sung’s Magical Mystery Tour

Our favorite techno-geek pianist Hugh Sung has come up with a really neat new way to integrate live music with dynamic imagery, animations, and synchronized video clips, all of which can be controlled by the performing musician directly a simple foot-switch.  Think Arditti Quartet meets the Joshua Light Show.  (Perhaps too old a reference for most of you.)  Hugh calls his system the Visual Recital which seems as good a name as any.

You can catch Hugh’s next Visual Recital live on Saturday night at the Darlington Arts Center, 977 Shavertown Road, Boothwyn, PA
(610-358-3632) or if you can’t make it you can watch this sample clip from “Vernacular Dance No. 1” by S21 blogger Charles B. Griffin: 

[youtube]vW4ud9k9-x8[/youtube]

by Jerry Bowles
Composers, Contemporary Classical

Philip Glass at 70–Undervalued or Not?

Philip Glass turns 70 today and it seems to me he is doing so without much of the hoopla that surrounded Steve Reich’s attainment of that milestone a few months back.  No mention of the event in today’s New York Times and Google News turns up only a brief note about a birthday concert in Nashville.  Underwhelming reaction for a man who is America’s best-known living composer and one whose music is so widely available in so many forms–CDs, films, concerts and so on.

Part of the problem, it seems to me, is that Glass had written so much music that critics assume that it must be uneven in quality and, of course, that is certainly true.  But, like the work of Martinu, (another busy little beaver) Glass’ seconds are better than most composers’ first. 

Whatever it is, Glass is generally undervalued by the critics and music directors and that’s a shame because he has (according to some critics whose work I respect) been doing some of his best composing in years lately.  When his new opera Waiting for the Barberians opened in Austin last weekend, the reviews were considerably better than they have been for a long time:  “Some of [Glass’s] most agile, vivid music,” wrote Steve Smith for The New York Times, “setting scenes with a genuinely impressive emotional specificity.” Mark Swed said in The Los Angeles Times that “Barbarians is a sad, shocking and painfully pensive story … Glass’s music, commercially successful, long ago lost its ability to shock. But he can still write melancholic, wistfully pensive music — and better than ever.”  

Another new Glass opera, Appomattox, will debut next October at the San Francisco Opera.

So, here’s today’s Cafferty File question:  Is Philip Glass overrated, underrated, or fairly valued?  I want an up or down answer from everybody. 

by Jerry Bowles
Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical

He’s Baaack!

Major props to young Master Salvage for his outstanding work attending to the front page over the past couple of weeks while I attended to some pressing matters of commerce.  Big up yourself, David.  Well done.

So, let’s go to the mailbag and see what’s happening.  Ah, here’s something.  Our regular Rob Deemer has just launched a new radio program called The Composer Next Door on Oklahoma City’s classical radio station KCSC-FM.  Rob, who lives and teaches in OC, approached the general manager of the station last summer with the idea of a  locally-created show that focuses on living composers and new music.  Six months later, Rob tells us, it’s running smoothly.

“I’ve contacted composers from all over the country (and am continuing to do so) and over 50 established and emerging composers have been gracious in donating recordings to include in the broadcast,” he says. “The project is entirely home-grown; I write and record the scripts and edit the show completely in my own house. It’s a labor of love, but I think it may have some legs to it (and will be easily transportable if I find myself in another location in the future).”

The show is aired at 4 pm CST every Sunday on KCSC and is available on the web.  Sounds like fun.

This looks neat.  Miller Theater is doing the U.S. premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Lost Highway, an opera based on the David Lynch film, on February 23 and 24.  The production is a joint between Miller and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music’s Contemporary Music Division.   Says here that “This haunting opera was adapted from the cult film by David Lynch, and is at once a mystery and a thriller.  Neuwirth’s moody and mysterious opera combines live musicians, singers, actors, electronics, and video-a full arsenal of stage techniques to bring Lynch’s film to life with gripping immediacy.” We’re reserving judgement.

I need somebody to handle the front page for me from February 5 through 10.  Who wants to be lead blogger for a week?  Means you have to put something up every day before noon.  Hands?

Here’s a little something for your dining and dancing pleasure recommended by Marco Antonio Mazzini, which reminds me of a couple of things.  One is that the HBO series Rome is fabulous with all these great English actors and actresses that you never heard of.  Equal opportunity full-frontal nudity, too. The other is that an Italian guy I know is looking for somebody to practice his English on for about an hour a day for a couple of weeks.  He’s making a presentation in English in Las Vegas in February and wants to polish a bit.  Late afternoon, early evening, and he’s willing to pay.  You must, however, Skype.  Don’t volunteer unless you’re Skypeable.

And now on with the show:

[youtube]rC3OXai7W9I[/youtube]  

by Jerry Bowles
CDs, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music

Before, Between and After

DeLaurenti CD cover My pal Christopher DeLaurenti — composer, field-recordist, improviser, and writer on Seattle’s classical and new-music scene in the weekly Stranger newspaper — is happy to announce the release of his latest CD, Favorite Intermissions: Music Before and Between Beethoven, Stravinsky and Holst. Chris’ short description:

“Secretly recorded at orchestral concerts across the country, this collection of intermissions teems with unusual soundscapes, startling (and unintended) collective improvisations, and surprising, sometimes gritty sonic detail from the sacred space of the concert hall. [….] Why record intermissions? One duty of the composer is to expose the unexpected, overlooked, and hidden skeins of music woven in the world around us. Culling sounds from the world as a composition subverts long-standing, essentialist notions of music as comprised of notes, melody, traditional instruments (violin, guitar, drums, piano, etc.) and so forth as well as flouts contemporary expectations of abstractly agglomerated, musique concrète-ized sound.”

I see Chris himself on the right of the cover, no doubt deep in the process of bringing us this latest opus. You can get your own copy directly through GD Records.

by Steve Layton
Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Uncategorized

John Ogdon, born January 27th 1937

John Ogdon was born, seventy years ago, on January 27th 1937. The following words were written by him in 1981. “Here then…are some of the harsh facts behind the words ‘severe mental illness’ and ‘serious nervous breakdown’ which the press has been using about me so often lately. Not that I am complaining about the press! – I was thrilled by the sympathetic and wide spread media interest that came my way both before and after my return to the … concert stage”. 

Ogdon (photo above) was an extraordinary pianist, composer, and new music visionary whose close friends and musical influences included Peter Maxwell Davies, (who wrote his Opus 1 Sonata for Trumpet and Opus 2 Five Pieces for Piano for him), Harrison Birtwistle and Alexander Goehr.

For the full story visit John Ogdon – a blazing meteor.

by Pliable
Click Picks, Composers, Contemporary Classical

Steve’s click picks #14

Our regular listen to and look at living, breathing composers and performers that you may not know yet, but I know you should… And can, right here and now, since they’re nice enough to offer so much good listening online:

Bun-Ching Lam (b. 1954 — China / US)

Bun-Ching Lam — Born in the Macau region of China, Bun-Ching Lam began studying piano at the age of seven and gave her first public solo recital at fifteen. In 1976, she received a B.A. in piano performance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She then accepted a scholarship from the University of California at San Diego, where she studied composition with Bernard Rands, Robert Erickson, Roger Reynolds, Pauline Oliveros. Afterwards she was invited to join the music faculty of the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where she taught until 1986. She’s been the Jean MacDuff Vaux Composer-in-Residence at Mills College, California, the America Dance Festival, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra; and a Visiting Professor in Composition at the School of Music, Yale University, and at Bennington College in Vermont. She now divides her time between Paris and New York.

From an interview with Meet The Composer‘s Ken Gallo:

Bun-Ching Lam: Half of my life I have lived in the United States and I grew up in Macau, which was a Portuguese colony. So, I was well versed in Western culture; but still deeply rooted in my Chinese culture. I have the best of both worlds. Actually, I don’t think of it as two worlds. It’s one world; one with a very cosmopolitan view. I’m comfortable here; I’m comfortable in China, and, actually, I’m comfortable in Europe. I speak all these different languages. There is no conflict in who I am. Sometimes I feel like eating Japanese food; sometimes I feel like eating French. I am a citizen of the world. It’s all the same to me.

Ken Gallo: You didn’t grow up under Communist rule?

BCL: No, I grew up under Portuguese government. My piano teacher was Portuguese and we spoke English most of the time. My background is very different from other Chinese-American composers like Bright Sheng, Zhou Long and Chen Yi, although we are all Chinese.

KG: When you lived in China, did you know these other Chinese composers who are now your American colleagues?

BCL: Actually, we only met in 1986 in Hong Kong during a Chinese composers conference. That was the first time; 10 years after the Cultural Revolution.

KG: Did you find that you had any common stories to share about the Cultural Revolution?

BCL: Not really. For example, Chen Yi is from Canton which is not far from Macau; like from NYC to Albany. Although, we both speak Cantonese, politically Canton was a very different climate than Macau. I did go to a so-called “Communist school,” so I knew all the Revolutionary songs. During the Cultural Revolution, when I was in school, I was playing the accordion and singing songs praising Chairman Mao. We all have that in common. When we met they were very surprised when I knew all those songs.

Sure, Chen Yi’s hit the big awards, Tan Dun’s the flavor-of-the-month; but Bun-Ching Lam’s been working her own brand of fusion every bit as long or longer, just as comfortable writing for zheng, dizi, erhu and sho as for trombone, violin, or piano, and has made plenty of more-than-wonderful music. From her site, follow the link marked “Samples” and you’ll find MP3s of complete movements of a number of her works, a good 50 minutes at least.

by Steve Layton
Click Picks, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Uncategorized

Steve’s click picks #13

Philippe Kocher (b. 1973 — Switzerland)

Philippe Kocher

Philippe Kocher studied piano, electroacoustic music and musicology in Zurich and more recently music theory and composition with Detlev Müller-Siemens at the Musikakademie Basel, where he graduated in June 2004. He spent the academic year 2004-05 in London at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was at the same time a student and a teaching assistant for electroacoustic composition and real-time digital audio programming (Max/MSP). His work encompasses pieces for instruments and voice with or without electronics, and his interest lies both in electronic and instrumental music. As means for sound and score synthesis, the computer has become his most important instrument in both fields. Philippe’s music has been performed both in Switzerland and world-wide (Berlin, Munich, Rome, London, Brussels, Bourges, New York, Boston) as well as being broadcast by Swiss and German radio stations.

I suppose a lot of Kocher’s music qualifies for the new-high-modernist moniker, but it’s much more appealing than that sounds, with lots of brilliant color and quirky asides. Head for the “Audio” link on the navigation, and you’ll find plenty to hear; Figuren Bewegungen (6 microtonally-tuned keyboards) or Il Niege au Soleil (solo violin, ensemble and electronics) are slightly more intimate starting-points, while the larger and longer die moderne Unruhe setzt ein (mixed choir, violin, violoncello, baritone saxophone, percussion, sampler and live electronics) is a much more ambitious place to dive in.

by Steve Layton
Composers, Contemporary Classical, Uncategorized

Equality of the composing sexes

Five minutes before Elisabeth Lutyens appeared live on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Start the Week’ in 1979 she threatened to denounce Russell Harty as a ‘homosexual interviewer’ if he mentioned the phrase ‘lady composer’; thankfully Harty avoided using the words when the programme was on air. Lutyens was a larger than life personality who pioneered serial techniques in her unfairly neglected music. She was also well connected as my photo shows. For the full story, and a recommendation of a new CD of her music, click on Walking with Stravinsky.

by Pliable
Awards, Composers, Contemporary Classical

Better late than never…

tsontakis_g.jpg

We’re a little late in reporting this, but last month composer George Tsontakis was awarded the Charles Ives Living by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. I had never heard of this prize before, but it’s a sweet deal. Tsontakis receives $75,000. each year for three years provided that he forgo all normal paid work. He may, however, accept commissions. The Charles Ives Living was established by Ives’s widow with royalties from her late husband’s music. This round the selection committee was chaired by none other than William Bolcom. The previous three winners were Stephen Hartke, Chen Yi, and Martin Bresnick. 

Can we agree that between this and the Grawemeyer Tsontakis is on a serious roll these days? I think we can.

Otherwise things look pretty quiet here today. I’m taking over the daily post here for two weeks as Jerry sees to some Top Secret S21 Business. Stay tuned . . .

by David Salvage