The Original New Music Community
Musical America is honoring Louis Andriessen as their 2010 Composer of the Year. Seems a fitting tribute in his seventieth birthday year.
That said, there’s been much activity in the contemporary classical arena in 2009. Who would the Sequenza 21 community like to see getting lauded for their achievements? The comments section is open for nominations.
Elliott Carter turns 101 today. By all accounts, he’s hale, hearty, and busily composing!
It’s hard enough delivering an orchestra commission when you’re hale and hearty; but despite losing most of his vision during the course of its lengthy gestation (2001-06) York Höller managed to complete his work Sphären. His efforts amidst considerable adversity have garnered him the 2010 Grawemeyer Award.
Although now almost completely blind, Höller continues to compose. Abetted by assistants, samplers, and a new software called Jaws, he is soldiering on. One hopes that the Grawemeyer’s $200,000 prize will assist in this endeavor.
So, composers, next time you’re planning to tell your commissioner why the piece isn’t done, you’ll need a pretty good excuse: Höller has upped the ante!
Hear Sphären at Boosey’s website.
The New York Times Arts Beat has details about a $10 million dollar gift the New York Philharmonic recently received from equity manager Henry Kravis. A gift earmarked for new music, the money will underwrite composer residencies and commissions for the orchestra.
For those disheartened by the NYPO’s sometimes tepid commitment to new music during the 90s and 00s, this is a welcome sign that things may be changing for the better under the tenure of their new Music Director Alan Gilbert.
Magnus Lindberg will be the orchestra’s Composer-in-residence for the ’09-’10 and ’10-’11 seasons. New York audiences will get to hear four Lindberg works, including two commissioned by the Philharmonic, this season alone.
The question today for Sequenza21 readers: who would you like to see as the Philharmonic’s next Composer-in-residence? In addition, which composers should the orchestra plan to commission in coming years?
A friend recently asked me to come up with a list of music. He wanted a ‘starter’ kit to introduce friends and family to contemporary classical. The constraints are as follows: he wants to fill a 1 GB MP3 player to give as a gift.
Actually, the 1 gig threshold is a challenging one for classical repertoire, requiring a streamlined list. I thought it might be fun to open this up to the Sequenza 21 community. Suggestions? Lists?
New New Paths in Music presents
An Hispanic Festival
Elebash Recital Hall
Graduate Center – CUNY
New York
On Friday June 5th, New Paths in Music presented a concert of composers from Mexico, Argentina, and Spain: two of each. While the program centered around national identities, it contained music in disparate styles and for varying forces. DAVID ALAN MILLER, conductor of the Albany Symphony, led the New Paths Ensemble, a chamber orchestra of crackerjack contemporary players from the New York area.
ENRICO CHAPELA’S “Irrational Music” was a perfect curtain-raiser. The piece is based on Chapela’s explorations of irrational numbers; but this was in no way indicative of a dry or cerebral surface. On the contrary, “Irrational Music” pulsates with vibrant energy. Its frequent time changes and energetic tutti pileups were deftly negotiated by New Paths. What’s more, Chapela’s music set the stage for the rest of the concert; serving as a foreshadowing of elements grappled with throughout the concert. The evening was often about music of deft negotiations – balancing massed orchestration versus delicate linear writing and intricate metric shifts with visceral “dancing” rhythms.
“Colliding Moments” by ALEJANDRO VIÑAO, was for a smaller subunit of the ensemble. Composed for a 2005 concert in Paris, its chamber textures exhibited a Francophilic ambience. Some of the flourishes played by Christopher Oldfather were reminiscent of Messiaen, while violinist Sunghae Anna Lin, flutist Valerie Coleman, and clarinetist Alan Kay were given Impressionist solo turns. Viñao’s work also demonstrates a supple, varied metric layout; but it is a piece one’s likely to remember for delicate pirouettes rather than colliding timescales.
Spanish composer DAVID DEL PUERTO is also a guitarist; his knowledge of the intricacies of the instrument’s capabilities were well-displayed in “Zephyr.” A guitar concerto cast in a single movement, with fast-slow-fast subsections, it was a delightful showcase for the excellent soloist OREN FADER. Del Puerto excelled at making space in the orchestration for Fader’s solos, supplying fleet scalar passages as well as a central section of considerably supple lyricism. That said, there was plenty for the ensemble in the piece as well; transparent accompaniments were contrasted with powerful verticals. Once again, there was a marked emphasis on frequent, fluidly rendered time changes. “Zephyr” is a persuasive, attractive work; one hopes Fader keeps it in his repertoire.
GABRIEL ERKOREKA’S “Trance” draws upon American trance films as a touchstone, likening their post-surrealistic tone and simulated dream states to the piece’s musical explorations. The result was a tempestuous, expressionist, and volatile tone poem, more illustrative of disordered sleep than the meditative or transported states one often associates with trance in popular culture.
More appealing was GABRIELA ORTIZ’S “Amber Stained Glass Windows.” The piece charts the trajectory of a Monarch butterfly, migrating from the composer’s native Mexico to Montreal. Ortiz is a skillful orchestrator, creating limpid, shimmering textures that made particularly fine use of New Path percussionist John Ferrari’s formidable virtuosity. Miller deserves mega-kudos for preserving abundant clarity in this challenging piece.
Argentinean composer ESTEBAN BENZECRY was fortunate to have violinist ROLF SCHULTE performing the solo part in his “Evocations of a Lost World.” Schulte’s nimble execution of dizzying passage work and his ever present flair for the dramatic helped to distract from Benzecry’s frequently mawkish orchestration. Tribal “drums of death” and overblown winds, designed to be evocative of folk materials, instead gave the concert’s closer a bombastic, hackneyed flavor.
Still, the New Paths Hispanic Festival had a lot going for it; dedicated performances, stylistic diversity, and a program featuring several composers who deserve to be better known stateside.
Two of the happiest experiences I’ve had as a composer were back to back summers (’98 and ’99) at JUNE IN BUFFALO. Held at SUNY Buffalo in upstate New York, the weeklong festival is a chance for ‘emerging’ composers to hear their music performed by top notch musicians and to have it critiqued by master composers.
By the end of the festival, they’re likely to have gotten a good tape of their piece, met performers and new music ‘movers and shakers,’ listened to nigh a hundred hours of contemporary fare, gathered tons of ideas for new works of their own, and made some lifelong chums among the other emergent creators. To this day, I keep in touch with many folks I met at JiB.
This year’s festival runs from Monday, June 1 through Sunday, June 7. The senior composers are MARTIN BRESNICK, BERNARD RANDS, MATTHEW ROSENBLUM, HARVEY SOLLBERGER, and festival director DAVID FELDER. Ensembles include the Buffalo Philharmonic, Slee Sinfonietta (JiB’s in-house new music orchestra!), Meridian Arts Ensemble, Verge Ensemble, and the New York New Music Ensemble.
SUNY Buffalo has recently boosted its online presence in the new music community. The university’s Robert and Carol Morris Century for Twenty-first Century Music has launched a website offering programming from the past two years of JiB and other SUNY Buffalo new music activities. Alongside this is an addition to the blogosphere, entitled Edge of the Center.
There’s plenty to be excited about this year, but next year’s festival celebrates twin anniversaries: the thirty-fifth anniversary of JiB’s inception and its twenty-fifth since David Felder resurrected it from hiatus. Should be a loaded week!
While it’s been a while since I’ve gone to JiB, I have a few suggestions for attendees.
1) Bring extra copies of scores, parts, and recordings
2) Make enough business cards to share with performers, composers, etc.
3) That said, don’t force any of the above on anyone. Unlike some venues, the spirit at JiB is more about ‘building a new music community’ and less about ‘sharp elbowed angling for commissions.’
4) Bring non-perishable food: power bars, H2O, etc. Between lectures, seminars, rehearsals, concerts, and socializing, opportunities to eat are few and far between.
5) Leave yourself far more time to get out of the dorm than you think will be necessary. That place is a labyrinth!
6) Be polite to your performers and to the JiB staff. The week is a gauntlet: they are unbelievably busy!
7) Be a good colleague to your fellow composers. If you have something to say about their music, be constructive. Don’t use the masterclasses as an opportunity for one-upmanship.
8 ) Keep open ears. You may not like a certain style now, but getting a chance to hear all sorts of music at JiB may provide stimulus for projects or avenues of inquiry that you can’t yet foresee.
9) Don’t expect to get any new music written. The festival’s days start early and end late. Soak in the sounds. Get out and meet people.
10) Enjoy – you’ll never forget June in Buffalo.
Congratulations to PAULINE OLIVEROS. Columbia University announced today that she is the recipient of the 2009 William Schuman Award: a $50,000 prize which recognizes “the lifetime achievement of an American composer whose works have been widely performed and generally acknowledged to be of lasting significance.” The previous award-winner was John Zorn in 2006.
Columbia will celebrate Oliveros with a concert and reception at 8 PM on March 27, 2010 at Miller Theatre.
Works & Process celebrates Donald Hall this weekend. The 14th U.S. Poet Laureate will read and discuss his work.
New musical settings of Hall’s poetry by Drew Baker, George Lewis, David Del Tredici, Joshua Schmidt and Charles Wuorinen are performed for the first time. Performers include a host of New York’s finest: Mary Nessinger, Tom Meglioranza, Lauren Flanigan, Judith Bettina, James Goldsworthy, Moran Katze, Fred Sherry, Peter Kolkay, David Del Tredici, and Lois Martin.
Musical Premieres – settings of Donald Hall (Works & Process Commission)
DREW BAKER: THE SEA (mezzo-soprano & cello)
DAVID DEL TREDICI: THE POEM &THE MASTER (soprano & piano)
GEORGE LEWIS: THE PAINTED BED (tenor & viola)
JOSHUA SCHMIDT: ROUTINE (baritone & bass clarinet)
CHARLES WUORINEN: MOON CLOCK (baritone & bassoon)
Sun and Mon, May 10 and 11, 7:30 pm
The Peter B. Lewis Theater / Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street
Subway – 4, 5, 6 train to 86th Street / Bus – M1, M2, M3, or M4 bus on Madison or Fifth Avenue
$30 General / $25 Guggenheim Members / $10 Students (25 and under with valid student ID)
(212) 423-3587, M-F, 1–5 PM or visit www.worksandprocess.org
Music by Wolff, Sciarrino, Kotik, Carter, and Ligeti / Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble, Ostravská Banda, FLUX Quartet; Petr Kotik, Conductor /Alice Tully Hall, May 6, 2009
Conductor/composer Petr Kotik has been an impressive advocate for contemporary music in New York for forty years. Residing in the US since 1969, he has been running the S.E.M. ensemble since 1970: performing a wide range of repertoire, commissioning works and cultivating successive generations of young players into seasoned new music performers. S.E.M.’s orchestral unit has been active since ’92; Kotik’s also been running Ostravská Banda, an international chamber orchestra comprised of S.E.M. players and young European counterparts, since ’05. Both of these groups, as well as the FLUX string quartet, another youngish ensemble devoted to new music, were featured on Wednesday night’s Tully Hall performance: a program of brand new chamber music and three contemporary works that seem destined for the core repertory.
Christian Wolff’s Trio for Robert Ashley (commissioned for the concert) employed three of the FLUX members – violinist Tom Chiu, violist Max Mandel, and cellist Felix Fan – in a fragmentary multi-movement piece. Indeed, its juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated musical materials set the tone for an evening devoted to unorthodox formal presentation. Sustained notes were set against skittering, Webernian motifs. Single lines evaporated into pensive rests while vigorous tutti were all too ephemeral; evaporating into the silence from when they came.
In its US premiere, Salvatore Sciarrino’s Vento D’Ombra made quite an impression. Another work which employed silences as well as fragmentary gestures as signatures, it focused on tiny musical cells – mostly dyads and trichords – as well as a cornucopia of special effects. Wind and brass players breathed through mouthpieces without fingering notes, strings played scordatura and microtones. The whole was a meticulously shaded pointillist canvas of brief gestures, undulating slides, and pianissimo staccato dabs.
Kotik’s own String Quartet was cast in a lengthy single movement. Impeccably performed by FLUX, it was centered on an ambling, long-breathed melody played by the quartet in unison (later in octaves). Only gradually did this evolve into two-voice counterpoint, with a violin countermelody that took on greater urgency. Tutti passages ratcheted up the tension quotient still further, evocative of some of the brilliant polyphonic passages from Ligeti’s second quartet. The idée fixe unison passage returned at pivotal junctures, requiring precise coordination and tuning on the part of FLUX: both were readily supplied.
Elliott Carter’s recent ‘second piano concerto,’ Dialogues, is a fascinating companion piece to the monolithic concerto from the 1960s. Written for a much smaller orchestra, it allows the soloist to take on an enlarged role. In a clever inverse of its larger precursor, the pianist often overwhelms the ensemble, cowing it with brilliant virtuosity. Daan Wandewalle was an excellent protagonist, supplying brilliant cadenzas, thunderous verticals, and an overarching sense of shaping and musicality. (more…)