aworks :: "new" american classical music

Mass (1971). Leonard Bernstein /lennie and the beatles would also approve/

I just noticed that Alarm Will Sound made the upper right "brilliant/highbrow" corner of this week's New York Magazine's Approval Matrix:

Alarm Will Sound explores "a/rhythmic" music at Zankel Hall, in arguably the number-one a/rhythmia show in town.

Usually, the only classical artists to make the matrix are legends like Steve Reich or Philip Glass. Despite the fact the group's Zankel Hall concert was last month and the even more newsworthy "1969" concert just played at The Kitchen this weekend, I'm impressed with the recognition. Note that the Zankel concert was what I saw at Stanford last year (posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5); the more recent show was a themed extravaganza, including works by Berio, Bernstein, Stockhausen, and a re-creation of the Beatles' Revolution No. 9.

Keeping with all things musical and New York, Alarm Will Sound also has a call for scores:

Alarm Will Sound invites submissions for a 5-15 minute piece to be performed as part of a March 2009 Alice Tully concert of music by New York City composers. Works should be submitted in PDF and/or MP3 format to submission@alarmwillsound.com. Preference will be given to works that use Alarm Will Sound's full instrumentation and which do not require additional personnel. This call for scores is directed at New York City composers -- the connection of the composer to New York City should be explained as part of the submission. All submissions must be received by 5:00PM EDT on April 1st.

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• bernstein mass wikipedia entry.   
• alarm will sound website.
• youtube video from the band in the lowbrow/despicable corner of the approval matrix, complete with warning "This video may not be suitable for minors." the nsfw content probably isn't suitable even for those of us who actually remember the year 1969.
• "behind the approval matrix" blog.
• an approval matrix from earlier in the month points out prince is getting a hip replacement.

West Side Story (1957). Leonard Bernstein

Robert Hurwitt in the SF Chronicle reminds us 2007 is the 50th anniversary of the stage version of West Side Story and maybe the 400th anniversary of a Shakespeare play.

wikipedia: west side story coriolanus timon of athens

Peter Pan (1950). Leonard Bernstein

Via Playbill, the Leonard Bernstein Peter Pan CD debuts on the classical music charts:

The CD restores music that was discarded from the musical when it ran on Broadway in 1950 and '51. It features musical theater veteran Linda Eder and baritone Daniel Narducci. Alexander Frey is the conductor.

In the 1950 production, Jean Arthur was Peter Pan and Boris Karloff Captain Hook. Ok, given Jean Arthur's voice, I'd really like to hear her sing; less so, Boris Karloff.

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Update: A cursory check of iTunes, Rhapsody, and singingfish didn't turn up any Jean Arthur MP3s.

In today's SF Chronicle, Robert Hurwitt has a capsule review of the CD and says the work is "smart and vigorously tuneful." He also describes how much of the Bernstein score and half of the songs had to be dropped because Arthur and Karloff couldn't sing.

Film composer Dmitri Tiomkin (Giant, High Noon, Rawhide TV theme song) on writing for certain actors' voices:

Jimmie Stewart is another actor for whom it is a delight to write music. Paradoxically, his speaking voice is not “musical.” But it has a slightly nasal quality and occasionally “cracks” in a way that is easy to complement. Jean Arthur's voice is somewhat similar. Just why this type of voice should be easy to write for, I don't know. One might speculate that since these voices have little colour in themselves, the complementary musical backdrop doesn't bump into or fall over the dialogue. The mere fact that such voices are unmusical gives them an additional definition.