aworks :: "new" american classical music

aworks ordered list :: new feeds of the month

1. we are all mozart. Dennis Báthory-Kitsz is prolific and thought-provoking, to say the least. I'm still chewing on Radiohead's potential lack of place in his concept of nonpop, if there is such a thing (versus the just-fired Robert Christgau's semipop).
   
2. dancing about architecture. Currently blogging about Steve Reich's Early Works CD!
3. classical life. Orange County Register critic.
4. kenneth woods - a view from the podium. The first conductor blog I know about.
5. parent hacks. Hacks for parents (as opposed to hacks on parents).
6. parker catalano's mog posts. Interesting blog from mog ("mog - discover people through music and music through people").
7. gigaom. networking industry blog.
8. enterprise web 2.0. Jerry Bowles on technology.
9. against the wind. Life's a journey if not a Bob Seger song, I suppose. This is a blog about a bicyclist who is currently headed down the California coast. Illegal camping in Carmel. Cool.
10. line out. Seattle-based pop blog.

wikipedia: nonpop robert christgau
blogday: today happens to be blogday 2006 but i think all these blogs are intra-usa blogs so it may not be applicable.

4' 33" (1952). John Cage /cagespace/

Here's the myspace page for the new record label with an upcoming CDR of five versions of 4' 33". Seeing the banner ad at the top ("Shoot the Pop-Star and Get FREE Ringtones!") while listening is either appropriate or jarring, I'm not sure which.

Francois Hubert reviews the recording:

Nevertheless, there are 5 different versions of “4’33’’” on this CDR, the fourth one consisting “only” of digital silence, i.e. a silent track...Personally, I found the inclusion of this track of digital silence to hold the very key to this particular project, thus reinforcing its overall impact and rendering all the more important Cage’s timeless invitation to listen to the world and to ourselves

Piano Fantasy (1955-57). Aaron Copland /tim page's 20th century/

Tim Page has his list of 25 recordings to represent 20th century classical music.

Adagio for Strings (1936). Samuel Barber /is it live or is it memorex?/

The Guardian has an article about the Vienna Symphonic Library, comprising 1.5 million sound samples from 100 instruments. A synthetic version of Adagio was compared with a traditional recording and quickly found wanting:

'It's the texture. The attack of the bow on the string. The computer version is almost too perfect. It's impressive, but you don't have the right sort of phrasing.'

The Threepenny Opera (1928). Kurt Weill /beyond the drek/

Wikipedian Mathias Schindler has created a chart of most recently visited pages in the English Wikipedia. It has all the drek you might expect but classical music does show up at #71 in the current list. In the middle of the "cultural durability" section of the classical music entry, note the following warning:

Would that all writing on music carry such a warning...

Not much of relevance here is mentioned in the article: Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera as an example of classical influenced by popular music and Aaron Copland's Rodeo as an example of classical music in commercials. I'd suggest United Airlines' use of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue as an example.

The American classical music entry is incomplete at best but again, at least they warn us:

If Dogs Only Knew (). Robin Cox

And two "songspots" by Robin Cox here:

quartetto ricercare (1999/2003). Dan Coleman

This is a "songspot" of the Cypress String Quartet playing the first movement of Dan Coleman's quartetto ricercare. I'm still working out the mechanics but this enables me to legally stream the track. I'm guessing it won't appear in a feed aggregator so go here to see/hear it.

The composer:

I took my cue from Mozart and Beethoven, and wrote a series of variations. But in my quartet the "theme" upon which these variations are based is never explicitly stated.

Dog Breath Variations (1969). Frank Zappa

The Teheran Symphony Orchestra plays Frank Zappa's Dog Breath Variations, among other works:

Muhammad Hussain Ahmadi, general director of the music and poetry office at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance who accompanied the orchestra, said the government places no restrictions on which Western composers can be performed.

Chamber Symphony (1992). John Adams /monotonized by choice?/

Dennis Báthory-Kitsz writes about classical music and the lack of cultural choices in rural areas versus the preponderance of opportunity in urban areas:

The concert -- no matter what its content -- is that gold or diamond, blue candy, glittering stone, red dress. If there are many diamonds or blue candies or glittering stones or red dresses, our eyes fail to see and we are monotonized by choice.

Am I allowed to say this is how I felt at the Alarm Will Sound concert of John Adams music in Berkeley earlier this year? So much so I couldn't even finish blogging about it even though China Gates is a delightful piece (even if the Chamber Symphony is not).

And yet, after several years of shuffle mode and before that years of "by album" mode, I now often listen to MP3s sorted by artist or composer. I can't consecutively listen to all 217 Copland tracks (or 169 of Radiohead) but even in much smaller increments, the approach leads to a more coherent experience. But having the ability to select something else when finally bored is liberating.

I still plan to attend next year's Alarm Will Sound concert of the music of Conlon Nancarrow.

aworks: alarm will sound trip report one two three four five six seven eight
current listening: gidon kremer playing brahms violin concerto (no, really)

Adagio for Strings (1936). Samuel Barber /friday random ten/

Friday's random ten, inspired by fredosphere's timelessness posts (and just where do I find a working 8-track player, anyway?):

• Adagio for Strings. Charlie Haden and the Liberation Music Orchestra. I had high hopes for this jazz arrangement but despite the additional color, it doesn't begin to have the impact of a good quartet version.
• Adagio for Strings. Tiesto. youtube via aworks.
• Adagio for Strings. Isaac Stern.
• Adagio for Strings. Families of Freedom Fund.
• Adagio for Strings. Leonard Bernstein.
• Adagio for Strings. aworks. This is an old aworks Adagio post digitized by talkr (talkr quit working for me soon after. ???). mp3
• Adagio for Strings. William Orbit.
• String Quartet Op. 11. Emerson String Quartet.
• Adagio for Strings. Platoon soundtrack.
• Adagio for Strings. Exile on Classical Street. Michael Stipe's selection for a classical CD assembled by rockers.

And it's not that I dislike the piece; it's just over-exposure to what may be American classical music's most "beautiful" composition.

napster: 97 adagio for string tracks charlie haden wikipedia: michael stipe charlie haden charlie sheen 8-track cartridge swicki: frequent barber-related search query youtube: alternate tiesto adagio video