aworks :: "new" american classical music

Studies for Player Piano No. 2a (before 1950). Conlon Nancarrow /aws 2007.1/

I felt obliged to attend tonight's Alarm Will Sound concert at Stanford given it was close to home, featured favorites like Ligeti and Aphex Twin, had a premiere of a John Adams piece that was a sequel to his Chamber Concerto that I saw in the North American premiere in 1992, was a follow-up to last year's lively AWS concert at UC Berkeley, and had two instances of my current interest in Nancarrow player piano transciptions. So I did.

And in a nice gesture, the University illuminated Hoover Tower in crimson red in honor of their guest and Harvard graduate John Adams. Ok, maybe that wasn't their intent, given tomorrow is the Big Game versus Cal. (As football rivalries go, not that exciting. It's like watching Goldman Sachs take on Morgan Stanley, except less physical and more wacky).

Wacky versus substantive was the overall theme for the night. Alarm Will Sound, noted for their unconventional and hip performances, got things off to a rollicking start with the transcription of Nancarrow's Study No. 2a, a simple blues riff transformed into rhythmic complexity. AWS pushed this even further by walking around the stage while they played, kneeling, lying prone etc. It was entertaining and the music was presented in an accessible way. But is it really legitimate and worthy? I need to think about this...

links for 2007-11-30

• EETimes.com - IPhone delays to impact NAND in '08
  "Apple Computer Inc. could push out the introduction of the next-generation iPhone, which may put a damper on the NAND flash market in 2008" Please ignore. Link is for work purposes (although I do aspire to buy iPhone v2).
• Daily Kos: CO-Sen: San Francisco Liberals
  "The damn thing is just LOADED with San Francisco-created widgets and tools!" Beg your pardon. I'm only finding non-music links of interest tonight...
• ComposerLaFave: News and Views from an American Composer/Writer: 'Messiah' and 'Nutcracker' -- unlikely holiday staples
  "The music was played by American orchestras in the excerpts known as the “Nutcracker” Suite, but it wasn’t until 1940 that Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo brought the actual ballet to American scores." Ok, back to music. Hmm, didn't know this.
• Amazon.com: The Song Remains The Same - Greets Led Zeppelin: MP3 Downloads: Sly & Robbie
  The gentlest Led Zep ever...
• Judgment Trumps Experience - WSJ.com
  'Perhaps no one articulated the nature of the beginner's mind better than the composer Hector Berlioz when he said of his more popular rival Camille Saint-Saëns: "He knows everything. All he lacks is inexperience."' Behind the WSJ firewall, unfortunately
• Finance Blog - Market Movers by Felix Salmon: Blogonomics: Why Blogs Won't Make Lots of Money for Millionaires - Portfolio.com
  I like the Scott Adams blog, but my blogging expectations were much lower i.e. when I started in 2003, my biggest worry was that google wouldn't ever index aworks.

Studies for Player Piano Nos. 31 and 33 (1965-9). Conlon Nancarrow /music for vulcans/

The Arditti Quartet have a new recording on Wergo of the music of Conlon Nancarrow -- two of his string quartets, some transcriptions of his player piano studies, and two other pieces.

The Arditti play with their usual rigor and intensity despite the obvious difficulty of this music. However, the studies in particular sound like neither a string quartet nor something for player piano. If I heard this in a blind listening test, I doubt I would begin to recognize it. And yet on first listen, I am fascinated...

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prior aworks nancarrow posts

sound. at the Schindler House (2002). Carl Stone /songza/

Songza is "the music search engine & jukebox" and appears to use YouTube as a source. Here is the Songza widget for playing Carl Stone's sound. at the Schindler House:

Given that YouTube has such a rich collection of music, maybe this service on top of it will be useful...

links for 2007-11-27

• Musicwhore.org: Favorite edition 2007: Quarter final
  "Speaks Volumes is the album Björk has been trying to make for the last six years." Nico Muhly in a 2007 top 10 list.

links for 2007-11-26

• I like Sigur Ros. What modernist composers should I listen to? | Ask MetaFilter
  The Max Richter suggestion isn't bad. But despite the questioner using the term "modernist," I don't think they are looking for Elliott Carter.
• Pandora Presents... Holiday Music
  "They look at the swing origin of much modern Christmas music, talk about minor and major tonality in carols, and get into word painting and vocalizing."

Jitlada (2007). Carl Stone /infectious, but in a good way/

Now that I live in the abstract world of MP3 music, I'm not always sure about what I'm listening to. But apparently I purchased and ripped what must be a new album from Carl Stone titled "Al-Noor."

At first listen, the tracks are more disparate than expected. But Jitlada's voices and beat are instantly infectious. And it would appear that Jitlada is named after a Thai restaurant in LA.

The album is reviewed:

Taking the minimalism of say Reich and Glass into the world of computers, these four 'songs' (lasting anywhere between nine and twenty-four minutes) are all shifting phases and time measures and create a hypnotic feel.

as is the restaurant:

Fresh turmeric, sator beans, frogs legs with santol fruit, young tamarind shoots and palm vinegar are just a few of the rare ingredients that go into Southern Thai cuisine, which is full of fragrant curries, fresh herbs and unusual vegetables.

links for 2007-11-23

• what is that sound | Ask MetaFilter
  'I've heard that is called a "descending chromatic wah".'
• calimac: two concerts
  "Despite the indominable Garrick Ohlsson as soloist, Barber's Piano Concerto seemed noisy and tiresome. I much prefer his Violin Concerto."
• Critics in Residence: Anthony Tommasini
  Stanford lecture in 2008 for what it's worth...
• Stochasticactus: A Bad Idea, Poorly Executed
  Although Stanley Crouch's phrase "glittering spiritual vomit" is at least memorable...
  (tags: no_tag)
• Rootmasters – I Nearly Married Janis Joplin's Mum – Music at Last.fm
  Track title of the day.
• Don’t Explain » Blog Archive » Thoroughly dismantled
  "Porter pushes his own biases to the point of erecting a jazz counter-history as bizarre as Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle (set in a world where the Axis won WW2)."

links for 2007-11-21

• aworks :: "new" american classical music: Orbits (1979). Henry Brant
  A commenter still listens to KDFC despite its problems and also suggests "the Bay Area isn't the mecca of culture it makes itself out to be" and maybe we deserve what we get with KDFC. Hmm, need to ponder that one...
• Marginal Revolution: Recommended Christmas and holiday gifts
  "John Adams, The Dharma at Big Sur/My Father Knew Charles Ives, and yes I spent twenty years as a Johns Adams skeptic. In the last few years he's raised his music to an entirely new level."

links for 2007-11-20

• Out West Arts: Dis is the City
  "You have to hand it to the Los Angeles Master Chorale and their fearless leader Grant Gershon." re: Louis Andriessen
• Are Spirituals "Classical"? | Chicago Classical Music
  'Are African-American spirituals "classical music"? If so, why? If not, why not?'
• PlaybillArts: News: World Premiere of John Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony at Stanford University Nov. 30
  "John Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony will receive its world premiere on November 30 at the Stanford Lively Arts' Dinkelspiel Auditorium in California." I saw the premiere of the original but may not be able to make this one...