aworks :: "new" american classical music

For Cornelius (1981/90). Alvin Curran /"that boo man thing was kind of scary"/

Image via WikipediaTo wind down from tonight's Halloween activities, I'm listening to Alvin Curran's For Cornelius, a low-key yet intriguing piece for piano. Brian Olewnick on the music:

A central section of whirling, cloudy minimalism recalls Charlemagne Palestine more than Cardew but is still effective. Bracketing it, however, are two stunning...elegies? Somber, graceful, moving music evoking huge loss. It's very "straight", not in essence too different than, say, a Satie Nocturne.

And the composer:

Though not intentionally made so, this piece may be seen as a tribute to Cardew’s own utopian dreams of making “elitist” music popular.

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lala: jeanne golan playing for cornelius

aworks links etc. :: 081026 /pain and pleasure/

John and Keturah via Flickr

• Opera Tattler on Oakland Opera Theatre's Stravinsky: As marvelous as circus arts are at the opera, it was annoying that the audience applauded for the juggling during the music.
• HurdAudio on Nineties Philip Glass: Days and Nights in Rocinha in particular is excruciatingly attractive.
• My posterous site: Photo of a a tall iceberg.
• ANAblog: That strange anecdote by Steve Martin about Aaron Copland.

aworks nostalgia :: the nineties

Image via WikipediaI'm sorting, ripping and filing several boxes of classical CDs I purchased in the Nineties (and probably haven't played since then either). It's interesting to recollect various enthusiasms of years past:

• Malcolm Arnold's Dances
• Robert Simpson's symphonies
• Russian symphonies
• organ music of Bach
• 18th and 19th century concertos
• every Ligeti CD of the time
• Chopin

The other striking thing were some of the record labels that, for me anyway, are also in the past:

• Sony
• Teldec
• DG
• Hyperion (were the CDs gold-tinted when I bought them?)
• Disques Montaigne
• Bis

My buying habits have clearly changed since. Is Sony Classical even an active label anymore or did it merge with someone else? I couldn't say.

And tangentially, Jim Kunstler's post this week implies at some point in the future we'll be nostalgic for the bygone days when we had more than a couple of hours of electricity per day. Hmm, I better hurry up and get more listening done...

aworks links etc. :: 081024 /consumerism, mostly/

Image via Wikipedia

• Firedoglake. I was pondering today if anyone likes both Oscar Peterson and Thelonious Monk, given their rather different styles. But Oscar Peterson and Count Basie may be an equivalent set. Although, to see Oscar and Thelonious on the same stage would be interesting, if not weird.
• This Blog Sits at the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics. Consumers (and probably myself) have two modalities: surging and dwelling. Be prepared for more dwelling, given the economic situation.
• DTYBYWL. Photo of "How to Buy a Home Computer," presumably from the Eighties.
• DTYBYWL. Cartoon where Linus proclaims the therapeutic nature of record shopping.
• DTYBYWL. For no apparent reason, a photo of the score from Steve Reich's Different Trains.
• Orange Crate Art. Lewando Cleaners led to Ellington's East St. Louis Toodle-oo (via Google Books).
• Ask.Metafilter. Questioner likes harmony in one ear, melody in the other. Am I allowed to say that I like certain Mamas & Papas songs?
• Daily Kos. Politically, I'm Indiana Dreamin' these days...

aworks playlist :: lala "forecast"

lala has a new feature to create a "forecast" of four selected tracks for streaming. Here's mine:

Authentic Presence (2001). Ingram Marshall /"a" work of the week #2/

Image via Wikipedia

There may be something called "confirmation bias" occurring here but tonight, counterstream radio is streaming Ingram Marshall's Authentic Presence, as played by Sarah Cahill. Just last weekend, I was thinking this is one of the composer's "a" works.

From an Amazon review:

Also included on this CD is the more recent solo piano work, Authentic Presence, performed by New Music pianist extraordinaire Sarah Cahill -- without any electronic bells and whistles. It's nice to hear Marshall's music in a more intimate, acoustic setting like this, and while this piece sounds a lot like Phrygian Gates by John Adams at times, it packs a bigger dramatic punch and has a lot more emotional contrast (not to mention many fewer notes.)

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prior "a" works this week: music in similar motion.

Music in Contrary Motion (1969). Philip Glass /not yet an "a" work/

una cierta mirada via FlickrOn the other hand, I've never particularly warmed up to Music in Contrary Motion, be it the chamber version or the one for organ. I apparently like my repetition with more clarity and less rigor. Bach is good, though.

Tim Page on Chester Novello:

Contrary Motion, composed in 1969, is a work for solo organ in which pedal points add a functional harmony (A minor) and there is something faintly Bach-ian about its stern, rigorous counterpoint. Contrary Motion was written in what Glass calls "open form" — it never really ends, it just stops. The expanding figures upon which it is constructed could, theoretically, continue augmenting forever. Should an interpreter care to take it that far, a performance lasting hours, even days, would be possible.

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more photos: una cierta mirada

Music in Similar Motion (1973). Philip Glass /"a" work of the week #1/

Image via Wikipedia

I didn't exactly plan it but this week I shuffled my Alter Ego MP3 of Music in Similar Motion, I clicked on my ten cent purchased stream in lala, and then tonight counterstream radio programmed it (before the Joan Tower 70th birthday concert).

Music in Similar Motion is a forerunner of later Philip Glass but could represent the apex of his career -- marginally more sophisticated and colorful than the earlier, primitive stuff but not yet banal. Ok, that's hyperbole for "I really like this piece."

Chester Novello:

PERFORMANCE INSTRUCTIONS
Each figure should be repeated an indefinite number of times. The leader of the ensemble should, at his or her discretion, nod once, indicating that the ensemble should repeat the figure twice more before proceeding. Exceptions to this are indicated, and last until the next indication.

Speaking of repetition and to borrow a line from comedian George Carlin, if counterstream radio had a "repeat this track" button, I'd never leave the house...

Sonata No. 2 (1947). Charles Ives /wow/

Image via WikipediaHeuwell Tircuit reviews yesterday's concert in San Francisco where Emanuele Arciuli played Ives' Sonata No. 2 and Adams' Phyrgian Gates:

Both Arciuli performances were astounding. I’ve not heard that kind of keenly polished playing of advanced piano music since the heyday of David Tudor. Arciuli’s forthright renditions covered the widest range of dynamics, and were artistic in every aspect. He played the tremendous chording in such a manner that each note stood out clearly, but with just the slightest emphasis on the most important note in a harmony. That’s most uncommon.

Encounters II (1966). William Kraft /biggie/

Image via Wikipedia

I'm not sure I've ever blogged about tuba music before. Maybe this is why, from My Fickle Ears Dig It:

There are very few pieces in the solo tuba repertoire that are any good. There are even fewer pieces in the solo tuba repertoire that are any good that are not transcriptions. There are fewer pieces yet in the solo tuba repertoire that are any good that are not transcriptions and are written in post-tonal or "modernist" idioms. And there are even fewer pieces yet in the solo tuba repertoire that are any good, that are not transcriptions, that are written in post-tonal or "modernist" idioms, and that are for unaccompanied tuba rather than tuba with piano or large ensemble. In fact, I can only think of one, and that's William Kraft's Encounters II.

Related, see also Alex Shapiro's Music for Two Big Instruments. And here's William Kraft on YouTube talking about his Encounters series: