aworks :: "new" american classical music

aworks ordered list :: top five for the day /escape to california/

Cover of Fahrenheit 451

1. Escape! Philip Glass
2. Going to California. Led Zeppelin
3. Fahrenheit 451 - Suite for Strings. Bernard Herrmann
4. Bemsha Swing - Thelonious Monk
5. Kilter - Mary Ann Childs

Glass: From The Hours (and based on his Metamporhosis Two) as played by Maki Namekawa. Are there other composer/pianists whose music is best played by others?

Led Zeppelin: I ground through numerous Zeppelin tracks today and I think I am done for awhile.

Herrmann: Conduced by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Monk: This is the version from his Brilliant Corners album with Sonny Rollins, Grammy honoree Clark Terry and the stellar Max Roach on drums.

Childs: Her website here. Music from her 1999 appearance at the Other Minds Festival here.

top 5 today :: 01/31/10

aworks unordered list :: notable blogs and feeds for the month

Google Reader image by Dexae via Flickr

I'm still rebuilding my feed list in Google Reader after I hit the capacity for number of feeds in my old Google account.As I continue to rebuild my feed rool, aere's a list of more blogs and feeds of note this month (and here's last month's list).

• The Classical Beat - Anne Midgette takes the measure of the classical music scene
• A Blog Supreme - NPR Jazz
• oboeinsight - reed on!
• The Reverberate Hills - or The Apotheosis of the Narwhal
• Brilliant Corners - Jazz blog based in Boston with International scope and enhanced utility in link lists.
• Musicwhore.org - Is this what happens when you push a blog down a hill?
• Unpop! - New Haven Advocate
• Orange Crate Art - “Orange crate art was a place to start”
• Alex V. Cook - Author, Journalist, Critic
• City Sound Inertia - Gabe Meline and his all-too-cluttered world of music.

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Percussion Concerto (2005). Jennifer Higdon /grammy winner/

Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto has won this year's composition Grammy.This is the category for works written in the last 25 years and recorded for the first time during the "Eligibility Year."

lala doesn't stream the Colin Currie/Marin Alsop recording. Amazon and emusic both require a full album download. YouTube has a clip:

The composer's program notes (PDF):

My “Percussion Concerto” follows the normal relationship of a dialogue between soloist and orchestra. In this work, however, there is an additional relationship with the soloist interacting extensively with the percussion section. The ability of performers has grown to such an extent that it has become possible to have sections within the orchestra interact at the same level as the soloist.

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aworks ordered list :: top five for today /what is and what should never be/

Rock gods image via Wikipedia

1. What Is and What Should Never Be. Led Zeppelin
2. Conloninpurple. Trimpin
3. 4 Cast: Unpredictable. Trimpin and Kronos Quartet.
4. Klompen. Trimpin
5. The Ocean. Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin: Tonight, I was in the Haight to see the Trimpin movie at the Red Vic. On my way, I was listening to Ursula Mamlok woodwind quintets or something. Then Led Zeppelin's The Ocean shuffled up and jolted me out of any complacency.

However, Haight Street seems the wrong aesthetic for listening to Led Zeppelin. Maybe they represent corporate-ism or some other 60s evil. On the drive home, the Castro seemed a better fit for the Zeppelin 70s ethos.

Trimpin: Trimpin is a German-born Seattle resident who builds unique musical machines and apparatus. TRIMPIN: the sound of invention is a documentary by Peter Esmonde of the man, his musical creations and his collaboration with artists such as Conlon Nancarrow and the Kronos Quartet. Highly recommended.

videos: what is and what should never be (audio only) | 4 cast: unpredictable | klompen |the ocean (complete with pre-roll microsoft ad)

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Mount Rushmore (2010). Michael Daugherty /the black hills/

Image by steffofsd via Flickr

Speaking of North by Northwest, the Pacific Symphony in Orange County will play the premiere of his Mount Rushmore next month.

Musical America:

Michael Daugherty explores the Black Hills of South Dakota and “The Greatest Generation” in his latest piece, Mount Rushmore.

aworks ordered list :: top five for this week /the walrus in memorium/

Terry Riley via Wikipedia

1. The Walrus in Memorium. Terry Riley - Gloria Cheng
2. String Quartet No. 2 "Company." Philip Glass - Angèle Dubeau: La Pietà
3. North by Northwest. Bernard Herrmann
4. Apparition. George Crumb - Jan DeGaetini / Christine Schäfer
5. La voix du Boulgou - Burkina Electric

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Riley: The Walrus in Memorium transcends its Beatles pop origin. Unfortunately, it is not on lala.

Glass:This just sounds deeper than his other quartets.

Herrmann: Do I like the Hitchcock movie because of the score or do I like the score because of the Hitchcock movie? Regardless, here's a favorite clip from North by Northwest where "Cary Grant discusses love with Eva Marie Saint on the train." The music is not the appeal of this particular scene. Note: this might contain a spoiler.

Crumb: Note to self: spend some more time on this composer.

Burkina Electric: I"m still surprised I like this so much given little else associated with Gyorgy Ligeti's son has appealed to me. Of the five, this is the music I am least sure about.

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prior top fives: monday tuesday wednesday thursday
prior aworks posts: the walrus in memorium north by northwest "company" 

top 5 this week :: 1/29/10

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aworks ordered list :: top five for today /apparition/

1. Up on Teddy's Hill. Charlie Christian
2. North By Northwest. Bernard Herrmann
3. Apparition. George Crumb. Jan DeGaetini / Christine Schäfer
4. African-American Fragments. Frank Proto
5. Criss Cross. Thelonious Monk

Charlie Christian's early electric guitar remains a personal favorite...as does the soundtrack to North by Northwest...George Crumb's Apparition intrigues the more I listen to the two versions I have....The text of African-American Fragments is interesting and the music may be even better...Criss Cross is yet another genius work by Monk.

top 5 today :: 01/28/10

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aworks ordered list :: top five for today /pre-baroque/

1. Musique Bulgare – Taksim & Dance. Jordi Savall
2. Melody Day (Four Tet Remix). Caribou
3. Love Cry. Four Tet
4. The National Anthem. Radiohead
5. Le Chant Des Fauves. Tinariwen

No interesting jazz or American classical music today...The Jordi Savall album, The Forgotten Kingdom, is classifed by lala as "Pre-Baroque." I've not heard that as a classification term before but sign me up as I continue to listen to non-vocal music earlier than say, Gabrieli...On first listen, the new Four Tet album, There Is Love in You, strikes me as too sweet and yet the remix of Caribou I like so much is in fact sweet, in a ringing, singing kind of way. Love Cry appears to not have this quality despite vocals...The National Anthem is a somewhat challenging track although a comparsion with Stockhausen I've heard made seems a stretch...Tinariwen reminds me of slow, rhythmic alternative guitar rock as in Soundgarden but I'm not prepared to justify that observation.

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top five today :: 01/27/10

aworks ordered list :: top five for today /mediated boomer nostalgia/

Terry Riley via last.fm

1. The Walrus in Memorium. Terry Riley. Gloria Cheng
2. Bass Line. Mary Ellen Childs
3. A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond. Captain Beefheart - Meridian Arts Ensemble
4. La voix du Boulgou. Burkina Electric
5. A Breeze Brings.... Scott Smallwood - PLOrk: Princeton Laptop Orchestra

With the Riley, I continue my mediated boomer nostalgia. By the way, Harvard Business Review blogs about our current Generation-X president...Bass Line starts out dour and ends raucously...The Meridian Arts Ensemble make this Beefheart song sound almost stately...Burkina Electric is a new "21st-century" African/European group including Lukas Ligeti...It's not a great recording (MP3) but I like this laptop piece even as I wonder how much if any of it is improvised.

top five today :: jan 26, 2010

aworks ordered list :: top five for today /civilians/

The Rolling Stones via last.fm

1. The Last Time. Rolling Stones
2. Company - String Quartet No. 2. Philip Glass - Angèle Dubeau: La Pietà
3. Said's Treason from The Screens. Philip Glass, Foday Musa Suso
4. Intégrales. Edgard Varèse - Pierre Boulez.
5. Paradiso. Konono No. 1

I'm on a live Stones kick and this is the melody at the top of my pops...Company is (relatively) understated...Said has a sad and odd ending..."Civilians" must think we are crazy for listening to Varèse...I hadn't listened to the African group Konono No. 1 for awhile.

top five today :: jan 25, 2009