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Herrmann Image via Wikipedia
I see that the Minnesota Opera is presenting the Bernard Herrmann version of the opera Wuthering Heights in April.
The opera was recorded in full by the composer in 1966, but it has still never received a complete theatrical performance (there was an abridged stage production in 1982 and a concert version in 2010. A centenary production has been announced for April 2011).
Image via Wikipedia
From an LA Times article on music that critics feel "bad about" omitting from their picks of the year. Alex Ross:
Tristan Perich’s “1-Bit Symphony” — an electronic composition coded into a homemade electronic circuit — certainly should have made my list. It’s a striking piece of technology and a no less striking piece of music — a harsh landscape of minimalist sound that on successive listenings might bliss you out or drive you mad
I'm playing music today in reverse order of composer name. After grinding through lots of Wolfgang A. M. and skipping a fair amount of German composer Wilhelm Killmayer, it's on to Wallingford Riegger as played by Robert Shields. I have to admit I know next to nothing about Riegger other than I liked this piano piece.
From the Wikipedia bio:
Starting in the mid 1930's, Riegger began to write contemporary dance music. Later, as his career progressed, he began to use Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique more and more often, though he did occasionally revert to his earlier styles.[8] From 1941 on, he focused almost solely on instrumental music, and his Symphony No. 3 received the New York Music Critics' Circle Award and a Naumburg Foundation Recording Award...He died in New York in 1961 when he tripped over the leashes of two fighting dogs, resulting in a fall and a head injury from which he did not recover despite treatment.
I also like this description of the composer:
Riegger is a quiet man in a noisy world; he has enunciated no principles, demanded no "rights", made no claims, and written nothing that substitutes size for content.
Cage and friends via Wikipedia
This week, 40 musicians representing the old guard (Billy Bragg, Orbital) and the new (the Kooks, Guillemots) entered a London studio and did not play their instruments in a performance of John Cage’s famous silent composition, 4’33’’.
I've known about this for awhile and haven't felt compelled to mention it. I'm not sure why I don't particularly care, given this is the great publicity for what is of course Cage's greatest work. On an Overgrown Path suggests it is time to give John Cage a rest.
I did join the Cage Against the Machine Facebook group awhile back. Maybe I'm just burned out on Facebook hype. I do know I am enjoying twitter more than ever, including the feature where you can easily play tweets that reference Rdio.
As far as actual John Cage music, I've listened to more of it this year than ever so maybe I'm just more interested in content rather than promotion at this point.
Berkeley image via Wikipedia
On Saturday, I hoped that San Francisco Opera would put on Einstein on the Beach rather than John Adams' Nixon in China. Today, the Reverberate Hills links to an Einstein on the Beach schedule next year in two years that includes Cal Performances in Berkeley.
!
This B-52s versus Bernard Herrmann video is definitely wtf, including some eyebrow weirdness by Edward G. Robinson:
Although the score was by Max Steiner, this makes me want to again watch Bogart, Bacall and Robinson in Key Largo.
