aworks :: "new" american classical music

Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings (2007). Eric Whitacre /meets manga/

Whitacre image via Wikipedia

The music of Eric Whitacre is a million miles from my current obsession with John Cage. But anyway, here's an interesting LA Times review of his Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings:

“Paradise Lost” is an elaborate hybrid musical/opera, or “electro-musical,” if you will. It’s a hybrid anime/post-apocalyptic high-concept spectacle about abandoned angels, wings clipped...The musical and dramatic elements of “Paradise Lost” may not be new, but their combination is — "The Magic Flute” meets “La Bohème” meets “West Side Story” meets manga. 

Related articles

• Watch "Sleep," Eric Whitacre's new work with 2,000 voices (ted.com)
• Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong (ritholtz.com)
• Eric Whitacre - "Lux Aurumque" - Walt Whitman HS Chamber Choir (parenting-success.com)

aworks listening log :: john cage /prepared or not/

Image via Wikipedia

"a" works

• Cheap Imitation (1969). Aki Takahashi
  
• Music for Marcel Duchamp (1947). Philipp Vandré. Jeanne Kirstein
• The Unavailable Memory Of (1944). Philipp Vandré
• A Room (1943). Aki Takahashi

"other"

• Two Pieces for Piano (1946). Jeanne Kirstein
  
• The Perilous Night (1944). Jeanne Kirstein
• Tossed As It Is Untroubled (1943). Jeanne Kirstein
  
• Bacchanale (1940). Jeanne Kirstein
• Two Pieces for Piano (1935). Jeanne Kirstein

All piano music, prepared or not...Confusingly, Cage has two works called "Two Pieces for Piano"...Cheap Imitation is thirty-three minutes of sparse and attractive music...Duchamp is from the Shutter Island soundtrack. That's a recent Martin Scorsese film I need to see again to better assess...

Related articles

• aworks listening log :: june 11, 2011 /before you were born/ (rgable.typepad.com)
• aworks #musicdiaryproject :: april 6, 2011 (rgable.typepad.com)
• aworks #musicdiaryproject :: april 22, 2011 (rgable.typepad.com)

Powaqqatsi (1988). Philip Glass

Philip Glass is back later this summer to the Hollywood Bowl to play along with the film Powaqqatsi. That work is not as good as Koyaanisqatsi, of course, but it's tough to top blowing up old buildings (hmm, the original Pruit Igoe video no longer on YouTube:

 

Hilarious Curtain Opener (1939). Henry Cowell /prolific and neglected/

Menlo Park Image via Wikipedia

Mark Swed complains that California music festivals pretty much ignore our region's composers. Since I live within walking distance of both the Music@Menlo festival and the ol' Henry Cowell homestead, I particularly enjoyed this section:

Music@Menlo can be especially annoying in its East Coast and European provincialism. Founded in 2003 by cellist David Finkel and pianist Wu Han (who also head the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center), they seem eager enough for Silicon Valley support just as long as they don't have to acknowledge anything about the important musical history of the area.

Menlo Park happened to be the birthplace of Henry Cowell in 1897. The father of West Coast music, he invented tone clusters and was the first to play directly on the piano strings. He was a pioneer in percussion music and, most important of all, a pioneer in creating an interest in world music. He was a mentor to George Gershwin, John Cage, Lou Harrison and many others. A boy genius, he was the subject of Stanford University psychology studies. Ignoring Cowell, a prolific and neglected composer, and his world in Menlo Park might be likened to not acknowledging Mozart and his world at the Salzburg Festival.

Note that Cowell didn't actually live in the city limits of Menlo Park but slightly west of town. And that he was convicted of child molestation means the city does nothing to recognize him, despite his ultimate pardon.

I did find this 1998 article in the local Menlo Park weekly paper regarding Cowell's conviction and ultimate redemption. And I posted in 2006 about an article on Cowell's prison years and the impact on his friendship with Charles Ives.

And the new John Cage biography by Kenneth Silverman has this to say about Cage visiting Cowell in prison:

Several times Cage visited San Quentin, expressing his affectionate loyalty to Henry Cowell. In 1936 his mentor -- a passionate believer in the future of percussion music -- had been arrested on charges of conducting sexual activities with some boys at the pool behind his Menlo Park cottage. Pleading guilty, he received a one-to-fifteen-year sentence, but was paroled after four.

While imprisoned, Cowell composed Hilarious Curtain Opener and other pieces for the Cornish production of The Marriage at the Eiffel Tower. Other parts of the score were written by Cage and George McKay with libretto by Jean Cocteau.

 

Four Walls (1944). John Cage /we must accept what that thing means/

I Ching image via Wikipedia

Via Endless Possibilities, gtra1n takes John Cage to task:

To love some­thing we must accept what that thing means and stands for, and know­ing more about Cage now, I reject most of the things he means and stands for. His phi­los­o­phy is deeply impor­tant and should be a per­sis­tent chal­lenge to the thought of every per­son who seeks to make and present cre­ative music. But his own real­iza­tions of that phi­los­o­phy, the mature works that seek to remove inten­tion and expres­sion, are eth­i­cally and aes­thet­i­cally prob­lem­atic; artist must say some­thing to us (even if they say noth­ing, but that only works once), they must reveal and admit some idea that we can con­sider.

I remain fascinated how Cage's aesthetic stance perturbs people, particularly their views of Cage the artist/philosopher versus Cage the composer. 

I also assume Cage would not have approved of my calling him my "favorite" composer, as it would intrude on the actual experience of listening without expectation. I can live with this contradiction.

I hppen to have been listening to Cage's music all morning and can't get enough. Yesterday, I read the first (free) chapter of the John Cage biography by Kenneth Silverman. I supposed it's my duty to buy and read the whole thing although the author may or may not think and write as well as the subject. But first, I need to listen to more of Four Walls (rdio):

 

Symphony No. 7 "A Toltec Symphony" (2005). Philip Glass /90 pieces since/

Philip Glass normally lets a piece go after he has written it. Glass Notes:

I once asked Glass about this when the conductor of an opera asked him about a certain tempo, Glass responded that it was his opera now, that he had written it thirty years before, and that he wouldn't always be around to answer questions.  He was more interested in what the interpreter had to say about it rather than telling him how the composer thinks it should be done.  I again questioned how he resisted the urge to jump in and take control?  He responded "It's easy, I've written 90 pieces since that one." 

The Seventh Symphony may be the exception. Hear fragments of before and after.

Related articles

• Music in Similar Motion (1969). Philip Glass /iconic early works/ (rgable.typepad.com)
• Symphony No. 1 "Low" (1992). Philip Glass /entirely gruesome bloaterfish/ (rgable.typepad.com)
• Live: Glenn Branca And Philip Glass Reward The Patient At The Bang On A Can Marathon (blogs.villagevoice.com)

aworks links :: june 23, 2011 /two minutes/

Alsop image via Wikipedia

• Conductor Marin Alsop gives new scores two minutes to capture her attention. Interchanging Idioms
• Organist Cameron Carpenter wants to build the perfect virtual, portable instrument. Sound Mind
• The guy who did the chiptune version of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue gets sued by the photographer of the original album cover. MetaFilter
• Comments on Star Trek music 2009 and original -- Michael Giacchino' and Alexander Courage. Byzantium's Shores
• LIstening to Bernard Herrmann's Psycho at the Museum of Natural History, the writer thought the animals looked alarmed. Paris Review

The Difficulty of Crossing a Field (1999). David Lang /slave alert to irony and tragedy/

From the Long Beach Opera performance:

The slaves most easily accept that the world is not what it seems. Dabney Ross Jones and Amber Mercomes sing alluringly, Lang's music sometimes approaching cool, minimalist gospel. Eric B. Anthony, a riveting actor, is Sam, a young slave who is alert to irony and tragedy.

Related articles

• You: Opera review: "The Difficulty of Crossing a Field" is about the difficulty of existence (latimesblogs.latimes.com)

Music in Similar Motion (1969). Philip Glass /iconic early works/

Image via Wikipedia

Richard Guérin points out this weekend's performance of Music in Similar Motion:

You've always got to jump at the chance to hear Philip Glass (usually playing with the Philip Glass Ensemble) perform one of his iconic early works. This time, Glass will be playing the Bang on a Can Marathon this Sunday with a performance of Music in Similar Motion with the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

I'm in Boston this weekend and for a few minutes, I seriously considered heading down to NYC just to hear this.

By the way, today's photo is Picnic Point to Philip Glass Lake of the Woods, 30" x 34", acrylic on canvas, by Robert Genn.

Related articles

• The Music of Philip Glass, Visualized in Fractals (brainpickings.org)
• Bang On A Can Marathon To Open River To River Festival (jambase.com)
• Ew, Goopy Gwyneth Paltrow needs to cram it, too (humarashid.com)

aworks ordered list :: new releases via rdio /four thousand holes on the rooftop/

Cover of Herbie Mann

1. John Luther Adams. Four Thousand Holes
2. Madeleine Peyroux. Standing on the Rooftop
3. Thelonious Monk. Alone in San Francisco (remaster)
4. Herbie Mann. The Very Best of
5. Various. All Blues'd Up: Songs of Led Zeppelin
6. Tatiana Nikoleyeva. Bach: Piano Music
7. George Benson. Body Talk
8. Freddie Hubbard. Straight Life
9. Andrew Bird. Robotronic (single)
10. Martha Argerich. The Collection
11. Toshiko Akiyoshi. The Toshiko Trio
12. Charles Mingus. A.J.M American Jazz Musician
13. Paul Badura-Skoda. Plays Ravel, Berg, Chopin
14. New Hungarian Quartet. Bartok: The 6 String Quartets
15. Fabulous Thunderbirds. The Best of

There were 1110 other new recordings this week. And my favorite social find on rdio is this listener of John Luther Adams whose Heavy Rotation consists solely of artists I've never heard of before...