aworks :: "new" american classical music

Borealis Music (1987). Eleanor Hovda #favorite #northernlights

I'm only vaguely familiar with the late Eleanor Hovda, but Borealis Music is an interesting work influenced by the environment but not necessarily an ersatz copy of it.

Stephen Ellis in Fanfare about the work:

...a soundpiece with brittle textures and harmonies. The music is slow and reflective, and at just ten minutes, its length is perfect for the material.

Linda Frye Burnham in High Performance, Volume 10:

...especially captivating--a fleeting soundscape of delicate gesture and musical imagery.

I haven't seen the Northern Lights since I was a kid in Michigan. Coincidentally, 1987 was the year I moved from Michigan to California.

The composer as person was interesting as well.

 

aworks listening log :: composers of the month

I started logging the amount of time I spent this month listening to various composers. The top 10 is full of the usual suspects plus some names new to me:

1. Philip Glass
2. Phill Niblock
3. Steve Reich
4. Terry Riley
5. Duane Pitre
6. Lydia Ayers
7. Paul Chihara
8. Jeremy Beck
9. David Lang
10. Douglas Knehans 

And the remaining list is surprisingly long: 

Thomas Aberg, John Adams, Milton Babbitt, Eve Beglarian, Al Benner, Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom, Henry Brant, Elizabeth Brown, Steven Bryant, Harold Budd/Ruben Carcia/Daniel Lentz, John Cage, Keith Carpenter, Yi Chen, Eleanor Cory, Tom Cowan, Henry Cowell, David Crowell, Jim Dalton, Cornelius Dufallo, Djivan Gasparian, Christina Georgina Rossetti, George Gershwin, Jon Gibson, Donald Grantham, Lou Harrison, Bernard Herrmann, Jennifer Higdon, Elizabeth Hoffman, Hubert Howe, Gordon Jacob, Aaron Jay Kernis, Tom Johnson, Cody Kauhl, Glenn Kotche, HyeKyung Lee, Alvin Lucier, Armanda Luna, Keeril Makin, Marc Mellits, Neel Murgai, Conlon Nancarrow, John Nichols III, Charlemagne Palestine, Carter Pann, Harry Partch, Larry Polansky, William Price, Ned Rorem, Tim Rozema, Justin Rubin, Gene Segal, Harold Stover, Conrad Tao, Gene Tyranny, Patricia Van Ness, Andrew Violette, Guo-wei Wang, Kurt Weill, John Williams, Daniel Wohl

Psycho (1960). Bernard Herrmann #piano #bare-motivic

Christopher O'Riley on transcribing music from Psycho for piano:

In scoring Psycho for strings-only, Herrmann mentioned the intent on keeping a ‘black-and-white’ texture in the spareness of his chosen ensemble. In transcribing a 20-minute suite of pieces for piano, I chose the ebony-and-ivory continuation of that thought. In music so rich, it is astonishing, when putting the notes down on the keyboard, to find the musical materials of Herrmann’s work so bare-motivic, archetypal, and ultimately economic. 

Related articles

The Trouble with Harry (1955). Bernard Herrmann /quirky good/

Vertigo (1958). Bernard Herrmann /full of drama/

Wuthering Heights (1943-51). Bernard Herrmann

North by Northwest (1959). Bernard Herrmann /fandango beat/

Invisible Cities (2013). Christopher Cerrone #opera #tech #la

Via ArtsJournal, a new opera in LA, Invisible Cities: 

The collaboration between The Industry and L.A. Dance Project operates 24 Sennheiser wireless microphones in its orchestra pit, 16 wireless mics strapped onto performers (with each of the eight performers double-mic’ed), 160 audience headphones and 15 in-ear monitors for the wireless feat. The tech allows “Invisible Cities” to break the boundaries between musicians, audience members and casual passersby, expanding the stage into the public space at Union Station.

Invisible Cities trailer from Yuval Sharon on Vimeo.

light moving (2012). David Lang #newrelease @violincase

In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores:

The 26 commissioned composers are: Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Lera Auerbach, Richard Barrett, Mason Bates, Tina Davidson, David Del Tredici, Avner Dorman, Søren Nils Eichberg, Christos Hatzis, Jennifer Higdon, James Newton Howard, Bun-Ching Lam, David Lang, Edgar Meyer, Paul Moravec, Nico Muhly, Michiru Oshima, Kryzsztof Penderecki, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Max Richter, Somei Satoh, Elliott Sharp, Valentin Silvestrov, Mark, Anthony Turnage, Gillian Whitehead, and Du Yun. A final, 27th composer will be decided in a non-traditional fashion later this year.

Jeff Myers is the 27th.

Enjoy the Silence (1990). Martin Gore/Eric Whitacre #newrelease #depechemode

Setting of a Depeche Mode song...

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Rainy 3rd Street (1985). Philip Perkins #newrelease

AllMusic: Perkins' music for Drive Time surpasses the typical space-filling jingles and theme music of most radio with more personality, intrigue, and strangeness than expected.

Piano Counterpoint (1973). Steve Reich #q2 #alarmwillsound

Q2 is streaming a live concert of Steve Reich music played by Alarm Will Sound from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

And here's a version by Vicky Chow on SoundCloud.

A description of the work: 

Piano Counterpoint is an arrangement of Six Pianos (1973) for solo pianist and tape made by Vincent Corver in 2011. Four of the six piano parts are pre-recorded and the last two are combined into a more virtuosic single part played live.

Related articles

An Interview With Steve Reich, Who Rewrote Radiohead

Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices & Organ (1973). Steve Reich /q2 iRadio/

Steve Reich's Radiohead-inspired piece getting a NY premiere

Steve Reich Swag Giveaway

Music in Twelve Parts (1971-74). Philip Glass #much-awaited

London tomorrow night (tonight UK time):

This much-awaited concert provides a rare opportunity to hear a complete performance of Philip Glass's four-hour Minimalist masterpiece 'Music in Twelve Parts', scored for electric organs, flutes, saxophones and voice.

Music in Twelve Parts (1971-74). Philip Glass #loudforclassical

theguardian:

The music was loud – not rock-concert loud but much louder than anything I'd ever heard in a classical musics etting – and it was Glass's Music in Twelve Parts.