aworks :: "new" american classical music: aworks

aworks listening log :: panorama of works

Alan Hovhaness - Fanfare For The New Atlantis. Stewart Robertson: Royal Scottish National Orchestra - Hovhaness: Guitar Concerto #2, Symphony #63, Fanfare For The New Atlantis [Naxos].
For the second time in two years, I've failed to organize my listening by album. So it's back to by "work" (or really, by "recorded performance" as a proxy for work).
La Monte Young - Sarabande for any instruments. Yvar Mikhashoff - Panorama Of American Piano Music [Mode]. I had to check that this was really a piece by La Monte Young.
Sufjan Stevens - The Human Plague. yMusic - Balance Problems [New Amsterdam]. I also heard his his cover of Joni Mitchell's A Free Man in Paris. Remixes of Balance Problems below via Q2.
Alvin Lucier. Music For Piano With Amplified Sonorous Vessels. Hildegarde Kleeb, Roland Dahinden - Panorama [Lovely Music]. Music from two albums named "Panorama" in this post.
Alan Hovhaness - Symphony #63, Op. 411, "Loon Lake". Stewart Robertson: Royal Scottish National Orchestra - Hovhaness: Guitar Concerto #2, Symphony #63, Fanfare For The New Atlantis [Naxos]
Jonathan Pieslak - Prednisomnia. Robert Auler - Shards: Piano Music of Jonathan Pieslak [Albany Records]
Tod Dockstader - Aerial > Song. An Anthology Of Noise & Electronic Music / Second A-Chronology 1936-2003 [Sub Rosa]
Amando Bayolo - Wide Open Spaces. American Aggregate - inscape [Sono Luminus]
Dan Visconti - Black Bend. American Aggregate - inscape [Sono Luminus]
Joseph Hallman - The Extraordinary Gryssandra Wycke. American Aggregate - inscape [Sono Luminus]
Julia Adolphe - Wordless Creatures. American Aggregate - inscape [Sono Luminus]
Nathan Lincoln-DeCuasitis - Oblivion. American Aggregate - inscape [Sono Luminus]

Posted at 08:33 PM in aworks :: listening log | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Electrikaleidoscope (1972). George Rochbert #listeninglog #rock #nostalgia

George Rochberg's Electrikaleidoscope, with its amplified ensemble of flute, clarinet, cello, piano and electronic piano, is an artifact of the Seventies. From a Village Voice review:

Though this piece has its amusing moments and seems tongue-in-cheek for a while, it leaves one with the impression that a serious statement has been made. Throughout the work the composer never stands above the traditions he is referring to, taking potshots at them, but relates to each one on a sincere level, employing his own astute craftsmanship to make his own kind of Beethoven and his own kind of rock… sensitive, carefully crafted.

I doubt this will be played on classic rock radio, though.

listening log:

Jay Cloidt - Dark Matter

Jacamin (2001)
Exploded View: "Industrial" (2001)

Ivan Ilic - The Transcendentalist

Music Without Metaphor (2013). Scott Wollschleger
Palais de Mari (1986). Morton Feldman
Dream (1948). John Cage
In a Landscape (1948). John Cage

Christopher Kendall - 20th Century Consort

Electrikaleidoscope (1972). George Rochberg

Detroit Chamber Winds And Friends - Ives: Unanswered Question; Circus Band March; Tone Roads Nos. 1 & 3; Romanza Di Central Park And Others

Calcium Light Night (1922). Charles Ives
Ann Street (1921). Charles Ives
Hallowe'en (1907). Charles Ives

Ivo Kaltchev - Charles Griffes - Piano Music

The Fountain of Acqua Paola (1916)
Nightfall (1916)
The White Peacock (1915)
The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Kan (1912/15)

Posted at 08:12 PM in aworks :: listening log | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

aworks listening log :: july 12, 2014 #glass #lively #good-spirited

Philip Glass. Metamorphosis. Jeroen Van Veen - Glass: Solo Piano Music
Philip Glass. Mad Rush. Jeroen Van Veen - Glass: Solo Piano Music
Philip Glass. Piece in the Shape of a Square. Clair Chase - Density
Judith Shatin. View from Mt. Nebo. Eva Gruesser, Andre Emelianoff - Dreamtigers
Dan Trueman. Five (and-a-half) Gardens
Elliott Carter. Holiday Overture. Kenneth Schermerhorn: Nashville Symphony Orchestra - Carter: Piano Concerto, Symphony #1, Holiday Overture
Lou Harrison. Music for Violin with Various Instruments. Oakland Youth Orchestra, Robert Hughes, Thomas Halpin
Lou Harrison. Two Pieces for Psaltery. Oakland Youth Orchestra, Robert Hughes
Lou Harrison. Four Pieces for Harp. Beverly Bellows
Robert Kyr. Unseen Rain
John Cage. Sonatas & Interludes For Prepared Piano. Boris Berman

I had forgotten that early Carter was conventional. Wikipedia on Holiday Overture:

"...it was to be a demonstration of brilliant orchestration, and a lively, good-spirited sort of piece."

Posted at 09:08 AM in aworks :: listening log | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

aworks listening log :: july 12, 2014 #glass #lively #good-spirited

Philip Glass. Metamorphosis. Jeroen Van Veen - Glass: Solo Piano Music
Philip Glass. Mad Rush. Jeroen Van Veen - Glass: Solo Piano Music
Philip Glass. Piece in the Shape of a Square. Clair Chase - Density
Judith Shatin. View from Mt. Nebo. Eva Gruesser, Andre Emelianoff - Dreamtigers
Dan Trueman. Five (and-a-half) Gardens
Elliott Carter. Holiday Overture. Kenneth Schermerhorn: Nashville Symphony Orchestra - Carter: Piano Concerto, Symphony #1, Holiday Overture
Lou Harrison. Music for Violin with Various Instruments. Oakland Youth Orchestra, Robert Hughes, Thomas Halpin
Lou Harrison. Two Pieces for Psaltery. Oakland Youth Orchestra, Robert Hughes
Lou Harrison. Four Pieces for Harp. Beverly Bellows
Robert Kyr. Unseen Rain
John Cage. Sonatas & Interludes For Prepared Piano. Boris Berman

I had forgotten that early Carter was conventional. Wikipedia on Holiday Overture:

"...it was to be a demonstration of brilliant orchestration, and a lively, good-spirited sort of piece."

Posted at 09:07 AM in aworks :: listening log | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

aworks listening log :: recordings of the week #sonoluminus

Modern Mandolin Quartet. Americana (Sono Luminus). "The Modern Mandolin Quartet returns after an extended recording absence with their strongest and most impressive release to date"
Moon Duo. Circles (Sacred Bones Records). "8/10 Space rock is a crowded constellation these days" NME
John Fahey. Christmas Album (Burnside). We just celebrated Christmas tonight in Menlo Park with revered and traditional music, for this family anyway.
Julia Holter. Ekstasis (Domino) "strays towards pop on occasion (In the Same Room, notably), but it's the cerebral, detached pop of Laurie Anderson or, at a pinch, latterday Japan" Guardian. I think I found this by stalking Christian Carey on Spotify.
Four Tet. Pink (Text Records). "Four Tet is capable of going deeper and expanding higher than almost anyone else out there" Pitchfork
eighth blackbird. meanwhile. (Cedille Records). 'Excerpts from rehearsals of Stephen Hartke's "Meanwhile" with three amazing students from the Colburn School of Music, Los Angeles' YouTube
Los Angeles Percussion Quartet. Rupa-khandha. (Sono Luminus). Best new music of the week.
Jeremy Limb. The Piano Music of Philip Glass (First Creative). So far, I love and hate his interpretations.
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso UFO. Son of a Bitches Brew (Important). "they never get so referential as to become a pastiche band" (Dusted Magazine). WTF of the week.
ALIAS Chamber Ensemble. Boiling Point: Music of Kenji Bunch (Delos). 'Bunch explains. “These are the works that have led me to define my approach as a composer of what I like to call New American music' NewMusicBox

label scoreboard

Naxos (4)
Sono Luminus (2)
Cedille Records (2)
Orange Mountain Music (2)
EMI Classics (2)
Arabesque (2)
Sacred Bones Records
Burnside
Domino
Text Records

Posted at 10:04 PM in aworks :: listening log | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

aworks listening log :: recordings of the week #foyle's #nonextraneous #zygotones

Jim Parker. Foyle's War (Harkit Records)
Daphni. Jiaolong (Merge Records)
Ljova. Vjola: World of Four Strings (Kapustnik Records) twitter
David Greilsammer. Baroque Conversations (Sony Classical)
Asian Music for String Quartet (Naxos)
Mariel Roberts. Nonextraneous Sounds (Innova)
Music of Barbara Kolb (Composers Recordings)
Joan La Barbara. Singing Through (New Albion)
Loretta Goldberg. Zygotones: Contemporary American Works For Piano, Yamaha Disklavier And Sampler (Centaur)
Bruce Brubaker. Time Curve: Music for Piano by Philip Glass and William Duckworth (Arabesque)

Label tally so far:

Naxos (4)
Orange Mountain Music (2)
EMI Classics (2)
Arabesque (2)
Harkit Records
Merge Records
Kapustnik Records
Sony Classical
Innova
Composers Recordings

Posted at 07:48 PM in aworks :: listening log | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

aworks listening log :: recordings of the week

As always, I'm tinkering with how I listen to the deluge of available recordings and then how I log it. My current point of view is that the music world still revolves around record labels, so I plan to pay more attention to that dimension (not that I don't believe in works, composers, artists, journalists, blogs, playlists, twitter, YouTube, archaic round disks etc).

This week's iteration:

Royal Baths - Better Luck Next Life (Kanine Records)
Jennifer Koh - Bach and Beyond, Part I (Cedille)
Goat - World Music (Rocket Recordings)
David Lang - The Passing Measures (Cantaloupe Music)
100 Best American Classics (EMI Classics)
Cold Blue Two (Cold Blue Music)
Svet Stoyanov - Percussive Counterpoint (concertartistsguild)
Massimo Mercelli And I Virtuosi Italiani Perform Philip Glass (Orange Mountain Music)
Nathan Gunn, Kevin Murphy - "American Anthem" - From Ragtime to Artsong (EMI Classics)
Asian Music for String Quartet (Naxos)

Note: items 1 and 3 bear no relation to classical music. listen at your own risk (or pleasure).

And my best of November playlist on rdio (same warning may apply):

Posted at 03:04 PM in aworks :: listening log | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

aworks listening log :: michael daugherty and paul moravec

Regrets Only. Michael Daugherty. Hong Zhu, Tess Remy-Schumacher, Ben Davis

Firecracker. Michael Daugherty. University of Central Oklahoma Chamber Collegium
Rosa Parks Boulevard. Michael Daugherty. University of Central Oklahoma Wind Symphony
Walk the Walk. Michael Daugherty. Jared Cathey, Nick Steward, Tommy Goddard
Blue Like an Orange. Michael Daugherty. University of Central Oklahoma Chamber Collegium
Diamond in the Rough. Michael Daugherty. Nick Steward, Yida Hu, Michael Jones, Brian Lamb
Bizarro. Michael Daugherty. University of Central Oklahoma Wind Symphony
Northern Lights Electric. Paul Moravec. Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Clarinet Concerto. Paul Moravec. Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Sempre Diritto! Paul Moravec. Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Montserrat: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. Paul Moravec. Boston Modern Orchestra Project

Posted at 06:14 PM in aworks :: listening log | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

aworks listening log :: sunday fun day

photograph of Charles Ives as star baseball pitcher for Hopkins School (Wikipedia)

Ash. Michael Torke
Knee 5 from Einstein on the Beach. Philip Glass

Overnight Mail. Michael Torke
Adjustable Wrench. Michael Torke
Monday. Michael Torke
Tuesday. Michael Torke
We Two, Together Again Soon. Lydia Busler-Blais via Words on New Music
Hallelujah Junction. John Adams - Pincetic - Sakellaridis Piano Duo
In the Mornin'. Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hall
The Housatonic at Stockbridge. Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hall
Music for Marcel Duchamp. John Cage - Jeanne Kirstein
Music in Similar Motion. Philip Glass - Steffen Schleiermacher
Still And Moving Lines Of Silence In Families Of Hyperbolas. Alvin Lucier - Anthony Burr and Charles Curtis