aworks :: "new" american classical music

Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1982). William Bolcom

Today was nostalgia day with KFOX playing Beatles and my taking a trip to Tower Records. The latter continues its experiment in price elasticity. Me thinks the music retailers and labels continuing to raise their prices while facing increased competition for the entertainment dollar was a mistake. Or to phrase it differently, maybe it wouldn't have lasted but I've seen more people at the liquidation sale at Tower in the last month than in the prior six.

On a related theme, Tom Jackson has an article about William Bolcom with this quote from the composer:

Joan and I have made such a pittance that it’s almost laughable. You’d probably have to say the same is true of any classical artist. People like Yo Yo Ma and people like that are only selling a few thousand. What those CDs are for is awareness of what you are doing. They turn out to be essentially a calling card.

Here are the calling cards I purchased today:

• Birdy Nam Nam. For everyone who says online music is better, I'll note that I pre-ordered this CD/DVD at Amazon back in May and have yet to receive it. I'm also in the middle of squabbling with emusic.com over not getting my allotment of tracks, due to a poorly implemented download manager upgrade. Issue resolved to my satisfaction. I don't remember ever needing to deal with Tower on-site tech support, though. This from a guy who spends way too much time online, including having the time to discover French turntablists in that giant SXSW torrent. YouTube clip here. General search versus discovery post here.
• From The Kitchen Archives - New Music New York 1979. Glass, Tom Johnson, Michael Nyman, Steve Reich, et al. I generally think of minimalism pre-dating me but I suppose not.
• A slew of American Naxos releases including two Howard Hansons and CDs of music by Arthur Foote, Morton Feldman, and Conlon Nancarrow. They still had several copies of the Naxos recording of Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Unrelated Bolcom YouTube clip here.
• Tight Sweater, the music of Marc Mellits by Real Quiet.
• A DVD of John Adams' El Nino. I'm still waiting for the price to come down on that Harry Partch DVD.
• A gift CD I can't yet mention.
• A Stills CD I was too embarrassed to buy at Aquarius Records when I first saw it.

Is there anyone other than Mariah Carey who is happy with the state of commerical music? Lawyers and certain hardware companies I suppose...

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Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1982). William Bolcom

Cujo guides fellow KJFC DJs on how to program William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience:

I listed a few individual highlights below, but if you don’t have time for lots of Bolcom, try playing corresponding Innocence/Experience songs (e.g. The Lamb/The Tyger, or Little Boy Lost/Little Girl Lost), try playing other pieces inspired by the same Blake poem (e.g. Bolcom’s Tyger, Tangerine Dream’s Tyger, Henry Cowell’s Tiger - search our library), or try playing 2 or 3 in a row, the music as a whole has an excellent flow.