aworks :: "new" american classical music

Love Fail (2012). David Lang #engrossing #evocative #unsettling

Joshua Kosman:

Lang's texts are fragments drawn from various early tellings of the story (Wagner makes an appearance too, but as one source among many), which he intersperses with impressionistic ultra-short stories by the American writer Lydia Davis. The result is engrossing, evocative and unsettlingly beautiful.

 

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David Lang Sets the Many Subtle Heartbreaks in 'love death'

David Lang's "love fail"

Cheating, Lying, Stealing (1993). David Lang /tweaking and cheating/

The Passing Measures (1998). David Lang #antidote #rdio

Memory Pieces (1992). David Lang /innova free sampler/

emusic has an Innova free sampler for downloading, including Maya Beiser, Harry Partch, Andrew Violette, the Glenn Kotche remix of Riley's In C, a track of David Lang from the Danny Holt album I liked etc. 

David Lang on his Memory Pieces:

I was friends with all the dedicatees of the enclosed set of pieces – some were closer friends than others – and I have very personal memories of my dealings with them that I don’t want to fade. Each of these little pieces highlights some aspect of my relationship with each friend. I hope this will help me hold on to these memories just a little while longer.

Men (2005). David Lang /ten cents/

Image by bpedro via Flickr

The David Lang soundtracks from the other day have reawakened my interest in his music. So I filtered through my MP3 collection to determine what music of his I own.

Something doesn't make sense to me, though. I have two of the three tracks from his album Elevated. But it appears you can't purchase the third, Men, separately in MP3 form. Both Amazon and lala allow the purchase of all three as a complete album. But emusic, which is where I got the two tracks I do possess, doesn't allow download of the third track, either as part of a full album purchase or individually.

Note that Men is a 43 minute work, which is presumably why it isn't available at the regular single MP3 download price of .89 on lala (or .99 at Amazon)

Since I can't justify paying $7.49 at lala (or $8.99 at Amazon or $9.99 at iTunes) just to be able to secure the missing track, I'll just pay lala .10 for the right to perpetually stream but not download. This outcome doesn't appear to be optimal for any of the involved parties.

John Kelman/All About Jazz on Men:

The 43-minute Men featuring the eleven-piece European Music Project under the artistic direction of Jürgen Grözinger, is filled with long tones, dark and spacious pulses, and a slowly-shifting harmonic center. Hypnotic but more intrusive than, say, the ambient music of Brian Eno—although Eno is a clear precedent—the composition's evolution is inescapable yet painstakingly subtle. 

The Little Match Girl Passion (2007) David Lang

Feast of Music has some good photos of a concert in David Lang's loft and also generally comments on the venue:

David played two tracks from the new Harmonia Mundi release of the little match girl passion, the first I'd heard this haunting music since the 2007 premiere. (Let it be said: David's got a kick-ass sound system that he likes to play loud.)

Lang on the Pulitzer prize-winning work:

My piece is called The Little Match Girl Passion and it sets Hans Christian Andersen's story The Little Match Girl in the format of Bach's Saint Matthew Passion, interspersing Andersen's narrative with my versions of the crowd and character responses from Bach's Passion.

Pierced (2007). David Lang /relentless/

Joshua Kosman: Dark, mordant and rhythmically relentless, "Pierced" is the most exciting new work in years from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang. It's a concerto for trio and string orchestra, but the piece doesn't bother with any of the usual concerto give-and-take. Instead, Lang sets his forces in quivery, almost hostile juxtaposition; all they can agree on is the recurring downbeat. The results are irresistible...

The Naxos recording is available on emusic along with a new version of Cheating, Lying, Stealing. Not on lala although lala has other Boston Modern Orchestra Project albums.

The So-Called Laws of Nature (2001-2002). David Lang

Now, iridian radio is playing David Lang's The So-Called Laws of Nature, one of my favorite David Lang works. For what it's worth, I downloaded the MP3 as part of my eMusic monthly subscription. I know no details but as part of the "so-called laws of electronic commerce," I assume Canteloupe Records and hence, David Lang, are appropriately compensated. Art of the States has a free and full Real stream of the piece.