18.8.17
elliott carter
My review of the new disc of late works by Elliott Carter is up at Burning Ambulance. As always, be sure to peruse the rest of the site while you're there.
24.7.17
beth levin
My review of Beth Levin's new disc of romantic piano music is up at Burning Ambulance. Please check out the rest of the site while you are there.
9.6.17
miranda cuckson
My review of Miranda Cuckson's new recording, Invisible Colors, is up at Burning Ambulance. As always, Phil Freeman does a great job of posting reviews/articles, including videos of some of the music on the album.
7.9.16
#stemmingthetide
 |
| bird |
Composer Ed Windels, in his NewMusicBox post, “Coming Out as a 5 to 9 Composer”, discusses, among other things, the historical precedents (Charles
Ives, etc.) for composers making their living as something other than a
composer. I’m in the same situation as Mr. Windels, though I’ve thought of
myself more as an “unaffiliated” composer than as a “dayjobber”, the word he
uses.
Mr. Windels also mentions that for years he “succumbed” to
the “long-standing and short-sighted” ideology that held that if you were not a
full-time composer[1],
you are “somehow less serious, less committed, and less worthy”.[2] This
ideology is also behind the pernicious idea that composers writing on spec are
taking opportunities away from the more serious composers, those who get
commissions, who, because of these commissions, are more often full-timers.[3]
At any rate, it’s my belief that there is a qualitative
distinction between being an unaffiliated composer and a dayjobbing composer,
though there is, of course, significant overlap. It may be that that
distinction is more in play after the music is written.[4]
I’ve recently had the feeling that I’m writing better[5]
music than I might have had things gone in other directions. Mr. Windels says
he will discuss that and other aspects of the life of the dayjobbing composer
in his next post. I’ll expand on the issue at that time.
* * * * *
The great Bob Shingleton, in a post called “Music blogging#itsover”, simultaneously discusses and belies the end of music blogging. The
bottom line: “. . . they are not worth reading”. Read the whole thing for
context and elucidation.
The present post is a stab at reviving this blog and
stemming the tide Mr. Shingleton writes about. I have ideas for several series
of posts like the series I wrote to commemorate Carter 100. It’s difficult to
fence off time to do those posts (for reasons related to the first part of this
post), but the Carter series was very valuable for me, and I believe they had
some value for at least a few readers. Here’s hoping that
#itsnotquiteover.
[1] He
includes composers with posts in academia as full-timers. Nope.
[2] In
my arrogance, it never occurred to me that I was less worthy because I wasn’t
full time. Never.
[3] As
Mr. Preston asked, will it go ‘round in circles?
[4]
Then there is the phenomenon of the “disaffiliated” composer, who can’t get
performances in her own hometown, because institutions don’t see what’s in it
for them to play music of unaffiliated locals.
[5]
Was going to put “better” in quotation marks. Fuck that.
28.1.16
watch that space
Earlier this week, I launched a new website devoted to my compositional activities. The site includes an "About" page, which is basically a brief, fairly uninformative biographical statement, a works list, an audio page titled, in an inspired bit of cross promotion, "Listen", a gallery page ("Look"), a contact form, and a blog, called "Read". "Wait a minute", you say. "You never post on this blog, and now you've started another one?"
Yes.
The blog over there will be devoted to items about the website itself and to news about my music. Over here here, I'll continue to post reviews, lists, observations, and reading recommendations.
As always, thanks for listening!
16.9.15
in drones begin responsibilities
 |
| Anna Thorvaldsdottir |
When I was an undergraduate, the composition faculty issued
an edict that, until further notice, we were not to use ostinatos[1] in
the music we were writing for our lessons. The professors clearly believed that
we were using ostinatos (and other techniques/devices like tone rows[2]
and drones[3]) as
crutches to “automatically” generate stretches of music, some of whose details
fairly set themselves down onto paper[4] by
themselves.
I almost hurt myself rolling my eyes up in my head in
response, but I complied. There is no doubt that these and other techniques can
take over a composers’ music and that comp teachers do have a responsibility to
guide and evaluate the student’s technical abilities. These techniques can, in
addition to generating large numbers of notes, mask a great many compositional “sins”.[5] On
the other hand, if the music works, and that’s a judgement best made by the
composer with the assistance of the teacher, there’s no good reason not to use
them.[6]
I started thinking about this subject when I first heard
some music by Anna Thorvaldsdottir a few months ago, when she was named the New
York Philharmonic Kravis Emerging Composer. Drones are an essential component
of Thorvaldsdottir’s art, and she uses them in surprisingly different ways. On
her new disc, In the Light of Air,[7] the
drones are used in service of a varied and artistically unified expressive
landscape.
The sections of In the
Light of Air each have titles that point to a measurement of physical
condition (“Luminance”), an existential condition (“Existence”), and feeling
states or states of being (“Serenity”, “Remembrance”) that animate the sections
so titled. Over the course of the 45 or so minutes of Light, Thorvaldsdottir deploys her drones in surprising and
expressive contexts, illuminating the idea behind each section clearly and with
style, grounding each piece in rich earth.
Though this is not-quite-a-review of this disc, I also wanted
to say that Transitions (for solo cello, played beautifully here by Michael
Nicolas, for whom it was composed) is a very fine piece. The performance of In the Light of Air, by the powerhouse International Contemporary
Ensemble is expert and expressive, and both the Blu-Ray and CD sound is superb.
[1] A
short melodic fragment repeated throughout a piece or section of a piece. An
ostinato typically remains at the same pitch level and doesn’t vary in other
ways, either.
[2] A
series of notes (actually, pitches abstracted from any register) that govern
the pitch (melody and harmony) of a piece. There are as many ways of doing this
are there are composers doing it. More, probably.
[3] A
continuous, low sound.
[4]
Imagine those professors trying to deal with student composers using
sequencers, music-composing notation software, and the other music-generating tools
available today.
[5] In
much the same way that a great number of footnotes can up the old word count
and mask a possible lack of much to say.
[6] Other
than to make the professor’s job easier.
[7]
Given a much fuller review by Phil Freeman here. Phil’s perspective is very
different from mine, one that will be far more useful to most readers.
18.8.15
here and there
 |
| Flower |
Carter: Boosey & Hawkes have posted an interview with
noted composer and Elliott Carter scholar John Link, who has some important insight on how
and why the composer developed his “late late” style. In addition, Mr. Link
lives up to his name with several Carter resources:
#musochat: On Sunday evenings at 9 eastern, any interested
party may join in a virtual gathering at twitter under “#musochat” to discuss
contemporary classical music[1]
and related subjects. Even if you can’t participate in the discussions in real
time, the chats are available under the hashtag. Molly Sheridan has more at
newmusicbox.
Quote:
This demure woman . . . declared that "making even one colored mark on a blank piece of newsprint should be an act of moral revolt." More than a revolt: an appeal for grace. All human beings were due a full accounting, but they had to ask for it. Art was a way of asking.
--Richard Powers, Prisoner's Dilemma, p54
[1] It
happens that much of this past Sunday’s (16 Aug 15) discussion centered on what
to call this thing of ours,* whether that matters, and why it probably does.
*The Sopranos reference is intentional, because another art form,
filmed televisual entertainment, often presents its best work on Sunday nights
and I believe that one way for us to engage with the contemporary world is to
engage with other, more popular, art forms.
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