tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799748910855558112023-11-15T06:10:46.833-08:00Pytheas TalkThe Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music is a wide ranging web nexus for contemporary concert music. Our mission is to promote contemporary composers and their music through information, understanding and performances . . . EXPLORE, LISTEN & ENJOY!20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.comBlogger203125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-66827647355213287772014-03-28T08:36:00.005-07:002014-03-28T08:39:19.063-07:00Well, it's been a while . . . but <u>WE ARE BACK</u>! We know that hundreds of people each month visit the Pytheas Center's website, and we thank all our supporters and visitors, composers and performers, and the whole new music community for making the Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music a reality. Now, back to the music . . .<br />
<br />
According to composer Dmitri Tymoczko, "When I was young, my parents found a small table made from a printer's typecase, divided into a hundred little compartments meant to contain metal casts of the letters of the alphabet. Each of the little compartments had been filled with a unique mineralogical treasure—a strange crystal, a piece of iron pyrite, a shark’s tooth, or a fossilized trilobyte. I used to stare and stare at this cabinet of wonders, amazed by the sheer variety of its contents, and overjoyed that we had an actual shark’s tooth in our very own house. In thinking about how to capture these memories, I hit on the idea of a collection of little movements, each complete in itself, but producing a sense of form through their juxtaposition. Most of the seven movements are just about two minutes long, just enough to make a relatively coherent artistic statement, but not long enough to sustain much development. I tried to weave the movements together in a way that created a larger trajectory of energy and mood and texture, building structure in an intuitive and associative way, without much recourse to explicit recapitulation. "Russian Metal" reflects my sense that there is an affinity between Russian modernism and heavy metal, both of which favor a darkened ("more minor than minor") harmonic palette. Unable to shake the image of Shostakovich orchestrating Black Sabbath, I decided to exorcise my demons by writing them down". Watch a performance of Dmitri Tymoczko's Russian Metal" from his "Typecase Treasury" (2010) played by the Amernet String Quartet . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
Albert Schnelzer is appreciated by musicians for his inventiveness, his personal tonal language as well as his idiomatic but at the same time deeply original way of writing. His music is outgoing and openly communicative, sometimes minimalistic, at times even dance-like. His musical influences comes from widely differing styles such as Stravinsky, Iron Maiden and Balkan music, but there is also room for fragile and lyrically expressive moments. Furthermore Schnelzer has been greatly influenced by literature. For instance his Symphony No. 1 – Azraeel, his second string quartet Emperor Akbar and the oboe concerto The Enchanter were all inspired by Salman Rushdie’s books. During the past few years Schnelzer has scored successes with his chamber as well as his orchestral music. The concert opening piece A Freak in Burbank has been especially successful and is frequently performed. It received its UK Premiere at the Proms in August 2010. The oboe concerto The Enchanter was premiered, also in 2010, to great critical acclaim with French virtuso Francois Leleux as soloist. His collaboration with The Brodsky Quartet, for which he composed Emperor Akbar, has also attracted a great deal of attention. Next in the pipeline is the world premiere of his cello concert Crazy Diamond in December 2011 composed for Claes Gunnarsson on commission by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Future commissions include a Violin Concerto for Hugo Ticciati to be premiered in London in spring 2012, and a joint commission between the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Swedish Radio SO for the season 2012/2013. Hear a performance of Albert Schnelzer's "A Freak in Burbank" (2007) . . . one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
According to Peter Bates (@ Audiophile Audition), "I have been listening to Judith Zaimont for fifteen years, when her Zones CD was released on the Arabesque label. I saw her then, as now, as a master of the chamber music form, able to pull delight out of the unexpected". Her String Quartet (subtitled “The Figure”), demonstrates this by starting in one direction and, rather than following it in an expected way, abruptly turns right or left when least expected. 'The Figure' is divided into two movements of equal length, 'In Shadow' and 'In Bright Light'. The subtitle refers to a three-part figure at the beginning of the work which gives rise to all the other material. The first movement is the more dramatic, the second the more lyrical, but otherwise both sections are fairly similar, by turn ruminative and vivacious, in both cases darker and less contrastive than the section titles indicate, but no less productive for it. Performing Zaimont's works is the Harlem Quartet, with the help of pianist Awadagin Pratt. The Harlem Quartet has advanced diversity in classical music while engaging new audiences with varied repertoire that includes works by minority composers. Their mission to share their passion with a wider audience has taken them around the world; from a 2009 performance at The White House for President Obama and First Lady, Michelle Obama, to a highly successful tour of South Africa in 2012, and numerous venues in between. The musically versatile ensemble has performed with such distinguished performers as Itzhak Perlman, Ida Kavafian, Carter Brey, Fred Sherry, Misha Dicter, Jeremy Denk, and Paquito D’Rivera. Their most recent recording, Hot House, with jazz master Chick Corea and percussionist Gary Burton was a 2013 multi-Grammy Award winner. Listen to the Harlem Quartet perform Judith Zaimont's "String Quartet - The Figure" (2007) . . . it's our Pytheas <b>FEATURED NEW MUSIC RECORDING</b>.<br />
<br />
Jeremy Siskind (@ Miscellany from a Siskind) writes, "Miriam Gideon’s 'Of Shadows Numberless' takes its title from a phrase in John Keats’ poem, 'Ode to a Nightingale', and each of its six movements, likewise, draws inspiration from a phrase in Keats’ work. 'Ode to a Nightingale' addresses the popular Romantic trope of a bird as an idealized version of a poet, a version who – according to Shelley’s analogous work, 'To a Skylark' – 'pourest [his] full heart in profuse strains of unpremeditated art.' Keats’ poem focuses on the bird-poet dichotomy by following the fanciful journey of a depressed subject who is thrown into further despair when confronted with the unreachable beauty of the nightingale’s “plaintive anthem.” Gideon's 'Of Shadows Numberless,' like the poem, is full of shadows and mazes. Whereas Keats writes of “verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways,” and “fad[ing] away into the forest dim,” Gideon writes dense, dark music filled with half-step, major seventh, and minor ninth relationships, crowded clusters, and incessantly mumbling inner voices. Although the melodies are tuneful and usually simple, Gideon often includes some oddity in the phrasing or intervallic structure that makes the tune feel just out of reach, transported a step beyond the realm of ordinary music. Listen to a performance of Miriam Gideon's "Of Shadows Numberless" (1966) . . . it's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-74243843219167492862013-04-11T11:06:00.002-07:002013-04-25T08:42:47.879-07:00The fifth annual <b>Back Cove Contemporary Music Festival</b>
takes place this weekend at the Portland Conservatory of Music, located
in the Woodfords Congregational Church at 202 Woodford St., Portland,
Maine. This year there will be five concerts and a composer's rountable
discussion: <b>Friday, April 12th, 7:00pm</b> - The first concert in the Festival features new music by Maine composers <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/comolli.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/comolli.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gia Comolli</span></a>, <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/wiemann.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/wiemann.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Beth Wiemann</span></a>, <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/matthews_bill.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/matthews_bill.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">William Matthews</span></a>, PCM Assistant Director Mark Tipton, and a work by Mark Piszczek of Peterborough, NH; <b>Saturday, April 13th, 1:00pm Lecture/Performance</b> - Bowdoin College Professor <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/shende.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/shende.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vineet Shende</span></a>, Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan, and the Oratorio Chorale join forces to present a preview of <i>Pravasa: Travels of the Guitar</i>, a new work by <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/shende.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/shende.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vineet Shende</span></a> commissioned by the Oratorio Chorale; <b>Saturday, April 13th, 3:00pm Student Concert</b> - PCM students will perform contemporary music by professional composers as well as compositions of their own; <b>Saturday, April 13th, 7:00pm Concert</b> - This concert will highlight the festival’s Featured Composer, <a data-cke-saved-href="http://johndmcdonald.com/" href="http://johndmcdonald.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">John McDonald</span></a>, performing selections from his recent piano music. Other composers whose work will be presented on this program include: <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schwartz.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schwartz.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Elliott Schwartz</span></a>, <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/descherer.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/descherer.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Joshua DeScherer</span></a>, <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/sonenberg.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/sonenberg.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Daniel Sonenberg</span></a>, and Joshua Newton; <b>Sunday, April 14th, 3:00pm Composer's Roundtable</b>
- A roundtable discussion will be presented, during which time a
representative panel of composers from the festival will discuss their
work. Also being discussed will be the topic: The World of Contemporary
Music and Musicians in 2013; <b>Sunday, April 14th, 7:00pm Final Concert</b> - Featured Composer <a data-cke-saved-href="http://johndmcdonald.com/" href="http://johndmcdonald.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">John McDonald</span></a>
will be joined by Flautist Elizabeth Erenberg to perform selections
from his compositions for flute and piano. This program also features
the USM Composer’s Ensemble, and chamber works by composers Peter
McLaughlin, Abriel Ferreira, <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/pearson_gay.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/pearson_gay.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gay Pearson</span></a>, and <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/descherer.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/descherer.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Joshua DeScherer</span></a>. For more information, please call 775-3356 . . .<br />
<br />
<a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nono.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nono.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Luigi Nono</span></a>
achieved prominence after World War II as an uncompromising modernist
seeking to revolutionize music in Europe. Along with fellow Italians <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/berio.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/berio.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Luciano Berio</span></a> and <a data-cke-saved-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Maderna" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Maderna" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Bruno Maderna</span></a>, <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nono.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nono.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Nono</span></a> attended the influential Darmstadt Summer Courses and became associated with other young modernists such as <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/boulez.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/boulez.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pierre Boulez</span></a> and <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brown_elizabeth.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brown_elizabeth.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Karlheinz Stockhausen</span></a>. In many ways, <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nono.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nono.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Nono</span></a>
was the most radical of them all, choosing to combine a keen political
engagement with a musical orientation that mixes austere beauty with
fierce intensity. Watch a performance of <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nono.html" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nono.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Luigi Nono's</span></a> . . . <i><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank">sofferte onde serene (1976)</a></i> played by pianist Markus Hinterhäuser . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/falla.html" target="_blank">Manuel de Falla</a></span> composed the <i style="color: orange;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_MJ2RoooQw" target="_blank">Fantasia bætica</a></i> in 1919, at the close of his second Madrid period. It was commissioned by and dedicated to Arthur Rubinstein. The abstract, large-scale work is a celebration of Andalusian culture and history, but not an historical evocation. Its influences draw from Falla's knowledge and experience of the the flamenco culture that evolved in Andalusia. Provinicia Baetica was the old Roman name for Andalusia and so a translation of the title might be "Andalusian Fantasy." Although the materials used are original with Falla, they strongly evoke the folk music of southern Spain: the strident, sombre cante jondo sung in oriental-sounding scales, chords derived from guitar tunings, and a harsh percussive quality reminiscent of castanets and heel stamping. The tonal originality of the Baetica is a result of Gypsy, 'Middle Eastern', Sephardic, Indian and subtle French influences woven into the harmonic language [notes by Paul Jacobs] . . . it's one of this week's <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-29604134939704438522013-04-05T10:52:00.000-07:002013-04-05T10:52:07.188-07:00Welsh born (and now upstate-New York based) <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tann.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hilary Tann</span></a> writes of her piece <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Shakkei (2007)</span></i></a>: "<i>Shakkei</i>, a term used in Japanese landscape design, means 'borrowed scenery.' Two well-known examples of <i>shakkei</i> underlie my piece. The first movement, marked <i>slow and spacious</i>, is inspired by Mount Hiei as viewed from Shoden-ji, a temple with a dry landscape garden. The second movement, marked <i>leggiero</i>, is inspired by the hills of Arashiyama as viewed from Tenryu-ji, a temple with a lush stroll garden. In musical terms, the sparse landscape of the first movement is complemented by an 'overgrown' second movement. In both movements I could not resist lightly 'borrowing' from <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/debussy.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Debussy’s</span></a> <i>Nuages</i>, since the idea of borrowing was part of the identity of the piece and an English horn was at hand." Watch at performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tann.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hilary Tann's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Shakkei (2007)</span></i></a> played by alto saxophonist Susan Fancher (the work was originally written for oboe solo) and the Thailand Philharmonic conducted by Allan McMurray . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />In 2009 the percussion ensemble <a href="http://www.tambuco.org/indeng.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tambuco</span></a> collaborated with visual artist <a href="http://www.kevorkmourad.com/km/home.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Kevork Mourad</span></a> in a work they called <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/electroacoustic_music.html#pytheas_sound_art" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Pencils</span></i></a>. Members of <a href="http://www.tambuco.org/indeng.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tambuco</span></a> share some of their thoughts on the project: "Of the instruments that we regularly hear when we attend a concert, we found that percussion instruments are certainly those whose visual appeal gives them added value. Modern percussionists attribute the success of their performances in a way similar to sound artists who explore musical ideas via the combinations of sounds, colors and textures, often not written down, while accompanied by the great visual presence and appeal that percussion instruments generate in such a scenario. Listeners are often fascinated by this type of experience, and percussionists strive to discover the best ways to utilize the shapes, sizes, materials, sticks, etc. capable of producing such a wide variety of sounds. We can say, then, that a percussion concert becomes a powerful visual and auditory experience." <a href="http://www.kevorkmourad.com/km/home.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Kevork Mourad</span></a> has developed a special technique of spontaneous painting, in which he shares the stage with <a href="http://www.tambuco.org/indeng.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tambuco</span></a>, creating his artwork in counterpoint to their music. Using acrylic paint, he draws images that are projected onto a large screen behind the musicians. The result is spectacular: the narrative aspect of the music grows, reinforced by the strength of the plastic elements created. The opportunity to see an artist like <a href="http://www.kevorkmourad.com/km/home.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Kevork Mourad</span></a> performing on stage, watching his approach to painting, his strokes, producing images and textures, makes us think that his work as a scenic artist is very similar to a musician, who similarly prepares textures, long lines, colored with different forms of attack and dynamic, in an exposition, development and conclusion. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/electroacoustic_music.html#pytheas_sound_art" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Pencils (2009)</span></i></a> with <a href="http://www.tambuco.org/indeng.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tambuco</span></a> and <a href="http://www.kevorkmourad.com/km/home.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Kevork Mourad</span></a> . . . it's our <b>SOUND ART</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nancarrow.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Conlon Nancarrow</span></a> was an iconoclastic American composer who wrote in an utterly new way using new instrumental resources. While isolated from the main currents of music, he was virtually ignored by the public and his colleagues until the 1970s. He is primarily known for his 50 studies for player piano, which combine a quasi-improvisatory likening to jazz pianists Art Tatum and Earl Hines, with dazzling rhythmic complexity rendered at tempos that exceed the capabilities of human performers. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nancarrow.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Nancarrow</span></a> adopted the player piano as his instrument of choice because of its ability to exactingly reproduce his complex rhythmic layers -- sometimes up to 12 layers simultaneously -- and because of his relative isolation from performers while living in Mexico. Composed in 1986, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nancarrow.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Nancarrow's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_listen.html#featured_earful" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Piece No. 2 for Small Orchestra</span></i></a> begins with an enthusiastic, bright, but stumbling, march tempo, followed by various stops and starts, interruptions, jazzy pizzicato bass lines, a coquettish oboe solo, and a very tenuous bassoon and trombone duet. The music gradually tries to reassemble itself by drawing together fragments in multiple tempi; and though not quite succeeding, it does recreate a new body that seems satisfied enough to proceed with a strong ending cadence. A delightful piece and an interesting extension of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nancarrow.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Nancarrow's</span></a> rhythmic compositional procedures he employs in his works for player piano [notes thanks to AllMusic.com]. Listen to performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/nancarrow.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Nancarrow's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_listen.html#featured_earful" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Piece No. 2 for Small Orchestra</span></i></a> played by the ensemble Continuum . . . one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />London born <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/mcdowall.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Cecilia McDowall</span></a> has been described by the International Record Review as having "a communicative gift that is very rare in modern music." Often inspired by extra-musical influences, her writing combines a rhythmic vitality with expressive lyricism and is, at times, intensely moving. She has won many awards as well as being short-listed for the 2005 and 2008 British Composer Awards. Her music has been commissioned and performed by leading choirs, including the BBC Singers, ensembles and at major festivals both in Britain and abroad and has been broadcast on BBC Radio and worldwide. She is currently composer-in-residence at Dulwich College School, and is an Oxford University Press composer. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/mcdowall.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Cecilia McDowall</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1204.html#now" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><i>Now May We Singen (2007)</i></span></a> by The Virginia Chorale . . . it's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-441667096050391492013-03-28T11:24:00.002-07:002013-04-02T17:54:14.277-07:00During 2012 Scottish born composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/meredith_anna.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Anna Meredith</span></a> wrote <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">HandsFree</span></i></a> as a PRS/RPS 20x12 Commission for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. It was performed by them at the BBC Proms, Barbican Centre and Symphony Hall as well as numerous flashmob performances around the UK. Meredith's HandsFree showcases the National Youth Orchestra in an unusual situation - performing with no instruments at all. The piece reveals the talented teenagers' audacious musicianship and virtuosity through beat boxing, singing, body percussion and clapping. According to The Guardian, “Pitched somewhere between classical and performance art, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">HandsFree</span></i></a> is essentially a work about body percussion, fantastically planned and choreographed. The players clap, stamp, shuffle, shout and sing. The rhythmic sound patterns are mirrored by platform routines of considerable complexity. Meredith throws in a few Ligeti-like ululations to form points of stasis or relaxation, but the overwhelming impression is one of mounting exhilaration..” Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/meredith_anna.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Anna Meredith’s</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">HandsFree (2012)</span></i></a> by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brown_elizabeth.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Elizabeth Brown</span></a> combines a successful composing career with an extremely diverse performing life, playing flute, shakuhachi, and theremin in a wide variety of musical circles. Her chamber music, shaped by this unique group of instruments and experiences, has been called luminous, dreamlike and hallucinatory. After hearing the instrument on a concert tour of Japan, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brown_elizabeth.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Brown</span></a> began studying shakuhachi (traditional Japanese bamboo flute) in 1984 and its music has been a major influence on her musical language. She is celebrated both here and in Japan for her compositions combining eastern and western sensibilities. In her piece <a href="http://library.newmusicusa.org/library/player.aspx?var=17551&composer=amc.net" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Seahorse</span></i></a>, written in 2009, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brown_elizabeth.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Brown</span></a> “traces the activities and dreams of a typical seahorse. A solo theremin swims in an ocean of Partch instruments [a harmonic canon, guitar, chromolodeon, diamond marimba, bass marimba, juststrokerods, and a zoomoozophone].” <a href="http://library.newmusicusa.org/library/player.aspx?var=17551&composer=amc.net" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Seahorse</span></i></a> was dedicated to Dean Drummond and commissioned by Montclair State University for its Harry Partch Ensemble. Listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brown_elizabeth.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Elizabeth Brown’s</span></a> <a href="http://library.newmusicusa.org/library/player.aspx?var=17551&composer=amc.net" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Seahorse (2009)</span></i></a> . . . one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
Of all <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/boulez.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pierre Boulez's</span></a> works, only <i>Le Marteau sans maître (1953-55)</i> has achieved worldwide recognition as a modern masterpiece, partly because of the praise lavished on it by fellow composers and critics, but also because the public responded to the piece with uncommon openness to its rarefied expression and fascination with its fresh timbral palette. The work was choreographed in 1973 by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_B%C3%A9jart" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Maurice Béjart</span></a>, who wrote “<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/dance_composers.html#danses_pytheuses" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Le Marteau sans maître</span></i></a> is an abstract work based solely on the relationship between the musical score and motion. Six musicians and a singer on stage find their match in the person of six dancers and a ballerina. The counting geometry does not yet lyrical without underlying metaphysical and extensions. But it is the public to interpret the symbols and build a path through the universe of shapes and sounds. The choreographic style is a symbiosis between test sequences by conventional successive series of precise mathematical and non traditional aesthetic and metaphysical movements inspired by the Far East also reworked material as serial.” Watch a performance of the dance version of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/dance_composers.html#danses_pytheuses" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">Le marteau sans maître</span></a> with Béjart Ballet Lausanne . . . it's this week's <b>DANSES PYTHEUSES</b>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/druckman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Jacob Druckman's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/percussion.html#pytheas_percussion" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Reflections On The Nature Of Water (1986)</span></i></a> for solo marimba was commissioned by William Moersch, a champion of solo marimba music, the man responsible for commissioning much of the American repertoire for the instrument. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/druckman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Druckman</span></a> used <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/percussion.html#pytheas_percussion" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Reflections On The Nature Of Water</span></i></a> as an homage to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/debussy.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Claude Debussy</span></a>, whose <i>Preludes</i> had inspired the young <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/druckman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Druckman</span></a>, and whose own piece <i>Reflections In the Water (</i>from the <i>Images, Book One/1905)</i> was inspired by Monet's painting <i>Reflections on Water</i>. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/druckman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Druckman</span></a> likewise paints the musical text for the listener by titling each of the work's six pieces: <i>Crystalline</i>, with its thematic material, paints a picture of a change in the water's consistency; <i>Fleet</i>, quick of pace, with sharp interruptions punctuating and disrupting the flow of the piece with a calculated persistence; <i>Tranquil</i>, a pulsating, almost hypnotic and meditative entity of its own, this music has a sustained and forward-moving quality; <i>Gently Swelling</i> offers a different style in its spirited dancing - graced with splashes of new color and timbre, yet it remains constant in its motion; <i>Profound</i>, returning the entire work to a level of stately depth and consciousness, the music suggests a definite complexity within a mask of simplicity; and finally, <i>Relentless</i>, somewhat reminiscent of the music in <i>Gently Swelling</i>, here <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/druckman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Druckman</span></a> concludes his exploration of a new, romanticized Impressionism [notes thanks to David Brensilver/All Music Guide]. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/druckman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Jacob Druckman’s</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/percussion.html#pytheas_percussion" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Reflections on the Nature of Water (1986)</span></i></a> played by Tomasz Kowalczyky . . . it's this week's <b>BANG, CLANG and BEAT<i> - New Music for Percussion</i></b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-78624083135939660772013-03-22T08:51:00.001-07:002013-03-22T09:36:49.543-07:00Born in a church tower in the village of Polička in the Bohemian-Moravian highlands, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/martinu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Bohuslav Martinů</span></a> began violin lessons aged 7 and was sent to the Prague Conservatory, funded by the Polička villagers. In 1923 he moved to Paris to study, and stayed for 17 years, absorbing the avant-garde as well as jazz influence<b><i>s. </i></b>He fled Paris for the USA following the German invasion of 1940, taking up teaching posts at Tanglewood and at Princeton University. Settling in New York, he was championed by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/martinu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"> Martin</span></a><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/martinu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">ů</span></a>'s</span></span> prolific output of over 400 works crosses all genres – from piano solo to opera, from chamber music to ballet and film music – and his unclassifiable style has contributed to his works falling into neglect. Among his masterpieces is the cantata <i>The Epic of Gilgamesh (1955)</i> and the operas <i>Julietta (1938)</i> and <i>The Greek Passion (1959)</i>. Also among his most significant works is the <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Piano Concerto No. 4, (1956)</span></i></a>, subtitled <i>"Incantation"</i>. The work is in two movements and the subtitle of the work definitely guides us through this fantastic, incantatory music. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/martinu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Martinů</span></a> wrote program notes to his <i>Sixth Symphony</i> (subtitled <i>"Fantaisies symphoniques"</i>) and his thoughts surely hold true for the <i>Piano Concerto No. 4</i>: "I wished to write something for Charles Munch (conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra). I … like his spontaneous approach to the music where music takes shape in a free way, flowing and freely following its movements." Watch a thrilling performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/martinu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Bohuslav </span><span style="color: blue;"> Martin</span></a><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/martinu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">ů</span></a>'s</span></span> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Piano Concerto No. 4 (1956), "Incantation"</span></i></a> played by pianist Ivo Kahanek and the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Jiří Bělohlávek conducting . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week. <br />
<br />
The career of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schwantner.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Joseph Schwantner</span></a> is perhaps as prestigious as that of any living American composer at the turn of the twenty-first century. Although trained in the high-serialist school, the mid-1970s saw <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schwantner.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Schwantner</span></a> abandon that style in favor of a distinctly coloristic, harmonically rich, but solidly tonal (albeit often "pantonal") sound. His voice throughout the 1970s and 1980s is often characterized by rich, dark brass scoring, lurching polyrhythms, and mesmerizing ostinati. One favorite technique is the employment of "ringing sonorities," or sounds that are articulated loudly then suppressed and sustained. These sounds resonate with <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schwantner.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Schwantner's</span></a> evocative titles like <i>From a Dark Millennium (1980)</i>, <i>Aftertones of Infinity (1978)</i>, and <i>Wild Angels of the Open Hills (1978)</i>. His timbral palette is further enhanced by the use of nontraditional instruments like crystal glasses, water gongs, and bowed cymbals. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schwantner.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Schwantner's</span></a> style in the 1990s combined occasional excursions into disorienting atonal and vaguely serialist areas with weighty and often overpowering tonal blocks, and continued to explore new timbres. His honors include a Pulitzer Prize (1979), a Guggenheim Fellowship, and no less than six Composers Fellowship Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Hear the interview <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schwantner.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Joseph Schwantner</span></a> made for the Ford Foundation's "Made in America" commission series - <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schwantner.html#schwantner_on_schwantner" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Made in America Interview</span></i></a> (or check <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otL4D9DABg8" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">here</span></i></a>). . . it's this week <b>COMPOSER PORTRAIT</b>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/verandi.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mario Verandi</span></a> is an Argentinean born composer, sound and media artist. He primarily works with new technologies as an aid to exploring and expanding the boundaries of sound, space, perception and meaning. A distinct characteristic of his work has been the exploration of the poetic and evocative potential of concrete and environmental sounds and their incorporation in sound compositions, audiovisual installations, live performances and radio art pieces. His works have received prizes and awards in the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (France), Musica Nova Competition (Prague), CIEJ Electronic Music Awards (Barcelona), Prix Ars Electronica (Linz), Stockholm Electronic Art Awards (Sweden), SGAE Electroacoustic Music Competition (Spain) and the European Bell Days Composition Prize (ZKM, Karlsruhe). He has a long-standing interest in interdisciplinary projects and as a result has created music and sound designs for art installations, dance, theatre, films and the radio.<span style="color: blue;"> </span><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/verandi.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Verandi</span></a> </span>has collaborated among others with the American visual artist Catherine Ferguson, German choreographer Helge Musial, Polish theater director Grazyna Kania, German film-maker Harun Farocki, German visual artist Corinna Rosteck, Berlin-based visual artitst Lillevan and Russian visual artists Igor and Svetlana Kopystianski. Listen to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/verandi.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mario Verandi's</span></a> electroacoutic work <i><a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/electroacoustic_music.html#pytheas_sound_art" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">Prague - Imaginary Fragments (2006)</span></a></i> . . . it's our SOUND ART for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/meredith_anna.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Anna Meredith</span></a> is a composer and performer of both acoustic and electronic music. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/meredith_anna.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Meredith's</span></a> music has been performed everywhere from the Last Night of the Proms to flashmob performances in the M6 Services, Soundwave Festival to London Fashion Week, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival to the Ether Festival, and broadcast on Radio 1, 3, 4 & 6 She has been Composer in Residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, RPS/PRS Composer in the House with Sinfonia ViVA, the classical music representative for the 2009 South Bank Show Breakthrough Award and winner of the 2010 Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers. During 2012 <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/meredith_anna.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Meredith</span></a> wrote <i>HandsFree</i> as a PRS/RPS 20x12 Commission for the National Youth Orchestra which was performed at the BBC Proms, Barbican Centre and Symphony Hall as well as numerous flashmob performances around the UK. Her debut EP - <i>Black Prince Fury</i> was released on Moshi Moshi records to critical acclaim including Drowned in Sound's <i>Single of the Year</i>. Listen to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/meredith_anna.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Anna Meredith's</span></a> <a href="https://soundcloud.com/annameredith" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Nautilus (2012)</span></i></a> (part of that debut EP) . . . one of our <b>PTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-89481380698615203832013-02-03T08:35:00.000-08:002013-02-06T12:19:32.763-08:00 Composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/farr.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gareth Farr</span></a> was born in Wellington, New Zealand. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/farr.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Farr</span></a> studied composition and percussion performance at Auckland University, Victoria University of Wellington and at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where his teachers included <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/adler.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Samuel Adler</span></a> and <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/rouse.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Christopher Rouse</span></a>. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/farr.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Farr's</span></a> music is particularly influenced by his extensive study of percussion, both Western and non-Western. Rhythmic elements of his compositions can be linked to the complex and exciting rhythms of Rarotongan log drum ensembles, Balinese gamelan and other percussion music of the Pacific Rim. In addition to his music for the concert chamber, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/farr.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Farr</span></a> has written music for dance, theatre and television. Talking about the <i>Bali</i> movement from his piece <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Kembang Suling</span></i></a>, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/farr.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Farr</span></a> writes, "On the magical island of Bali, flowing gamelan melodies intertwine with the sound of the 'suling' (Balinese bamboo flute) to form rich colourful tapestries. The marimba and flute start out as one, their sounds indistinguishable. Bit by bit the flute asserts its independence, straying further and further from the marimba melody. An argument ensues – but all is resolved at the climax". Listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/farr.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gareth Farr's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Kembang Suling (1995)</span></i></a> played by Patricia and Greg Zuber . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br />
Choreographer <a href="http://www.hansvanmanen.com/?p=hans&ln=en" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hans van Manen</span></a> began his career in 1951 as a member of Sonia Gaskell's Ballet Recital. In 1952 he joined the Nederlandse Opera Ballet, where he created his first ballet, Feestgericht (1957). Later he joined Roland Petit's company in Paris. He began to work with the Nederlands Dans Theater in 1960, first as a dancer (until 1963), next as a choreographer, then as Artistic Director (1961- 1971). For the following two years he worked as a freelance choreographer before joining Het Nationale Ballet in Amsterdam in 1973. From 1988 to 2003 <a href="http://www.hansvanmanen.com/?p=hans&ln=en" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hans van Manen</span></a> was a resident choreographer of NDT, in 2003 he joined the Dutch National Ballet as a resident choreographer. His body of work counts more than 120 ballets, each carrying his unmistakable signature. Clarity in structure and a refined simplicity are the elements in his work which have earned him the name "the Mondriaan of dance".Outside of the Netherlands, he has staged his ballets for such companies as the Stuttgart Ballett, Bayerisches Staatsballett München, Berlin Opera, Houston Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Pennsylvania Ballet, English Royal Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, State Opera in Vienna, Tanzforum in Cologne, Compañia Nacional de Danza and Alvin Ailey. Watch an excerpt from <a href="http://www.hansvanmanen.com/?p=hans&ln=en" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hans van Manen's</span></a> dance piece <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/dance_composers.html#danses_pytheuses" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Déjà vu (1995)</span></i></a>, to music by <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/part.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Arvo Pärt</span></a> . . . it's this week <b>DANSES PYTHEUSES</b>.<br />
<br />
Multimedia artist and composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/lopreiato.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Paola Lopreiato</span></a> is originally from Calabria, Italy. She studied in Florence where she graduated from Conservatorio Cherubini (piano) and from Accademia of Belle Arti (painting). In 2006 she specialized in electroacoustic composition at the Department of Music and New Technologies in Florence. She now works mainly as a composer creating works, which combine a variety of media. Her multimedia creations were realized in different theatre and festivals: SANTARCANGELO 39, 7 stanze in cerca di autore (MANTOVA), Marino Marini Museum (Firenze), Palazzo Strozzi (Firenze); and exhibited in: UK (University of Chester, University of Bournemouth, Sheffiel, Drama Studio); USA (University of Miami SEAMUS 2011, New York City Electro acoustic Music Festival, NY University, Stedman Art Gallery NJ, Department of Fine Arts of Rutgers University, MONTANA State University); Canada (Winnipeg University); Greece (Corfu, Academia Yonica); Italy, Firenze (Palazzo Strozzi, Marino Marini Museum, Piazza della Signoria Festival della Creativita' 2010 and 2009, Conservatorio Cherubini); and Mexico, Fonoteca National December 2011 . She recently finished her MPhil in composition at University of Sheffield. Listen to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/lopreiato.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Paola Lopreiato's</span></a> electroacoustic work <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/electroacoustic_music.html#pytheas_sound_art" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">con forze che si svolgono sferiche (2010)</span></i></a> . . . it's our <b>SOUND ART</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
Composer, musician, author, satirist — <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schickele.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Peter Schickele</span></a> is internationally recognized as one of the most versatile artists in the field of music. His works, now well in excess of 100 for symphony orchestras, choral groups, chamber ensembles, voice, movies and television, have given him “a leading role in the ever-more-prominent school of American composers who unselfconsciously blend all levels of American music” (John Rockwell, The New York Times). <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schickele.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Schickele</span></a> was born in Ames, Iowa, and brought up in Washington, D.C., and Fargo, North Dakota, where he studied composition with Sigvald Thompson. He graduated from Swarthmore in 1957, having had the distinction of being the only music major (as he had been, earlier, the only bassoonist in Fargo), and by that time he had already composed and conducted four orchestral works, a great deal of chamber music and some songs. He subsequently studied composition with <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/harris_roy.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Roy Harris</span></a> and <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/milhaud.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Darius Milhaud</span></a>, and with Vincent Persichetti and William Bergsma at the Juilliard School of Music. Then, under a Ford Foundation grant, he composed music for high schools in Los Angeles before returning to teach at Juilliard in 1961. In 1965 he gave up teaching to become the freelance composer/performer he has been ever since. In his well-known other role as perpetrator of the oeuvre of the now classic P.D.Q. Bach, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schickele.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Schickele</span></a> is acknowledged as one of the great satirists of the 20th century. Listen to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schickele.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Peter Schickele's</span></a> three <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hzec25tLD4" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Elegies for Clarinet and Piano (1974)</span></i></a> performed by clarinetist Sean Osborn and pianist Blair McMillan . . . one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.</div>
20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-54917605387805018252013-01-24T09:10:00.000-08:002013-01-28T08:57:27.427-08:00<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/coates_gloria.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gloria Coates</span></a> is an American composer, living in Munich, Germany, since 1969, who has the honor of being the most prolific woman symphonist we have today. She also studied with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Tcherepnin" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Alexander Tcherepnin</span></a> and has been a tireless advocate for American music overseas and at home, where she also maintains a residence. <a href="http://www.kylegann.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Kyle Gann</span></a>, critic, composer, and vocal supporter of contemporary music, has served as an advocate of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/coates_gloria.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Coates</span></a> and her music for many years. Her music is quite difficult to categorize. One might say that she remains at the forefront of "modern" music, and one cannot approach her work in a traditional manner. She relies heavily on string glissandos, and if you heard only one of her pieces you might think it mere gimmickry. However, the technique is found everywhere in her work, and so the conclusion must be that there is something about it that she feels really expresses something deep down [notes by Steven Ritter @ Audiophile Audition]. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/coates_gloria.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gloria Coates'</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Nightscape (2008)</span></i></a> played by Christine Hoock (double bass) and Dianne Frazer (piano) . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
Here's an interesting perspective on Latvian composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/vasks.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pēteris Vasks</span></a> from arturs86, a member of the <i>TalkClassical.com Discussion Forum</i>: "As a Latvian, myself, I would like to try to show <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/vasks.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pēteris Vasks</span></a> from my point of view. He always was against the Soviet Union, its system and its aggression etc. But <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/vasks.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vasks</span></a> never made his music offensive. Rather he included semantic meaning in his music - using chorals, songs of a birds, motives or characters of Latvian folk songs etc. After the Soviet era, the main idea in <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/vasks.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vasks'</span></a> music is still the same - spirituality over everything. His father was a pastor, so Christian ideology and that point of view is an essential part of his music. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/vasks.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vasks</span></a> finds his greatest inspiration in nature. He also feels closer to God 'in nature' than 'in church'. The main topics in his music are: (1) The Latvian nation, its faith. Homeland. Also its history. His music often uses folk motives, but he would rather use the intonation and feeling of folk music than an exact quotation of it; (2) the Beauty of nature. Seasons of a year, voices of birds etc.; (3) Birds. They are symbols of time, nature, life and freedom. Unlike <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/messiaen.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Olivier Messiaen</span></a>, though, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/vasks.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vasks</span></a> does not use the voices of specific birds. They are just associative; (4) Human Existence, life as a wonder. And also the presence of death; (5) Silence. You can find a lot of extreme examples of silence in <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/vasks.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vasks'</span></a> music; and (6) Light in all possible types. Usually gentle, radiant. As a hope, as a way out, as a faith or conviction" [check the whole conversation out at <a href="http://www.talkclassical.com/5849-p-teris-vasks.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">TalkClassical.com</span></a>]. And please listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/vasks.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pēteris Vasks'</span></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14NMLXx8cos" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Landscape with Birds (1980)</span></i></a> . . . one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
The conceptual and multifaceted composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tan_dun.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tan Dun</span></a> has made an indelible mark on the world's music scene with a creative repertoire that spans the boundaries of classical, multimedia, Eastern and Western musical systems. Central to his body of work, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tan_dun.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tan Dun</span></a> has composed distinct series of works which reflect his individual compositional concepts and personal ideas - among them a series which brings his childhood memories of shamanistic ritual into symphonic performances; works which incorporate elements from the natural world; and multimedia concerti. Opera has a significant role in his creative output and of his many works for film, the score for <i>Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon</i>, received an Oscar for best original score. Hear <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tan_dun.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tan Dun</span></a> talk about his life and music . . . it's our <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tan_dun.html#tan_dun_on_tan_dun" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: orange;">COMPOSER PORTRAIT</span></b></a> for the week.<br />
<br />
. . . and listen to more from <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tan_dun.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tan Dun</span></a> - his 1992 composition <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msXr4-bjL78" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Circle</span></i></a> . . . another of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-53188869368123035492013-01-18T06:56:00.002-08:002013-01-24T09:10:47.506-08:00Based on historical fact, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tan_dun.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tan Dun's</span></a> opera <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><i>Tea: A Mirror of Soul (2002)</i></span></a> sketches the tale of Seikyo, a prince-cum-monk. By suffering "bitter love," Seikyo has transcended a cruel destiny to achieve an austere peace, the meaning of which he teaches through tea rituals. But that is only half the story. For Seikyo's bitter love also involves a princess, an erotic passion so tainted by jealousy that it ends in death, shamanistic rituals, and fierce struggles over an ancient book of wisdom. Combining the lyricism of Italianate opera, lush Western orchestration, a male "Greek chorus," gamelan-like percussion, and the organic sounds of nature - water, paper, and stones - <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><i>Tea</i></span></a> brings an ancient tale to the 21st century. Watch soprano Nancy Allen Lundy sing <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><i>Death of Lan</i></span></a>, an excerpt from <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tan_dun.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tan Dun's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><i>Tea: A Mirror of Soul</i></span></a> . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
Composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hulme.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Lance Hulme's</span></a> music "reflects the ambience and musical approach of the North American musical tradition. Compositional eclecticism, a conscience, playful and uninhibited attitude with tradition and the crossover between ‘serious’ and vernacular music. All these elements are to be found as well as the most advanced structural and aural techniques". His music has received many international awards and commissions, with performances in Europe, Asia, South America and the United States. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hulme.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hulme</span></a> studied at Yale University, the Eastman School of Music and the Universität für Musik in Vienna, Austria. Listen to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hulme.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Lance Hulme's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_listen.html#featured_earful" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><i>Ghost Dialogues (1980)</i></span></a> for tenor saxophone and trumpet . . . one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
Until 1986 when he left Romania, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/georgescu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Corneliu Dan Georgescu</span></a> was considered a favorite minimalist composer, stubbornly re-inventing the intimate mechanisms of traditional Romanian folklore in a haven of mute aesthetic theories and (in his early music) grievous public hearings. Then, after moving to Germany, rumors about the composer and his theoretical concerns diminished and faded, just as it was becoming more difficult for him to mount such undertakings, or continue his émigré creations without the personal contact of musicians from his native land. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/georgescu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Georgescu's</span></a> settling in Berlin marked the continuation and completion of compositional cycles and sets started decades ago in Bucharest: <i>Jocuri (Games)</i>, <i>Transylvanian antemporale Studies</i>, <i>Preludes</i>, and other contemplative models. His forays crossed the rubicon of musicological exile, without any formal schism or break, perpetuating those cherished structural themes of profound vision, based on rules and precepts concerning the essential act of creation. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/georgescu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Georgescu's</span></a> aesthetic guidelines are "based strictly on geometric symmetries and principles of proportion" or "the idea that anecdotal art that entertains the audience, especially in association with the 'standardized academic vanguard', is profoundly foreign" [notes thanks to Liviu Dănceanu]. Listen to a sampling of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/georgescu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Corneliu Dan Georgescu's</span></a> sound world with his electroacoustic piece <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/electroacoustic_music.html#pytheas_sound_art" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><i>Resonanzen (1999)</i></span></a> . . . one of our <b>SOUND ART</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
. . . and check out <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/turnage.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mark-Anthony Turnage's</span></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMPRdN-FqqE" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><i>Hidden Love Song (2005)</i></span></a> . . . a work co-commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with generous support from the South Bank Centre and in association with the Risør Festival of Chamber Music and Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie. The soprano saxophone is an instrument closely associated with <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/turnage.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Turnage's</span></a> music, and the love song of the title is heard as a melody in the solo part, with occasional contributions from orchestral soloists. The chamber orchestra provides supporting accompaniment for much of the piece, coloured distinctively with high and low contrasts (for instance with the woodwind line-up of pairs of flute, cor Anglais and bass clarinet), but a number of characteristic violent interruptions attempt to disrupt the lyrical line. The ‘hidden’ aspect of the title comes through the work’s ‘secret’ composition as a gift for <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/turnage.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Turnage's</span></a> fiancée Gabriella Swallow, the use of musical cryptograms of her name, and allusions to a W.H Auden <i>Lullaby</i> (‘Lay your sleeping head, my love…’). It's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-42391763305267492132013-01-11T22:22:00.000-08:002013-01-15T19:56:11.213-08:00<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/gubaidulina.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Sofia Gubaidulina</span></a> was born in the Tartar Republic, USSR, in 1931 and has become one of the most important composers of the last two decades of the Soviet Union and the first decade of the Russian Republic. Of all active major composers, she has shown the most interest in using the classical accordion. This interest may have grown from her involvement in the 1970s with a group of composers interested in assembling ancient and traditional instruments and writing highly modern classical music for them. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">De Profundis (1978)</span></i></a> is the opening of the Latin translation of the 130th Psalm, rendered in English as "Out of the depths [I call to Thee, O Lord]." The music begins in the instrument's lowest register and slowly ascends to its bright top notes. Various textures are used, from a chorale idea that represents hope, to a long single-line melody suggesting prayer. Unusual techniques are also used, from glissandi, shuddering vibratos and the sighing sound of the instrument's bellows. The work was written in consultation with the player Friederich Lips, who premiered it in Moscow in 1980 [notes thanks to Joseph Stevenson @ Rovi]. Listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/gubaidulina.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Sofia Gubaidulina's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">De Profundis</span></i></a> played by Joseph Purits (bayan) . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/amrhein.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Karen Amrhein</span></a> is an award-winning member of ASCAP, a recipient of a 2005 Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award, and has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her music has been described as "very sensitive to melody, and quite insightful as to the harmonic structure that will best support it. What results is both engaging and intriguing, as well as emotionally satisfying, not infrequently witty, and quite often uplifting - all characteristics and affects that seem regrettably rare in the work of more recent times." Listen to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/amrhein.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Karen Amrhein's</span></a> choral setting of <i><a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_listen.html#featured_earful" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">Isaiah 40 (2007)</span></a></i> . . . one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ewazen.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Eric Ewazen</span></a> teaches theory and composition at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He has become one of the most popular and often performed American composers. His contributions to the percussion world are among the most musical, lyrical and demanding. His work <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/percussion.html#pytheas_percussion" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Northern Lights</span></i></a> was composed in 1989 and was originally conceived as a musical presentation of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ewazen.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Ewazen</span></a> writes that the direction of the composition changed when his mother passed away during that year. The work then took on a slightly different idea as it would also serve as homage to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ewazen.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Ewazen's</span></a> mother. It often shifts between wistful and angry, as well mysterious and reminiscent. The composer explains the he wanted to explore many of the colors available to the marimba. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ewazen.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Eric Ewazen's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/percussion.html#pytheas_percussion" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Northern Lights (1989)</span></i></a> played by marimbist Matt Moore . . . it's this week <b>BANG, CLANG and BEAT</b> - New Music for Percussion 20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-7105420085726509712013-01-06T10:12:00.001-08:002013-01-06T10:12:42.240-08:00Happy 2013!!!20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-20089049710209070392012-12-30T22:19:00.003-08:002012-12-30T22:19:55.295-08:00Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! . . . and Happy Listening!20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-85464373658831506062012-12-21T12:25:00.002-08:002012-12-21T12:27:52.263-08:00<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schnittke.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Alfred Schnittke</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Concerto for Piano and Strings (1979)</span></i></a> . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/spiegel.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Laurie Spiegel</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_listen.html#featured_earful" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">East River Dawn (1976)</span></i></a> . . . one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/mazzoli.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Missy Mazzoli</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/percussion.html#pytheas_percussion" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Volume (2006)</span></i></a> . . . it's this week <b>BANG, CLANG and BEAT - New Music for Percussion</b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-51901631310697905322012-12-14T07:28:00.001-08:002012-12-15T09:18:44.102-08:00<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hoffman_joel.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Joel Hoffman's</span></a> works draw from such diverse sources as Eastern European folk musics and bebop, and are pervaded by a sense of lyricism and rhythmic vitality. Born in Canada, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hoffman_joel.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hoffman</span></a> received degrees from the University of Wales and the Juilliard School. He is a member of a distinguished musical family that includes brothers Gary (cellist), and Toby (conductor), sister Deborah (harpist). Honors include a major prize from the American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters, two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bearns Prize of Columbia University, a BMI Award, ASCAP awards since 1977, and three American Music Center grants. His works have been performed by many ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony Brass, the BBC Orchestra of Wales, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, eighth blackbird, the Cleveland Quartet, the Shanghai Quartet, and acclaimed soloists such as Cho-Liang Lin, David Krakauer and Brian Ganz. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hoffman_joel.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hoffman</span></a> served as composer-in-residence with the National Chamber Orchestra of Washington, DC (1993-94) and held the position of New Music Advisor for the Buffalo Philharmonic (1991-92). He has been a resident composer at the Rockefeller, Camargo and Hindemith Foundations, the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. Currently, he is Professor of Composition at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hoffman_joel.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Joel Hoffman's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Music in Yellow and Green (2012)</span></i></a> played by members of the Hoff Barthelson Contemporary Music Festival . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ho_vincent.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vincent Ho</span></a> is widely recognized as one of the most exciting composers of his generation. His works have been hailed for their profound expressiveness and textural beauty that has audiences talking about with great enthusiasm. Born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1975, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ho_vincent.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vincent Ho</span></a> began his musical training through the Royal Conservatory of Music. He received his Associate Diploma in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto) in 1993, his Bachelor of Music from the University of Calgary in 1998, his Master of Music degree from the University of Toronto in 2000, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California (2005). His mentors have included Allan Bell, David Eagle, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hatzis.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Christos Hatzis</span></a>, Walter Buczynski, and <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hartke.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Stephen Hartke</span></a>. His many awards have included Harvard University’s Fromm Music Commission, The Canada Council for the Arts’ “Robert Fleming Prize,” ASCAP’s “Morton Gould Young Composer Award,” four SOCAN Young Composers Awards, and CBC Radio’s Audience Choice Award (2009 Young Composers’ Competition). Listen to an interview with <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ho_vincent.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vincent Ho</span></a> - <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ho_vincent.html#ho_on_ho" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">Évolution (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)</span></a> . . . it's our <b>COMPOSER PORTRAIT</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
When World War II ended, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schuman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">William Schuman</span></a> was positioned, at age thirty-five, as one of America’s most important composers and arts leaders. Not only had he won the very first Pulitzer Prize for music in 1943, for <i>A Free Song: Secular Cantata No. 2</i>, but he took on his new responsibilities as president of the Juilliard School of Music at the beginning of the 1945-46 academic year. His music had been performed by prominent American orchestras, especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) under Serge Koussevitzky, and he had already composed five symphonies (the first two of which were withdrawn), including the expertly crafted <i>Third Symphony</i> and the animated <i>Fifth Symphony</i> for strings alone. Thus, at this time <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schuman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Schuman</span></a> was in the prime of his compositional life. A new concerto for violin and orchestra would most likely embody the energy, musical creativity, and expert orchestration that were becoming the hallmarks of a <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schuman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Schuman</span></a> composition. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schuman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Schuman</span></a> was approached by the well-known violinist Samuel Dushkin in 1946 to compose a violin concerto that Dushkin hoped he would be able to premiere with Koussevitzky and the BSO. Dushkin had a very distinguished record of first performances of violin works, including <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/stravinsky.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Stravinsky’s </span></a><i>Violin Concerto</i>, the <i>Duo concertant</i>, and <i>Suite italienne</i> . . . [read more in this article: <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CEYQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmuse.jhu.edu%2Fjournals%2Fnotes%2Fv066%2F66.3.polisi.pdf&ei=1azMUKHoJ8LL0AGF1IGwCA&usg=AFQjCNHZGIchen8FeRkn5tjjnEOZrlrNjw&sig2=vWms-4m_PM_FfsqLyfDfhg&bvm=bv.1355325884,d.dmQ" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><i>"The William Schuman Violin Concerto: Genesis of a 20th Century Masterpiece"</i></span></a> by Joseph Polisi]. And listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/schuman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Schuman</span></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFNKApQeCbs" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">Violin Concerto (1959)</span></a> played by Philippe Quint (violin) and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, José Serebrier conducting . . . one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
Composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/gosfield.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Annie Gosfield</span></a> is an active performer and improviser. She is inspired by the sound and use of machines, destroyed pianos, warped records and detuned radios. She explores the use of non-musical sound. She also incorporates the use of out of tune violins that are not played right. Her notation consists of traditional notation, improvisation and other techniques that break the boundaries between what is known as music and noise. Her pieces range from large scale, chamber music, electronic music, video projects and music for dance. She has played with many different muscians such as Joan Jeanrenaud, John Zorn, David Moss, and Sim Cain. Her music has been used for choreography by several dance companies across the world. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/gosfield.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gosfield</span></a> created a six minute film about an imaginary orchestra (of machines playing instruments) called <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1201.html#shoot" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Shoot The Player Piano (1999)</span></i></a> <i></i>. . . it's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>. 20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-29950415412832338472012-12-14T07:27:00.003-08:002012-12-15T09:21:17.791-08:00<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/kurtag.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">György Kurtág</span></a><i> </i><a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1204.html#signs" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">Five Pieces from Signs, Games, and Messages (1989- )</span></a> . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/sanicheva.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Elizaveta Sanicheva</span></a><i> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsPg_3rEm7k" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">Five Senses (2009)</span></a></i><span style="color: orange;"> </span>. . . one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/sightings_archive_2012.html#fog" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">The Fog of War (2003)</span></i></a> - Music by <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/glass.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Philip Glass</span></a> - Film by <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Errol-Morris-The-Thinking-Mans-Detective.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Errol Morris</span></a> . . . it's this week <b>PYTHEAS SIGHTING</b>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://everything2.com/user/Timya/writeups/Danny+Elfman" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">When Words Are Not Enough (Timya, Everything2)</span></i></a> . . . it's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-84677949976621341112012-11-27T20:32:00.002-08:002012-12-14T10:14:15.158-08:00<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/abe.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Keiko Abe's</span></a> contributions to the contemporary marimba repertoire have been a milestone in the development of the marimba as a solo concert instrument. Besides the creation of a new repertoire through commissions and her own compositions, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/abe.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Abe's</span></a> contributions to the marimba include the improvement of the sound quality of the marimba and the establishment of the five octave instrument as the standard concert marimba. During the last four decades, her compositions have been performed and studied worldwide and become standard literature for the marimba. She has written more than sixty compositions for marimba, including concertos, duets and solo pieces [note thanks to Juan Manuel Alamo Santos/UNT Digital Library]. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/abe.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Keiko Abe's</span></a> <i><a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">Prism Rhapsody (1995)</span></a></i> played by marimba soloist Karen Takaguchi . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ford_mark.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mark Ford</span></a> is the coordinator of percussion activities at The University of North Texas in Denton, Texas and a past president of the Percussive Arts Society. He is a marimba specialist and the coordinator of one of the largest percussion programs in the United States at UNT. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ford_mark.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Ford</span></a> is an active performer on the marimba and he has been featured throughout the United States at universities and music conferences. He also regularly performs at International Music Festivals in South America, Asia, Australia and Europe. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ford_mark.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mark Ford</span></a> and alto saxophonist Ann Bradfield playing <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ford_mark.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Ford's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/percussion.html#pytheas_percussion" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Wink (2011)</span></i></a>. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ford_mark.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Ford</span></a> wrote <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/percussion.html#pytheas_percussion" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Wink</span></i></a> for his sons, Austin (marimba) and Kevin (saxophone). Premiered in 2011, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/percussion.html#pytheas_percussion" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Wink</span></i></a> is a "groovy-hip collaboration that explores three main themes: a syncopated melody, a floating assertion, and a waltz-like phrase. This piece gradually builds to a rock-style adaptation of the opening statement to end the work. The title refers to those beautiful moments between fathers and sons when words are not necessary, just a wink and a smile" . . . it's this week <b>BANG, CLANG and BEAT - NEW MUSIC</b>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ho_vincent.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vincent Ho</span></a> is widely recognized as one of the most exciting composers of his generation. His works have been hailed for their profound expressiveness and textural beauty that has audiences talking about with great enthusiasm. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ho_vincent.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vincent Ho</span></a> began his musical training through the Royal Conservatory of Music, the University of Calgary, the University of Toronto, and the University of Southern California (2005). His mentors have included Allan Bell, David Eagle, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hatzis.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Christos Hatzis</span></a>, Walter Buczynski, and <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hartke.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Stephen Hartke</span></a>. His many awards have included Harvard University's Fromm Music Commission, The Canada Council for the Arts' "Robert Fleming Prize," ASCAP's "Morton Gould Young Composer Award," four SOCAN Young Composers Awards, and CBC Radio's Audience Choice Award (2009 Young Composers' Competition). Listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ho_vincent.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Vincent Ho's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_listen.html#featured_earful" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Four Snapshots of a Dream (2002)</span></i></a> . . . it's one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/gardner_alexandra.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Alexandra Gardner</span></a> composed <a href="http://artofthestates.org/cgi-bin/piece.pl?pid=340" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">New Skin (2004)</span></i></a> for flutist Barbara Held. It combines recordings of dawn from various locations, digitally processed gong and percussion sounds, and live alto flute in a structured improvisation. In many cultures sunrise is received with rituals of respect and thankfulness, acknowledged as a new beginning, or rebirth. In this composition my intention is to evoke an arrival into "light"-a sense of awakening to a new day. Listen to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/gardner_alexandra.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Alexandra Gardner's</span></a> <a href="http://artofthestates.org/cgi-bin/piece.pl?pid=340" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">New Skin</span></i></a> for solo flute . . . . it's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-76854577032279648412012-11-18T06:41:00.001-08:002012-11-23T21:33:38.873-08:00<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/jalbert.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pierre Jalbert</span></a> is one of the most highly regarded American composers of his generation, earning widespread notice for his richly colored and superbly crafted scores. Focusing primarily on instrumental works, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/jalbert.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"> Jalbert</span></a> has developed a musical language that is engaging, expressive, and deeply personal. His <i>Icefield Sonnets (2004)</i> was written for the Ying String Quartet and was inspired by the poetry of Anthony Hawley. Each poem in the set speaks of the notion of “north” - specifically in the winter months - and aims to capture some of the different moments of “coldness,” from quiet stillness to more violent activity. Like the set of poems, the work in three movements, the first, <i>Cold is a Cell</i>, marked "Cold, airy, suspended, like an ice crystal", the second, <i>Glass is a Place</i>, marked “driving forward,” and the third movement, <i>North is a Notion</i>, marked “Sustained.” Listen to a performance of the third movement of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/jalbert.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pierre Jalbert's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Icefield Sonnets, North is a Notion</span></i></a> played by the Enso String Quartet . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/dance_composers.html#danses_pytheuses" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">RainForest (1968)</span></i></a>, with choreography by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merce_Cunningham" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Merce Cunningham</span></a>, electronic score by <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tudor.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">David Tudor</span></a>, and silver pillows by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Andy Warhol</span></a>, is a wonderful artifact of the 1960's, one that tells us how much fun we've been missing since. A dance work choreographed in 1968 - a year synonymous with student revolt - cannot be immune from the spirit of its time. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/dance_composers.html#danses_pytheuses" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">RainForest</span></i></a> sums up a great deal of the rebellion in the arts that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merce_Cunningham" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Cunningham</span></a> himself did so much to foster. Its implication of free-wheeling anarchy through floating decor that cannot be controlled and choreography that does not play by conventional rules, its animal and nature imagery in both the score and the dancing - all these elements are what one would call 60's material. Most typical is the point at which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merce_Cunningham" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Cunningham</span></a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Warhol</span></a> find common ground. This is the appropriation of the commonplace. Ordinary objects such as pillows become shiny silver helium-filled sculpture. Ordinary movement is integrated into sophisticated dance composition. The heyday of Pop art meets the heyday of life-is-art dance theory [notes by Anna Kisselgoff/The New York Times]. Watch an excerpt from <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/dance_composers.html#danses_pytheuses" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">RainForest (1968)</span></i></a> performed by members of the Rambert Dance Company . . . it's our <b>DANSES PYTHEUSES</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ades.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Thomas Adès</span></a> is one of today’s most formidable musical talents, equally at home composing, conducting or performing his own music and that of others at the keyboard. For all the piano repertoire <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ades.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Adès</span></a> plays, there is one composer whose music is never far from his home piano: François Couperin (1668–1733) - the most accomplished member of one of France’s legendary musical families. In <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3ykE8ScTQ" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Three Studies from Couperin</span></i></a>, composed in 2006 for the Basel Chamber Orchestra, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ades.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Adès</span></a> extracted three movements from Couperin's harpsichord studies (or Ordres). Much of the source material remains intact and recognizable, but his compositional process certainly extends beyond mere orchestration; a close analog is what <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/stravinsky.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Stravinsky</span></a> accomplished with his <i>Pulcinella</i>, exploding Pergolesi’s music into a rich and personal orchestral world [notes by Aaron Grad for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra]. Listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ades.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Thomas Adès'</span></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3ykE8ScTQ" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Three Studies from Couperin</span></i></a>, with the Chamber Orchestra Of Europe conducted by the composer . . . it's one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/coates_gloria.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gloria Coates'</span></a> relatively early <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE-5ADYtKtg" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Cantata da Requiem "WW II Poems for Peace" (1972)</span></i></a> looks at World War II from the viewpoints of women on either side of the conflict - from a young German widow to American poet Marianne Moore, with a sinister BBC weather report, which indicates that “conditions [are] ideal for bombing offensives,” along the way. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/coates_gloria.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Coates</span></a> makes no attempt to sentimentalize the thoughts and fears of these women, and the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE-5ADYtKtg" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Cantata da Requiem</span></i></a> is no less harsh than it needs to be. Again, the instrumental writing is highly imaginative, even descriptive, and the vocal lines, while uncomfortable, match both the words themselves and their intensity. Come and listen to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/coates_gloria.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gloria Coates'</span></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE-5ADYtKtg" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Cantata da Requiem "WW II Poems for Peace" (1972)</span></i></a> . . . it's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>. 20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-57405794323915869152012-11-11T09:11:00.001-08:002012-11-24T06:28:31.221-08:00Composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/machover.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tod Machover</span></a> heads the Opera of the Future project at MIT's Media Lab, and that term nicely describes his <i>Death and the Powers: The Robots' Opera</i><span style="color: blue;">. </span>It is clearly recognizable as opera: It has a story and characters, and its full-blooded arias, elegantly illuminating the apt (if occasionally self-conscious) text by the poet Robert Pinsky, are sung with passionate intensity by humans. The "future" part is embodied both in the orchestral writing, which skillfully combines acoustic and electronic music to create a remarkable range of colors and levels, and in the staging: not just the rather charming robots that grow, shrink and whiz around the stage, but the way that technology creates the playing environment, even allowing the main character's performance to influence and animate the set. Technique relates to theme. The opera is about what it means to be human, and what technology adds or subtracts. Simon Powers, a dying billionaire, has devised a "System" whereby his consciousness is uploaded into the walls and the objects of his room, enabling him to live forever without his body. The drama comes from his family's reactions to this disembodied being who surrounds them as a voice, a Teflon-strung, bird-like chandelier, and tall "bookcases" of flashing, trembling, color-changing lights [notes thanks to Heidi Waleson/The Wall Street Journal]. Listen to a wonderful performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1204.html#mira" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Miranda's Aria, from Death and the Powers (2010)</span></i></a> . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brubeck.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Dave Brubeck</span></a> has composed classical works with jazz elements at least since the 1960's. His first large choral piece, <i>The Gates of Justice</i>, suffers from, mainly, inexperience - among other things, routinely sending soloists into their topmost range, over-complicating the texture beyond the ability of players to distinguish inner lines. Despite this, however, the oratorio gave plenty of hope that <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brubeck.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Brubeck</span></a> would work through these problems. <i>The Gates of Justice</i> was far more than an excuse for a cynical promoter to cash in on <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brubeck.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Brubeck's</span></a> popularity as a performer, unlike, say, EMI and Paul McCartney's <i>Liverpool Oratorio</i>. For one thing, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brubeck.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Brubeck</span></a> knew something about how to write paragraphs extended beyond those of song, or, in the case of jazz playing, choruses. One also sensed a mind constantly exploring musical connections between such superficially disparate things as the blues and Jewish cantorial singing. So check out Telarc Records' <a href="http://www.classicalcdreview.com/brubeck2.html" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Classical Brubeck (Telarc 80621</span></i></a> which features so of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/brubeck.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Dave Brubeck's</span></a> other choral works: <i>Beloved Son (1978); Pange Lingua Variations (1983); Voice of the Holy
Spirit (Tongues of Fire) (1985)</i>; and the instrumental <i>Regret (2001)</i> . . . it's our <b>FEATURED RECORDING</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
According to composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/greenstein.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Judd Greenstein</span></a>, "<a href="http://soundcloud.com/goodchildmusic/judd-greenstein-be-there" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Be There (2008)</span></i></a> is a continuation of my effort to strip down my musical language to its essential components, to be fluid and Romantic and gestural and rhythmic all at the same time, without calling undue attention to those features or qualities. When I am writing music, and things are going well, I feel that I am present in the moment of the music's creation, a present-ness that is more full than any other I know. To "be there" is the best state that there is; it's the state of complete association with life and living, an association that is the utter antidote to the dissociative forces of anxiety and fear. Whether Be There expresses that idea to other listeners, fully, partially, or not at all, it somehow conveys that meaning to me. Many thanks to Colin Jacobsen and Peggy Kampmeier for their support in bringing the work to life" . . . . it's one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
. . . and have a listen to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/torke.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Michael Torke's</span></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ2QsFTKFuw" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Green (Verdant Music) (1986)</span></i></a> . . . it's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b><i>.</i> 20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-12374108092631602122012-11-03T09:03:00.001-07:002012-11-04T14:33:38.731-08:00<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ades.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Thomas Adès</span></a> has enjoyed enormous visibility since first emerging as a composer in the early 1990s. He quickly dazzled thanks to the confidence with which he discovered his unique voice, with scarcely a pause to clear his throat. His <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Asyla (1997)</span></i></a>, a compact four-movement symphony, is immense not only in its scoring for large orchestra but in the emotional range it telescopes into its deceptively brief duration. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ades.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Adès</span></a> choice of title is typically suggestive and mysterious - <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Asyla</span></i></a> is the Latin plural of "asylum," which can mean both a place of inviolable refuge and an institution for the insane. The beauty of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Asyla</span></i></a> is how it plays on this plurality of meaning without devolving into a chaos of too-muchness [notes by Thomas May]. Watch a performance of the third movement of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ades.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Thomas Adès</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Asyla</span></i></a> played by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Simon Rattle . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
Stephen Petronio’s <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/dance_composers.html#danses_pytheuses" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">I Drink the Air Before Me (2009)</span></i></a>, with music by <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/muhly.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Nico Muhly</span></a>, begins where none of his other dances have: aboard a ship. Scrim in the shape of a sail is pinned to one side of the stage; the choreographer, with the costuming help of the artist Cindy Sherman, is its craggy, bearded captain, dressed in a nautical jacket, chaps and rubber hip boots over jeans. Named after a line from Shakespeare’s <i>Tempest</i>, the dance is inspired by a raging storm. Like Petronio's choreography, the score, by <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/muhly.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Nico Muhly</span></a>, evokes turbulent undercurrents in which the frantic sounds of flute and strings are woven with the more tumultuous notes of a trombone and piano. Without being literal, the music and choreography create a sonic, ephemeral wave. The bulk of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/dance_composers.html#danses_pytheuses" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">I Drink the Air Before Me</span></i></a> assembles Petronio's usual tools: ferocious speed, rigorous structure and dancers who ravel and unravel like ribbons. Groups of bodies swell and dissipate like squalls, though while the scene is frequently forceful, the relentless choreography is only part of the picture. Petronio’s movement also reverberates as an energetic echo, moving past the physical form to etch invisible lines and patterns onto his canvas, the stage. Amanda Wells, arching her back, swirls her legs and arms as if swept by wind. Gino Grenek whips his body across the stage like a funnel cloud. And Shila Tirabassi, a force of nature herself, elongates her reach with every movement to impart sensual fluidity. When the violent rush of bodies threatens to overwhelm, Mr. Petronio calms things down. The Young People’s Chorus of New York City joins the dancers onstage to sing the work’s choral finale, <i>One Day Tells Its Tale to Another</i>. Their innocence softens the fury; the sea is finally still, and Petronio has weathered a perfect storm [Gia Kourlas, The New York Times]. Watch an excerpt from <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/dance_composers.html#danses_pytheuses" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">I Drink the Air Before Me</span></i></a> . . . it's this week <b>DANSES PYTHEUSES</b>.<br />
<br />
According to composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/scurria.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Amy Scurria</span></a>, her <a href="http://www.amyscurria.com/Five.mp3" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Five Haiku (1998)</span></i></a> "is somewhat of a tragic love story, in which the man is singing about a woman who exists not in his life, but very strongly in his mind, and only in his mind. He has been touched by this woman and cannot let her go from his memory. He sings about all of the emotions, both beautiful and painful that her memory evokes. He is terribly saddened without her and yet her imprint that she has left on him is so strong that he knows he is wonderfully changed forever by her. Although the title of the piece is <a href="http://www.amyscurria.com/Five.mp3" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Five Haiku</span></i></a> and is set to five haiku, the piece opens and closes with a poem. <a href="http://www.amyscurria.com/Five.mp3" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Five Haiku</span></i></a> is a story about longing and letting go. We seem to always be longing for something and in a certain way it is that longing that keeps us striving forward to reach that unobtainable goal. However, when that longing stifles us and causes us to turn around and to cease facing forward, it is then that the longing must be let go of and there must be a realization that everything in our lives, no matter how wonderful or how horrible, can ultimately change us in the most wonderful ways that we often don't even recognize." Listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/scurria.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Amy Scurria's</span></a> <a href="http://www.amyscurria.com/Five.mp3" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Five Haiku</span></i></a> . . . it's one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
. . . and check out Miles Hoffman and Alberto Parrini playing <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/piston.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Walter Piston's</span></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4I-Ff-_XnI" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Duo for Viola and Violoncello</span></i></a> (1949) . . . it's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-36412158390323588312012-10-22T08:57:00.001-07:002012-10-28T20:58:07.015-07:00French composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/sejourne.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Emmanuel Séjourné</span></a> is fascinated by the relations between music and other performing arts. His music is rhythmic, romantic, energetic, inspired both by the Western classical tradition and by popular culture (jazz, rock, extra-European). His compositions are played throughout the world by soloists, ensembles and orchestra, including the Nagoya Philharmonic, Osaka Philharmonic, Sinfonia Toronto, Croatian Radio Television Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Italienne, Camerata de Bourgogne, Orchestre d’Auvergne, and the Wurttembergisches Kammerorchester, among others. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/sejourne.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Séjourné's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Akadinda Trio (1992)</span></i></a> was inspired by the percussive mallet music of Uganda. Each player uses 2 mallets, and all three players play on one 5-octave marimba. Numerous melo-rhythmic lines interlock to form an interesting polyrhythmic (3:2, etc.) groove. No one part is particularly difficult, yet concentration is required so as to realize the interlocking rhythmic patterns. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/sejourne.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Emmanuel Séjourné</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Akadinda Trio (1992)</span></i></a> played by percussionists Corey Hewitt, Paul Hutson and David Tart . . . it's one of our NEW MUSIC VIDEOS<b> for the week.</b><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/weesner.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Anna Weesner's</span></a> music has been performed by leading ensembles, including the American Composers Orchestra, Metamorphosen, the Indianapolis Symphony, and the orchestra of the Curtis Institute. Other important performances includes those by Dawn Upshaw and Richard Good, the Cassatt Quartet, the Cypress Quartet, the MATA festival, Network for New Music, Veronica Kadlubkiewicz, Matt Bengtson, Ensemble X, Counte induction, the Syracuse Society for New Music and Orchestra 2001. She has been commissioned by numerous performers and presenters, including Open End, the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival, violist Melia Watras, Sequitur, and Orchestra 2001. The contemporary music organization <i>Network for New Music</i>, to celebrate their 25th Anniversary, asked 25 composers to write new variations on the theme Beethoven used in his <i>Diabelli Variations</i>. Each variation was to be under two minutes, and for any combination of a small choice of instruments. All of the pieces were performed at the Settlement Music School (Philadelphia) on a concert in May 2010. Listen to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/weesner.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Anna Weesner</span></a> talk about her contribution to <i>Network for New Music's</i> 25th Anniversary celebration . . . it's this week <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_listen.html#composer_portraits" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: orange;">COMPOSER PORTRAIT</span></b></a>.<br /><br />In 1980, composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/chen_yi.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Chen Yi</span></a> attended a performance of <i>Duo Ye</i> while she was collecting folk songs of the Dong minority in southwest China. This emotionally charged experience prompted her to write a piano piece using the same title and utilizing similar musical characteristics. <i>Duo Ye</i> is a traditional folk song and dance form of the Guangxi Province in China. It is often performed to celebrate the joy of a harvest or the arrival of an important guest. In it the lead singer improvises a melody while others dance in a circle with a bonfire set in the middle. Listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/chen_yi.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Chen Yi's</span></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqJ9lQ2UtlQ" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Duo Ye (1984)</span></i></a> played by pianist Amy Lin . . . it's one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
. . . and check out <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/sightings_archive_2012.html#dialogos" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Dialogos (2008)</span></i></a>, an animated Film by Ulo Pikkov with music by <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/tally.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mirjam Tally</span></a> . . . it's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-64255863168362698712012-10-17T09:44:00.003-07:002012-10-19T06:25:00.473-07:00<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hovda.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Eleanor Hovda</span></a> (1940–2009) was a full professor and composer-in-residence at Princeton, Yale, and Bard College who suffered a debilitating illness that led to her eventual death in Arkansas in 2009. She was a minimalist not in the systems-based sense of a <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/reich.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Steve Reich</span></a> or holy minimalist tradition of a <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/gorecki.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Górecki</span></a> but in the sense that her arrangements are generally spare, with often an instrument or two prominently featured and only rarely a dense ensemble sound in play. A dancer herself, in her later work she collaborated often with leading choreographers, including Nancy Meehan and Meg Stuart. A native of Minnesota, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hovda.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hovda</span></a> spent much of her career in New York and was a respected and beloved member of the contemporary music community - her compositions championed by leading new music ensembles all across the country, including the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Boston Musica Viva, the Cassatt and Kronos Quartets, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and Zeitgeist. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hovda.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hovda's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/#weekly_new_music_video_1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Jo Ha Kyu (1990)</span></i></a> played by oboist Libby Van Cleve. . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://yxchoi.weebly.com/bio.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Young-Shin Choi</span></a> is a composer for both instrumental and electroacoustic music with a strong interest in interactive digital arts. Choi strives to cultivate an aesthetic based upon a unique combination of musical elements drawn from Korean traditional music and modern Western musical idioms. Listen to <a href="http://yxchoi.weebly.com/bio.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Young-Shin Choi's</span></a> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/yxchoi/ujo-imu-iii-for-electronics" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">UJO IMU III (2009)</span></i></a> . . . one of our <b>SOUND ART</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/newell_john.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">John Newell's</span></a> earliest musical training was in piano. He has studied with Iain Hamilton, Mel Powell, and <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/feldman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Morton Feldman</span></a>. While at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he studied with <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/feldman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Feldman</span></a>, he held the first Edgard Varese Fellowship in composition. Like many composers today he draws from a variety of musical traditions. His objective is to create works that reflect his personal sensibility, that arise from his spiritual journey and response to the world. He finds inspiration in the beauty and wonder of nature, in poetic and visual imagery, and in what he learns from the world's sacred traditions. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/newell_john.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Newell</span></a> is equally at home composing for vocal ensembles, chamber groups and orchestra. Listen to a performance of John Newell's <a href="http://www.johnnewellmusic.com/Chamber_Ensemble.html" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Quartet for Strings - A Day's Journey (2008)</span></i></a> . . . it's one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
And check out a scene from <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/sightings_archive_2012.html#polar" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Polar Express (2004)</span></i></a> with music by <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/silvestri.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Alan Silvestri</span></a> . . . it's this week's <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>. 20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-87990633770098181622012-10-10T06:05:00.002-07:002012-10-18T08:53:45.247-07:00In addition to his extensive compositional output, Romanian composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/georgescu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Corneliu Dan Georgescu</span></a> has studied music performance, theory, morphology, musicology, and ethnomusicology. His compositional work has developed in parallel with his scientific research in ethnomusicology and aesthetics. From 1962-83 he worked at the Bucharest Institute Constatin Brailoiu (formerly the Institute of Folklore, Institute for Social Anthropology and Dialectological Research), where he undertook fieldwork as an ethnologist. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/georgescu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Georgescu</span></a> then worked as an art historian at the Institute for Art History, Bucharest. From 1970-1987 he was awarded nine prizes of the Romanian Composers Union for his compositional and musicological works. In 2007 he received the "The Cultural Merit" award. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/georgescu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Corneliu Dan Georgescu's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1204.html#prael" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Praeludium fur Columna Infinita (2011)</span></i></a> . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/weesner.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Anna Weesner's</span></a> music has been described as “animated and full of surprising turns” (The New York Times), as “a haunting conspiracy” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) and cited as demonstrating “an ability to make complex textures out of simple devices” (San Francisco Classical Voice). <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/harbison.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">John Harbison</span></a> has written that “none of it proceeds in obvious ways. Her vocabulary is subtle and rather elusive; the effect is paradoxically confident and decisive.” <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/weesner.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Weesner</span></a> is the recipient of a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2008 award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Listen to her work for string orchestra, <a href="http://www.annaweesner.com/Music%20files/sti.html" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Still Things Move (2003)</span></i></a> . . . it's one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
Described as "beautiful and impassioned ... lustrous at the keyboard" by The New York Times, <a href="http://www.lisamoore.org/index.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Lisa Moore’s</span></a> playing combines music, theatre and expressive, emotional power - whether in the delivery of the simplest song, a solo recital or a fiendish chamber score. Crowned "New York's queen of avant-garde piano" and "visionary" by The New Yorker this New York based Australian virtuoso has performed with a large and diverse range of musicians and artists – the London Sinfonietta, New York City Ballet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bargemusic, Bang on a Can All-Stars, TwoSense, Steve Reich Ensemble, Grand Band, So Percussion, Don Byron Adventurers Orchestra, Signal, Le Train Bleu, Third Coast Percussion, Da Capo Chamber Players, eighth blackbird, and the John Jasperse Dance Company. Pitchfork writes "She's the best kind of contemporary classical musician, one so fearsomely game that she inspires composers to offer her their most wildly unplayable ideas". <a href="http://www.lisamoore.org/index.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Moore's</span></a> repertoire moves between composers such as Joseph Haydn, Robert Schumann, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/janacek.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Leos Janacek</span></a>, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/bartok.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Bela Bartok</span></a>, Modeste Mussorgsky, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ligeti.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gyorgy Ligeti</span></a>, Randy Newman, Rufus Wainwright, Martin Bresnick, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/adams.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">John Adams</span></a>, Missy <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/mazzoli.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mazzoli</span></a> and <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/rzewski.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Frederic Rzewski</span></a> . . . she's this week's <b>NEW MUSIC PERFORMER</b>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/danielpour.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Richard Danielpour</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1201.html#daniel_3pr" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Three Preludes (2003), nos. 1 and 2</span></i></a> . . . a little something <b>FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES</b>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-9724931638896055952012-10-02T17:02:00.002-07:002012-10-18T08:54:28.839-07:00Composer, percussionist and performer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/farr.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gareth Farr</span></a> is an indisputably colourful figure in New Zealand music, and, whether scored for percussion duet or the resources of two large orchestras, his music reflects his personality—bold, brash, or delicate and sensuous, but inevitably, immediately engaging. He was born in Wellington, New Zealand, studied composition, orchestration and electronic music at Auckland University and was a regular player with the Auckland Philharmonia and the Karlheinz Company. Further study followed at Victoria University, Wellington, where he became known for his exciting compositions, often using the Indonesian gamelan. Farr is recognised as one of New Zealand’s most versatile and successful contemporary composers and as a skilled percussionist. He's also known for his alter ego, <i>Lilith Lacroix</i>. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/farr.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gareth Farr's</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1204.html#taheke" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Taheke (2002)</span></i></a>, played by flutist Christy Kim and harpist Sarah Davis . . . it's one of our <b>NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
There can be few active musicians able to remember a time when <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/milhaud.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Darius Milhaud's</span></a> name was not familiar, fewer still who can claim knowledge of the vast quantity of work produced during the long career of this incessantly prolific and versatile composer. <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/milhaud.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Milhaud's</span></a> musical training began in his native city of Marseilles. At the age of 17 he went to the Paris Conservatoire. His teachers were Dukas, Leroux and Gédalge. Among his friends were <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/auric.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Georges Auric</span></a> and <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/honegger.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Arthur Honegger</span></a>. Of equal if not greater importance were literary friendships with, for example, Francis Jammes and Paul Claudel, two of the great influences (Andre Gide was the third) on the early years of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/milhaud.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Milhaud's</span></a> career. In 1917, Claudel took <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/milhaud.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Milhaud</span></a> to Rio de Janeiro as a member of his ambassadorial staff. Brazil brought him into fruitful contact with a civilisation half-Latin, half-exotic, with Latin-American popular music and with jazz. After returning to Paris in 1919 <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/milhaud.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Milhaud</span></a> was adopted into the circle of <i>Les Six</i>, a group of progressive French composers brought together under the guidance of Jean Cocteau. However, like any such artificial collection, <i>Les Six</i> was quick to dissolve, and during the 1920s <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/milhaud.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Milhaud</span></a> adopted an assortment of new musical influences (notably jazz, which the composer first discovered during a trip to the U.S. in 1922, and which features prominently in much of his subsequent music). <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/milhaud.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Milhaud</span></a> composed, performed, and taught ceaselessly during the 1920s and 1930s, only abandoning his homeland in late 1939 after all hope of resisting the German advance vanished. Settling in the United States, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/milhaud.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Milhaud</span></a> accepted a teaching position with Mills College in Oakland, California, and continued to compose prolifically. From 1947 he combined his American teaching duties with a similar position at the Paris Conservatoire, remaining at both institutions until 1971. Watch <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_listen.html#composer_portraits" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Darius Milhaud Part I - A Recollection of the Twenties (KQED)</span></i></a>, originally produced for KQED in 1965 . . . our <b>COMPOSER PORTRAIT</b> for the week. And visit Darius Milhaud at the Pytheas Center.<br />
<br />
Finnish composer <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/jalava.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pertti Jalava</span></a> was a jazz musician before taking up classical music. He has kept jazz and classical music compartmentalized instead of combining them, as some have done, into a crossover style. Some of his works are based on his earlier jazz output, but he adapts the old material to the new genre. By far Jalava’s most substantial works are his symphonies. Listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/jalava.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pertti Jalava's</span></a> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/perttijalava" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Symphony No. 3, "Forms of Opinion" (2004-08)</span></i></a> . . . it's one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
And also check out: <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/lucyjones/100063604/classical-music-dead-hear-nico-muhlys-vacuum-inspired-drone-music-and-find-out-who-he-really-wants-to-work-with/" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Classical Music Dead? Nico Muhly Proves It Isn't (Lucy Jones, The Telegraph)</span></i></a> . . . it's our <b>PYTHEAS THOUGHT and IDEA</b> for the week. And visit <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/muhly.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Nico Muhly</span></a> at the Pytheas Center.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-14302976797069432942012-09-29T08:46:00.000-07:002012-10-18T08:54:50.666-07:00<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/puts.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Kevin Puts</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1203.html#arches" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Arches (2000)</span></i></a> . . . one of this week's <b>FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/azarova.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Svitlana Azarova</span></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MXa-Pw_KeU" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Outvoice, outstep and outwalk (2004)</span></i></a> . . . it's one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.lynnvartan.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Lynn Vartan, percussionist (Los Angeles, California, USA)</span></a> . . . she's our <b>PYTHEAS NEW MUSIC PERFORMER</b> for the week.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-18043034198866304012012-09-17T06:28:00.001-07:002012-10-04T08:43:02.859-07:00<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hatzis.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Christos Hatzis</span></a> is becoming widely known as a leading figure in contemporary classical music. His music is inspired by proto-Christian spirituality, his own Byzantine musical heritage, world cultures and various non-classical-music genres including jazz, pop and world musics. He has created several works inspired by the music of the Inuit, Canada's arctic inhabitants, and these works, particularly the award-winning radio documentary Footprints in New Snow, have promoted Inuit culture around the globe. His strongest inspiration is his own religious faith, and a number of his religious works have been hailed as contemporary masterpieces by critics and audiences alike.The starting point for <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hatzis.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hatzis'</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1203.html#arctic" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Arctic Dreams 1 (2002)</span></i></a> is another of his works, <i>Voices of the Land</i>, the third part of his <i>Footprints In New Snow (1996)</i>, a radio documentary/composition about the Inuit and their culture which the composer created in 1995 with CBC Radio producer Keith Horner. In the documentary, the foreground is occupied by the voice of Winston White, an Inuit Elder and broadcaster from Nunavut who speaks about the north and its inhabitants. In <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1203.html#arctic" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Arctic Dreams 1</span></i></a>, this place is taken by the flute and vibraphone. Watch a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hatzis.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Christos Hatzis'</span></a> <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1203.html#arctic" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Arctic Dreams 1</span></i></a> played by flutist Nicole Camacho and vibraphonist Clara Warnaar . . . one of this week's <b>FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b>.<br />
<br />
. . . also check out <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hatzis.html#hatzis_on_hatzis" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">Christos Hatzis in an Interview with "Your Greek News"</span></a> . . . our <b>COMPOSER PORTRAIT</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/white_frances.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Frances White's</span></a> <a href="http://www.amc.net/library/player.aspx?var=363&composer=amc.net" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Winter Aconites</span></i></a> was composed in 1993; the part for tape being made at the Winham Laboratory of Princeton University. According to the composer, "<a href="http://www.amc.net/library/player.aspx?var=363&composer=amc.net" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Winter Aconites</span></i></a> is the first of my "little bulb" pieces for instruments and tape. The instrument parts in these works are largely sustained tones; the tape parts are soft, chiming sounds with irregular attacks that create a space within which the instrumentalists perform. The winter aconite is a species of flowering bulb (Eranthis hyemalis). Its small, yellow, buttercup-like flowers are among the very first to appear each year; in the northeast it can bloom as early as February, while there is still snow on the ground. Like so many of the little early bulbs, winter aconites will naturalize -- they will propagate themselves and form large colonies. My piece, <a href="http://www.amc.net/library/player.aspx?var=363&composer=amc.net" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Winter Aconites</span></i></a>, was commissioned by The ASCAP Foundation and the Bang On A Can Festival in memory of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/cage.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">John Cage</span></a>. Shortly after I began work on it (and before it had a title), I had a dream in which I brought a pot of winter aconite flowers to <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/cage.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Cage</span></a>. He was delighted -- he loved flowers and plants -- and later during my visit, we made sandwiches with some of the blooms (I have no idea whether the blooms of winter aconites are actually edible or not). Like the flowers in my dream, this piece is a gift for <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/cage.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">John Cage</span></a>." Listen to a performance of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/white_frances.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Frances White's</span></a> <a href="http://www.amc.net/library/player.aspx?var=363&composer=amc.net" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Winter Aconites</span></i></a> . . . it's one of our <b>PYTHEAS EARFULS</b> for the week.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/caramia.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tony Caramia</span></a> is Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music, where he is Director of Piano Pedagogy Studies and Coordinator of the Class Piano Program. He is a Contributing Editor for Clavier Companion Magazine and on the Editorial Committee of American Music Teacher. He has conducted numerous workshops in jazz piano for teachers at MTNA National and State Conventions; the International Association for Jazz Educators (IAJE) Teacher Training Institutes; the National Piano Teachers Institute, and the International Workshops. In addition, <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/caramia.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Caramia</span></a> has lectured and performed at the European Piano Teachers Association International Conference in London, the Australian Piano Pedagogy Conference in Adelaide, and the Institute of Registered Music Teachers National Conference in New Zealand. He was a featured performer at the prestigious Rochester International Jazz Festival; the 2007, 2009, and 2011 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and the 50th Anniversary of the New School for Music Study, in Princeton, NJ. He has been a guest on Marian McPartland’s <i>Piano Jazz</i> on NPR, and has served as a judge for the American Jazz Piano Competition, sponsored by the American Pianists Association, the Crescendo Music Awards, and the Young Texas Artists Competition. Watch a performance of his <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/new_music_video_archive_1203.html#night" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: orange;">Night Train Express (1985)</span></i></a> played by "PianoNic" . . . it's this week's second <b>FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS</b>. And also check out our extensive list of <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/young_piano_2.html#jazz_and_blues" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #351c75;">Jazz & Blues for the Beginning Pianist</span></i></a>, as well as <a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/young_piano_1.html" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #990000;">Contemporary Piano Repertoire for Young Performers</span></i></a>, and <i><a href="http://www.pytheasmusic.org/young_violin.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Contemporary Violin Repertoire for Young Performers</span></a></i>.20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879974891085555811.post-71851647809839125052012-09-13T21:26:00.003-07:002012-09-13T21:26:53.517-07:00<div class="mbl">
<div class="mhl">
<b>Sharon Fuerst Tutoring</b> is now sponsoring the Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music & PytheasTalk!</div>
<div class="mhl">
<a href="http://www.sftutoringservice.com/">http://www.sftutoringservice.com/</a></div>
<div class="mhl">
<div class="mvm uiP fsm">
<span class="fwb"></span></div>
"My
goal is to teach the skills necessary for a life-time of learning. To
guide and encourage students toward understanding concepts. To motivate
and empower them along the way. To strengthen weaknesses to grow into a
well-rounded individual. To use techniques and strategies tailored to
each student's learning style.</div>
<div class="mhl">
<div class="mvm uiP fsm">
<span class="fwb"><br /></span></div>
I
am a Maine certified teacher with over 25 years of experience,
specializing in math and science. I hold a BS degree in Biology
(emphasizing the integrated sciences) and a Masters of Art in Teaching.
As a substitute teacher and tutor over the past ten years, I've
developed positive relationships based on honesty and openness, keep
abreast of the latest technologies and innovations, and have access to
current resources. </div>
<div class="mhl">
</div>
<div class="mhl">
I offer a full range of support, including homework assistance,
organizational and time management, test preparation and study skills,
in all subjects and levels, focusing on middle to high school math and
science. My services cover the Southern Maine area, including Yarmouth,
Falmouth, Cumberland, Freeport, Brunswick, Portland and South Portland."</div>
</div>
20/21 explorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369627747806829390noreply@blogger.com0