Paul Griffiths writes about Elliott Carter's Oboe Concerto (1987), "Expressing what the composer has called 'widely varying, mercurial moods,' the oboe sings from one end of this work to the other. Its songs are seconded by a concertino group of four violas plus a percussionist, while the main orchestra (still chamber-sized) 'opposes their flighty changes with a more regular series of ideas, usually on the serious side, sometimes bursting out dramatically'. The piece broadly follows the usual fast-slow-fast pattern of concertos, with the soloist challenged in the 'slow movement' by the trombone — but not for long before oboistic playfulness and expressivity win through. Paul Sacher commissioned the work for Heinz Holliger, who gave the first performances at the time of the composer’s eightieth birthday." Watch a performance by oboist Nicholas Daniel and the BBC Symphony Orchestra . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
This week Hubert Culot (MusicWeb International) reviews an RTE Lyric recording of orchestral music by Irish composer Seóirse Bodley . . . "Although he is one of the most distinguished Irish composers of his generation, Seóirse Bodley's music is still largely under-represented in recordings - so, this release is most welcome. The three works recorded here [A Small White Cloud Drifts Over Ireland (1976), Chamber Symphony No. 1 (1964) and the Symphony No. 2 (1980)] span some fifteen years of his long and busy composing life, thus shedding light on his stylistic progress over these years. These recordings from the RTÉ’s archives are excellent and so are the performances. This beautifully produced release is most welcome for Bodley's music has been neglected for too many years. It is to be hoped that more will follow. This music is far too good to be ignored . . ." Read more of this review and hear excerpts from this RTE Lyric recording . . . it's our FEATURED RECORDING for the week.
Newspeak is an eight-piece amplified ensemble working under the direction of composer David T. Little and clarinetist Eileen Mack. Named after the thought-limiting language in George Orwell’s 1984, Newspeak explores the grey area where art and politics mix. Through their programming, performances, and commissions, they seek to reconsider, redefine, and ultimately reclaim the notion of socially engaged music and its place in contemporary society. Embedding elements of a rock band into a classical new music ensemble, Newspeak confronts the boundaries between the classical and the rock traditions. Check them out . . . the current FEATURED ENSEMBLE at Pytheas.
Fratres (1977/1980) is one of Arvo Part's signature works from the early days of what he calls his "tintinnabuli style" (after the Latin word for 'small bells'). The work is based on recurrent harmonic progressions and rhythmic cycles that are reminiscent of the 14th-century isorhythmic motet (the most famous composer of the genre was Guillaume de Machaut). The structural backbone of Pärt’s work is provided by a sequence of rhythmic units arranged in successive groups of 7, 9, and 11, respectively. Each repeat is modified in some way so that the work becomes something like a set of variations. Watch a performance by violinist Vadim Repin and pianist Nikolai Lugansky . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Da Jeong Choi is currently a teaching fellow in the Division of Composition Studies and the Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology at the University of North Texas, Denton. Her works have been widely performed throughout Asia, America and, most recently, Europe. Top of the Mountain (2009) for trumpet and two percussionists consists of seven movements, each with its own unique character. According to the composer, "the formal division is articulated by tempo, textural, timbral, and rhythmic contrast; however, musical coherence is derived primarily from such conventional procedures as motivic development." Watch a performance of the first movement of Top of the Mountain by John Holt, Christopher Deane and Mark Ford . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Two (2009), Deborah Lohse's acclaimed dance piece, is a poignant work to a commissioned score by composer Stefan Weisman. Roslyn Sulcas of The New York Times writes that the work highlights "Ms. Lohse's gifts for creating theatrical atmosphere." Watch Emily SoRelle Adams and Emery LeCrone perform the work . . . our DANSES PYTHEUSES for the week.
Poland has been the source of some of the most startlingly fresh musical ideas over the last fifty years, like an artistic phoenix rising from a dark depression that might well have daunted a lesser nation. Above all, it has preserved a religious vitality which has flourished in its output of sacred music since the establishment of a stable democracy in 1989. Among the younger composers to shine a bright musical light is Pawel Lukaszewski, born in 1960, and following in the footsteps of older figures of a generation earlier like Henryk Gorecki and Arvo Part. Well know and respected for his choral works, Lukaszewski has also written for orchestra, chamber ensembles and soloists and electroacoustic media. Hear a performance of Part I of his String Quartet No. 3 (2004) . . . the current PYTHEAS EARFUL.
Ken Ueno (winner of the 2006-2007 Rome Prize) is a composer and vocalist whose wide range of innovative works have been thrilling audiences around the world. Informed by his experience as an electric guitarist and overtone singer, his music fuses the culture of Japanese underground electronic music with an awareness of European modernism. In an effort to feature inherent qualities of sound such as beatings, overtones, and artifacts of production noise, Ueno’s music is often amplified and uses electronics. The dramatic discourse of his music is based on the juxtaposition of extremes: visceral energy versus contemplative repose, hyperactivity versus stillness - he engages with multiple modes of music making. Hear Ueno's music at its essence in a performance of Shiroi Ishi (2001) by the world famous vocal quartet the Hilliard Ensemble . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Two (2009), Deborah Lohse's acclaimed dance piece, is a poignant work to a commissioned score by composer Stefan Weisman. Roslyn Sulcas of The New York Times writes that the work highlights "Ms. Lohse's gifts for creating theatrical atmosphere." Watch Emily SoRelle Adams and Emery LeCrone perform the work . . . our DANSES PYTHEUSES for the week.
Poland has been the source of some of the most startlingly fresh musical ideas over the last fifty years, like an artistic phoenix rising from a dark depression that might well have daunted a lesser nation. Above all, it has preserved a religious vitality which has flourished in its output of sacred music since the establishment of a stable democracy in 1989. Among the younger composers to shine a bright musical light is Pawel Lukaszewski, born in 1960, and following in the footsteps of older figures of a generation earlier like Henryk Gorecki and Arvo Part. Well know and respected for his choral works, Lukaszewski has also written for orchestra, chamber ensembles and soloists and electroacoustic media. Hear a performance of Part I of his String Quartet No. 3 (2004) . . . the current PYTHEAS EARFUL.
Ken Ueno (winner of the 2006-2007 Rome Prize) is a composer and vocalist whose wide range of innovative works have been thrilling audiences around the world. Informed by his experience as an electric guitarist and overtone singer, his music fuses the culture of Japanese underground electronic music with an awareness of European modernism. In an effort to feature inherent qualities of sound such as beatings, overtones, and artifacts of production noise, Ueno’s music is often amplified and uses electronics. The dramatic discourse of his music is based on the juxtaposition of extremes: visceral energy versus contemplative repose, hyperactivity versus stillness - he engages with multiple modes of music making. Hear Ueno's music at its essence in a performance of Shiroi Ishi (2001) by the world famous vocal quartet the Hilliard Ensemble . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Thursday, January 28, 2010
According to composer Bright Sheng, "the first part of The Stream Flows (1990) is based on a famous Chinese folk song from the southern part of China. The freshness and richness of the tune deeply touched me when I first heard it. Since then I have used it as basic material in several of my works. Here I hope that the resemblance of the timbre and the tone quality of a female folk singer is evoked by the solo violin. The second part is a fast country dance based on a three-note motive". Watch violinist Lynn Chang and dancer Xiao Lin Fan's performance of The Stream Flows . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
In Glyn Pursglove's (MusicWeb International) review of Albany Record's Pure Colors (Albany 785), a collection of works by American composer Judith Lang Zaimont, Pursglove writes, "To describe Judith Lang Zaimont as an academic composer is fair and accurate, provided that one intends the epithet to function simply as a means of pointing to the fact that she has been employed in academia throughout most of her working life. It would be quite wrong, however, to use the phrase "academic composer" if, by its use, one intended any of its pejorative associations. There is nothing dry or pedantic about Zaimont's work; there is no sense that her compositions are technical exercises or that they exist merely for teaching purposes or as demonstrations of one or another theoretical concept. In fact her music . . . is various and undogmatic, inventive and readily approachable, even if it also reveals her extensive technical knowledge. This is a rewarding fifty-five minutes’ worth of music varied in instrumentation and idiom . . . [and] consistently inventive". Check out the album at Pytheas . . . our current FEATURED RECORDING.
"Art and propaganda meet to powerful effect in the 1936 film documentary The Plow That Broke the Plains. Written and directed by Pare Lorentz, it was made (in black & white) by the U.S. government and clearly intended to promote President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, a series of initiatives designed to help the country recover from the Great Depression. Yet that fact detracts not at all from the film's artistry, as the combination of Lorentz's visuals and words and composer Virgil Thomson's music is often quite genuinely transcendent" (Sam Graham/ Amazon.com). Watch the film, in its entirety . . . this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.
Olivier Messiaen's six piano miniatures Petites esquisses d'oiseaux (Little Sketches of Birds) from 1985 are magnificently honed sketches that are the quintessence of his particular compositional style. In the words of Messiaen, "birds are probably the greatest musicians that exist in the musical hierarchy of our planet". Hear a performance by pianist Nanae Green of La grive musicienne (The Song Thrush), the fourth of the Petites esquisses d'oiseaux . . . FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
In Glyn Pursglove's (MusicWeb International) review of Albany Record's Pure Colors (Albany 785), a collection of works by American composer Judith Lang Zaimont, Pursglove writes, "To describe Judith Lang Zaimont as an academic composer is fair and accurate, provided that one intends the epithet to function simply as a means of pointing to the fact that she has been employed in academia throughout most of her working life. It would be quite wrong, however, to use the phrase "academic composer" if, by its use, one intended any of its pejorative associations. There is nothing dry or pedantic about Zaimont's work; there is no sense that her compositions are technical exercises or that they exist merely for teaching purposes or as demonstrations of one or another theoretical concept. In fact her music . . . is various and undogmatic, inventive and readily approachable, even if it also reveals her extensive technical knowledge. This is a rewarding fifty-five minutes’ worth of music varied in instrumentation and idiom . . . [and] consistently inventive". Check out the album at Pytheas . . . our current FEATURED RECORDING.
"Art and propaganda meet to powerful effect in the 1936 film documentary The Plow That Broke the Plains. Written and directed by Pare Lorentz, it was made (in black & white) by the U.S. government and clearly intended to promote President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, a series of initiatives designed to help the country recover from the Great Depression. Yet that fact detracts not at all from the film's artistry, as the combination of Lorentz's visuals and words and composer Virgil Thomson's music is often quite genuinely transcendent" (Sam Graham/ Amazon.com). Watch the film, in its entirety . . . this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.
Olivier Messiaen's six piano miniatures Petites esquisses d'oiseaux (Little Sketches of Birds) from 1985 are magnificently honed sketches that are the quintessence of his particular compositional style. In the words of Messiaen, "birds are probably the greatest musicians that exist in the musical hierarchy of our planet". Hear a performance by pianist Nanae Green of La grive musicienne (The Song Thrush), the fourth of the Petites esquisses d'oiseaux . . . FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Friday, January 15, 2010
Svitlana Azarova is a Ukrainian/Dutch composer, whose music, in the words of Frans Waltmans, " . . . is highly inspired by spiritual and philosophical issues. Sometimes a picture or an incident can inspire her to write a composition. Her pieces, imbued with Slavic soul, are composed in western contemporary fashion, and although rarely minimalistic, she believes that music allows for the best meditation." Watch a performance of her Outvoice, Outstep and Outwalk (2004) by bass clarinetist Stephan Vermeersch . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Greek composer Alexandros Mouzas studied composition with Theodoros Antoniou, advanced theory with Haris Xanthoudakis and electronic music with Dimitris Kamarotos. Trisha Never Left Home (1999), commissioned by the Athens Concert Hall, is a ballet collaboration with choreographer Konstantinos Michos and the Lathos Kinissi Dance Group. Hear two excerpts from the ballet, Toy and Tango . . . this week's PYTHEAS EARFUL.
Seóirse Bodley is one the most important Irish composers of the older generation and was probably, in the 1960s and 1970s, the most modern voice sounding from Ireland. From three visits to the famous summer courses of new music at Darmstadt (1963-65) he returned to Ireland with an awareness of modern continental trends in music which resulted in many pieces of great complexity. From 1972 he combined these modern influences with elements from Irish traditional music, producing a highly original music of contrasts. His works from the early 1980s return to a more simple language maintaining many qualities of his earlier styles in more subtle reflections. Bodley's case is certainly one of an often misunderstood and, today, far too little recorded composer. Hear Seóirse Bodley talk about his music . . . this week's COMPOSER PORTRAIT.
In 1967, Steve Reich composed Piano Phase, a work for two pianos. It was Reich's first attempt at applying phasing technique to live performance. The two pianists play a rapid twelve-note melodic figure over and over again in unison. As one player precisely keeps the tempo, the other speeds up very slightly until the two parts line up again, but one sixteenth note apart. The second player then resumes the previous tempo. This cycle of speeding up and then locking in continues throughout the piece; the cycle comes full circle three times, the second and third cycles using shorter versions of the initial figure. Watch an unique performance of Piano Phase by pianist Peter Aidu playing 2 pianos! . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Greek composer Alexandros Mouzas studied composition with Theodoros Antoniou, advanced theory with Haris Xanthoudakis and electronic music with Dimitris Kamarotos. Trisha Never Left Home (1999), commissioned by the Athens Concert Hall, is a ballet collaboration with choreographer Konstantinos Michos and the Lathos Kinissi Dance Group. Hear two excerpts from the ballet, Toy and Tango . . . this week's PYTHEAS EARFUL.
Seóirse Bodley is one the most important Irish composers of the older generation and was probably, in the 1960s and 1970s, the most modern voice sounding from Ireland. From three visits to the famous summer courses of new music at Darmstadt (1963-65) he returned to Ireland with an awareness of modern continental trends in music which resulted in many pieces of great complexity. From 1972 he combined these modern influences with elements from Irish traditional music, producing a highly original music of contrasts. His works from the early 1980s return to a more simple language maintaining many qualities of his earlier styles in more subtle reflections. Bodley's case is certainly one of an often misunderstood and, today, far too little recorded composer. Hear Seóirse Bodley talk about his music . . . this week's COMPOSER PORTRAIT.
In 1967, Steve Reich composed Piano Phase, a work for two pianos. It was Reich's first attempt at applying phasing technique to live performance. The two pianists play a rapid twelve-note melodic figure over and over again in unison. As one player precisely keeps the tempo, the other speeds up very slightly until the two parts line up again, but one sixteenth note apart. The second player then resumes the previous tempo. This cycle of speeding up and then locking in continues throughout the piece; the cycle comes full circle three times, the second and third cycles using shorter versions of the initial figure. Watch an unique performance of Piano Phase by pianist Peter Aidu playing 2 pianos! . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Earl Kim's song cycle Now and Then (1981), for soprano, flute, harp and viola, is a terse meditation on the fragility of life. The composer writes: "The texts - by Beckett, Chekhov, and Yeats - which I finally settled on cover a range of poetic images dealing with the death of friends, the innocence and vulnerability of daffodils, the loneliness of one's final moment, and Chekhov's prophetic image of an earth which for thousands of years has borne no living creature." Hear a performance of Roundelay from Now and Then ... this week's Pytheas Earful.
David Hurwitz of Classics Today writes, "In case you haven't heard, Nikolai Kapustin writes jazz in classical forms. In other words it's all notated, but stylistically it's also the real deal. He has completely internalized the idiom in the same way that Bartók did Eastern European folk music, and the result betrays no trace of "hybridism" or incompatibility of structure and content. This shouldn't really come as a surprise. Kapustin was trained in the great Russian piano tradition, and the American jazz line is really the only other independent school of equally virtuosic keyboard playing/composition that has arisen since. Whether we're talking about Art Tatum or Scriabin, Medtner or Oscar Peterson, Rachmaninov or Gershwin, Kapustin knows them all and his own music shows it." ... check it out at our FEATURED RECORDING at Pytheas.
"The success of Jane Austen on the silver screen has led to a sudden outpouring of movies based on classic literature. The flood includes new features from the works of William Shakespeare, Henry James, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, and Henry James. Suddenly, all the novels we were forced to read in high school and college English classes are being filmed. In "Portrait of a Lady", the first motion picture adaptation of James' beloved classic, director Jane Campion presents a stark contrast to the light-and-sunny Jane Austen movies. Although it examines some of the same issues as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma, the perspective is much darker. Those expecting a light romance from Portrait of a Lady are in for a rude awakening". (James Berardinelli, Reel Reviews). Renowned film composer Wojciech Kilar has scored the film with brooding and luscious music. Hear and watch and excerpt entitled The Kiss (our apologies for the Italian dialog dubbing!) . . . this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.
Deborah Lohse's dance piece Monogrammed (2008) (with music by David Lang) features 14 dancers in a three-part work that deals with materialism, grief and lots of flour. Monogrammed asks the question, "What would you give up in order to bring back the one you love?", and contrasts rapid-fire text with movement that suspends time. In this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES, the ad hoc Ballet company continues its exploration of the evocative place where classical dance collides with the avant-garde.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
David Hurwitz of Classics Today writes, "In case you haven't heard, Nikolai Kapustin writes jazz in classical forms. In other words it's all notated, but stylistically it's also the real deal. He has completely internalized the idiom in the same way that Bartók did Eastern European folk music, and the result betrays no trace of "hybridism" or incompatibility of structure and content. This shouldn't really come as a surprise. Kapustin was trained in the great Russian piano tradition, and the American jazz line is really the only other independent school of equally virtuosic keyboard playing/composition that has arisen since. Whether we're talking about Art Tatum or Scriabin, Medtner or Oscar Peterson, Rachmaninov or Gershwin, Kapustin knows them all and his own music shows it." ... check it out at our FEATURED RECORDING at Pytheas.
"The success of Jane Austen on the silver screen has led to a sudden outpouring of movies based on classic literature. The flood includes new features from the works of William Shakespeare, Henry James, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, and Henry James. Suddenly, all the novels we were forced to read in high school and college English classes are being filmed. In "Portrait of a Lady", the first motion picture adaptation of James' beloved classic, director Jane Campion presents a stark contrast to the light-and-sunny Jane Austen movies. Although it examines some of the same issues as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma, the perspective is much darker. Those expecting a light romance from Portrait of a Lady are in for a rude awakening". (James Berardinelli, Reel Reviews). Renowned film composer Wojciech Kilar has scored the film with brooding and luscious music. Hear and watch and excerpt entitled The Kiss (our apologies for the Italian dialog dubbing!) . . . this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.
Deborah Lohse's dance piece Monogrammed (2008) (with music by David Lang) features 14 dancers in a three-part work that deals with materialism, grief and lots of flour. Monogrammed asks the question, "What would you give up in order to bring back the one you love?", and contrasts rapid-fire text with movement that suspends time. In this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES, the ad hoc Ballet company continues its exploration of the evocative place where classical dance collides with the avant-garde.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
"Here, in a nutshell," Carl Nielsen wrote, "is what I demand of all art: opposing forces which meet and glow, appearing one but remaining two, embracing and caressing like rippling water over pebbles, yet never actually touching and breaking the delicate interplay." That is the spirit of his Flute Concerto of 1926. Watch a performance of this often joyous work by flutist Ulla Miilmann . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Stephen Paulus is one of America’s most talented composers, having achieved notable success with performances of operas as well as works for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles and piano. As a composer for the stage, he has been most closely associated with the Opera Theater of St. Louis, which commissioned and premiered The Village Singer (1979), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1982, based on James M. Cain’s novel) and The Woodlanders (1985, after Thomas Hardy). He has received commissions from such noted ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Cleveland Quartet. He was a co-founder in 1973 of the Minnesota Composers Forum, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of ASCAP and co-founder and a current Board Vice President of the American Composers Forum, the largest composer service organization in the world. Hear him talk about his life and works with Alison Young of Minnesota Public Radio . . . our current COMPOSER PORTRAIT at Pytheas.
German born Hans Zimmer has composed music for over 100 films, including such Hollywood blockbusters as the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Gladiator, The Lion King, The Dark Knight and most recently Sherlock Holmes. Notable in his work is his integration of electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements. Hear part of his score for director Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code (2006) . . . this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.
According to composer Michael Colgrass, Old Churches (2000) was one of the most challenging pieces he can remember writing. His goal was to create music that was interesting, expressive and demanding, yet playable by students in the early stages of performing on their instruments and who are also unfamiliar with modern music techniques. His solution was to write a work based on Gregorian chant. The chant unfolds through call and response patterns. One instrument intones a musical idea, then the rest of the group responds by playing it back. This musical conversation continues throughout the piece. Hear a performance of Michael Colgrass' Old Churches . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Stephen Paulus is one of America’s most talented composers, having achieved notable success with performances of operas as well as works for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles and piano. As a composer for the stage, he has been most closely associated with the Opera Theater of St. Louis, which commissioned and premiered The Village Singer (1979), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1982, based on James M. Cain’s novel) and The Woodlanders (1985, after Thomas Hardy). He has received commissions from such noted ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Cleveland Quartet. He was a co-founder in 1973 of the Minnesota Composers Forum, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of ASCAP and co-founder and a current Board Vice President of the American Composers Forum, the largest composer service organization in the world. Hear him talk about his life and works with Alison Young of Minnesota Public Radio . . . our current COMPOSER PORTRAIT at Pytheas.
German born Hans Zimmer has composed music for over 100 films, including such Hollywood blockbusters as the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Gladiator, The Lion King, The Dark Knight and most recently Sherlock Holmes. Notable in his work is his integration of electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements. Hear part of his score for director Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code (2006) . . . this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.
According to composer Michael Colgrass, Old Churches (2000) was one of the most challenging pieces he can remember writing. His goal was to create music that was interesting, expressive and demanding, yet playable by students in the early stages of performing on their instruments and who are also unfamiliar with modern music techniques. His solution was to write a work based on Gregorian chant. The chant unfolds through call and response patterns. One instrument intones a musical idea, then the rest of the group responds by playing it back. This musical conversation continues throughout the piece. Hear a performance of Michael Colgrass' Old Churches . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Friday, January 1, 2010
Walt Whitman's A Jubilant Song describes "the joy of my spirit - it is uncaged - it darts like lightning!", and Norman Dello Joio's 1945 setting of this text for chorus and piano furnishes an exciting and challenging outing for any chorus. With its frequent time changes, syncopations, and pantonal harmonies the work is an excellent exponent of the mid-century Americana style. Watch a performance by The Festival Singers of Florida directed by Dr. Kevin Fenton . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Ann Southam is one of Canada's first prominent women composers. When she came of age as a composer, in the 1960s, it was comparatively uncommon for women to be recognized in the field of music composition. She was on the vanguard of a generation that profoundly and positively changed the landscape and social mechanics of contemporary Canadian music. Southam, an avowed feminist, proudly - and even provocatively - incorporated this change in her music. Eve Egoyan and Gayle Young observe that for Southam, ". . . there is a close connection between composing for or playing the piano and other forms of work done by hand, such as weaving, that reflect the nature of traditional women's work - repetitive, life-sustaining, requiring time and patience. But through it all, runs a thread of questioning." Hear the composer talk about her life and work as part of the Canadian Music Centre's The Composer's Chair series . . . this week's COMPOSER PORTRAIT.
In our current Pytheas THOUGHT & IDEA composer Tan Dun and Brett Campbell (of Andante.com) discuss the importance of ritual and theater in musical performance -- and just how H2O became central to his work. Have a read at Tan Dun Talks on Water.
Krzysztof Penderecki's style has changed over the years and in many ways his later works appear more conventional. An overview of his choral works reveals three distinct periods: the earliest works embody a style of tone clusters, sighs and whispers. The material is all evanescence, textures and hints of motifs. Works from the 1980s (a second period) all seem to emphasise the importance of texture and contrast, but a neo-renaissance polyphony takes the place of the sighs and whispers, though clusters remain important. This neo-renaissance style takes polyphonic outlines but mixes them with a more modern harmonic language, making the pieces more angular and less comfortable. Finally, in his most recent works, Penderecki's style approaches the most conventional, having traditional outlines and sounding like a folk-song arrangement. His Credo (1998) fits this last period. Hear a performance FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES by Student´s Choir of Licenciatura en Dirección Coral of Universidad de los Andes directed by Hector Moy.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Ann Southam is one of Canada's first prominent women composers. When she came of age as a composer, in the 1960s, it was comparatively uncommon for women to be recognized in the field of music composition. She was on the vanguard of a generation that profoundly and positively changed the landscape and social mechanics of contemporary Canadian music. Southam, an avowed feminist, proudly - and even provocatively - incorporated this change in her music. Eve Egoyan and Gayle Young observe that for Southam, ". . . there is a close connection between composing for or playing the piano and other forms of work done by hand, such as weaving, that reflect the nature of traditional women's work - repetitive, life-sustaining, requiring time and patience. But through it all, runs a thread of questioning." Hear the composer talk about her life and work as part of the Canadian Music Centre's The Composer's Chair series . . . this week's COMPOSER PORTRAIT.
In our current Pytheas THOUGHT & IDEA composer Tan Dun and Brett Campbell (of Andante.com) discuss the importance of ritual and theater in musical performance -- and just how H2O became central to his work. Have a read at Tan Dun Talks on Water.
Krzysztof Penderecki's style has changed over the years and in many ways his later works appear more conventional. An overview of his choral works reveals three distinct periods: the earliest works embody a style of tone clusters, sighs and whispers. The material is all evanescence, textures and hints of motifs. Works from the 1980s (a second period) all seem to emphasise the importance of texture and contrast, but a neo-renaissance polyphony takes the place of the sighs and whispers, though clusters remain important. This neo-renaissance style takes polyphonic outlines but mixes them with a more modern harmonic language, making the pieces more angular and less comfortable. Finally, in his most recent works, Penderecki's style approaches the most conventional, having traditional outlines and sounding like a folk-song arrangement. His Credo (1998) fits this last period. Hear a performance FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES by Student´s Choir of Licenciatura en Dirección Coral of Universidad de los Andes directed by Hector Moy.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
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