Well, it's been a while . . . but WE ARE BACK! 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 . . .
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 NEW MUSIC VIDEOS for the week.
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 PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
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 FEATURED NEW MUSIC RECORDING.
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 FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Showing posts with label Zaimont. Judith Lang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zaimont. Judith Lang. Show all posts
Friday, March 28, 2014
Monday, May 28, 2012
Jean Françaix realised the "making pleasure" which was the French music supreme purpose for Debussy. Françaix's works are typically French: they have charm and spirit, yet often irony, too. His style resides in his sense of humour, his big literary culture, and his relationship with occidental musical tradition. Asked about his own music, Françaix wrote: "I was told that my works were easy. Those who say that have probably never played my works themselves. My works are not considered contemporary music, but I am not dead yet." Françaix wrote his Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano in 1990 in celebration of the 300th birthday of the clarinet and based it's instrumentation on Mozart’s classic Kegelstatt Trio. Watch a performance of Jean Françaix's Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano (1990) played by Julie DeRoche (clarinet), Rami Solomonow (viola), and Aglika Angelova (piano) . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Ruth Schönthal was an American composer and pianist of German birth whose eclectic music brought together elements as diverse as European Romanticism, Mexican folk song and Minimalism. Schönthal began her musical studies at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin when she was 5. In 1935, she was expelled, along with other Jewish students, at the insistence of the Nazis, and in 1938 she emigrated with her family to Sweden, where she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. In 1941, the family fled Stockholm; unable to obtain a visa for the United States, they went to Mexico City. In Mexico, Schönthal studied composition with Rodolfo Halffter and Manuel Ponce, and in 1946 she gave the premiere of her Concerto Romantico for Piano and Orchestra. Composer Paul Hindemith, who was in the audience, invited her to study with him at Yale. She graduated from Yale in 1948, and at first earned a living by writing advertising jingles and popular songs. But she also performed as a concert pianist and was highly regarded for her improvisatory skills. And she composed prolifically, often drawn to social, historical and religious themes. Her music found an audience in Germany, and in 1994 she was awarded the Heidelberg International Composition Prize for Women Composers. The same year, a biography, Ruth Schonthal: A Composer’s Musical Development in Exile, by Martina Helmig, was published in Germany, and later in an English translation. Listen to Ruth Schönthal talk about her work A Bird Over Jerusalem . . . it's our COMPOSER PORTRAIT for the week.
Composer Judith Zaimont writes about her Virgie Rainey - Two Narratives (2002): "While my earliest music is for the voice, in recent years I have not written quite so much for this medium, so the invitation to set Eudora Welty's words was especially enticing. Virgie Rainey portrays an independent, willful young woman, limned in reflection by her response to two emotional pivot points, one deeply saddening and the other rather frivolous. In Narrative One Virgie learns of the death of someone close to her and then proceeds, as if in a trance, down to the river to immerse herself (in quasi-baptismal sorrow). The tale is told in fragments of interrupted chant, mirroring Virgie's unconscious yet urgent journey by gradual and inexorable shifts to ever-faster tempi. Narrative Two is a delicious comic tale of Virgie's love-hate relationship with the piano - imagined in the opening phrase of Für Elise: the only music she ever played well - and her battle of wills with her piano teacher. Naturally, Beethoven distortions abound, set within a 'mock-opera' ambience." Listen to Narrative One from Judith Zaimont's Virgie Rainey - Two Narratives performed by soprano Wendy Zaro-Mullins, mezzo-soprano Jean del Santo, and pianist Timothy Lovelace. . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFUL for the week.
Ruth Schönthal was an American composer and pianist of German birth whose eclectic music brought together elements as diverse as European Romanticism, Mexican folk song and Minimalism. Schönthal began her musical studies at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin when she was 5. In 1935, she was expelled, along with other Jewish students, at the insistence of the Nazis, and in 1938 she emigrated with her family to Sweden, where she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. In 1941, the family fled Stockholm; unable to obtain a visa for the United States, they went to Mexico City. In Mexico, Schönthal studied composition with Rodolfo Halffter and Manuel Ponce, and in 1946 she gave the premiere of her Concerto Romantico for Piano and Orchestra. Composer Paul Hindemith, who was in the audience, invited her to study with him at Yale. She graduated from Yale in 1948, and at first earned a living by writing advertising jingles and popular songs. But she also performed as a concert pianist and was highly regarded for her improvisatory skills. And she composed prolifically, often drawn to social, historical and religious themes. Her music found an audience in Germany, and in 1994 she was awarded the Heidelberg International Composition Prize for Women Composers. The same year, a biography, Ruth Schonthal: A Composer’s Musical Development in Exile, by Martina Helmig, was published in Germany, and later in an English translation. Listen to Ruth Schönthal talk about her work A Bird Over Jerusalem . . . it's our COMPOSER PORTRAIT for the week.
Composer Judith Zaimont writes about her Virgie Rainey - Two Narratives (2002): "While my earliest music is for the voice, in recent years I have not written quite so much for this medium, so the invitation to set Eudora Welty's words was especially enticing. Virgie Rainey portrays an independent, willful young woman, limned in reflection by her response to two emotional pivot points, one deeply saddening and the other rather frivolous. In Narrative One Virgie learns of the death of someone close to her and then proceeds, as if in a trance, down to the river to immerse herself (in quasi-baptismal sorrow). The tale is told in fragments of interrupted chant, mirroring Virgie's unconscious yet urgent journey by gradual and inexorable shifts to ever-faster tempi. Narrative Two is a delicious comic tale of Virgie's love-hate relationship with the piano - imagined in the opening phrase of Für Elise: the only music she ever played well - and her battle of wills with her piano teacher. Naturally, Beethoven distortions abound, set within a 'mock-opera' ambience." Listen to Narrative One from Judith Zaimont's Virgie Rainey - Two Narratives performed by soprano Wendy Zaro-Mullins, mezzo-soprano Jean del Santo, and pianist Timothy Lovelace. . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFUL for the week.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
After pushing one end of the envelope with three slow movements in his Symphony No. 3 (1976), Henryk Górecki swung back the other way in 1980 with his delightful Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra (1981). This sparkling piece lasts about nine minutes and consists of two fast movements, both centering around D. The harpsichord is accompanied by a small string orchestra; if the solo part is played on piano, the strings are expanded to compensate. This concerto is strongly related to Górecki's Three Pieces in Olden Style (1963), which was shocking at the time for its unabashed simple, diatonic style. (thanks to Rod Corkin/Classical Muic Mayhem for these insights). Watch a performance of Górecki's Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra with Elżbieta Chojnacka, harpsichord, and the Narodowa Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radia, Antoni Wit conducting . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Robert Moon (at Audiophile Audition) writes about CPO Records first volume of the Symphonic Works of Andrzej Panufnik: "Andrzej Panufnik is the least known of the three great Polish composers of the twentieth century – the others being Witold Lutoslawski and Krzysztof Penderecki. His music combines the architectural quality of consecutive soundblocks – extended music with distinctive tone and texture – with the emotional feel of the spiritual and visionary. By manipulating three note cells in a mathematical manner, Panufnik's music has a forceful, sometimes overwhelmingly powerful presence which is often contrasted by a more meditative, atmospheric section. The music on this disc can be best understood by tracing their personal, political and sociological times in which they were created. The Tragic Overture (1941) recreates the cataclysmic terrors of World War II. The composer uses a four note motto theme throughout this short work that plays beneath a cantabile violin melody. The Heroic Overture, ostensibly written for the pre-Olympic competition in Warsaw in 1952, was really a testament to the valiant resistance of Poland to the Nazi invasion of 1939. Here the conflict is punctuated by a valorous march and a triumphant ending. In Nocturne (1948) "I completely detached myself from the tragic memories of the past years," Panufnik writes, "I was escaping reality, weaving for myself a kind of night vision, as in a dream." This 17 minute work starts quietly, moves towards a devastating climax, and then recedes into the mist. Its structure reminds me of Barber’s Adagio for Strings, but there is a portent of fear and danger under the patina of calmness. There also is a warmth, especially in the string writing, that perhaps reflects the composer’s love for humanity. Nocturne may have been cathartic for Panufnik, but, as moving emotionally as it is, there still remains the imprint of the horror the composer experienced in World War II. It is the major discovery of this disc. Katyn Epitaph is a searing remembrance of the Katyn Forest Massacre of thousands of Polish patriots by Russian soldiers in World War II. The quiet and lovely A Procession for Peace is a symphonic prelude dedicated "to peace loving people of every race and religion, of every political and philosophical creed," Panufnik wrote. Harmony – a Poem for Chamber Orchestra - was composed in 1989 and dedicated to the composer’s wife of 25 years. Its spiritual and graceful tone is an excellent example of the meditative and visionary Panufnik. This impressive disc is a sampling of the diversity of symphonic music which this under-appreciated composer has given to the world. Performances and sound are excellent, as are the extensive program notes. This is an important beginning to recordings of Panufnik's orchestral works (this is Volume 1), and I look forward to future issues, especially recordings of his ten symphonies." Check this and other contemporary music recordings out out at the Pytheas Recordings Archive . . . it's this week's FEATURED RECORDING.
Karen Amrhein 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 peformance of the second movement of Amrhein's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1996) . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.
In another collaboration between Judith Lang Zaimont and her husband Gary Zaimont (with video production by Mike Bregman), The Joy of Dance, features Zaimont's art song Clair de Lune from the song cycle Chansons Nobles et Sentimentales sung by tenor Charles Bressler . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Robert Moon (at Audiophile Audition) writes about CPO Records first volume of the Symphonic Works of Andrzej Panufnik: "Andrzej Panufnik is the least known of the three great Polish composers of the twentieth century – the others being Witold Lutoslawski and Krzysztof Penderecki. His music combines the architectural quality of consecutive soundblocks – extended music with distinctive tone and texture – with the emotional feel of the spiritual and visionary. By manipulating three note cells in a mathematical manner, Panufnik's music has a forceful, sometimes overwhelmingly powerful presence which is often contrasted by a more meditative, atmospheric section. The music on this disc can be best understood by tracing their personal, political and sociological times in which they were created. The Tragic Overture (1941) recreates the cataclysmic terrors of World War II. The composer uses a four note motto theme throughout this short work that plays beneath a cantabile violin melody. The Heroic Overture, ostensibly written for the pre-Olympic competition in Warsaw in 1952, was really a testament to the valiant resistance of Poland to the Nazi invasion of 1939. Here the conflict is punctuated by a valorous march and a triumphant ending. In Nocturne (1948) "I completely detached myself from the tragic memories of the past years," Panufnik writes, "I was escaping reality, weaving for myself a kind of night vision, as in a dream." This 17 minute work starts quietly, moves towards a devastating climax, and then recedes into the mist. Its structure reminds me of Barber’s Adagio for Strings, but there is a portent of fear and danger under the patina of calmness. There also is a warmth, especially in the string writing, that perhaps reflects the composer’s love for humanity. Nocturne may have been cathartic for Panufnik, but, as moving emotionally as it is, there still remains the imprint of the horror the composer experienced in World War II. It is the major discovery of this disc. Katyn Epitaph is a searing remembrance of the Katyn Forest Massacre of thousands of Polish patriots by Russian soldiers in World War II. The quiet and lovely A Procession for Peace is a symphonic prelude dedicated "to peace loving people of every race and religion, of every political and philosophical creed," Panufnik wrote. Harmony – a Poem for Chamber Orchestra - was composed in 1989 and dedicated to the composer’s wife of 25 years. Its spiritual and graceful tone is an excellent example of the meditative and visionary Panufnik. This impressive disc is a sampling of the diversity of symphonic music which this under-appreciated composer has given to the world. Performances and sound are excellent, as are the extensive program notes. This is an important beginning to recordings of Panufnik's orchestral works (this is Volume 1), and I look forward to future issues, especially recordings of his ten symphonies." Check this and other contemporary music recordings out out at the Pytheas Recordings Archive . . . it's this week's FEATURED RECORDING.
Karen Amrhein 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 peformance of the second movement of Amrhein's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1996) . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.
In another collaboration between Judith Lang Zaimont and her husband Gary Zaimont (with video production by Mike Bregman), The Joy of Dance, features Zaimont's art song Clair de Lune from the song cycle Chansons Nobles et Sentimentales sung by tenor Charles Bressler . . . 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
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Composer Judith Lang Zaimont has recently been joining up with her husband, the painter Gary Zaimont, to present videos which highlight both her vibrant and original music and his stunning visuals. The latest of their collaborations is entitled Borealis which features the composer's Sky Curtains: Borealis Australis (1984) scored for the unusual combination of flute, clarinet, bassoon, viola and cello. Check it out at Pytheas . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
John Psathas is one of New Zealand’s most frequently performed composers. With works in the repertoire of such high profile musicians as Evelyn Glennie, Michael Brecker, Pedro Carneiro, the Halle Orchestra and others, he has achieved what was until recently held to be a near impossibility for a composer of contemporary New Zealand music – he is establishing a solid international profile, and receiving regular commission offers from outside New Zealand. Fragments, this week's FEATURED RECORDING, has been described as "an injection of adrenalin direct to the heart of New Zealand classical music". Read more about the recording, John Psathas' music and hear some excerpts from Fragments . . . our FEATURED RECORDING at Pytheas.
This week we bring you an unusual short film by Jamie Ward which feature's both the music of Astor Piazzolla and Richard Grunn's human puppet "Cliff". December (or "Winter") (2009) takes us on a journey through New York City as film maker Ward brings us a visual interpretation of Piazzolla's La muerte del Ángel (1962) and La resurrección del Ángel (1965). Check it all out at this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.
Glenn Klotche writes, "Steve Reich's Clapping Music (1972) is an outgrowth of those works . . . [which] require nothing but the human body - in this case, two performers who hand-clap. Reich states that the piece is 'to have one performer remain fixed, repeating the same basic pattern throughout, while the second moves abruptly, after a number of repeats, from unison to one beat ahead, and so on, until he is back in unison with the first performer.' The piece is intended for performance in an auditorium where the echoes and reverberations of the clapping create, as Reich states, "a surrounding sensation of a series of variations of two different patterns with their downbeats coinciding.' As the piece unfolds, the patterns interact to create a garden of rhythms unlike anything I had previously heard. I was blown away that something so conceptually simple could sound so complicated." Watch a performance recorded in Milna, Croatia . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
John Psathas is one of New Zealand’s most frequently performed composers. With works in the repertoire of such high profile musicians as Evelyn Glennie, Michael Brecker, Pedro Carneiro, the Halle Orchestra and others, he has achieved what was until recently held to be a near impossibility for a composer of contemporary New Zealand music – he is establishing a solid international profile, and receiving regular commission offers from outside New Zealand. Fragments, this week's FEATURED RECORDING, has been described as "an injection of adrenalin direct to the heart of New Zealand classical music". Read more about the recording, John Psathas' music and hear some excerpts from Fragments . . . our FEATURED RECORDING at Pytheas.
This week we bring you an unusual short film by Jamie Ward which feature's both the music of Astor Piazzolla and Richard Grunn's human puppet "Cliff". December (or "Winter") (2009) takes us on a journey through New York City as film maker Ward brings us a visual interpretation of Piazzolla's La muerte del Ángel (1962) and La resurrección del Ángel (1965). Check it all out at this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.
Glenn Klotche writes, "Steve Reich's Clapping Music (1972) is an outgrowth of those works . . . [which] require nothing but the human body - in this case, two performers who hand-clap. Reich states that the piece is 'to have one performer remain fixed, repeating the same basic pattern throughout, while the second moves abruptly, after a number of repeats, from unison to one beat ahead, and so on, until he is back in unison with the first performer.' The piece is intended for performance in an auditorium where the echoes and reverberations of the clapping create, as Reich states, "a surrounding sensation of a series of variations of two different patterns with their downbeats coinciding.' As the piece unfolds, the patterns interact to create a garden of rhythms unlike anything I had previously heard. I was blown away that something so conceptually simple could sound so complicated." Watch a performance recorded in Milna, Croatia . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
