Let’s make American music great again

Started by Mandryka, March 15, 2021, 01:14:55 AM

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Mandryka

And another goodie, this time defo Braxton in the loop even if his name is in smaller letters on the cover. This is musiking if the highest order - I can appreciate it even though it's all people blowing down metal pipes.

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

T. D.

The Trillium J opera really appeals to me because it comes in a CD + Blu-Ray package and I'd strongly prefer to see the production, not just listen. Unfortunately, I don't own a Blu-Ray player, which makes it impractical since the package is already pricey.

In contrast, I enjoy the Robert Ashley "television operas" on recording without visuals, since the libretti are prominent and fairly easy to follow. And I can manage without the minimalist TV-style video I've seen on Youtube.

As far as Braxton playing others, I like the Charlie Parker Project (2 CDs on hatology, the 11-disc reissue on Braxton House was too much to consider) and Six Monk's Compositions (Black Saint), but doubt you'd care for those. I couldn't connect at all with the Braxton / Ran Blake Memories of Vienna album of standards (hatology), but maybe not just due to Braxton. Haven't been sufficiently curious about the Tristano projects (in either incarnation, old single CD or newer 7-CD megapackage) to listen. Never heard the Ellington, should give it a spin.

Will have to listen to the Roscoe Mitchell recording. I've enjoyed Mitchell's music in a more "jazz" context (incl. AEC) but have not always been impressed by his notated works. I like Braxton's playing on Dave Holland's Conference of the Birds (ECM), but wouldn't recommend it to you.

Mandryka

#22
I think the earlier music shows some sort of resemblance to ideas in Stockhausen or Boulez, one I've started to explore is B-Xo/N-0-1-47a. And This Time. Someone I know who likes jazz hates this stuff, saying it sounds to planned in advance, too unspontaneous. But I'm used to that I guess.


I've decided that the music I've heard with the ABQ is not for me at the moment, I don't like the sound of it! Too jazzy! But this earlier recording, with a different lineup, has some music which has caught my attention - Compositions 101 and 88 for example.

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Roy Bland


Mandryka

Just started to listen to Michael Hersch's Vanishing Pavilions -- first impressions are that it is very impressive! Anyone looked into his music?

This is on Qobuz etc.




Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Cato

An article on Boston as a musical center with surveys of Harold Shapero, Leon Kirchner, et al.

e.g. Concerning Gunther Schuller:



Quote

"...(An opera, The Fisherman and His Wife,) was commissioned as a children's opera by the Junior League of Boston, and first performed in 1970 by Sarah Caldwell's Opera Company of Boston — though Caldwell had another composer in mind for the project when she found herself working with the imposing Schuller.

The 65-minute opera, based on a familiar story by the Grimm brothers, boasts a libretto by none other than John Updike. As the story unfolds, a lowly fisherman makes repeated trips back to the restless sea to summon a magical fish he has caught and released — the fish is actually an enchanted prince — and to ask for the granting of yet another of his wife's increasingly grandiose wishes. Schuller inventively, yet subtly, organized the score like a theme and variations. Most boldly, he wrote whole stretches of the score in his trademark modernist language — steeped in, but not beholden to, the 12-tone approach, with some jazz chords folded in.


A 12-tone opera for children?

Yet Schuller was on to something. The story is full of darkness, strangeness, magic, evocations of a threatening sea and cloudy skies, bitter confrontations between the wife and husband. Why not convey it through flinty, atonal music? The voice lines are written with skill to make the words come through clearly. Updike introduced the character of a cat that both meowed and talked, a charming role that Schuller assigned to a high soprano. The orchestration, for a smaller ensemble, is alive with myriad sonorities and captivating colors...."


See:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/arts/music/boston-classical-music.html
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Mandryka

This is nice.



Can anyone tell me anything about it -- music or composer. Who was Barney Childs?
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

T. D.

Quote from: Mandryka on May 12, 2021, 10:31:41 AM
This is nice.



Can anyone tell me anything about it -- music or composer. Who was Barney Childs?

All I've heard by Barney Childs is Clay Music, which was on the Cold Blue 10" anthology:


Very little info about him in those liner notes or on Wiki. New World Records has a bit more, which you've likely already seen:
https://www.newworldrecords.org/products/barney-childs-heaven-to-clear-when-day-did-close.

Thanks for posting this. I'll definitely listen to samples.

Mandryka

I first got to hear about Jay Alan Yim through the quartet on this old recording Arditti



It's very good and he has a voice all of his own. His wiki says he's held various university jobs in the states, but there's hardly anything on record, and I'd just assumed that he was a one hit wonder - a very good one hit wonder - who had dried up or missed the boat.

Well he may well have missed the boat but I don't think he's lost his creative juices, because I recently discovered his piano music thanks to his soundcloud page. Well worth exploring IMO, there are some little masterpieces here, Tendril and Timescreen. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest. As you can see, I'm feeling very positive about Jay Alan Yim

https://soundcloud.com/jay-alan-yim
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Anyone here explored Lera Auerbach?

Listening to her piano preludes this morning I thought, this is like Shostakovich with less humour - like the style of those late Shostakovich sonatas for viola and for violin but for piano alone. That's probably nonsense but that's what I thought. This recording



It certainly is worth looking at I think, for people who want something a bit fresh, something that's obviously "classical",  but don't want to broach the cutting edge - its just nice music to listen to.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Cato

Quote from: Mandryka on May 24, 2021, 12:21:13 AM
Anyone here explored Lera Auerbach?

Listening to her piano preludes this morning I thought, this is like Shostakovich with less humour - like the style of those late Shostakovich sonatas for viola and for violin but for piano alone. That's probably nonsense but that's what I thought. This recording



It certainly is worth looking at I think, for people who want something a bit fresh, something that's obviously "classical",  but don't want to broach the cutting edge - its just nice music to listen to.

Yes, I have offered samples of her works in past years: few have seemed interested.

Is she an American now?  I know she attended Juilliard in New York City.

https://www.youtube.com/v/ngY4Bc3hTKw
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Mandryka

Quote from: Cato on May 24, 2021, 01:21:59 PM
Yes, I have offered samples of her works in past years: few have seemed interested.

Is she an American now?  I know she attended Juilliard in New York City.

https://www.youtube.com/v/ngY4Bc3hTKw

What is an American?

(That's a philosophical question.)
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

T. D.

Quote from: Mandryka on May 24, 2021, 12:21:13 AM
Anyone here explored Lera Auerbach?

Listening to her piano preludes this morning I thought, this is like Shostakovich with less humour - like the style of those late Shostakovich sonatas for viola and for violin but for piano alone. That's probably nonsense but that's what I thought. This recording



It certainly is worth looking at I think, for people who want something a bit fresh, something that's obviously "classical",  but don't want to broach the cutting edge - its just nice music to listen to.

Never heard of her before.
Looking at her website, Auerbach is rather prolific. Her opera Gogol interests me greatly; according to the website there's a character named "Poshlust", which indicates that the work is somewhat informed by V. Nabokov's wonderful (IMO) book on Gogol.

Mandryka

#33
I listened to some of Auerbach's duos for violin and piano. It's just nice music, totally easy to listen to, expressive, full of twists and turns; there are tunes to hum; chromatic harmonies redolent at times of Scriabin and late Debussy, of course Shostakovich,  probably Rach too, but I never listen to him; each piece has a simple narrative; the sounds are familiar classical mainstream violin and piano sounds, lots of obvious virtuosity to make you swoon. She'd be lynched at the Darmstadt Summer Course.

A bit portentous, humourless.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka



If Lera Auerbach is today's Scriabin and Shostakovich, Lowell Liebermann is a latter day Paderewski and Godowski. Not for me, but others may well lap it up.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Cato on May 24, 2021, 01:21:59 PM
Yes, I have offered samples of her works in past years: few have seemed interested.

Is she an American now?  I know she attended Juilliard in New York City.

https://www.youtube.com/v/ngY4Bc3hTKw
Mandryka and Cato,

I quite enjoyed Icarus by her.  Thank you so much for embedding that youtube clip!   :)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter


Mandryka



Raolf Gehlhaar is a yank who's had an international career, professorship in the UK, assisted Stockhausen, that sort of thing. This CD contains three pieces for acoustic instruments and tape which, for me, was love at first sight -- instantly accessible and interesting music. There's also something for piano and synth, 10 years later, I have yet to come to terms with it.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Cato

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on May 25, 2021, 05:16:47 AM

Mandryka and Cato,

I quite enjoyed Icarus by her.  Thank you so much for embedding that youtube clip!   :)

PD


You are quite welcome!

Quote from: T. D. on May 24, 2021, 02:02:43 PM

Never heard of her before.

Looking at her website, Auerbach is rather prolific. Her opera Gogol interests me greatly; according to the website there's a character named "Poshlust", which indicates that the work is somewhat informed by V. Nabokov's wonderful (IMO) book on Gogol.


Here is an excerpt:

https://www.youtube.com/v/gNRRDq3h9uI

"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

T. D.

Quote from: Cato on June 22, 2021, 05:46:24 PM
You are quite welcome!

Here is an excerpt:

https://www.youtube.com/v/gNRRDq3h9uI

Thanks. It's certainly a spectacular production. The performance got a decent review here: https://bachtrack.com/review-auerbach-gogol-vienna