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Steve Reich – Double Sextet played at Le Poisson Rouge
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2009/06/steve_reichs_double_sextet_bro.html
Star-Ledger Article:
When Steve Reich won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in April, many called the award long overdue. Given his revolutionary body of work, it’s hard to argue. But when the new music group Signal performed the winning composition “Double Sextet” at Le Poisson Rouge Monday night, both the piece itself and the sense of lifetime achievement came through in full glory.
To open the celebratory concert, which the composer attended, Signal, led by conductor Brad Lubman, performed what could be considered the work’s predecessor, “Sextet,” written in 1984. Scored by Reich (no relation to this reporter) for four percussionists and two keyboardists, the work features such sounds as electric pianos, bowed vibraphones, marimba, click sticks and crotales. The composer’s trademark layered contrapuntal textures, played with precision and direction, gave the impression of driving rhythmic patterns bouncing against one another.
Le Poisson Rouge, the Greenwich Village club that curates an eclectic blend of classical, indie rock and other genres with an emphasis on new music, recently celebrated its first anniversary. At least in its classical programming, it has been both strikingly consistent and consistently striking, and the relaxed atmosphere, complete with a bar, seems to be a successful model. With many concert halls struggling, it would be interesting to see how a larger work than the chamber music and recitals typically performed here might fare in such a setting.
Hearing Reich’s pieces in such close proximity enhanced the newer work’s broad scope and the raw, human qualities that could be taken on by the strings and winds — instruments absent from many of the composer’s earlier works. “Double Sextet” calls for two ensembles of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion to be played either by 12 musicians, as it was by Signal, or by six playing against a recording of themselves. That is how the piece, which Reich wrote in 2007 and premiered in 2008, was first performed by the new music-ensemble eighth blackbird.
Here is a youtube video of them in the studio recording double sextet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IqVnvkzvNQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Rji3yhRs8
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Evolution of Human Consciousness, With Words, Music and Brain Imagery
Posted by composer on May 6, 2009 in New Composers, New Music Concerts
Give the composer Bruce Adolphe credit for taking on the big issues. Inspired by the research and writings of the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, who directs the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, Mr. Adolphe asked Mr. Damasio to collaborate on a work that would combine text, music and imagery of brain activity to evoke the evolution of the human mind. Mr. Adolphe also recruited Yo-Yo Ma, an old friend from his Juilliard School days, for the collaboration.
The result was “Self Comes to Mind,” a 30-minute work for cello and two percussionists, with video imagery based on brain scans and with texts by Mr. Damasio. The piece had its premiere on Sunday night at the American Museum of Natural History. The 900-seat LeFrak Theater was packed for the event, which included an hourlong discussion with the collaborators.
Just how the human brain works remains one of the greatest mysteries in science. In his program note Mr. Adolphe suggests that music itself may be an expression of our physical minds, though, he adds, composing is never a matter of musical illustration, but of finding “technical and expressive parallels to extra-musical ideas.”
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The visual element used brain scans from the research of Mr. Damasio’s wife, Hanna Damasio, also a professor of neuroscience at U.S.C. The images were folded into sound-reactive video compositions directed by Diego Miralles, based on an existing video by Ioana Uricaru. Even though the imagery was responding to the music, it was hard not to hear Mr. Adolphe’s obliging music as illustrative of the imagery.
Read the whole thing at nytimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/arts/music/05ma.html?_r=1&ref=music
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Composition Forum, CompFest 2009
Posted by composer on May 6, 2009 in New Composers, New Music Concerts
Piano to body percussion; solos to quintets; vocal ensembles to electronic music – all that and much more could be seen and heard at the Intercollegiate Composition Forum on Thursday.
On April 30, eight student composers from Whitworth and three students from Gonzaga University gathered in the Music Recital Hall to share their original works of music with an audience of students, staff and community members. The event was part of CompFest 2009.
Associate professor of music Brent Edstrom was the main organizer of the Forum.
“As a composer, there is nothing more thrilling than hearing your piece come to life,” Edstrom said. “It’s exciting… and nerve-racking.”
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“This [composition forum] is a really neat opportunity for new composers to show their thoughts and ideas, and they can get constructive criticism and feedback that can help them continue in their compositional efforts,” Bratton said.
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Read the whole article at:
http://www.whitworthian.com/composition-forum-displays-variety-of-student-musical-creations-1.1745012
“Piano Burning” to be staged at Carlton College, MN
Posted by composer on Apr 29, 2009 in New Music Concerts
Carleton College will be the stage for a rare live performance of renowned avant-garde composer Annea Lockwood’s controversial yet notable work for piano, “Piano Burning.” First performed in 1968, this ground-breaking composition centers around the actual burning of a piano—one that is beyond repair and ready to be discarded—allowing the listener to hear a variety of pitched and unpitched sounds as the piano strings heat and break. The performance will take place Thursday, April 30 at 8:45 p.m. on the “Bald Spot,” the central open area of the Carleton campus.
Read more…