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Monthly Archives: November 2004

New? Sort of.

30-Nov-04

Better Half attended a dress for the Met’s new production of Handel’s Rodelinda yesterday, and reported in on a gorgeous production and great performances, but all in service of an endless opera, interminable in its baroqueness and saddled with a turkey of a libretto. When someone has figured out why opera companies insist on spending [...]

Bite that reed

26-Nov-04

I’ve finally posted a review of last Friday’s PRISM Saxophone Quartet concert at Symphony Space, in the criticism pages. Enjoy it with leftover turkey and a plastic cup of water, so your reed doesn’t dry out…

PRISM Quartet – Saxophone Buffet

26-Nov-04

Well, they’re loud. Saxophones definitely have volume going for them. Other attractive qualities of the instrument are debatable, but last week’s PRISM Quartet 20th Anniversary Concert served as a valuable forum for those of differing minds on the subject. To celebrate the ensemble’s (impressive) milestone, the sax quartet programmed 20 short “dedications” (they were about [...]

24-Nov-04

An avalanche of new recordings coming out this December: in addition to BCM‘s Men of Industry (which includes world premiere recordings of 1861 and As the scent of spring rain…), Tom Leslie’s UNLV Wind Orchestra releases a new recording of OK Feel Good on their new Klavier CD 3 Steps Forward, and Bill Berz’s Rutgers [...]

Carter 1, Beethoven 0

21-Nov-04

From today’s NYTimes Arts & Leisure:When questioned after a recent James Levine-BSO concert in Boston, where he conducted Beethoven Eroica, and Elliott Carter’s Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretium Spei, Milt Karamechedis, 70, said “I think Levine has to be very careful about how much contemporary work he gets into the program. Ozawa brought a great deal [...]

The Modern

19-Nov-04

Re-opens on Saturday. I’m not sure I’ll be there on Saturday itself … that is, I can’t imagine that people won’t be camped out the day before in order to get in the door on opening day, so I’m guessing I can probably wait a couple of days. The pre-game reviews so far: the NYTimes [...]

Welcome

19-Nov-04

Words on Music. Schumann, Berlioz, Rorem … Newman? Well, you’ve got to start somewhere. The site testing is (hopefully) complete, and so I am pleased to unveil this new website feature. Right now I’ve got a few essays up (more coming as soon as they are edited) and one review of a recent NY opera [...]

18-Nov-04

Announcing the new BCM International CD, Men of Industry, release date: Dec. 15, 2004 In other news, I’m pleased to announce a new addition to the website content: the composer’s notebook, featuring commentary, essays, and criticism on musical matters.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories

18-Nov-04

You would think that in our current museum-culture of symphonic music that New Opera is a rarity, but it’s not as endangered as you would imagine. In Cooperstown, Santa Fe, St. Louis, Houston, Chicago, L.A., and other cities of impressive cultural heft, New Opera gets an airing. It’s not an everyday occurence, but it happens. [...]

Titles

14-Nov-04

My peers and I spent our schooling attempting to get away from the academic exercise of “Symphony No. 2″-type titling — and with some success. Interesting and evocative titles are very common in the concert music world now. But only up to a point: Sure, it can be interesting — but not TOO interesting. This [...]