In addition to coming to Tuesday night's free Sonic Generator concert at Woodruff Arts Center, I encourage you all to come see Philippe Leroux's lecture at Georgia Tech tomorrow (Monday), where he'll discuss his piece Voi(Rex) that is on Tuesday evening's program.
GA Tech's "C3: Creativity, Cognition and Computation" series and the Center for Music Technology Seminar Series present:
Philippe Leroux, University of Montreal and IRCAM
Voi(Rex) the model of the model
Monday, November 29, 2010
TSRB Auditorium: directions and parking info at http://www.tsrb.gatech.edu
reception at 1:30 pm
lecture at 2:00 pm
See you tomorrow (and Tuesday)!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Student Composer Concert
You are cordially invited to come by and enjoy a FREE concert given by the Georgia State University Student Chapter of the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI).
Date: Friday, November 19
Time: 12 PM
Location: Kopleff Recital Hall.
PROGRAM:
Taylor HELMS / Modal Dances for woodwind quintet - [premiere]
John PAPASPYROU / Eight Little Sketches for Viola - [premiere]
Chris OWENBY / Wondrous Love for soprano & piano trio
John PAPASPYROU / Epitaphios for tenor sax. & cello - [premiere]
Taylor J. GLANTON / Latin Bridge Suite for piano trio - [premiere]
For directions and more information, please visit www.music.gsu.edu. We hope to see some of you there!
Date: Friday, November 19
Time: 12 PM
Location: Kopleff Recital Hall.
PROGRAM:
Taylor HELMS / Modal Dances for woodwind quintet - [premiere]
John PAPASPYROU / Eight Little Sketches for Viola - [premiere]
Chris OWENBY / Wondrous Love for soprano & piano trio
John PAPASPYROU / Epitaphios for tenor sax. & cello - [premiere]
Taylor J. GLANTON / Latin Bridge Suite for piano trio - [premiere]
For directions and more information, please visit www.music.gsu.edu. We hope to see some of you there!
Sonic Generator Concert with Philippe Leroux
Georgia Tech’s chamber music ensemble-in-residence, Sonic Generator, will feature the music of guest composer Philippe Leroux in a free performance in partnership with the Woodruff Arts Center and France-Atlanta 2010. The concert also features guest soprano Donatienne Michel-Dansac and compositions by Kaija Saariaho and Pierre Jodlowski.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 8 p.m.
Rich Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street
free admission, reception to follow
Full details at:
http://www.sonicgenerator.gatech.edu
Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 8 p.m.
Rich Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street
free admission, reception to follow
Full details at:
http://www.sonicgenerator.gatech.edu
Hope to see you there!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Eddie Horst's Passing
I am sorry to share the news that Eddie Horst died on Thursday. He took his own life after struggling with clinical depression. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Many of you remember Eddie from the monthly composer meetups he hosted at Crawford Communications a few years back. Others of you probably know him in others ways too. He had far reaching connections in the music industry and touched many people's lives. He was very supportive of the Atlanta Composers mission to network local composers.
If there is a public memorial, I (or one the blog authors) will post details when they become available.
If you would like to share your positive remembrances of Eddie, please do so in the comments.
Many of you remember Eddie from the monthly composer meetups he hosted at Crawford Communications a few years back. Others of you probably know him in others ways too. He had far reaching connections in the music industry and touched many people's lives. He was very supportive of the Atlanta Composers mission to network local composers.
If there is a public memorial, I (or one the blog authors) will post details when they become available.
If you would like to share your positive remembrances of Eddie, please do so in the comments.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore
After a few words about order and causality, a meeting of minds on music.
Below is an excerpt from a conversation between poet Rabindranath Tagore and physicist Albert Einstein, which took place in a meeting arranged by a mutual friend ("Dr. Mendel") on August 19, 1930. Fascinating that a considerable portion of their exchange is about music. It is taken from "Three conversations: Tagore Talks with Einstein, with Rolland, and Wells" (Asia Magazine, March 1931). This was a second meeting and conversation between Einstein and Tagore. The photo by Martin Vos was taken during their first encounter on July 14 of the same year. [Image source: Wikimedia Commons]
TAGORE: I was discussing with Dr. Mendel today the new mathematical discoveries which tell us that in the realm of infinitesimal atoms chance has its play; the drama of existence is not absolutely predestined in character.
EINSTEIN: The facts that make science tend toward this view do not say good-bye to causality.
TAGORE: Maybe not, yet it appears that the idea of causality is not in the elements, but that some other force builds up with them an organized universe.
EINSTEIN: One tries to understand in the higher plane how the order is. The order is there, where the big elements combine and guide existence, but in the minute elements this order is not perceptible.
TAGORE: Thus duality is in the depths of existence, the contradiction of free impulse and the directive will which works upon it and evolves an orderly scheme of things.
EINSTEIN: Modern physics would not say they are contradictory. Clouds look as one from a distance, but if you see them nearby, they show themselves as disorderly drops of water.
TAGORE: I find a parallel in human psychology. Our passions and desires are unruly, but our character subdues these elements into a harmonious whole. Does something similar to this happen in the physical world? Are the elements rebellious, dynamic with individual impulse? And is there a principle in the physical world which dominates them and puts them into an orderly organization?
EINSTEIN: Even the elements are not without statistical order; elements of radium will always maintain their specific order, now and ever onward, just as they have done all along. There is, then, a statistical order in the elements.
TAGORE: Otherwise, the drama of existence would be too desultory. It is the constant harmony of chance and determination which makes it eternally new and living.
EINSTEIN: I believe that whatever we do or live for has its causality; it is good, however, that we cannot see through to it.
TAGORE: There is in human affairs an element of elasticity also, some freedom within a small range which is for the expression of our personality. It is like the musical system in India, which is not so rigidly fixed as western music. Our composers give a certain definite outline, a system of melody and rhythmic arrangement, and within a certain limit the player can improvise upon it. He must be one with the law of that particular melody, and then he can give spontaneous expression to his musical feeling within the prescribed regulation. We praise the composer for his genius in creating a foundation along with a superstructure of melodies, but we expect from the player his own skill in the creation of variations of melodic flourish and ornamentation. In creation we follow the central law of existence, but if we do not cut ourselves adrift from it, we can have sufficient freedom within the limits of our personality for the fullest self-expression.
EINSTEIN: That is possible only when there is a strong artistic tradition in music to guide the people's mind. In Europe, music has come too far away from popular art and popular feeling and has become something like a secret art with conventions and traditions of its own.
TAGORE: You have to be absolutely obedient to this too complicated music. In India, the measure of a singer's freedom is in his own creative personality. He can sing the composer's song as his own, if he has the power creatively to assert himself in his interpretation of the general law of the melody which he is given to interpret.
EINSTEIN: It requires a very high standard of art to realize fully the great idea in the original music, so that one can make variations upon it. In our country, the variations are often prescribed.
TAGORE: If in our conduct we can follow the law of goodness, we can have real liberty of self-expression. The principle of conduct is there, but the character which makes it true and individual is our own creation. In our music there is a duality of freedom and prescribed order.
EINSTEIN: Are the words of a song also free? I mean to say, is the singer at liberty to add his own words to the song which he is singing?
TAGORE: Yes. In Bengal we have a kind of song-kirtan, we call it-which gives freedom to the singer to introduce parenthetical comments, phrases not in the original song. This occasions great enthusiasm, since the audience is constantly thrilled by some beautiful, spontaneous sentiment added by the singer.
EINSTEIN: Is the metrical form quite severe?
TAGORE: Yes, quite. You cannot exceed the limits of versification; the singer in all his variations must keep the rhythm and the time, which is fixed. In European music you have a comparative liberty with time, but not with melody.
EINSTEIN: Can the Indian music be sung without words? Can one understand a song without words?
TAGORE: Yes, we have songs with unmeaning words, sounds which just help to act as carriers of the notes. In North India, music is an independent art, not the interpretation of words and thoughts, as in Bengal. The music is very intricate and subtle and is a complete world of melody by itself.
EINSTEIN: Is it not polyphonic?
TAGORE: Instruments are used, not for harmony, but for keeping time and adding to the volume and depth. Has melody suffered in your music by the imposition of harmony?
EINSTEIN: Sometimes it does suffer very much. Sometimes the harmony swallows up the melody altogether.
TAGORE: Melody and harmony are like lines and colors in pictures. A simple linear picture may be completely beautiful; the introduction of color may make it vague and insignificant. Yet color may, by combination with lines, create great pictures, so long as it does not smother and destroy their value.
EINSTEIN: It is a beautiful comparison; line is also much older than color. It seems that your melody is much richer in structure than ours. Japanese music also seems to be so.
TAGORE: It is difficult to analyze the effect of eastern and western music on our minds. I am deeply moved by the western music; I feel that it is great, that it is vast in its structure and grand in its composition. Our own music touches me more deeply by its fundamental lyrical appeal. European music is epic in character; it has a broad background and is Gothic in its structure.
EINSTEIN: This is a question we Europeans cannot properly answer, we are so used to our own music. We want to know whether our own music is a conventional or a fundamental human feeling, whether to feel consonance and dissonance is natural, or a convention which we accept.
TAGORE: Somehow the piano confounds me. The violin pleases me much more.
EINSTEIN: It would be interesting to study the effects of European music on an Indian who had never heard it when he was young.
TAGORE: Once I asked an English musician to analyze for me some classical music, and explain to me what elements make for the beauty of the piece.
EINSTEIN: The difficulty is that the really good music, whether of the East or of the West, cannot be analyzed.
TAGORE: Yes, and what deeply affects the hearer is beyond himself.
EINSTEIN: The same uncertainty will always be there about everything fundamental in our experience, in our reaction to art, whether in Europe or in Asia. Even the red flower I see before me on your table may not be the same to you and me.
TAGORE: And yet there is always going on the process of reconciliation between them, the individual taste conforming to the universal standard.
# # #
Footnote for composers: 1930 was the year in which Nicholas Slonimsky premiered Charles Ives's "Three Places in New England," a year which also saw the premieres of such disparate works as Howard Hanson's "Symphony No. 2," Anton Webern's "Quartet, Op. 22," and Kurt Weill's "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny." It was also the year when the Marx Brothers' film "Animal Crackers" was released. --mg
Below is an excerpt from a conversation between poet Rabindranath Tagore and physicist Albert Einstein, which took place in a meeting arranged by a mutual friend ("Dr. Mendel") on August 19, 1930. Fascinating that a considerable portion of their exchange is about music. It is taken from "Three conversations: Tagore Talks with Einstein, with Rolland, and Wells" (Asia Magazine, March 1931). This was a second meeting and conversation between Einstein and Tagore. The photo by Martin Vos was taken during their first encounter on July 14 of the same year. [Image source: Wikimedia Commons]TAGORE: I was discussing with Dr. Mendel today the new mathematical discoveries which tell us that in the realm of infinitesimal atoms chance has its play; the drama of existence is not absolutely predestined in character.
EINSTEIN: The facts that make science tend toward this view do not say good-bye to causality.
TAGORE: Maybe not, yet it appears that the idea of causality is not in the elements, but that some other force builds up with them an organized universe.
EINSTEIN: One tries to understand in the higher plane how the order is. The order is there, where the big elements combine and guide existence, but in the minute elements this order is not perceptible.
TAGORE: Thus duality is in the depths of existence, the contradiction of free impulse and the directive will which works upon it and evolves an orderly scheme of things.
EINSTEIN: Modern physics would not say they are contradictory. Clouds look as one from a distance, but if you see them nearby, they show themselves as disorderly drops of water.
TAGORE: I find a parallel in human psychology. Our passions and desires are unruly, but our character subdues these elements into a harmonious whole. Does something similar to this happen in the physical world? Are the elements rebellious, dynamic with individual impulse? And is there a principle in the physical world which dominates them and puts them into an orderly organization?
EINSTEIN: Even the elements are not without statistical order; elements of radium will always maintain their specific order, now and ever onward, just as they have done all along. There is, then, a statistical order in the elements.
TAGORE: Otherwise, the drama of existence would be too desultory. It is the constant harmony of chance and determination which makes it eternally new and living.
EINSTEIN: I believe that whatever we do or live for has its causality; it is good, however, that we cannot see through to it.
TAGORE: There is in human affairs an element of elasticity also, some freedom within a small range which is for the expression of our personality. It is like the musical system in India, which is not so rigidly fixed as western music. Our composers give a certain definite outline, a system of melody and rhythmic arrangement, and within a certain limit the player can improvise upon it. He must be one with the law of that particular melody, and then he can give spontaneous expression to his musical feeling within the prescribed regulation. We praise the composer for his genius in creating a foundation along with a superstructure of melodies, but we expect from the player his own skill in the creation of variations of melodic flourish and ornamentation. In creation we follow the central law of existence, but if we do not cut ourselves adrift from it, we can have sufficient freedom within the limits of our personality for the fullest self-expression.
EINSTEIN: That is possible only when there is a strong artistic tradition in music to guide the people's mind. In Europe, music has come too far away from popular art and popular feeling and has become something like a secret art with conventions and traditions of its own.
TAGORE: You have to be absolutely obedient to this too complicated music. In India, the measure of a singer's freedom is in his own creative personality. He can sing the composer's song as his own, if he has the power creatively to assert himself in his interpretation of the general law of the melody which he is given to interpret.
EINSTEIN: It requires a very high standard of art to realize fully the great idea in the original music, so that one can make variations upon it. In our country, the variations are often prescribed.
TAGORE: If in our conduct we can follow the law of goodness, we can have real liberty of self-expression. The principle of conduct is there, but the character which makes it true and individual is our own creation. In our music there is a duality of freedom and prescribed order.
EINSTEIN: Are the words of a song also free? I mean to say, is the singer at liberty to add his own words to the song which he is singing?
TAGORE: Yes. In Bengal we have a kind of song-kirtan, we call it-which gives freedom to the singer to introduce parenthetical comments, phrases not in the original song. This occasions great enthusiasm, since the audience is constantly thrilled by some beautiful, spontaneous sentiment added by the singer.
EINSTEIN: Is the metrical form quite severe?
TAGORE: Yes, quite. You cannot exceed the limits of versification; the singer in all his variations must keep the rhythm and the time, which is fixed. In European music you have a comparative liberty with time, but not with melody.
EINSTEIN: Can the Indian music be sung without words? Can one understand a song without words?
TAGORE: Yes, we have songs with unmeaning words, sounds which just help to act as carriers of the notes. In North India, music is an independent art, not the interpretation of words and thoughts, as in Bengal. The music is very intricate and subtle and is a complete world of melody by itself.
EINSTEIN: Is it not polyphonic?
TAGORE: Instruments are used, not for harmony, but for keeping time and adding to the volume and depth. Has melody suffered in your music by the imposition of harmony?
EINSTEIN: Sometimes it does suffer very much. Sometimes the harmony swallows up the melody altogether.
TAGORE: Melody and harmony are like lines and colors in pictures. A simple linear picture may be completely beautiful; the introduction of color may make it vague and insignificant. Yet color may, by combination with lines, create great pictures, so long as it does not smother and destroy their value.
EINSTEIN: It is a beautiful comparison; line is also much older than color. It seems that your melody is much richer in structure than ours. Japanese music also seems to be so.
TAGORE: It is difficult to analyze the effect of eastern and western music on our minds. I am deeply moved by the western music; I feel that it is great, that it is vast in its structure and grand in its composition. Our own music touches me more deeply by its fundamental lyrical appeal. European music is epic in character; it has a broad background and is Gothic in its structure.
EINSTEIN: This is a question we Europeans cannot properly answer, we are so used to our own music. We want to know whether our own music is a conventional or a fundamental human feeling, whether to feel consonance and dissonance is natural, or a convention which we accept.
TAGORE: Somehow the piano confounds me. The violin pleases me much more.
EINSTEIN: It would be interesting to study the effects of European music on an Indian who had never heard it when he was young.
TAGORE: Once I asked an English musician to analyze for me some classical music, and explain to me what elements make for the beauty of the piece.
EINSTEIN: The difficulty is that the really good music, whether of the East or of the West, cannot be analyzed.
TAGORE: Yes, and what deeply affects the hearer is beyond himself.
EINSTEIN: The same uncertainty will always be there about everything fundamental in our experience, in our reaction to art, whether in Europe or in Asia. Even the red flower I see before me on your table may not be the same to you and me.
TAGORE: And yet there is always going on the process of reconciliation between them, the individual taste conforming to the universal standard.
# # #
Footnote for composers: 1930 was the year in which Nicholas Slonimsky premiered Charles Ives's "Three Places in New England," a year which also saw the premieres of such disparate works as Howard Hanson's "Symphony No. 2," Anton Webern's "Quartet, Op. 22," and Kurt Weill's "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny." It was also the year when the Marx Brothers' film "Animal Crackers" was released. --mg
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Will Eyedrum Go Out with a Bang?
Financially troubled arts-alternative Eyedrum will close its current location, as its lease expires Dec. 31 and will not be renewed. Read the article by Chad Radford in this week's Creative Loafing (online now, on the street soon): http://clatl.com/atlanta/will-eyedrum-go-out-with-a-bang/Content?oid=2309057
Monday, November 08, 2010
24 Hour Opera Project
We had a blast this weekend making operas in 24 hours with the Atlanta Opera! Here's a link of the beginning of the competition in case any of you may be curious about applying next time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD6lUin2igc&feature=youtu.be
If you have a facebook account you can view all three operas here:
http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=1387344038
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD6lUin2igc&feature=youtu.be
If you have a facebook account you can view all three operas here:
http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=1387344038
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
November 7th: Bent Frequency and Ballet Preljocaj
On Sunday, November 7th at 4:00pm in the lobby of the Rialto, the Atlanta-based new music group Bent Frequency will be collaborating with the innovative Ballet Preljocaj and the Rialto for this event by sharing their expertise on the music of John Cage for this performance. Founding member and percussionist Stuart Gerber will be giving a brief introduction to Cage and his work at the beginning of the program. For a more in-depth look at Cage’s music, Bent Frequency will present a few short pieces from various points in Cage’s career at the reception in the Rialto lobby before the Ballet Preljocaj performance of Empty Moves. We will explore Cage’s sound world through works for saxophone, trumpet, percussion, amplified cacti, and conch shells!
The program includes:
Inlets (1977) for 12 conch shells
Variations I (1958) (a duo version for saxophone and trumpet)
Composed Improvisation for Snare Drum (1975)
Water Walk (1959)
It promises to be an adventurous evening!
Ballet Preljocaj’s performance begins at 5pm in the Rialto Center for the Arts. Information about tickets can be found here.
The program includes:
Inlets (1977) for 12 conch shells
Variations I (1958) (a duo version for saxophone and trumpet)
Composed Improvisation for Snare Drum (1975)
Water Walk (1959)
It promises to be an adventurous evening!
Ballet Preljocaj’s performance begins at 5pm in the Rialto Center for the Arts. Information about tickets can be found here.
Bent Frequency presents the New York-based Amp New Music Ensemble - TWICE!
Hi all -
You have TWO chances to catch some innovative saxophone and electronic music this weekend:
Friday, November 5 · 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Kopleff Recital Hall Georgia State University
FREE
Amp New Music will be presenting “Amplified: Saxophone and Electronics” with Saxophonist Michael Ibrahim. This program will include music by Grisey, Chion, Mirza, and Stockhausen.
Saturday, November 6th, 8PM
Eyedrum (290 MLK Dr. SE)
$7/students=$5
We will be miking the big drum out front! It will be played before and after the main program. Double-header of new/experimental classical music by Atlanta locals Bent Frequency hosting New York-based Amp.
Bent Frequency
Bent Frequency brings the avant-garde music tradition to life in Atlanta through adventurous programming, the promotion of New Music, and a creative synthesis of music and media. Our vision is to redefine the traditional music experience - ushering it from the strict formality of the concert hall into the fresh air of contemporary artistic expression and experimentation.
AMP
Amp is a new music group based in New York City that grapples with experimental, electroacoustic, gestural, or situational compositional trends in the context (for the perspective) of a broader musical modernism. Without fixed ensemble, we draw from the rich new music scene in New York to organically develop a few concerts each year, each usually featuring a particular composer or nexus of compositions. More info at www.ampmusic.org.
Please try to make it out to one or both! And don't miss some brand new opera this weekend as well (see below).
Here is Amp at the NYC venue The Tank last year:
You have TWO chances to catch some innovative saxophone and electronic music this weekend:
Friday, November 5 · 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Kopleff Recital Hall Georgia State University
FREE
Amp New Music will be presenting “Amplified: Saxophone and Electronics” with Saxophonist Michael Ibrahim. This program will include music by Grisey, Chion, Mirza, and Stockhausen.
Saturday, November 6th, 8PM
Eyedrum (290 MLK Dr. SE)
$7/students=$5
We will be miking the big drum out front! It will be played before and after the main program. Double-header of new/experimental classical music by Atlanta locals Bent Frequency hosting New York-based Amp.
Bent Frequency
Bent Frequency brings the avant-garde music tradition to life in Atlanta through adventurous programming, the promotion of New Music, and a creative synthesis of music and media. Our vision is to redefine the traditional music experience - ushering it from the strict formality of the concert hall into the fresh air of contemporary artistic expression and experimentation.
AMP
Amp is a new music group based in New York City that grapples with experimental, electroacoustic, gestural, or situational compositional trends in the context (for the perspective) of a broader musical modernism. Without fixed ensemble, we draw from the rich new music scene in New York to organically develop a few concerts each year, each usually featuring a particular composer or nexus of compositions. More info at www.ampmusic.org.
Please try to make it out to one or both! And don't miss some brand new opera this weekend as well (see below).
Here is Amp at the NYC venue The Tank last year:
Monday, November 01, 2010
Concert for 24 Hour Opera Project by Atlanta Opera
The concert for Atlanta Opera's 24 Hour Concert will be this Sunday (11/7) at 7:30pm at Georgia State University's Kopleff Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.
Composers will begin work on Saturday (11/6) at 5pm, working with the librettist, stage director, singers, and pianists. The teams are formed by the Atlanta Opera at 5pm on Saturday. The Atlanta Opera will also reveal some other items to be included in the new operas.
Should be a fun ride!
Composers will begin work on Saturday (11/6) at 5pm, working with the librettist, stage director, singers, and pianists. The teams are formed by the Atlanta Opera at 5pm on Saturday. The Atlanta Opera will also reveal some other items to be included in the new operas.
Should be a fun ride!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
neoPhonia New Music Ensemble: November 9, 2010
Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Kopleff Recital Hall
Program:
OSTERFIELD / Six Vignettes for solo clarinet
ERB / Changes for clarinet & keyboards
DEMOS / Tonoi III for solo clarinet
ERB / Woody for solo clarinet
DEMOS / Rites of Passage (premiere) for clarinet (tripling on bass clarinet, Eb clarinet) & piano
Friday, October 29, 2010
Bent Frequency TONIGHT (10/29)
Sorry we neglected to post this VERY IMPORTANT show - hopefully you've been checking the GSU calendar and/or facebook invites! This was snowed out TWICE last year, so please make a good showing for BF!
Mauricio Kagel: Film Music, Music Performance, Performance Film
Featuring Bent Frequency
Friday, October 29, 2010 - 7:30 PM
Kopleff Recital Hall, GSU
FREE!
Mauricio Kagel, the German-Argentine composer who died in 2008, is most noted for his theatrical contributions to classical music performance. The evening will offer two of Kagel's short films, Unter Strom and Antithese, and performances of Kagel's Schattenklange for bass clarinet and Match for Two Cellos and Percussion. Match is a dialogue for two celli with a percussionist serving as the umpire. It is not only a match in sounds, but also in physical reactions, keeping the umpire busy! Sponsored by the Center for Collaborative and International Arts (CENCIA), which brings together creative writers, visual arts, composers, musicians, actors and playwrights, filmmakers and scholars engaged in arts-related research at Georgia State.
Mauricio Kagel: Film Music, Music Performance, Performance Film
Featuring Bent Frequency
Friday, October 29, 2010 - 7:30 PM
Kopleff Recital Hall, GSU
FREE!
Mauricio Kagel, the German-Argentine composer who died in 2008, is most noted for his theatrical contributions to classical music performance. The evening will offer two of Kagel's short films, Unter Strom and Antithese, and performances of Kagel's Schattenklange for bass clarinet and Match for Two Cellos and Percussion. Match is a dialogue for two celli with a percussionist serving as the umpire. It is not only a match in sounds, but also in physical reactions, keeping the umpire busy! Sponsored by the Center for Collaborative and International Arts (CENCIA), which brings together creative writers, visual arts, composers, musicians, actors and playwrights, filmmakers and scholars engaged in arts-related research at Georgia State.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Press Release: Composer Brian Skutle Goes "Beyond the Infinite" for his Fourth Album
A decade after its first conception, and 42 years after the film that inspired it, Atlanta-area filmmaker-composer Brian Skutle is proud to release his fourth album, "Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey".
In 1999, Skutle was a student at Georgia State University when he composed "Beyond the Infinite," a 3 1/2 minute work inspired by the music of Gyorgy Ligeti and the cinema of Stanley Kubrick as it collided in the landmark 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey", and the musical seed that would grow into the album of the same name. Adapted from the short story "The Sentinel" by Arthur C. Clarke, "2001" was an ambitious film that tracked man's evolution in intelligence and technology back from the "dawn of man" to the early 21st Century, when the crew of Discovery One is sent to explore a mysterious signal that was directed towards Jupiter from an artifact on the moon. With Oscar-winning visual effects and limitless imagination, Kubrick's iconoclastic sci-fi film has confounded and enthralled audiences ever since its first release during the "space race" of the late '60s.
Skutle was one of those both confounded and enthralled by the film. As he wrote in his 2002 review, "But like the finest cinematic mind-benders, the more times you watch, the more the underlying meaning and form of Kubrick’s film reveals itself...whether you see it as a spiritual epic or pretentious bore, '2001' is a landmark of special effects and sound design." It wasn't just the sights that engaged him: Kubrick's use of classical music to score the action also imprinted itself on Skutle; that and the knowledge of an unused score by Alex North gave him the idea for "Beyond the Infinite."
As he writes in the liner notes for the album, "Conceived in part as an 'alternative soundtrack' to '2001' as much as it is a tone poem, 'Beyond the Infinite' takes its cues, on a musical level, as much from Alex North's elegant, unusued score for '2001' as much as it does the collection of Ligeti, J. Strauss, R. Strauss, and Khachaturian Kubrick used in his epic. The goal was to meld the tonal continuity of North's music with the experimental amalgam of Kubrick's chosen selections...So you have waltz-like works performed by synthesized sounds instead of strings, motifs performed in both chamber and electronic configurations, and pieces that carry a more traditional music structure programmed next to ones of a more avant garde nature."
In the spirit of his conception of "Beyond the Infinite" as an alternative soundtrack to the film, Brian Skutle has chosen an original approach to releasing the album. In addition to being available for purchase at online retailers such as CDBaby and iTunes (along with his other three albums- "Creative Beginnings", "Dark Experiments", and "Sonic Visions of a New Old West"), Skutle has created a special commentary for "2001: A Space Odyssey" which places the pieces of "Beyond the Infinite" in context of the moments in the film they were inspired by, along with newly-recorded commentary that goes in depth onto not only his thoughts on the film itself, but also the creation of "Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey." Downloadable from www.sonic-cinema.com, the track allows for a new experience in watching the film, as well as gives voice to an artist and critic with a lot to say as both about this singular work of art.
Thanks for listening,
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
www.reverbnation.com/brianskutle
www.myspace.com/brianskutle
www.myspace.com/cinemanouveau
www.youtube.com/bskutle
Sonic Cinema Shop
"Creative Beginnings" at CDBaby
"Dark Experiments" at CDBaby
"Sonic Visions of a New Old West" at CDBaby
"Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey" at CDBaby
In 1999, Skutle was a student at Georgia State University when he composed "Beyond the Infinite," a 3 1/2 minute work inspired by the music of Gyorgy Ligeti and the cinema of Stanley Kubrick as it collided in the landmark 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey", and the musical seed that would grow into the album of the same name. Adapted from the short story "The Sentinel" by Arthur C. Clarke, "2001" was an ambitious film that tracked man's evolution in intelligence and technology back from the "dawn of man" to the early 21st Century, when the crew of Discovery One is sent to explore a mysterious signal that was directed towards Jupiter from an artifact on the moon. With Oscar-winning visual effects and limitless imagination, Kubrick's iconoclastic sci-fi film has confounded and enthralled audiences ever since its first release during the "space race" of the late '60s.
Skutle was one of those both confounded and enthralled by the film. As he wrote in his 2002 review, "But like the finest cinematic mind-benders, the more times you watch, the more the underlying meaning and form of Kubrick’s film reveals itself...whether you see it as a spiritual epic or pretentious bore, '2001' is a landmark of special effects and sound design." It wasn't just the sights that engaged him: Kubrick's use of classical music to score the action also imprinted itself on Skutle; that and the knowledge of an unused score by Alex North gave him the idea for "Beyond the Infinite."
As he writes in the liner notes for the album, "Conceived in part as an 'alternative soundtrack' to '2001' as much as it is a tone poem, 'Beyond the Infinite' takes its cues, on a musical level, as much from Alex North's elegant, unusued score for '2001' as much as it does the collection of Ligeti, J. Strauss, R. Strauss, and Khachaturian Kubrick used in his epic. The goal was to meld the tonal continuity of North's music with the experimental amalgam of Kubrick's chosen selections...So you have waltz-like works performed by synthesized sounds instead of strings, motifs performed in both chamber and electronic configurations, and pieces that carry a more traditional music structure programmed next to ones of a more avant garde nature."
In the spirit of his conception of "Beyond the Infinite" as an alternative soundtrack to the film, Brian Skutle has chosen an original approach to releasing the album. In addition to being available for purchase at online retailers such as CDBaby and iTunes (along with his other three albums- "Creative Beginnings", "Dark Experiments", and "Sonic Visions of a New Old West"), Skutle has created a special commentary for "2001: A Space Odyssey" which places the pieces of "Beyond the Infinite" in context of the moments in the film they were inspired by, along with newly-recorded commentary that goes in depth onto not only his thoughts on the film itself, but also the creation of "Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey." Downloadable from www.sonic-cinema.com, the track allows for a new experience in watching the film, as well as gives voice to an artist and critic with a lot to say as both about this singular work of art.
Thanks for listening,
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
www.reverbnation.com/brianskutle
www.myspace.com/brianskutle
www.myspace.com/cinemanouveau
www.youtube.com/bskutle
Sonic Cinema Shop
"Creative Beginnings" at CDBaby
"Dark Experiments" at CDBaby
"Sonic Visions of a New Old West" at CDBaby
"Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey" at CDBaby
Friday, October 22, 2010
Cerberus Percussion Group @ Red Light Cafe 11/19/10
Hi everyone -
Cerberus Percussion Group is playing the Red Light Cafe at 9PM on Friday, 11/19/10. Alt-country/folk acts EB Reece (GSU student!) and Adam Klein open at 7:30 and 8:00, respectively.
On the program:
Catfish - Mark Applebaum
Pachamama - Adam Scott Neal
The Frame Problem - James Romig
Attica - Frederic Rzewski
Admission is $7, but supporting contemporary music is priceless.
Feel free to RSVP via facebook here.
Program Notes:
Catfish (2003) - Intense, but always with a sick Californian sense of humor, Catfish is a vexing and delightful listening experience. -John Zorn
Pachamama (2009) is a piece for percussion trio. Each player has a 'melodic' instrument (conch shell, ocarina, melodica), some kind of drum (up to them), another 'rhythmic' percussion instrument (shaker, stones, log drum) and an 'atmospheric' instrument (frog guiro, box of pebbles, paper and plastic bags).The form is based on a 9x9 magic square. The number in each square determined the number of measures (in 4/4) that each instrument, dynamic, or rhythmic pattern would last. It will sound a lot less arbitrary than that description. What to listen for, in a nutshell - different instruments will come and go. They will gradually fall into a groove, the groove may become less apparent, then appear again. If you listen closely, you may notice that each player is actually in his own meter. -Adam Scott Neal
The Frame Problem (2003) The title refers to a primary difficulty in designing robots and computer programs with "artificial intelligence." Human brains have a remarkable ability to "frame" information: in an instant, we are able to observe and organize an enormous amount of data, sorting and categorizing what is relevant and what is not. When listening to music, one of the primary hierarchical "frames" we create is that of meter. In this percussion trio, multiple distinct meters occur concurrently—in different lines, at constantly shifting dynamic levels, and in different timbral aggregations—providing human listeners with the opportunity to resolve multiple overlapping “frames” simultaneously. Robots in the audience will probably just be confused. -James Romig
Attica (1972), the earliest work on tonight’s program, is also one of Rzewski’s earliest compositions to feature an overtly political message. A lush repetitive tonal sequence is punctuated by a narrator’s intoned text, gradually expanding one word at a time; the sequenced is derived from a statement made by Richard X. Clark, one of the organizers of the 1971 Attica prison uprising, upon his release in February 1972: “Attica is in front of me.” Although Attica is being presented on its own this evening, it was originally conceived as a companion piece to the more visceral Coming Together, whose narration is based on the words of a less fortunate Attica inmate, radical antiwar activist Sam Melville (“Mad Bomber” Melville), who was killed by police during the uprising. -Kyle Gann
Cerberus Percussion Group is playing the Red Light Cafe at 9PM on Friday, 11/19/10. Alt-country/folk acts EB Reece (GSU student!) and Adam Klein open at 7:30 and 8:00, respectively.
On the program:
Catfish - Mark Applebaum
Pachamama - Adam Scott Neal
The Frame Problem - James Romig
Attica - Frederic Rzewski
Admission is $7, but supporting contemporary music is priceless.
Feel free to RSVP via facebook here.
Program Notes:
Catfish (2003) - Intense, but always with a sick Californian sense of humor, Catfish is a vexing and delightful listening experience. -John Zorn
Pachamama (2009) is a piece for percussion trio. Each player has a 'melodic' instrument (conch shell, ocarina, melodica), some kind of drum (up to them), another 'rhythmic' percussion instrument (shaker, stones, log drum) and an 'atmospheric' instrument (frog guiro, box of pebbles, paper and plastic bags).The form is based on a 9x9 magic square. The number in each square determined the number of measures (in 4/4) that each instrument, dynamic, or rhythmic pattern would last. It will sound a lot less arbitrary than that description. What to listen for, in a nutshell - different instruments will come and go. They will gradually fall into a groove, the groove may become less apparent, then appear again. If you listen closely, you may notice that each player is actually in his own meter. -Adam Scott Neal
The Frame Problem (2003) The title refers to a primary difficulty in designing robots and computer programs with "artificial intelligence." Human brains have a remarkable ability to "frame" information: in an instant, we are able to observe and organize an enormous amount of data, sorting and categorizing what is relevant and what is not. When listening to music, one of the primary hierarchical "frames" we create is that of meter. In this percussion trio, multiple distinct meters occur concurrently—in different lines, at constantly shifting dynamic levels, and in different timbral aggregations—providing human listeners with the opportunity to resolve multiple overlapping “frames” simultaneously. Robots in the audience will probably just be confused. -James Romig
Attica (1972), the earliest work on tonight’s program, is also one of Rzewski’s earliest compositions to feature an overtly political message. A lush repetitive tonal sequence is punctuated by a narrator’s intoned text, gradually expanding one word at a time; the sequenced is derived from a statement made by Richard X. Clark, one of the organizers of the 1971 Attica prison uprising, upon his release in February 1972: “Attica is in front of me.” Although Attica is being presented on its own this evening, it was originally conceived as a companion piece to the more visceral Coming Together, whose narration is based on the words of a less fortunate Attica inmate, radical antiwar activist Sam Melville (“Mad Bomber” Melville), who was killed by police during the uprising. -Kyle Gann
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
neoPhonia concert review
Review of neoPhonia New Music Ensemble: October 19, 2010
I hesitate to call this a review because I'm not a professional journalist and I'm only going to say a few words of my impressions of the evening. For a critic's review, please see Pierre Ruhe's write-up on ArtsCriticATL.com.
This concert, which began the 16th season of neoPhonia, was an evening of three Atlanta native composers--Charles Knox, Mark Gresham, and Brent Milam. Charles Knox, born 1929, is our 'founding father', the oldest and most mature composer living and working in the Atlanta area. This concert was largely in honor of Mr. Knox. The evening was framed by his works, both the first and last pieces written by him. And a few words were said in his honor by Dwight Coleman, who spoke of working with Knox on an opera [could someone who knows more please provide details] and of Knox's 45-year relationship with the School of Music.
All composers were in attendance. It was greet to meet and chat with them before and after the show.
Following is the program with some of my notes...
KNOX / Song & Double (1984) for oboe & piano
All I wrote for this one was "beautiful". ;)
GRESHAM / Vagabond Drumming, Book IV (2010 - premiere) for percussion duo
Excellent and perhaps my favorite of the pieces in Gresham's Vegabond Drumming series.
Made use of blocks, bongos, snare, tamborine, cymbals and chimes. The blocks started together and then the percussion combined in different ways. The third movement was polyrhythmic, the fourth seemed Asian inspired with the pentatonic pitched blocks, the fifth got louder with snare, bongos, and blocks. I think Mark was very pleased with this performance, as he should be, it was great.
MILAM / Between The Walls (2010 - premiere) for flute, Bb clarinet, cello & piano
Great work. The first movement started off softly dissonant, but stayed light and went into jazzy playfulness. The second movement was soft and gentle. The third and most memorable to me started playfully pizzicato and pointillistic and gradually got more intense, melodic, and dense, a disintegration process in reverse. Very cool!
GRESHAM / Genshi (2010 - premiere) for Bb clarinet & viola
This was a beaufiful piece with much counterpoint, sometimes chasing, sometimes opposing. The clarinet and viola were in continual play with one another. I heard some intonation issues in the viola in several parts. I don't think the microtones were intended ;), but it did not take away from the beauty and delightfulness of the piece.
KNOX / The Framing Of This Circle (1999) for horn, violin & piano
WOW! This was the powerhouse of the evening. I don't have words to describe it. You just have to find a recording of it (if there is one; I hope there is!) and hear it for yourself. Swept me up, heart and soul. This was a fitting finale and brought the whole concert (which was already great to begin with) to a grand conclusion. This was absolutely the most mature piece on the program, which is not surprising given that Knox has decades on us in composing experience. : ) The instrumentation was a perfect union. The writing was in perfect relationship. Amazing piece!
Btw, here's the #neophonia Twitter feed with what I tweeted from the show (in between pieces, of course!)
Anyone else who was there, please feel free to add your comments.
I hesitate to call this a review because I'm not a professional journalist and I'm only going to say a few words of my impressions of the evening. For a critic's review, please see Pierre Ruhe's write-up on ArtsCriticATL.com.
This concert, which began the 16th season of neoPhonia, was an evening of three Atlanta native composers--Charles Knox, Mark Gresham, and Brent Milam. Charles Knox, born 1929, is our 'founding father', the oldest and most mature composer living and working in the Atlanta area. This concert was largely in honor of Mr. Knox. The evening was framed by his works, both the first and last pieces written by him. And a few words were said in his honor by Dwight Coleman, who spoke of working with Knox on an opera [could someone who knows more please provide details] and of Knox's 45-year relationship with the School of Music.
All composers were in attendance. It was greet to meet and chat with them before and after the show.
Following is the program with some of my notes...
KNOX / Song & Double (1984) for oboe & piano
All I wrote for this one was "beautiful". ;)
GRESHAM / Vagabond Drumming, Book IV (2010 - premiere) for percussion duo
Excellent and perhaps my favorite of the pieces in Gresham's Vegabond Drumming series.
Made use of blocks, bongos, snare, tamborine, cymbals and chimes. The blocks started together and then the percussion combined in different ways. The third movement was polyrhythmic, the fourth seemed Asian inspired with the pentatonic pitched blocks, the fifth got louder with snare, bongos, and blocks. I think Mark was very pleased with this performance, as he should be, it was great.
MILAM / Between The Walls (2010 - premiere) for flute, Bb clarinet, cello & piano
Great work. The first movement started off softly dissonant, but stayed light and went into jazzy playfulness. The second movement was soft and gentle. The third and most memorable to me started playfully pizzicato and pointillistic and gradually got more intense, melodic, and dense, a disintegration process in reverse. Very cool!
GRESHAM / Genshi (2010 - premiere) for Bb clarinet & viola
This was a beaufiful piece with much counterpoint, sometimes chasing, sometimes opposing. The clarinet and viola were in continual play with one another. I heard some intonation issues in the viola in several parts. I don't think the microtones were intended ;), but it did not take away from the beauty and delightfulness of the piece.
KNOX / The Framing Of This Circle (1999) for horn, violin & piano
WOW! This was the powerhouse of the evening. I don't have words to describe it. You just have to find a recording of it (if there is one; I hope there is!) and hear it for yourself. Swept me up, heart and soul. This was a fitting finale and brought the whole concert (which was already great to begin with) to a grand conclusion. This was absolutely the most mature piece on the program, which is not surprising given that Knox has decades on us in composing experience. : ) The instrumentation was a perfect union. The writing was in perfect relationship. Amazing piece!
Btw, here's the #neophonia Twitter feed with what I tweeted from the show (in between pieces, of course!)
Anyone else who was there, please feel free to add your comments.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
iPad Concert idea
I'm thinking of putting together an iPad concert where each participant composes and performs a work in an app of their choosing.
There are many apps to choose from.
Here are some of my favorites:
Beatwave
JamPad
KORG iELECTRIBE
A Noise Machine HD
PatternMusic
PolyRhythms
Reactable
Tiction AV
Zen Sound
Would anyone like to join me in composing iPad pieces and putting on a show?
There are many apps to choose from.
Here are some of my favorites:
Would anyone like to join me in composing iPad pieces and putting on a show?
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Curtis Bryant - Atlanta Faith Partners Concert - October 17
October 17, 2010 – Sunday, 4:00 PM, FAITH PARTNERS FINAL CONCERT. A joint performance of all programs from Curtis Bryant's Atlanta Faith Partners Residency sponsored by the American Composers Forum will be held at First Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Georgia. Choirs and instrumentalists from three Atlanta congregations, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Cathedral of Christ the King, and First Presbyterian Church will participate in the concert. Featured works include the complete "Redeemer Evening Prayer – A Lenten Vespers," including the "Prelude and Postlude: Fugue and Toccata on FA-SOL-LA RE" for organ solo, "I Lift My Eyes" (Psalm 121), "Canticle of Mary" and "Canticle of Simeon," and two Glorias. Two additional psalm settings for choir and organ, "How Long, O God" and "I Sing of Light," as well as the "Hymn of Wisdom" for choir with brass quintet, organ and percussion will be featured. The vocal works on the program include original lyrics by four different poets with ties to Atlanta: William Allen, Stephen Bluestone, Doug Cumming and Marcia King. The St. Cecilia Consort will also give a repeat performance of Bryant's "Fantasy on Divinum Mysterium" for orchestra. ADMISSION IS FREE!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
GSU Bands with world premiere by Tim Jansa - October 21, 2010
Big new music week at GSU - neoPhonia on Tuesday and this concert on Thursday:
During the inaugural concert of the 2010/2011 season, Robert J. Ambrose will lead internationally renowned euphonium soloist Adam Frey and the Georgia State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble in the world premiere performance of "Concierto Ibérico" for solo euphonium and concert band by local German-American composer Tim Jansa. This is a large-scale symphonic work of almost 28 minutes in length and built around 3 major festivals of Spain: The Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, the Semana Santa, and the Fallas of Valencia.
This work was named a finalist for the 2010 Harvey G. Phillips Award for Compositional Excellence.
The performance will take place on Thursday, October 21, at 7:30 pm at the Rialto Center for the Arts. Admission is free.
The Symphonic Wind Ensemble will also present works by McAllister, Stravinsky and Bach. The Wind Orchestra will perform works by Whitacre, Grainger, Persichetti and Goldman.
Robert J. Ambrose & Chester Phillips, conductors
Tim Ellison, graduate assistant conductor
Adam Frey, euphonium
More info can be found at http://www.music.gsu.edu/events.aspx and at http://www.timjansa.com/works/concierto-iberico-2009
During the inaugural concert of the 2010/2011 season, Robert J. Ambrose will lead internationally renowned euphonium soloist Adam Frey and the Georgia State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble in the world premiere performance of "Concierto Ibérico" for solo euphonium and concert band by local German-American composer Tim Jansa. This is a large-scale symphonic work of almost 28 minutes in length and built around 3 major festivals of Spain: The Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, the Semana Santa, and the Fallas of Valencia.
This work was named a finalist for the 2010 Harvey G. Phillips Award for Compositional Excellence.
The performance will take place on Thursday, October 21, at 7:30 pm at the Rialto Center for the Arts. Admission is free.
The Symphonic Wind Ensemble will also present works by McAllister, Stravinsky and Bach. The Wind Orchestra will perform works by Whitacre, Grainger, Persichetti and Goldman.
Robert J. Ambrose & Chester Phillips, conductors
Tim Ellison, graduate assistant conductor
Adam Frey, euphonium
More info can be found at http://www.music.gsu.edu/events.aspx and at http://www.timjansa.com/works/concierto-iberico-2009
Friday, October 08, 2010
neoPhonia New Music Ensemble: October 19, 2010
When: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - 7:30 PM
Where: Kopleff Recital Hall - Free Admission
PROGRAM:
KNOX / Song & Double for oboe & piano
GRESHAM / Vagabond Drumming, Book IV (premiere) for percussion duo
MILAM / Between The Walls (premiere) for flute, Bb clarinet, cello & piano
GRESHAM / Genshi (premiere) for Bb clarinet & viola
KNOX / The Framing Of This Circle for horn, violin & piano
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Composer & Flutist Robert Cronin in Concert!
Flutist and Composer Robert Cronin will be doing a recital on Tuesday, October 5th at 8:00PM at Kennesaw State University in the Bailey Performing Arts Center. The concert consists entirely of works written by Mr. Cronin himself, including two brand new pieces for flute(s) and harp, Portraits for piccolo and Piano, Postcard for Piccolo and Marimba, Off the Wall for Flute and Piano, a bassoon and trumpet duet as well as part of a solo cello sonata. Other performers include Christina Smith, Tom Hooten, Laura Najarian, Peter Marshall and Ellen Foster. The concert is free and no tickets are required. More information about the works to be performed can be found at www.robertcronin.net.
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