Brian Sacawa | Sounds Like Now

Live in-studio performance and interview. WGDR FM 91.1, February 19, 2005.

You’ll have to forgive me for not posting as regularly as before. I’m in the final preparations for the New York Debut and I’ve had to devote most of my energy to that.
I’m off to New York tomorrow for what promises to be an exciting week. On Monday, I’ll give a masterclass for the saxophone […]

Virtuosity fascinates me. It’s interesting to trace the term through history and see how its meaning and the perception of virtuosity has changed.
Virtuoso is an Italian word, which comes from the Latin, virtus, meaning excellence or worth. As currently used, the word refers to a performer who is especially adroit in the practice […]

I recently watched the film Rivers and Tides: Working With Time (2001). It’s a portrait of the artist Andy Goldsworthy, who works exclusively with materials found in nature, like stone, wood, leaves, and ice. His work is stunning. Ephemeral. Fragile. Trascendent. Beautiful. It’s all of those things. But what also struck me about Goldsworthy was […]

I’d like to follow up a bit on the discussion from the previous post. The issue that emerged from the comments was one of catering to an audience versus playing (or composing) the music that one believes in. What’s really at the heart of the matter here is finding and defining a personal voice.
I think […]

Shouldn’t we play music that people want to hear?
A colleague I respect very highly asked me that question recently. And I’m pretty sure why he asked. He knows that I collaborate frequently with emerging composers and that the resulting work sometimes exists outside of certain listeners’ comfort zones—his included. Like Ms. Gould from a previous […]

Anybody that dismisses Philip Glass’ music has probably never tried to play one of his pieces.
I say this not as a reaction to David’s review of the Anechoic Chamber Ensemble’s concert of early Glass works last night—which certainly isn’t dismissive—but rather in response to my own preparation of Mr. Glass’ Piece in the Shape of […]

A few musical aphorisms by E. M. Cioran (1911-1995):
What music appeals to in us it is difficult to know; what we do know is that music reaches a zone so deep that madness itself cannot penetrate there.
A passion for music is in itself an avowal. We know more about a stranger who yields himself up […]

There was bad news for Eric Owen Moss on Wednesday. The Los Angeles architect, who in 2001 won a competition to redesign the Queens Museum of Art, found out that he was out of a job. While we may never know exactly why the museum chose to cancel Mr. Moss’ project–already three years in […]

I mentioned in a previous post that I’ll be presenting American Voices, a New York debut recital on February 16 at Columbia University’s Miller Theater. As the date nears, I thought I’d give periodic updates on my progress and also provide some insights on the planning and thought process that went into the show.
First, why […]