Sounds Like Now
A blog by saxophonist Brian Sacawa
Archive for Composers
February 18, 2007 at 8:54 pm · Filed under Baltimore, Blog: Winter 06, Composers, Orchestra
Headline sound a little strange? Well, it seems almost impossible to comprehend that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has never programmed a work by Philip Glass. One really wonders about that hole in the BSO’s rep list especially because of the way Baltimore (and one very esteemed institution in Baltimore) habitually boasts the fact that Mr. Glass is homegrown. That’s all about to change this weekend, however, as Maestra Alsop devotes an entire program to the Septigenarian. The big showpiece of the program will be a multimedia realization of photographer Frans Lanting’s LIFE: A Journey Through Time. And for the edification of the classical saxophone, the Capitol Saxophone Quartet will perform Glass’s Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra.
Tim Smith has a great feature and preview of next weekend’s events in today’s Sun. In a revealing comment, Mr. Glass weighs in on why he believes contemporary music is a scarcity on orchestra programs:
“Let’s put everything on the table: The problem is not with the audiences, but with the people who do the programming,” Glass says. “That audiences stand and applaud my music is not a big surprise. It’s been going on for years. They are ready for and appreciative of new music, and my music. The programmers have been lagging behind the public.”
No need to point fingers! But at least for now, he’s got an ally in Baltimore in Marin Alsop. (Although maybe that alliance will shatter since he’ll have to miss the performances because of a prior engagement at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, where his soundtrack for Notes on a Scandal is up for Best Original Score.)
April 25, 2006 at 2:21 am · Filed under Blog: Spring 06, Classical Music, Composers, Musicology
After 30 years of study, Martin Jarvis, a professor at Charles Darwin University in Darwin, Australia, has concluded that some of J. S. Bach’s most famous works, including his Six Cello Suites, were not written by Bach, but by his second wife Anna Magdalena Bach. He points to the fact that the only complete manuscript of the Six Suites was a manuscript in Anna Magdalena’s hand as well as “the uniquely symmetrical nature of the work” as factors—musical and otherwise—supporting his claim. At least musicologists will have something new to discuss amongst themselves.
May 26, 2005 at 10:59 am · Filed under Blog: Spring 05, Composers, New Music
Ken Ueno’s one of my favorite composers and a good friend. Here are a couple quotes from an interview he gave recently:
“There isn’t as much potential for financial rewards [in classical music] as in pop music. But, there is the potential satisfaction that one had lived an uncompromising life of art in having created the music that one wanted to make unencumbered artistically by the demands of consumerist tastes.”
“I think the two most important developments [in the field of composing] will be: 1) the further integration of live, real-time computer processing into compositional performance practice; and 2) the proliferation of non-traditional instrumental groups, including an increased participation of the composer as performer. I would like to see my main instrument, the electric guitar, come into its own as a concert instrument with new pieces that incorporate it in both chamber music and orchestral contexts. Additionally, I hope that in the future New Music will come out of the shadows of being a sub-category of Classical music and become an independent movement.”
Read the entire interview here. And don’t miss the world premiere of his new concerto for biwa, shakuhachi, and orchestra at tomorrow night’s BMOP concert.
Update: Read Ken’s program notes and BMOP interview about Kaze-no-Oka (‘Hill of the Winds’).
May 8, 2005 at 11:46 am · Filed under Blog: Spring 05, Composers, New Music
Anne Midgette’s got a great profile of composer James Tenney, whom she refers to as the “Zeilg” of American contemporary music, in today’s New York Times. Tenney will be honored with concerts celebrating his 70th birthday today at The Project Room and May 11 at the Whitney Museum of Art at Altria. Also check out the preview over at Sequenza21.
May 5, 2005 at 2:11 pm · Filed under Blog: Spring 05, Composers, New Music
Alex Ross amends his recent review of Harry Partch’s Oedipus and directs us to some great Partch resources, including Danlee Mitchell’s Harry Partch Foundation and Innova Recordings’ series of recordings. Another wonderful resource is available from American Mavericks, where you can learn more about Partch’s instruments, listen to Partch talk about the instruments, read some of his essays, and even have a go at performing on the instruments themselves.
April 11, 2005 at 3:42 pm · Filed under Blog: Spring 05, Composers, New Music
I had an interesting experience tonight. A famous composer invited me over to his house to play through a baritone saxophone piece that he’d been commissioned to write. Of course, I agreed to help out because how often does a famous composer ask for my assistance? When I arrived the score was there for me to play through—no dynamics or articulations. As I sight-read through the piece, the famous composer marked in my articulations and asked for my advice on how to make certain lines more idiomatic for the instrument. I thought that this was wonderful. There have certainly been times that I’d wished a composer had consulted me before sending a score along (i.e. the saxophone can’t play a low Ab below the staff). It was a bit of a laborious process but completely worth the effort.
As we worked through the piece, I showed the famous composer some things that the saxophone could do that he wasn’t aware of, like playing higher than the orchestration books say it can. He liked this and made several lines go higher. I played a slap-tongue for him, which he also liked. He then hastily composed a new section of the piece on the spot that incorporated the slap-tongue. The new section was actually pretty happening—kind of a call-and-response between the low register of the saxophone and the upper register.
However, when we finally got to the end of the piece, I realized that there was no end of the piece. The famous composer hadn’t quite finished it yet. So I sat there and played through the famous composer’s ideas, reading his shorthand and transposing at sight. It was kind of fun at first, but after four hours I felt quite drained. I was basically serving as a playback that was more real-sounding than a MIDI patch. I’m not upset—he paid me for my time, after all—but I sure didn’t think that I’d be that involved in the composition process. And the piece isn’t even for me!
In other news: You’ve got to feel George Hincapie’s pain. He got beat in the final sprint today by Tom Boonen at Paris-Roubaix, the most famous one-day race on the professional cycling calendar. Phil Liggett is the best call in sports.
April 6, 2005 at 12:17 am · Filed under Blog: Spring 05, Composers, Experimental
There’s a neat animated analysis of Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise available as part of the Block Museum’s Pictures of Music exhibition.
Thanks to Jerry Bowles, Steve Hicken, and Tim Johnson for the shout-outs.
April 4, 2005 at 3:21 pm · Filed under Blog: Spring 05, Composers, Interviews, New Music
This month’s edition of NewMusicBox is out with a science theme. And who better to talk about science and music than Alvin Lucier. Frank Oteri’s got an interview with Mr. Lucier, in which he addresses the topics of not fitting in, science vs. art, and unlearning and keeping an open mind, among other things. There are even video excerpts to watch. J. Mark Scearce’s article on the ethics of an education has Lawrence Dillon and the gang talking over at Sequenza21. And my friend, composer Keeril Makan, has an essay about a graduate seminar he conducted that dealt with the role of funding in contemporary music’s development in the United States.
April 1, 2005 at 11:02 pm · Filed under Blog: Fall 05, Composers, New Music, Pop Culture
Is it me, or is Steve Jobs channeling John Cage? Apple’s ad campaign for the new iPod shuffle reads like PR for Cage’s ideals–”Give chance a chance,” “Life is random,” “Enjoy uncertainty.” Too bad Cage didn’t have Apple’s marketing machine.
March 27, 2005 at 9:29 pm · Filed under Blog: Spring 05, Composers, Interviews, New Music, Performers
Great article in today’s New York Times. An interview by Daniel Wakin with James Levine, John Harbison, and Charles Wuorinen. It’s a polite conversation despite Wakin’s attempt to provoke an argument between Harbison and Wuorinen over the latter’s statement in 1979 that tonality has been replaced by the 12-tone system and that no serious composer would write in the tonal idiom. (Alex Ross has more on that exchange.)
In an article filled with lots of great opinions and ideas, James Levine has one of the best:
The best I can do for an audience is give them what I’m sincerely passionate about. If I try to give them something I think they want that I don’t want, we just have a sterile result.
Wiser words could not have been spoken. I firmly believe that you can "sell" any kind of music to any kind of audience. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to like it, but they’ll be able to tell that you certainly do and that means something. It might even effect their perception of the work. One of the nicest comments I’ve received about a performance was from the sometimes controversial David Salvage, who in his review of my New York recital said, "to find a performer who gives both Glass and Wuorinen everything he’s got, is just sensational." David can be a hard man to please and I’d like to think that my passion for those works helped him enjoy them both–even if he might have been inclined to enjoy one less than the other.
The interview gives you a pretty clear sense of each man’s personality and one thing is clear–Mr. Harbison sees the world through rose-colored glasses:
We both went through times where we might have come into a big orchestra, and there’d be quite a chill blowing through the room. Going to any orchestra now, you’re not going to be greeted by that kind of thing.
Now I wouldn’t go that far.
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