Weather is warming up, but we have a bunch of cool concerts happening here this time of year. Last week it was Duo SF, the Swiss sax-and-piano group, playing new music from Europe by Rico Gubler, Antoine Françoise, Hans-Jürg Meier and Laurent Estoppey. This Saturday night it’s nu plays new, our contemporary ensemble, reeling out a lineup of premieres by our student composers: Dak Van … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2015
Ask a Composer
There are a lot of questions you can ask a composer. Here are some: What’s your favorite note? How many times should dynamics change per minute? In a five-movement work, which movements should be slow movements? Okay, these are all silly questions, and not questions anyone has ever asked me, fortunately. One of the things I appreciate about the current era that’s different from when … [Read more...]
Evolution of Postmodernism
Okay, I know evolution isn’t the right word. But I’m using it in a common enough misusage to make my point. Composers growing up in the mid-20th century had an experience unknown to previous generations: hearing music on stations. First radio stations; later on television. This new experience, as I’m sure has been noted elsewhere, had a potent impact on musical postmodernism, one of the hallmarks … [Read more...]