Fun stuff happening here, been to four concerts in five nights, all celebrating various aspects of the end of the school year. Meanwhile, the Espina-Browne-Shteinberg Trio is preparing to perform GPS Lady at the Treetops Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut, Sunday, May 3rd. Check it out if you can, more info here. And here is some backstory on the piece: One night, driving a rental car … [Read more...]
Archives for 2015
Back At Ya
My blogging has been sporadic to nonexistent over the last few months. After a surprise attack of keratoconus that left me fighting blindness from January to March, I was rescued by a pretty new technology that has me seeing much better. As soon as I made that life adjustment, my computer had a meltdown, which took a couple of weeks to resolve. Now I am back on track – at least today. Curve … [Read more...]
Paren(t)hesis
Over the years, many people have told me, and I may have told one or two myself, that you can’t really be a composer and have a family. Now that I’m nine+ years into fatherhood, I’d like to share my current perspective. History gives us conflicting – even paradoxical – evidence. Bach’s twenty-one kids didn’t seem to slow him down even a tad. On the other hand, we should probably be grateful … [Read more...]
cool concerts
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...]
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...]
The Failure of the Test
When I was a young musician, I frequently heard references to “the test of time,” the way compositions were judged worthy if they continued to be programmed and enjoyed years after they were created. The test of time was never considered infallible: every once in a while a lost gem would resurface: a piece that nobody thought worth a second listen proved to reward frequent hearings. And, … [Read more...]
Golden Meanness
Scholars have long argued about the properties of the Golden Ratio (1.618) as applied to music, some finding evidence in everything from folk music to contemporary compositions. Many cite the occurrence of musical climaxes, both micro and macro, at .618 of the way through phrases, sections and entire compositions. .618 of the way through the concert season and the academic calendar falls sometime … [Read more...]
The Window
A joke that circulates from time to time among colleagues: “Honey, why are you staring out the window?” “I’m composing.” Well, to be fair, it’s a half-joke. Maybe even less than half. Staring off into space happens to be a great way to focus on musical ideas. Looking at nothing in particular, hearing sounds. Spend enough time with a composer, and you will be treated to a lot of blank … [Read more...]
Love Feast
We’re celebrating Valentine’s Day here with a three-day festival dedicated to the thing we hold most dear, namely new music. On Friday we have a seminar with guest Bruno Louchouarn, a French-Mexican composer whose background in cognitive science and interest in interdisciplinary arts has lent his work an unusual perspective. Saturday night we have chamber music from France and Finland by … [Read more...]