During 2020, at New England Conservatory, it happened -- every piano piece by Ludwig van Beethoven was performed. There was a series of 12 concerts involving 73 different NEC students. All 36 piano sonatas were played, 21 sets of variations, and every other piano piece! Six of the concerts were played live during February and March. After the pandemic arrived, the rest of the programs were streamed during the fall. Studying remotely, many … [Read more...]
Don’t Ask
When I was learning William Duckworth's The Time Curve Preludes, and even preparing to record the first dozen, I did not contact the composer. I didn't play for him, get advice, or even ask him questions about 2 or 3 notes that puzzled me in the printed music, a reproduction of Duckworth's handwriting. After the recording was released, I got an email from Bill, "I understand you've been playing my music..." Classical players usually seek out … [Read more...]
Police witness
In U.S. criminal trials, juries are instructed that testimony given by police officers is no more or less reliable than testimony given by other witnesses. It has to be scrutinized. After Foucault, it seems absurd that in classical music we might still be so obsessed with "what the Composer wanted." Idris Khan: every ... stave of Frederick Chopin's Nocturnes for the piano We have texts. Texts that can be read variously, can be entered … [Read more...]
We’re all composers now
I went to The Stone on Avenue C to hear a rather renowned new-music-scene musician. He's a friend of a friend of mine. Somehow we'd never met before. I'd never heard him before. In this show, he played his music. A lot of material from the laptop. Recorded sounds that were processed and manipulated. Some pieces made use of a MIDI controller/trumpet. Some interesting sounds. One piece was based, it seemed to me, on a famous recording by Vladimir … [Read more...]