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School Of Music, DePaul University

New Music DePaul:

Concert Hall, DePaul: 7 May 2010

Marc Embree, narrator; Cory Tiffin, clar; Aurelien Pederzoli, violin; Russell Rolen, cello; George Flynn, piano

String Quartet: Austin Wulliman & Aurelien Pederzoli, violins; Doyle Armbrust, viola; Russell Rolen, cello

Julia Bentley, mezzo; Kara Bancks, clar; Kuang-Hao Huang, piano

1) George Flynn (1937-):

1a) American Howl Quartet (Part I) (2010) for narrator, clarinet, violin, cello, piano. Much appreciated second hearing. The first, at Green Mill a few weeks ago, left me a bit puzzled — the Ginsberg poems are so dramatic, the presentation seemed to be missing the drama and variety. Much improved in this performance. I am looking forward to the complete version (hopefully later this year, George says).

1b) American Enchantment (2003) for string quartet. Lovely, interesting piece – who knew George was a Romantic?

2) Shulamit Ran : ‘Apprehensions for voice’ (1979) for mezzo, clarinet & piano.
Poem by Sylvia Plath

Four mini-operas. As usual, Julia delivers powerfully. The dramatic texts are often in contrast to equally dramatic music. Maybe not supportive, rather combative it seemed. When can we hear this again? When can we hear more of Shulamit’s music?

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The History of the Violin: Music for Two Violins from Baroque to Contemporary:

Nichols Concert Hall, Music Institute of Chicago, Evanston IL

10 May 2010

Matthew Albert & Andrew McCann, violins.

Spectacular performances in a spectacularly empty hall — maybe 12 people in attendance. With so few people absorbing the sound, the sound quality is very very rich – great for the music, a little tough for their spoken introductions.

1) Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767): ‘Gulliver Suite’ (1728). If I understood correctly, this was composed two years after the book was published.

2) Bela Bartok (1881 – 1945) / Luciano Berio (Luciano Berio (1925 – 2003): selected eight, alternating, from:: 44 Duets / 34 Duets.

Introduction:: They play a CD of one of Bartok’s field recordings .

You hear and read a lot about both of these compositions, but I have never heard them live before, so this was the first big treat of the evening.

OK guys – now we need to hear both of them complete.

3) Eugene Ysaye (1858 – 1935) : Movement 1:: ‘Sonata for Two Violins Solo, opus posthumous’. Nice , but 1 movement was plenty.

4) Robert Fuchs (1847 – 1927): ‘Phantasiestucke fur Zwei Violinen’ (1915)

Nice,

but the reason I came to the concert:

5) Stephen Hartke (1952-): ‘ Oh Them Rats Is Mean in My Kitchen’ (1985) .

A chance to hear again, one of the 100 highlights of last year’s Ojai Festival. Spectacular playing and dancing – we would enjoy this again and again.

They play a short CD excerpt of the blues tune that inspired Hartke. If I understood correctly, he used the title but not the tune

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Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University

John Corigliano Festival

Pick-Staiger Concert Hall::: 14 May 2010

Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Mallory Thompson, Cond
Symphonic Band, Ryan T Nelson, Cond

About 75% full – the largest audience I’ve seen here in a decade Live webcast

Start your Festival with a Bang – literally. The warnings that greet us at the door about the gunshot at the end of Symphony No 3 ‘Circus Maximus’ are really silly, John points out in his introduction — “…. the orchestra gets much louder…….”.. He was not kidding.

1) ‘Festmusik der Stadt Wien’ (‘Festival Music for the City of Vienna’) (1943) for 10 trmpts, 2 tuba, 7 trmb, tympani. Recycled RStrauss, missing the rest of the orchestra.
Not much fun or passion. Startling how raw the sound is tonight – my seat is in the balcony – - they rarely sell enough seats to open the balcony. They have raised the canopy about 8′ , but all of the sound absorbing curtains (except the one at the rear wall of the balcony) are still in play position. Might have been a nicer sound quality if the curtains had been stored, but then , louder too — which is definitely not needed

2) John Corigliano (1938-):

2a) ‘Gazebo Dances’ (1972) for wind ensemble, tympani & 7 percuss. His adaptation of a piece he wrote for piano four-hands. Clever pieces and his recognizable voice. This ensemble sounds better here than the RStrauss ensemble.

2b) Symphony No 3 , ‘Circus Maximus’ (2004) for:: on-stage: symphonic band and winds, piano, harp, tympani, 5 percuss, 1 Davy Crockett rifle;

in the audience chamber: ~ 20 brass & percuss & sax in the aisles and upper rows of the balcony, NU Pep band in the lobby, then marching thru the Concert Hall Main Floor aisles.

John made several interesting points in his introduction: His first thought was it had to be composed as a ‘surround sound’ piece. Followed quickly by the thought , it had to composed for symphonic band – they have the time and the desire to rehearse, whereas the modern, main-stream orchestra may have neither.

So before a single note was written, he designed the architecture of the piece

It is not a tone poem describing the place in ancient Rome / the entertainment presented there.

Rather, he considered the government of Rome’s attitude / response to danger on the horizon — ….just entertain the population and everything will be just fine…. —
and composed this piece in the musical language of America 2000s. Do you think there are any parallels? Entertaining ourselves into oblivion?

You have to hear this live.

Several times, the orchestra plays at Rock n Roll levels (and beyond) (with no sound system needed); but the dialogue that goes on between the orchestra on stage and the individual musicians in the audience is often delicate and moving. Musics of party-time, of madness, of fear and anger alternate constantly. Trumpet fanfares, saxophone sirens quartet, hunting horns, emergency vehicle sirens and the final gun shot. What more could you want for your evening’s entertainment.

Way way way over the top. Fabulous night (once we get thru RStrauss).

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MAVerick Ensemble

Flat Iron Arts Building, Gallery 222: 15 May 2010

about 40% full

William Jayson Raynovich, cello; James Baur, guitar; Jennifer Leckie, violin; Andrea DiOrio, clarinet; Lisa Goethe-McGinn; flute

Composer Tomi Raisanen (missing accents) from Finland is here. His music will also be performed at Fulcrum Point’s concert next week.

Music here sounds great. It is lively enough, clear and loud. But, the Milwaukee Avenue street noise, the CTA trains, really damage the evening badly for me. The musicians accept it. I do a lot of (silent) swearing.

Wonderful selection of music for solists and small ensembles:

1) Joan Tower: ‘Wings’ for solo clarinet.
2) John Tavener: ‘Chant’ for solo cello.
3) Ned Rorem: Suite for Guitar solo.
4) Seth Boustead: ‘Intone’ for cello, violin & guitar.
5) Sciarrino: ‘Omaggio A Burri’ for flute, bass clar & violin.
6) Tomi Raisanen: a) ‘Forged” for solo Guitar; b) Diabolic Dialogue’ for clar & cello.
The boisterous pieces (eg ‘Wings’) work much better than the barely audible ones (eg ‘Omaggio A Burri’). But you don’t want an evening of only loud, brash music. Who knew Ned Rorem wrote music for solo guitar? A very nice discovery. Seth’s piece is quite beautiful.

We get to hear some more of Tomi Raisanen’s music at Fulcrum Point next week. I really like the idea of the guest artist being presented by more than one ensemble.

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Chicago Cultural Center: Sunday Salon Series:

Preston Bradley Hall: 16 May 2010

The Chinese Fine Arts Society (CFAS) 21st Annual All Chinese Music Concert:

CFAS Chorus: Hakka Chorus & Bartlett International Chorus; Rita Lopienski, Cond; Laura Frederickson, sopr; Wen Ming Leiung, piano

Alexander Li, erhu; Haysun Kang, piano

Gerald Carey, flute; Shirley Trissell, piano;

Desiree Ruhstrat, violin; Marta Aznavoorian, piano;

David Cunliffe, cello; Marta Aznavoorian, piano;

Katherine Jui Chang, solo piano

Fulcrum Point New Music Project: Stephen Burns, trmpt; Jeff Handley & Brandon Podjasek, percuss.

1) Music for Chorus (piano accompaniment):

a) Tang Hwa Ying: ‘Spring Guests’
b) Yee San Tsai: ‘ Green Mountain, Water and Splendid Scenery’

2) arranged by She Yie Zhang & An Guo Shu: ‘A Flower’ for erhu & piano.

3)Yang Qing: ‘Away’ (Julia Liu Beijing Composition Competition Winner) for flute & piano.

4) Fu-Tong Wong: ‘Dance in E’ for violin & piano.

5) Chen Yi: “Romance of Hsiao and Ch’in” for cello & piano.

6) Chen Peixun: ‘Variations on Guangdong Folk Themes, “Butterflies Flying in Pairs”, for solo piano.

7) Vivian Fung: ‘Chanted Rituals’ for trumpet and 2 percussion. This was the second hearing – Fulcrum Point programed it on one of the Hong Kong programs a couple of seasons ago. Lively and dramatic and great to hear again

An excellent, varied program and a good audience. Interesting that some of the pieces sound ‘Chinese’ and some do not. CHAS sponsors composition competitions – see the web site – and is eager to program the new music coming out of the competitions.

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Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University

John Corigliano Festival
and
Alice Millar Spring Festival Concert

Alice Millar Chapel : 14 May 2010

Northwestern University Brass Ensemble, Gail Williams, Cond;
Men of the Alice Millar Chapel Choir & Ensemble, Stephen Alltop, Cond

Tahirah Whittington, cello;

Micah Dingler, tenor; Margaret Wilson, piano;

Eva Ryan, flute; Erin Ponto, harp;

Margaret Wilson, organ;

Daniel Pesca & Wei-Han Wu, pianos

Stephanie Stockstill, sopr

John Corigliano, post-performance talk back

I had not been to concert here since 1992. All wood pews, seating 500 – 600 on the flat Main Floor. The balcony at the rear is for the organ and chorus. Very tall. Beautiful stained glass in the side and front walls, glowing as we enter for the 7pm concert.

1) Corigliano:

a) ‘Fancy on a Bach Air’ (1996) for solo cello.

b) ‘Utah Fanfare’ (2000) for brass ensemble.

c) ‘Of Rage and Remembrance’ (1991) for chorus, mezzo solo; 12 hand-held tubular chimes, 4 cello & 4 dbass each side of the stage; 1 percuss; 1 off-stage boy sopr

d) ‘Amen’ for double chorus

2) Schubert: song ‘An die Musik’ for tenor & piano

3) Corigliano:

a) ‘Fanfares to Music (1993) for Brass Ensemble (includes a quote of ‘An die Musik’)

b) ‘Voyage’ for flute & harp (1988).

c) ‘Psalm 8 for Four-Part Chorus of Mixed Voices and Organ.

d) ‘Chiaroscuro’ for Two Pianos, tuned one quarter tone apart (1977).

e) ‘Forever Young’ from “Mr Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (2000) for soprano & choir

Good room for this program. It is resonant enough for the chorus and brass ensembles, and the duets are clear enough. Very nice program

Micro-Tonal Spring:

The big discovery was ‘Chiaroscuro’. CUBE’s concert in April, celebrating John Eaton’s Birthday included a jaw-dropping performance by Sebastian Huydts of Eaton’s ‘Microtonal Fantasy (1961) for 2 grand pianos, tuned (a quarter-tone?) differently. He played both pianos simultaneously.

Corigliano’s piece also uses two pianos, (tuned one quarter tone apart) but requires two players. Near the end, one of the players shifts to the other piano, for a four-hands segment, then returns to his piano for the raucous finale.

We need to hear more in Chicago from the micro-tonal department

Teddy Dean Boys

Earlier this week, I noticed a listing in Time Out Chicago for a group called “The Tiny Mahler Orchestra” on Saturday night, 5/22. I’ll grant them for being tiny, but no Mahler or orchestra was to be heard or seen. There were, however, some extraordinary Elizabethan era vocals sung (with a few 20th century pieces thrown in). In the small space of the Heaven Gallery, 10 acapella voices sounded magnificent. One lutenist amongst the singers, Gail Gillispie, played a solo and then accompanied four voices in a Dowland’s “Say, Love, if I Ever Didst Find”. The director, Cecilia Lo struck the tuning fork and hummed the pitch for each piece. This concert brought back memories of what wonderful renaissance music Chicago has experienced in the past. I hope Tiny Mahler keeps it up.

BTW: The concert repeats Sunday, June 6th, 7:30pm, at Rockefeller Chapel on the U of C Campus. By all means, go there!

http://www.tinymahler.com/

–
Bruce

Winding up the “work week” of concerts and board meetings, there were three concerts on Friday.

At lunchtime, the regular Music Without Borders series at the Cultural Center featured a Caribbean/Creole jazz ensemble from Guadalupe, “Glawdys N’Dee”. It was fairly mellow jazz with sax, keyboard, drums and vocals with a French Colonial accent.

After a short walk down to Orchestra Hall, I heard the CSO play a US premier by Detlev Glanert called “Theatrum bestiarium, Songs and Dances Large Orchestra”. But unless you read the program notes, you wouldn’t have known the music was supposed to represent some of the most unsavory evil-doers in history, Caligula, Hitler & Stalin. The music was good despite me missing the programmatic point. The second half of the concert was the (billed as monumental) Mahler 5th Symphony. It’s a paltry 72 minutes long, but the adagietto movement for strings foreshadowed some of the great slow moments to come from Mahler. Soviet ex-pat Semyon Bychkov conducted, and from the back he looks like I imagine an aged Gustavo Dudamel would (as I jump on the recent Dude hysteria).

The last stop for Friday was Northwestern’s Music School production of John Corigliano’s opera “The Ghosts of Versailles”. With its mind-bending plot, mixed-up with supernatural dead French aristocrats, imaginary opera characters from the pen of playwright Beaumarchais, and set during the French Revolution, there’s a lot to ponder as Figaro bungles his way through attempts to save Marie Antoinette from the guillotine (yes really). The music was new to me, but it fully supported the first rate vocalists of the NWU cast. Somehow, I missed this opera in 1991, but seeing it now in this great production by NWU was totally eye-opening.
–
Bruce

Wednesday, 5/19, there were several interesting musical novelties.

At the Dame Myra Hess Concert at lunchtime, pianist Gabriele Baldocci performed some standards by Liszt and Chopin, he then embarked on something I’d never heard before. That was the Piano Sonata in F Major (#3 1946) by Dimitri Kabalevsky. It was like a Prokofiev sonata from an alternative universe. Same energy, pacing and overall effect, but with Kabalevsky’s own themes. I need to seek out some other of Kabalevsky’s
lesser played works to see how much they echo the styles of the other Dmitri.

Later at the Harris Theater, Fulcrum Point played a rather elongated concert. Fortunately is was punctuated by whimsical shorts from the Chicago Fluxus Ensemble, i.e.: Tina Laughlin drumming on a pillow; Brandon Podjasek beating on a hardhat worn by Stephen Burns; Tina and Brandon playing ping-pong a set of tympanis with paddles and then tambourines; and finally Jeff Handley playing a drum set with a pair of rolled up Onion newspapers. The final piece, “Blues for Black Hoodies” grabbed me the most. It was played by live strings accompanied by pre-recorded (tame) rapping and sampled sounds. Composer Randy Wollf explained his composition thoroughly beforehand. He managed to interwork the minimalist string part with the rap lyrics very effectively.

–

Bruce

I’ve been busy this week and each day I tell myself I’ll blog tomorrow, because there’s another concert coming up. But now after a whole week, I’ve got to put up or shut up.

Last Friday, 5/7, ICE hosted a Tuba improvisation at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Dan Peck flew in from NYC to blow the guts out of his tuba accompanied by electronics doing a bass line drone and replaying some of his tubism. The new thing I saw was him using a clarinet mouthpiece in the tuba. Not quite a bass sax, but similar.

Saturday I saw the COT production of Jake Hegge’s “Three Decembers” starring Frederick von Stade. It was more Broadway musical than a true opera, but I enjoyed how messed up the dysfunctional family of a stage star could be compared to my own. BTW, it’s the first time I heard sh!t and f#(k in an opera, but those words didn’t appear in the supertitles.

Sunday afternoon I went to see Cabaret by “the hypocrites” company at the Storefront Theater. It was really fun for the first half of the show, but the Nazi movement showed up and brought the enjoyment to a stunning halt. Not for kids.

Monday evening, 5/10, Frederick von Stade sang a recital that was beautiful. I sat in row 4 and could appreciate all her banter about the 40 year career in opera. She will remain “My Friend Flicka”.

The Rembrandt Chamber Players performed Tuesday night at the Merit School. They opened with two young RCP competition winners who played strings and brass respectively. Then I heard Stacy Garrop’s world premier of “Frammenti”, a short piece of five fragments (about a minute each) that struck me later when I was engrossed in Brahms’ quartet in c minor, to be a micro-Mahler experience. I.e. four moments of build-up and a fifth profound killer finale.

This last Wednesday’s Dame Myra Hess concert featured a duo (K Altenberger violin & Jiayi Shi piano) who opened with two energetic excerpts from Brahms and Paradis, then they followed with a Sonata by R Strauss that was well played but nothing remarkable. There were only a few “Strauss-isms” in the last movement, but otherwise it was pretty generic.

The hit of the week was last night (Thurs) at the Cultural Center. Billed as “Guitarras de Espana”, but there was much more. Like Indonesian music, African music and dancing, modern dance and of course Flamenco. All I could think was WOW!

–
Bruce

Americas and Americans Festival 2010:
Los Angeles Philharmonic

UpBeat Live!

BP Hall, WDCH , Los Angeles: 30 April 2010

Veronika Krausas, Composition Department, The Thornton School of Music, USC

Alberto Arvelo, Director; Guillermo Arriaga, Writer; Maria Guinand, MD of SCdV; Chad Smith , VP, Artistic Planning, LAPhil

Sad News: Veronika announces that Alan Rich has died

The discussion focus on this Festival and on the center piece of the Festival : ‘Cantata Criolla’

Estevez’s ‘Cantata Criolla’ is to Venezuela what Copland’s scores are to the US – loved by all, played over and over. Defining a ‘national’ sound for audiences around the world, Gustavo wanted this presentation to be the center piece of his first year on the job. LAPhil commissioned a long poem, ‘America’, by the writer Guillermo Arriaga and commissioned a film to accompany the Estevez’s music. The film and this evening were directed by Alberto Arvelo, who is the grandson of the author of the poem, which is the text for the Cantata.

The lobbies are equipped with sound and visual projections by Nascuy Linares: “ABYA YALA”.

Chad notes again: “….no music by European composers during this Festival…. and we could do ten more programs …..“

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Americas & Americans Festival 2010:

Los Angeles Philharmonic

Schola Cantorum de Venezuela
Los Angeles Master Chorale

Ralph’s, WDCH , Los Angeles: 30 April 2010

Alberto Arvelo, performance director and film director

Aquiles Machado, tenor (Florentino)
Gaspar Colón Moleiro, baritone (Diablo)
Helen Hunt, actress
Edgar Ramirez, actor
Erich Wildpret, actor
Guillermo Arriaga, writer

Gustavo Dudamel, Cond

It took numerous phone calls and several visits to the Box Office to finally get a ticket. Four performances were scheduled; this was not my first choice for the date, but when it became available, I grabbed it.

No intermission. The commissioned poem, “America”, is interpreted / acted by the 3 actors ::the first part, before the Copland; the second before the Estevez,

Major lighting design; Huge screen for the film / surtitles for the majority of the audience. Extravagant. Way Over The Top. A Big Treat

This was the first time I had a seat in ‘Terrace View’ section — A small, 3-row section, on each side of the organ pipes, above the chorus. Fantastic view of the audience chamber and (the backs) of the musicians and (the face ) of Dudamel. But , to see the film and surtitles, you have to strain to see the small screen above the last row of the balcony – didn’t work very well for me.

1) Copland: ‘The Promise of Living’ from ‘The Tender Land’ (1952 – 1954). Low strings sound like I’ve never heard in this hall. The great reputation of the hall’s acoustics are due to its clarity and sizzling brilliance, not its warmth. Maybe sit her more often

2) Ginastera: ‘Estancia Dances’ (1941). As a result of the tours and CD / DVD of his performances with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, Gustavo owns this piece now and had a great time at this performance. Since the LAPhil was playing as brilliantly as the SBYO! , mostly he stood back, and smiled, and listened (Barenboim stye). No dancing by the LAPhil musicians however

3) Antonio Estévez (1916 – 1988): ‘Cantata Criolla’ for orchestra, 2 choruses, baritone, tenor, 3 actors, ensemble of 9 angels in the audience chamber, film, costumes and lighting,

The actors were reinforced and there was a loudspeaker aimed at us in the Heavens, so intelligibility was high for the poem. The solo singers ( who started their singing duel in the aisles, one on each side of the hall, before moving to the apron later) were not as intelligible and the surtitles were so small, I could not follow the text). The orchestra and chorus were overwhelming. The 9 costumed angels appear suddenly in a blast of light – (one, right next to me —- frightened me). I couldn’t read all the surtitles, so I don’t know what caused the appearance.

A big, lush score of the 50’s that you would expect to hear in an epic movie. Think “Alexander Nevesky’ in Spanish – what a great double bill idea

75 minute concert; 90% Full, even though it was ‘Sold Out’.

Huge ovation. Great night

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Third Coast Percussion (TCP):

University of Chicago, International House, Assembly Hall:: 1 May 2010

guests: Greg Beyer & Ross Karre, percussion

Cliff Colnot, Cond (‘Tutuguri VI’)

I have looked forward to this concert since it was announced last year. I’ve had the Rihm CD of the complete work for several years, never imagining that it would ever be played live in Chicago. 1,000 Thanks TCP!

A Major Treat – the whole program, not just the Rihm

All the percussion instruments in Chicago had been placed in the room for this concert – on stage and in the cross aisle between the stage and row of the audience. Ear plugs were available.

Seeing all the acoustic tile on the ceiling and the velour curtains on the windows made my heart stop when I entered the room. But it is a large volume, so not all of the room response was killed and listening here was ok. I would like to see the performers better — what was he doing to make that bird warble? under water?

The first half included 3 pieces for the percussion quartet (David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Owen Clayton Condon & Peter Martins):

1) David Skidmore: ‘Fanfare for a New Audience’ (2009). A bright and sparkly piece, which we heard last year at Rush Hour Concerts. A great treat to hear it again.

2) Otto Muller: ‘Escoria’ (2010) (World Premiere). Great variety in instrumentation and sounds and feel. Now you begin to understand why they need this massive collection of instruments. They have to move from stage to cross aisle and back to stage to access all the groups of instruments.

3) Marcos Balter: ‘dark rooms’ (2007). No surprise – a fairly dark piece and fascinating variety of sounds: “….. is that baby crying?….” I missed the premiere performances, so this opportunity was greatly appreciated

after intermission:

4) Wolfgang Rihm: “Tutuguri VI” for six percussionists (1981)(Chicago premiere).

This an arrangement , by Rihm, of the final section of “Tutuguri: poem danse” , a large music theatre piece he wrote for orchestra, chorus, and a huge percussion ensemble that solos throughout the composition.

It was not too loud. It was spectacular in its dynamic range and spatial clarity and drama. Based on an Artuad work —- it is serious, grim and exhilarating. Worth the year-long wait

So here is the challenge: write to TCP and ask them to organize performances of the entire composition!.

While you are writing, ask that they repeat all these pieces. One hearing is not enough.

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Southwest Chamber Music (SCM):

Ascending Dragon (Thang Long) Music Festival and Cultural Exchange – Spring 2010
“When the Dragon Meets the Clouds, Peace is at Hand”

The Colburn School: Zipper Concert Hall : 3 May 2010

7;30p:: Pre-Concert Introduction: Jeff von der Schmidt, AD & Conductor; Composers: Alexandra du Bois & Vu Nhat Tan.

This four-year long project concludes with tonight’s concert, but Jeff says , in reality, this is the beginning of the next Phase. There will be a lot more exchange with artists from Viet Nam over the next years.

He notes that SWCM has opened the door – he hopes that many other ensembles around the country will now investigate Vietnamese new and traditional music and the musicians

The program tonight is possible only because they found the one and only harmonium in Southern California. Schoenberg included it in the two transcriptions on the first half of the program. (These were not programmed in the concerts in Viet Nam)

Last week, Schoenberg’s grandson hosted a lunch for the musicians and presented the Vietnamese group copies of several of Schoenberg’s scores to take home.

For many of the Vietnamese musicians, tonight’s concert is the first time they have played any of Stravinsky’s music.

The original name of the City of Hanoi was: Thang Long (Ascending Dragon). This the 1000th anniversary of its founding.

8p:: Concert:

The same mix of Vietnamese and LA musicians

soloists: Lisa Edelstein, flute; Jan Karlin, violin; Alison Bjorkedal, harp; Lynn Vartan, percuss; Le Thu Huong, flute; Nguyen Quoc Bao, clar; Doan Mai Huong, percuss; Ta Quang Dong, piano; Nguyen Trong Binh, violin; Bui Thi Mien, cello

1) Claude Debussy, arr by Schoenberg : ‘ Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune’ for harmonium, piano, dbass, string quartet, oboe, clar, flute, percuss. As lush as the full orchestral version; beautiful in this space

2) Tôn That Tiet (1933-):: ‘ Poèmes’ for harp, flute, viola and Vietnamese voice & instruments on tape. Poem by Li Po (U.S. Premiere). A member of SWCM reads the poem, live, at the end of the composition. Very delicate music and very beautiful

3) Arnold Schoenberg, arr by Schoenberg:: ‘Five Orchestra Pieces Op. 16′ for harmonium, piano, string quartet, dbass, flute, clar, oboe & basso. Again, a rich ensemble. Seems more accessible in this version than the full orchestral version

4) Appalachian song / John Ritter; arr Alexandra du Bois: ‘I Wonder as I Wander’ for alto flute, harp, hand drum (West Coast Premiere). Lovely and clever arrangement

5) Tôn That Tiet:: ‘Niem’ for flute and harp (U.S. Premiere). Another delicate and beautiful piece.

6) Vu Nhat Tân (1970-):: ‘Ky Uc’ (‘Memory’) (1993; rev 1996) for 2 percuss, piano, flute, clar, cello & violin. (U.S. Premiere). Big, flashy, colorful piece and the hit of the second half. I was very amused by the two percussionists that seemed to have wandered in from ‘Tutuguri VI’ wailing away on those drums and tam-tams / gongs.

During the music, the musicians clap hands several times : “…a reverent Buddhist tradition…to wake Buddha up so that one’s prayers and thoughts are heard”.

7) Igor Stravinsky:: ‘Dumbarton Oaks’ for chamber ensemble. Happy End to this chapter of the Festival

http://www.swmusic.org/home/home.html

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Americas and Americans Festival 2010:

UpBeat Live!

BP Hall, WDCH , Los Angeles: 4 May 2010

Veronika Krausas, Composition Department, The Thornton School of Music, USC

Andrew Norman, composer

After her standard introduction to the music on tonight’s program, she interviews Andrew Norman.

What a charmed life he is having! Rome Prize. Now enjoying a year-long fellowship in Berlin. Just named Composer-In-Residence in Heidelberg, where he has been commissioned to write a Theramin Concerto. Now commissioned to write another piece for Green Umbrella next season. Age: 30.

Where is Derek? Where is Esteban?

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Americas & Americans Festival 2010:
Green Umbrella 2009 / 2010 –

Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group

Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

Luciana Souza, vocalist
Andrew McKenna Lee, solo guitar

( Note: Edward Atkatz (former CSO percussionist) is in the percussion ensemble tonight)

Ralph’s, WDCH , Los Angeles: 4 May 2010

The last concert of this season.

The first GU conducted by Dudamel.

For the first time, they have sold the chorus seats and the balcony seats, so this is the largest audience I’ve seen for Green Umbrella – estimate 1,600

Deborah Borda, President of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, dedicates this concert to Alan Rich. She notes that Mark Swed, placed an oragami flower on Alan’s seat, G 154, last week before the performance of Golijov’s ‘La Pasion segun San Marcos’. She brought another flower and placed it on his seat for tonight’s concert

“…..you will be missed — so I’ve heard…”

Program:

1) Andrew McKenna Lee (1974-): ‘Five Refractions after a Prelude by Bach’, for solo guitar (2004; rev 2008]. [Prelude for Lute, c, BWV 999]. I’ve always been conflicted by the decision to amplify acoustic instruments. There is no reason in the world that a solo guitar could not be heard here. But they thought otherwise. Way way way too loud, so directional realism is totally destroyed – he is seated down there…… and all the sound is coming from over here. Grrrrrh!

2) Andrew Norman (1979-): ‘Gran Turismo’ (2003) for 8 (maniacal) violins. They play standing, in a tight semi-circle around Dudamel’s podium. Yes, the title refers to the video game. This would have been great fun, but the way-over-amplified guitar has shifted my hearing threshold – they sound like they are in another county. Andrew is thrilled. Probably a fun piece if you could here it.

3) Derek Bermel (1967-): ‘Canzonas Americanas’ (2009 / 2010) for vocalist and small ensemble (LAPhil commission; underwritten by the Esa-Pekka Salonen Commissions Find) (World Premiere). I love Luciana Souza. Bermel gave her —- what? —- a 90-second song. I am not happy.

Three disappointments in a row This is the worst Green Umbrella I’ve been to.

Intermission

4) Leo Brouwer (1939 -): ‘Sonata for solo guitar’ (1990). Lovely, delicate music – finally some music!. Massive audience coughing attack. Same over- amplification. Same disappointment

5) Esteban Benzecry (1970-): ‘Fantasia Mastay’ for small ensemble (LAPhil commission; underwritten by the Esa-Pekka Salonen Commissions Fund) (World Premiere). Bright & clever & fun – sort of a ‘Medium-length Ride on a Fast Machine’.

Answer to the burning question1 this week: 6 green umbrellas ring the upstage side and rear walls, mounted on floor stands. No up-lights

Answer to the burning question2 this week: Derek & Esteban come on-stage to accept applause – why did they not appear at UpBeat Live!?

Teddy Dean Boys

I experienced another great long weekend of music.

On Friday at the CCC at 12:15 I met up with two friends
who’ve been unemployed from Motorola for quite some time
and got jobs downtown. So that makes it easy to enjoy
the lunchtime music here. We ybrought bag lunches to
hear World music by The Princes of Futa, an Afro-beat
band who played a good one hour set of very danceable
music. As some kids and young adults attested.

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Later on at Friday at 7:30, “Giasone” by Cavalli was being
performed at the Harris. I never heard of Cavalli before
but being recommended by Phil Morehead (of Lyric) and
Helen Baisey (of the CCC), I bought a ticket. It was an
amazing combination or modern staging combined with
post-renaissance opera music. The counter-tenor who
sang Jason and the seductress of Medea stole the show.
Mabel Kwan, (dal niente pianist) who came down from
the balcony at intermission to steal an empty seat,
happens to have gone to school with Sasha Cooke,
who sang Medea.

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The 5th House Ensemble performed some “fish quintets”
at Liz Stein’s violin salon on Saturday Saturday at 3:00,
In the Fine Arts Building. First was the famous Schubert
“Trout” Quintet. Then the short, very more modern
“L’Image Reconsitituee” by Mei-Fang Lin. Kevin Puts’s
quintet “The Red Snapper” wound up the concert.
As a side note, cellist Herine Coetzee Koschak had the
pointiest shoes, with clarinetist Jennifer Woodrum not far
behind.

FYI, PianoForte Foundation is seeking other venues during
the construction of a new high-rise at the corner of the
Fazioli Salon.

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The Third Coast Percussion Ensemble gave a slam-bang
performance at the U of C’s International House Saturday at
7:30. Sets by 3rd Coast’s own David Skidmore, Otto Muller’s
world premier “Escoria” and Marcos Balter were on the first
half. After intermission, we were treated to a Wolfgang Rhim’s
“Tutuguri” with all kinds for drums, two gongs and a woodblock.
It was at least 30 minutes of arm-brutalization for the group,
but so fine for the audience.

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The full-time six CSO French Horn players gave a
concert at Fullerton Hall in the Art Institute on Sunday at
2:00. After a short lecture on modernist art by Mary-Sue the
horn players were out in force to play some transcriptions
of English madrigals. Then an interesting “Call for Two Horns”
by Reynolds began and ended backstage, in a sort of antiphonal
call to the hounds. Then two Reicha trios, some American folk
music renditions by Turner and after intermission two new
wonderful works for me by Malacha and Jeurissen. The encore
was “Now Is the Month of Maying” by Thomas Morley.

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dal niente presented a concert at Nichols Hall in
Evanston Sunday at 7:30 which included:

The world priemire of the Oboe Concerto by Robert Keely
was well tooted by Andy Nogal, who switched to English
Horn in the last movement. Robert was one of the three
composers in the audience.

Amy Briggs then enthusiacally did a piece by Gyorgy
Ligeti – “”Etudes pour piano: preimier livre”.  I thougt the
intensity on her face showed that she deserved all
the applause she received.

“tinted sky” by Kirsten Broberg started very calm and quiet
but had an an ever-rising tempo and timbre that climaxed
with piccolo, and a few strikes on the glockenspiel by
Rob Dillon who brought it to a fine high-piched conclusion.

After intermission, Amy Briggs got back on the piano
to play the best of Magnus Linberg’s “Piano Jubilees”
i.e. 1, 3, 4 & 5.

The whole ensemble got back on stage to play
“Pre-Pulse Suspended” by Lee Hyla. Lee was there
to reluctantly accept applause.

BTY, Amy Briggs won the pointiest shoes award beating
Kirsten Broberg and Shanna Guiterrez who had an leopard
print on her shoes.

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Monday at lunchtime the Irish group Bal-Tinne gave a free
concert at the Daley Center Plaza as a preview for the
Celtic Fest in Millennium Park this coming weekend.
http://www.baaltinne.com/
It got my legs moving, but I didn’t get up and dance
like some of the young kids around the plaza.
–
Bruce