classYcal

new ways in classical music

[classycal1]

Petrenko's Elgar 5/3/14 Review - The Anfield Wrap

Neil Atkinson's introduction to Classical Music through the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Elgar and Vasily Petrenko.

an absolutely brilliant classical concert review published in the newspaper of the Liverpool Football Club by someone new to classical music

[classycal1]

Vision String Quartet - Mendelssohn by memory, really great!

[classycal1]

The other thing, apart from the music making on stage in that immediate and lived way, the Atlanta School [of Composers] was never in my design. We didn’t set out to do that. It evolved very organically. One day I woke up and there it was. What we did do was say, “We’re an American orchestra in a quintessentially American city. We’d like to commit to living American composers, why don’t we commit to composers of my generation? Let’s not get a composer in residence, which is one way of approaching how to do new music with an orchestra. Let’s not do a scatter shot of a lot of composers. Let’s just focus on a few so that we [and] our audience have time and opportunity to develop real relationships with [them]. Let’s repeat them and do different works of theirs, record them and tour their repertoire.” That led to a realization that there was something going on in American music that was generationally identifiable. I had to speak at a board meeting and was supposed to say something inspiring. It was early, so I’m walking to the meeting with my coffee thinking, “What the hell am I going to say?” It was then that I realized these composers we’ve been cultivating, however different they are, have something in common. At that point it was Michael Gandolfi, Jennifer Higdon, Osvaldo Golijov and Chris Theofanidis. They may not sound like each other on the surface but when you start to look at how they’re distinguished from the previous generation, their teachers [and] the kinds of materials they use and what interests them, they’re all tonal, tuneful and influenced by popular or world music. They share that aesthetic, however differently they engage it. I got very excited because I hadn’t thought of it in that way. Robert SpanoAt that point, when I talked to the board, I was saying “These composers represent a new American school of composition which is as identifiable as any other in history.” You can hear that this is happening with music, that there is a shift. They don’t sound like [Charles] Wuorinen. I said “American,” then we realized if we’re going to identify them this way, then let’s have some hubris. Let’s call them the “Atlanta School.” ArtsATL: Because it’s happening here. Spano: And the dissemination of their music was largely due to the work we have done with them in the first place, getting those recordings around. They’ve become the most-performed living [American] composers. Their music is a vital part of the repertoire. I think I’ve been misunderstood a bit in my efforts to do this [but that's] changing as time goes on. I think my colleagues now realize it’s not true that somehow I think this is better than or more important than [other contemporary music]. I felt it was the right agenda for the ASO to do. I love these guys and I love their music, but it’s not an aesthetic judgment about music in general. In other words I still want my Boulez in my listening and performing life. I just happen to have really eclectic interests.

Robert Spano on the Atlanta School of Composers, very interesting.

- See more at: http://www.artsatl.com/2014/03/qa-part-1-aso-music-director-robert-spano-talks-composing-performing-comfort-zone/#sthash.DQsNGbjz.dpuf

[indieclassical]

NME Blogs | Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood Q&A - Blending Classical Music With Rock

Great interview with Jonny Greenwood!

[classycal1]

"Be Brave"Shara Worden, Voice My Brightest Diamond Zafraan Ensemble Berlin Live @ Stargaze Festival Berlin February 16 2014

[classycal1]

incredible singing and playing Ebène string quartet.

[classycal1]

classYcal's Etienne Abelin wrote an answer to a Slipped Disc post on the release of the new DGG album with music by Bryce Dessner and Johnny Greenberg:

"I’m not sad at all, rather thrilled. Chapeau, Deutsche Grammophon! To describe this project as DGG simply featuring rock stars is not quite accurate: both Dessner and Greenwood are working between the genres with more than a foot in the classical world. Bryce Dessner has been a leading figure in Brooklyn’s Indie Classical scene for a while. I enjoyed playing his string quartet Aheym tremendously. And it’s no coincidence that the Copenhagen Phil with general manager Uffe Savery – formerly a classical percussionist but also “pop star” as member of the Danish electronic percussion duo Safri Duo – and conductor André de Ridder are involved in the production. Both are immensely active in advancing positions in contemporary composed music that combine intellectual substance with pop-appeal. A key to the future of the field, I believe. At the very least an enrichment to the world of composed new music. BTW: guess who’s responsible for this moving and wildly successful (check not only the numbers of views and likes, but also the comments!) flash mob with Peer Gynt on a subway? Uffe Savery and the Copenhagen Phil. Sometimes it takes out-of-the-box thinking and fresh ideas to show new directions in our classical music world that, you will admit, has a few challenges to tackle.

[classycal1]

Three grammys for "Winter Morning Walks" by Maria Schneider and Dawn Upshaw, here's the trailer

[lprnyc]

The Dutch reed quintet Calefax comes to LPR Sunday to perform Garden of Earthly Delights, “a musical dissection of the dissection of the famous painting ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ by the Dutch painter Hieronymos Bosch.” Watch video of the group playing the piece in Amsterdam above.

[classycal1]

Congratulations Roomfull of Teeth for the Grammy for best chamber music performance! Here's a breathtaking sample

[classycal1]

Why Bartok rocks.. Pianist Lang Lang with drummer Mark Giuliana reimagining Prokofiev and Bartok

[indieclassical]

Or so asks the sensational headline of this Slate article. “Classical music has been circling the drain for years, of course. There’s little doubt as to the causes: the fingernail grip of old music in a culture that venerates the new; new classical music that, in the words of Kingsley Amis, has...

[indieclassical]

[indieclassical]

Congratulations to Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett! Their beautiful score for the film Her has been nominated for an Oscar!

[fuckyeahbrycedessner-deactivate]

Bryce Dessner: St. Carolyn By The Sea / Jonny Greenwood: Suite From “There Will Be Blood” — works by Bryce Dessner and Jonny Greenwood performed by Copenhagen Phil, conducted by André de Ridder. 

Release date March 4, 2014 on Deutsche Grammophon. Pre-order now via Amazon or iTunes. The album contains Bryce’s St. Carolyn by the Sea, Lachrimae, and Raphael.

And if you’re in Cincinnati on March 21st, you can see Bryce perform St. Carolyn by the Sea live with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. 

[etienneabelin]

Trailer clip of the Music Animation Machine live performance at the Sounds of Childhood Festival Holon, Israel of September 2013 with great footage! With: Jerusalem Camerata, dir. Ori Leshman, actor Edan Alterman and myself on synchronator tool

It was so much fun to be there!

[bedroomcommunity]

Nico Muhly | Ira Glass | The New York Public Library

If Thursday seems gloomy and dull, or you simply need something something, watch this brilliant interveiw with Nico Muhly

Co-Presented by The Metropolitan Opera As his first large-scale opera,Two Boys, has its U.S. premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, composer Nico Muhly sits down with Ira Glass (host, NPR’s “This American Life”) for a colorful, wide-ranging conversation about music, life, and whatever pi…

[indieclassical]

The full interview!