Post-WWII traditions
Terry Riley is 85 today. His importance can’t be overstated, In C alone is one of the essential works of the 20th century. But what I love most about Riley is just his playing, the man can play, and the albums that feature his musicians ship, like Persian Surgery Dervishes, are desert island discs. Here’s …
Everything was a mistake that Harry Partch set out to fix.
The second Bang on a Can Marathon of the COVID-19 era hits the the ground this afternoon, 3pm-9pm EST. You can view it via this link or with the embedded stream below: Viewing is free, but as always if you can, please help out the musicians and Bang on a Can by buying a ticket …
The streaming music phenomenon has, for me, quickly grown stale. A musician playing alone in a room through my screen is a wan and tiresome experience, no sense of touch of course but also no sense of live tension. The mediation of the computer and internet renders everything artificial. A few ensemble performances have been …
Tonight, April 29. 7:30—Timo Andres will live stream a recital he was schedule to give at Carnegie Hall, same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel. I was planning on reviewing this, so was feeling the loss, and now some gain. Tune in at his YouTube channel above or via this link. Here’s the program, it’s the good stuff: …
I do not begrudge the big guys, they do a lot of good work. But right now, they are too big—they won’t fail, but they are paralyzed. I know, I know, this is late capitalist America, where material success is rewarded and quality is effervescent…
The scratch for the stir-crazy itch is to be elsewhere, and there’s nothing that takes you farther from where you are than sounds from someplace different than your own.
Penderecki had an extensive career and in the end wrote far more music with the tonal and structural means of classicism and romanticism than he did works along the line of the Threnody.
