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The New Challenges of New Thinking

The blog responses to Justin Davidson's provocative piece, “The New New York School” from March 20, 2011 in New York Magazine—an appraisal of the music of several young New York composers—are so far coming down almost unanimously against Davidson’s thesis that our contemporary inclusiveness gives young composers nothing to rebel against, leaving their energies scattered and ultimately diluted, no matter how much energy the pieces exude on their surfaces. He is called out as being an old school modernist, entrenched in a decrepit idea—that making something new requires rejecting the formerly new.

Gabriele Vanoni speaks about his Suggestioni Festival in Boston

After a first edition focusing on Italian composers, the 2011 edition of the Suggestioni Festival will feature Italian performers. This year the Ensemble L’arsenale is the ensemble in residence and the festival program concludes with a concert featuring music by Sciarrino, Costanza, Vaglini, Tadini and Buso. Zeitschichten.com spoke with Gabriele Vanoni, co-founder of the festival, about his artistic vision and the world of contemporary music both in Italy and the US.

News

• I recently had the pleasure of meeting Manuel Schwiertz of ON Neue Musik Köln. Among other things he just started a new label for contemporary music, Blinker, that will be featured in an upcoming article at zeitschichten.com. If you can't wait for the interview to go online you can check out Blinker's brandnew website at http://ping.fm/baxNI in the meantime!
• Is there a better way to spend your lunch break than listening to Späthoven's op. 127/II? http://is.gd/dQFMG
• German New Music Ensemble "musikFabrik" teaches kids how to compose electronic music just like Stockhausen did: http://is.gd/dJodA
• Wie Jürgen Flimm Berlin als "größte Opernstadt der Welt" bezeichnen kann erschließt sich mir leider nicht. München hat auch drei Opernhäuser und überhaupt: seit wann ist die Deutsche Oper "fantastisch"? http://ping.fm/nTUkW
• It would indeed be fabulous for Boston if Riccardo Chailly replaced Levine. He is charismatic and a great musician. http://is.gd/dGiFr
• In expecto by Sofia Gubaidulina. A fantastic piece for accordion, played superbly by Maciej Frąckiewicz http://is.gd/dCDip
• Exploring Karlheinz Essl's vast sound library at http://ping.fm/VRAxq
• Finally! The Hagen Quartet CD arrived! http://ping.fm/4RA8t
• Wolf-Dieter Seiffert, CEO of the Henle Publishing House, blogs about Schumann and Chopin. http://ping.fm/JZTYA
• Louis Andriessen article at the Detritus Review. Nice coincidence. Just heard a fascinating talk by Rob Zuidam on "The Five" http://ping.fm/guB4D