Archive for December, 2008
Stille
Und hier, im 20. Stockwerk der Konzernzentrale, auf dicken Teppichen und hinter doppelten Scheiben, begriff er, was Istanbul am meisten fehlte: Stille.
Zu den Grautönen von Istanbul…
Zu den Grautönen von Istanbul im Dezember mischte sich nun noch das dreckige Weiß des nassen Schnees.
Essential listening – Part 1: Up to ca. 1500
One of my American friends asked me for a list of listening recommendations. She would like to get involved more with music and was wondering what the most essential pieces in the canon are. The idea was to come up with a list of approximately thirty titles which she could listen to and get to know a bit better over the period of a year or so. Here is the first part of my list. It contains music that was composed up to ca. 1500.
Shostakovich during the Second World War
This photo graced the cover of the July 20, 1942 issue of Time Magazine. The story discussed the upcoming radio broadcast by the NBC Orchestra of Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony (‘Leningrad’), a piece that had been brought via 100 feet of microfilm from Kuibyshev to Teheran, then to Cairo, and finally to New York. Time considered this work to be the most highly anticipated American debut since the 1903 Manhatten premiere of Parsifal, a piece that was apparently so lofty as to be devoid of political ideology or national origins.
Jazz Nutcracker
In 1962, Duke Ellington and arranger Billy Strayhorn collaborated to do a jazz version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. The original version was for big band and features nine movements. The titles have been slightly modified — for instance, the ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’ becomes ‘Sugar Rum Cherry’ — but the melodies remain relatively easy to identify (even if, at times, Tchaikovsky’s melodies don’t readily swing).
Opera in Germany after World War II: A Journey in Images
How German cities, how German cultural life reemerged after the Second World War has interested me for a long time. Earlier on today I was browsing the LIFE photo archive that contains quite a few images relating to the post-war music scence in Germany. Here are some of the treasures I found.
CFP: Un-Music, Harvard Graduate Music Forum Conference – March 7, 2009
The Harvard Graduate Music Forum announces its sixth graduate student conference, “Un-Music,” taking place on March 7, 2009. We invite graduate students from all disciplines to interpret this theme broadly and creatively. Historical, ethnographical, analytical, and compositional approaches are welcome.
HYDRA @ Harvard (Tonight and Tomorrow)
HYDRA @ Harvard Friday, December 12 and Saturday, December 13 at 8:00pm in John Knowles Paine Concert Hall Harvard University The concerts will feature new work by students of Hans Tutschku’s _Electronic Composition_ and _Electronics: Music and Space_ courses, plus performances of Iannis Xenakis’ Legende d’Eer (Friday), Bernard Parmegiani’s Capture Éphémère (Saturday), and Hans Tutschku’s [...]
Johannes Brahms and Jean-Francois Charles
Listening to some Brahms piano quartets and trio in the morning, I felt the increasing need for something more contemporary. After a short browse in the web, I found this wonderful quartet for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano by my colleague Jean-Francois Charles. You can listen to a superb recording featuring Rane Moore (clarinet), Gabby [...]
undr quartet, id m theft able, nmperign + Jake Meginsky, as well as Mike Bullock @ OPENSOUND
The undr quartet, id m theft able [the UGLIEST myspace page ever! ~Matthias], nmperign + Jake Meginsky, as well as Mike Bullock will perform at OPENSOUND this Saturday! Saturday, December 13, 2008 Third Life Studios 33 Union Square (Somerville Avenue) Somerville, MA Doors open at 7:30. / music at 8:00 p.m. $8 donation From Opensound‘s [...]
Interview with Alessandro Simonetto, Founder of OnClassical – The e-label for Audiophiles
OnClassical is a new e-label that sells music solely via the web. Unlike itunes, emusic, rhapsody, and amazon, OnClassical offers only high-quality downloads that sound exactly like a traditional CD. Zeitschichten.com spoke to the label’s busy founder, Alessandro Simonetto, about music in the age of the internet, OnClassical’s business philosophy, as well as their upcoming projects (they will soon license music for commercial uses)
Medienkunstnetz.de
It is a pleasure to be writing for Zeitschichten! Ironically, when I was asked to contribute by Matthias, I specifically said, ‘Sure, as long as I can write about something other than Stockhausen!’ Oh, the irony. One of the disadvantages of teaching music post-World War Two can be difficulties in bringing recordings to class. If [...]
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