Night Sky score and recording posted

Today I posted the complete score and recording of Night Sky.  The recording is from the premiere performance on May 31, 2011 by the Symphonic Band at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School.  More details about Night Sky can be found at bicemusic.com.  Click her for a direct link to the page for Night Sky: http://bicemusic.com/?page_id=35.

Forgotten Treasure

On Saturday evening I was looking for something to listen to while I made dinner.  I came across a CD of 20th Century Flute Concertos.  I bought this a long time ago for the recording of Krzysztof Penderecki's Concerto for Flute and Orchestra da camera.  I pulled this CD out and looked at it.  I was surprised to see that the other two works were by Aulis Salinen and Toru Takemitsu.  I had forgotten about these pieces so I decided to listen to this CD.

Aulis Salinen is one of those composers whose music I would like to explore more, but I always manage to forget about him when I shop for something new.  His piece on the CD is Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, op. 70 "Harlekiini".  The piece by Takemitsu is Toward the Sea II for alto flute, harp and strings.  This is an interesting piece because the movement titles suggest an influence by the work of Herman Melville, but the sound world paints a much different picture.

I enjoyed listening to this CD in part because the music contain on it is good.  Also, I had forgotten that I had these recordings so it was like finding a forgotten treasure.



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Click to purchase mp3 from Amazon.com: 20th Century Music For Flute And Orchestra

Lutoslawski's Last Concert

On Tuesday, October 26, 2010 Naxos released a recording of the last concert Witold Lutoslawski conducted.  The event took place on October 24, 1993 as a part of Toronto's New Music Concerts.  This concert features the trilogy Partita, Interlude and Chain No. 2 for violin and orchestra.  Fujiko Imajishi is the soloist on these tracks.  Chantefleurs et Chantefables as song cycle for soprano and orchestra is next on the recording sung by Valdine Anderson.  Chain No. 1 for fourteen performers finishes this concert.

This would be the last concert Lutoslawski would conduct as he would pass away almost four months later on February 7, 1994 at the age of 81.  This recording was released almost seventeen years after the date of the event.  This recording is New Music Forum's Pick of the Month for October 2010.


Click on the image to purchase this CD from Amazon.com

New Release: Hilary Hahn - Higdon and Tchaiskovsky Violin Concertos

On Tuesday, September 21, 2010 Deutsche Grammophon will release violinist Hilary Hahn's latest CD.  This recording will feature violin concertos composed by Jennifer Higdon and Peter Tchaikovsky.  Hilary will be backed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko, conductor.

As many of my friends know, Hilary is my favorite violinist.  Simply put she is brilliant.  She brings a new level of lyricism to whatever piece she plays.  On one of her previous CDs she recorded Arnold Schoenberg's Violin Concerto.  The performance was nothing short of phenomenal.  She brought out nuance and subtlety that breathed new life into the atonal work.

I look forward to hearing Jennifer Higdon's Concerto which was commissioned by the Indianapolis, Toronto and Baltimore symphonies and the Curtis Institute of Music for Hilary Hahn.  Higdon and I are alumni of the same university, though we do not know each other, Bowling Green State University.  Higdon graduated with her master's degree from there long before I was a student.

This release is New Music Forum's Pick of the Month for September 2010.  For more information visit: www.newmusicforum.com.

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Dual Atmosphères

I found this article which I wrote as a note on my Facebook page on Thursday, September 25, 2008.  I thought that I would share it here. I have made some minor edits to the original note.

It's interesting. Tonight I sat down to listen to Ligeti's Atmosphères. I looked in my collection and found that I own three different recordings of this piece. Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado, conductor. New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, conductor. Berliner Philharmoniker, Jonathan Nott, conductor.  Atmosphères is a nine-minute piece for orchestra. This piece is based on a series of tone clusters that transform over time. In this piece Ligeti abandoned the traditional conventions of melody, rhythm and harmonic progression. Instead progression is made through the use of micropolyphony, which is complex interwoven textures.

I started off by listening to the Abbado recording. As I was listening, I read the liner notes for the Bernstein recording. I was shocked to find that it was a short recording. The length of this recording is 6:59, at least two minutes shorter than the other recordings I have heard. So I listened the Bernstein's version of the piece. Not only is this recording short, but it feels rushed. This is odd to me because the piece is composed as a static piece. There is no rhythmic or melodic motif. How can a piece composed around the principle of stasis feel rushed?

I wonder if Ligeti ever heard Bernstein's recording? If so, what did he think of it? Personally, I do not like this recording. It feels wrong. I do not think he captured the essence and the intent of Ligeti's piece.