Categorie: muziek

i’m ever searching for information on minimalist and (other) mainstream contemporary classical music. i’m especially looking for any kind of weblogs in a similar fashion as december.org. so far without any success, with the possible exception of newfrontears (last updated 20 Oct)

this week’s links of note:

• newfrontears
• classicalnet
• netnewmusic
• paristransatlantic

  as they say, global coverage of new music

• minimalism

  wikipedia; invaluable source of information. this is not something you want miss. trust me.

• tulse luper suitcases

  old news really

• a classic, but all the more worth mentioning: auntie beeb. the jazz, classical and

  experimental sections

dvds of note: michael nyman / dziga vertov Рman with a movie camera and jean cocteau / philip glass la belle et la b√çte

this may be old news (as said, i’m catching up), but here’s one dvd i’m looking forward to: la belle et la b‚àö√ßte will be released on the criterion collection in the spring of 2003. i already got the nyman dvd a while back, neatly packaged in a light steel encasing, cd-size, published by the bfi.

there’s two reasons to buy that nyman/vertov dvd: one is for the nyman music that you’ll otherwise miss out on, and the other one is the classic montage pioneer film by vertov. the music is’n really grafted on the motion in the film, and i’m not sure that’s such a bad thing. either way, nyman managed very adequately to avoid breaking up the continuity of the film.

» more info: amazon uk | bfi | imdb

as for la belle et la bÍte, it says on the criterion website:

renowned composer philip glass has created a new 5.1 surround mix of his beauty and the beast opera for inclusion on criterion’s upcoming dvd re-release of jean cocteau’s classic film. glass’ opera will be one of four audio tracks available on the newly-restored beauty and the beast, along with audio commentary by film historian arthur knight, a second commentary by writer and cultural historian sir christopher frayling, and the film’s original soundtrack. look for criterion’s beauty and the beast re-release in early 2003.

» more info: criterion release page | imdb

BL!NDMAN quartet. i once had the privilege of seeing bl!ndman quartet performing live in the vooruit in gent. not just a regular concert, but they played (performed ?) the accompanying music to a silent movie, kurutta ippeji (something old and beautiful). i was blown away by their technique and the amazing soundscape they laid out. i think that afterwards, a cd of their performance was for sale in the lobby, and to this day i still regret not having bought it then (–of course i haven’t been able to get it since).

two cds i have been able to buy: bl!ndman plays bach (2000) and the recently released multiple voice (2002). they’re not available through amazon (at least i didn’t spot them), but i got them from the fnac (in gent) where they are readily available. you could also try via their website

music reduced to its essence. where reduction stands for minimalism, not loss in any way. the music as performed by bl!ndman is very broad and overwhelming indeed, with lots of colour and intonation. it’s where you can hear each individual note very clearly, but never do they sound isolated, or stuck.

from the notes from bl!ndman plays bach

Having just started as a saxophonist, I experienced a great shock when I was practising J.S. Bach’s flute sonatas on the soprano saxophone. The ‘open sound technique’ I used when playing the instrument […] gave these scores the stunning sound range of woodwind and brass, voices and organ sounds.

[…]

My choice was ettled by the Choralpartiten. In these little-known organ works I discovered a sparkling inventiveness and deep emotion. What is more, when the four saxophones unravelled the young Bach’s ingenious intertwining of the parts, the result was a disarming transparency.

This modest and broadly coloured, essentially religious work assumes a secular dimension of pure enjoyment and goes back to the source of all music: the breath.

from the notes from multiple voice

Contemporary works have always reflected age-old compositional techniques; the organum technique used by Leoninus and Perotinus, in which the continuous voices develop in parallel, the 13th-century hoquetus technique in which the meldoic line is divided between several instruments, and also the imitation canon repeating themes several times.

[…]

New music is played alongside early music and the two merge apparently seamlessly into one another. Centuries are made relative, and the consciousness of historical time fades.

Apart from Leoninus and Perotinus, multiple voice also features work by Thierry De Mey, John Cage, and Jonathan Harvey. (warning: the cd says copy protected; haven’t tried to import it to iTunes yet)

in an effort to catch up with releases, there’s the third album in the years without history series

the series started out with moins de m‚àö√ßtre, assez de rythme (live in paris 1992), continued with in the absence of hindrance (live in gdansk 1998), and now there’s the third, cave musicam (live in brugge 1998). the albums combine to a nice overview of mertens’ work on live recordings.

live recordings for minimalist music (or the likes) always strike me as kind of odd. they often sound as clean as studio versions, with the only difference being the sometimes included applause. there is one huge benefit though, over say e.g. ‘best of’ cds, in that these live versions are often slightly different, more mature versions of the orginal work. and that is very true for this cycle.

whether you’re just getting to know mertens or already own a few albums, i’d highly recommend these albums to add to your collection. (if you don’t want to buy them all, my preferred order is three – one – two.)

is anyone else curious about the 13 album box that’s about to be released by the end of the month?

i’m currently finalizing a forum for the michael nyman website. it will be a basic application, with some membership functionalities, such as notification of responses, ability to participate in contests, maybe polls. in order to entice people to register for the forum, we’re giving away 10 promotional cds of facing goya. (caution: these are not the full (double) cds you’ll find in the shops, but a single cd containing track samples)

registration (and the contest) will start on monday; the forum should be live beginning december

i’ve decided not to opt for a ready-made forum, in order for me to be able to fully integrate the forum with the rest of the site. this means e.g. that at the bottom of each discography item, there will be a section called ‘feedback’, enabeling you to give your appreciation on a certain album (why only leave reviews to the press)

writing this gets me thinking about implementing a rating system for the albums listed, and since we’re doing some kind of membership project we might discern between ratings from by members and ratings by guest (non-members). or simply only enable members to rate albums.

membership will, of course, always be free. so why membership? people will have to register in order to post to the forum (not to view). the ability to rate albums. enter contests (draws). maybe notifications of news, new releases, a newsletter, why not; there used to be a (monthly) newsletter.

let’s get to work then.

as winter is fast upon us, i thought to choose a more appropriate colour scheme. it’s odd how this time of the year makes me want to become active again. things have more or less settled down, and i’m starting to listen to music as i used to. there have obviously been quite a few noteworthy releases during the last months, and i hope to pick this up again soon. december.org org will be about announcements, and will be teamed with a media library project i’m currently working on.

thanks for all the e-mails. as to not make your visit completely useless, i’ve decided to put up a few pointers to sites i like, and often visit. this list might or might not be expanded in the future. (i also might put the archive back up)

not wanting to sound like the doors, but it is. the end.

for the last few weeks (months ?!) i’ve been spending less and less time behind the computer every day (i still sit behind the screen more than 9 hours per day at work, but that is just a minor detail –everybody has to make a living).

i actually almost wrote that this will probably not be the last you read from me on the web, but i’ll stop kidding myself (and you, dear visitor). this is the last thing you’ll read from me that is december.org related.

i have a lovely wife (even though we’re not married, but again, details, details) and an adorable son.

i still love music and movies and reading and cooking.

none of this will ever go away. but it is time i end this site. time i quit stalling and go back to IRL. it’s been great. but it’s over.

What’s happening?

I’m really sorry about the downtime. The server that was hosting december.org (and other sites), has been victim of a hardware failure, compromising all sites and configuration.

Luckily I had backups of almost everything, and I’m taking to opportunity to get together the site I was intending for december.org

What will the changes be?

Several sites will be regrouped under december.org (just as it was in the early days). I’m talking about the sites for wim mertens, peter greenaway, and phillip glass

They will each go to their subdirectory on december.org: /mertens/, /greenaway/ and /glass/.

There will also be a general page with michael nyman info (on /nyman/), with unofficial information (the official Michael Nyman website will remain at michaelnyman.com

Each subdirectory will contain a weblog, a small biography and discography and hopefully a calendar. And I’ll need volunteers to help me with the weblog.

So… can I help / contact you?

Yes, please.

If you’d like to contribute, write articles, give feedback, submit ideas, send me an e-mail at bruno@december.org (works)

Staff wanted / open positions

First things first: is there any salary for these positions?

No. december.org makes no money, quite the contrary: we only pay money, to our ISP. Current credit line equals minus (months (current month to 1995) * monthly fee). Not counting hours, days, weeks, months of time invested.

Available positions:

• associate editor(s) & staff writers
• correspondent, great britain
• correspondent, france
• correspondent, latin europe (ouch –> italy, spain, portugal)
• correspondent, germany
• correspondent, (south) africa
• correspondent, japan / asia
• correspondent, middle east
• etc.

Feel up to it? Do contact me: bruno@december.org; i love you already.

We are jealous of

New Music Box. And others. Enough said.

The concert took place in the concertzaal de bijloke in Gent (BE). It was preceded by the presentation of the 2002-2003 bijloke programme, which probably explained why there were that many politicians and other civil servants in the auditorium. I shouldn’t complain though, since (1) they behaved very civilized for politicians and (2) we got our tickets from one such civial servant who got detained at the last moment. So thank you !

The auditorium is actually a 13th century hospital ward, with a brilliant roof made of oak wood. The building has been restored (10 year renovation), and all of the original settings were preserved. They love to describe the concert hall as a huge piece of furniture, that could be removed at all times, without any damage to the building. And it truly is a magnificent setting.

Anyway beside the policitiancs / civil servants and the splendid settings, I came to listen to the Kronos Quartet. David Harrintgon, John Sherba, Hank Dutt, and Jennifer Culp (who’s been with Kronos since 1999) offered a refreshing performance. The band members looked a bit tired though.

All of the concert was amplified –I’d spend a fortune to see e.g. Kronos Quartet or the Michael Nyman Band perform without amplification (come to think of it, I probably could if I’d spend that fortune)– some of the pieces required an aditional tape (?) to be played. This really bothered me at times.

The programme:

• Aleksandra Vrebalov: Pannonia Boundless
  Beautiful piece, I perceived it as rather classical in it’s construction.
• Rahul Dev Burman: Aaj Ki Raat (Tonight is the Night)

  Here’s where the tape really bothered me. The tape played Zakir Hussain on tabla, and it really seemed like Kronos was performing additional music to that. It just didn’t come over as live music.

• Severiano Brise√ío: El Sinaloense (The Man from Sinaloa)
• Agust√ån Lara: Se Me Hizo F¬∑cil (It was easy for me)
• Silvestre Revueltas: Sensemay¬∑
  That bloody tape with percussion again.
• Charles Mingus: Myself When I Am Real
  Mmmmmm. Mingus. Enough said.
• Steve Reich: Triple Quartet
  I was so looking forward to this. And don’t get me wrong, it was played to perfection. The triple quartet requires –as the name implies– three quartets for its performance. Now, I do understand that it’s not very feasible to have three quartets in, but it’s disappointing to have to listen to two of those quartets on tape, and the third accompanying that tape in a live performance. And they played it so perfectly that there wasn’t any difference between the sound of the quartets on tape vs the live performance. Might as well have been listening to the cd.
• Peteris Vasks: Quartet No.4
  Revelation of the day. This is a very beautiful piece of music. It started softly with an Elegy, turned really agressive in the second part (Toccata I), flowing into a dynamic Chorale. Raw again for the fourth part (Toccata II), with material from the second bit, and then the fifth part. Oh boy, the fifth part. Meditiation says it all. Dampened strings, referals to the first part, and then slowly ending in silence.
  The audience was very appreciative. The waited with the abundant applause until after the last unaudible (!) note had died.

And then two encores, Nacho Verduzco by Sanchez and Mini Skirt by Juan Garcia Esquivel, both taken from their new album, Nuevo. Mini Skirt is a hilarious piece, very jazzy, reminds me of Henri Mancini’s music. From the liner notes:

Now known as the king of Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music, the dashing Juan GarcÌa Esquivel was signed by RCA Victor in 1958, just as two-channel Hi-Fi stereo systems were being introduced into American households. Audiences were eager to try out their sound equipment with new recordings, and Esquivel?s compositions and arrangements pushed stereos to their limits. Born in Tampico but raised in Mexico City, Esquivel was a piano prodigy who organized his first orchestra at age 17. Shortly afterwards he was leading the orchestra at XEW, Mexico City?s most popular radio station. He constantly experimented with new instruments, and his recordings for RCA Victor included bells, xylophones, harpsichords, timbales, gourds, bongos and organs. Also present were vocal choruses that often left the lyrics behind, humming, whistling, and singing ?zu-zu-zu? or ?pow!? instead.

nuevo @ nonesuch