Maand: november 2002

a brief technical interlude. the rss feeds for december.org have been updated to produce valid rss 1.0 and 2.0, thanks to the guidelines of the internet archive (link found via jonathon delacour)

and while i was at it, i’ve reinstated some of the 2001 entries (thanks to the wayback archive)

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)