Category: Headlines

Alyssa Timin Photo by Ross Hoffman

The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and its more rough-and-tumble twin, the Philly Fringe, took over the city’s posh Old City district for two weeks at the beginning of September. One is hard pressed to find a show in these chronically edgy festivals that is not interdisciplinary, but Cynthia Hopkins’s Accidental Nostalgia: An operetta about the pros and cons of nostalgia fared better than most between those assaulted boundaries.

Accidental Nostalgia is a tour de force for this maybe 5’2″ powerhouse performer, who carried the show with an evening’s worth of song and dance about the dark underbelly of memory. The operetta is framed as a book-tour lecture by a neurologist who’s promoting How to Change Your Mind, a book she’s written following discoveries about her own past. She has selective amnesia. She does a song on “How I Became My Own Experimental Subject.” There’s PowerPoint involved.

The mystery at the heart of the show, and at the heart of the neurologist’s memory loss, is a possible patricide after possible incest. Darkly themed and certainly mature, the show is balanced by Hopkins’s deadpan humor, her steely confidence, and her curling country voice. The music is at turns playful and emotional, the choreography sexy and ironic. Though she’s alone onstage much of the time with a great big video screen, Hopkins is also occasionally joined by her tech guys and back-up singers, who look like they should be riding Harleys.

The show contains a great deal of this visual subversion, though it’s done subtly. Hopkins’s costumes are sort of butch, sort of femme, adjusted and angled suits that complicate their own purpose, reveal the unexpected. Where lesser material might rely on the edgy or provocative for effect, Hopkins’s piece, in my estimation, actually needs these tactics. On my reading, this musical theater work is really an allegory about taking ownership of the body and mind, transcending a pitiful past in the endless opportunity of appropriation and creation. This interdisciplinary operetta is about maturity, about the future, and it owns the video camera as equally as it owns the blues.

The Blue Note in New York is not a regular stop on my music route—the $35 music surcharge on top of the food and drink minimum being generally beyond this music fan’s budget. But when the announcement came through that Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra was in town supporting their new release Not In Our Name, I felt both musically and politically compelled to be there. The roughly hour-long set in album track order was a reminder of what it’s like to spend a warm night in the company of secure musicians, confident in their voices.

The evening got off to a solidly played but unsurprising, wallpapery start. By the end of the second piece, the orchestra was ready to go on to Carla Bley’s Blue Anthem, and its depth began to truly shine through, producing music that felt less like “watch me,” take-a-solo jazz, and more like a dialogue among the musical equals on stage. Wedged as I was behind the piano, I could only catch the occasional glimpse of the rest of the band in the back wall mirror, and so missed actually seeing most of performance. I did have an intimate view of Bley, however, who tapped at the piano bench with her left hand when she wasn’t playing and stood to give the occasional start and stop cue.

America The Beautiful, here a medley of tunes lifted from “America The Beautiful,” “Lift Every Voice And Sing, “and “Skies Of America,” was perhaps the most overt statement of the evening and the most effective piece of music on the program. Off-key notes and limping rhythms offered political commentary as biting as any offered up by Jon Stewart.

A couple of old standards also got a dusting off. “Amazing Grace” was given a bluesy treatment, and Barber’s Adagio For Strings was arranged for the brass in the band under the direction of Bley’s rudimentary conducting. The work was oddly touching in these new timbres, though the climax was not fully exploited dynamically and the ensemble re-entrance was shaky enough to smudge the effect.

Overall, it was an evening light on the stage banter and thick on the music, music that didn’t force the ear so much as content itself to give it a satisfying yogic stretch.

Joan Tower Photo by Noah Sheldon

While much of the new music community was looking west over the weekend anxiously waiting for the first impressions of Dr. Atomic to waft out of San Francisco, the small city of Glens Falls, New York, was launching a major premiere of their own. Largely absent the media glare, Joan Tower’s Made in America received the first of at least 80 scheduled performances yesterday afternoon for some 1,200 concertgoers in a packed high school auditorium.

Such a grass-roots beginning was especially appropriate for a piece and a project designed to rethink new music and its audience. Born out of a desire to give small-budget and community orchestras the opportunity to commission a major composer by pooling resources, Made in America ends the paradigm that important new premieres are strictly the purview of the big-budget orchestras of major cities.

Even before the premiere, 65 orchestras had signed onto the project, guaranteeing repeat performances in all 50 states over the next two seasons. In addition, the consortium of orchestras, working with the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer, raised significant funding from the Ford Motor Company Fund and the NEA to create educational and publicity materials, including a project website and an extensive DVD presentation featuring Tower, assuring that organizations with exceptionally small and largely volunteer staffs would have the resources they needed to support the work. What Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra Executive Director Robert Rosoff termed “a big, hairy, audacious goal” conceived of in 2001, has been realized, an idea with the further potential to trigger a nation-wide shift in the relationship between composers, orchestras, and their audiences.

Tower was an ideal choice, both for her talent and her personality (see this month’s Cover feature on Tower). Always ready with a joke, she warmed up the concert hall crowd with the wit and timing of a standup comedian and thanked them for making a 67-year-old composer feel like a rock star. The rock star comparison was apt, as she had been feted with dinners and parties all week, and the Sunday paper included a huge feature on her visit to the community.

For those working in the somewhat protective cocoon of new music communities in major markets, watching a group of people outside of that insular world giving so much of themselves (the volunteer committee that put together the activities surrounding Tower’s visit to Glens Falls had been working for 18-months) and taking such pride in participating in the birth of a new piece was inspiring. The orchestra’s charismatic music director, Charles Peltz, summed up the learning experience that everyone took away from the weekend—that even though Glens Falls was a small city, with a small orchestra, it was still important to “make music like this, for people like us, right here. We deserve it.” The scope of the Ford Made in America project assures that 64 more communities will have the opportunity to feel exactly the same way.

Composer Kenji Bunch

On September 17, Double Talk: A Conversation for Marimba, Trumpet, and Orchestra by Kenji Bunch had its world premiere in Tyler, Texas. The 20-minute work was performed by the East Texas Symphony Orchestra led by its Music Director and Conductor Per Brevig, with the soloists Makoto Nakura, an internationally recognized marimbist, and James Sims, principal trumpeter of the East Texas Symphony.

The Portland-born Kenji Bunch, a former Young Concert Artists’ composer-in-residence, has had a flurry of recent commissions and premieres. In 2004, Bunch’s Symphony No. 1, “Lichtenstein Triptych,” was premiered by the Santa Rosa Symphony, earning critical praise for its zesty energy and diverse influences, from Bernard Herrmann—who wrote film scores for Alfred Hitchcock—to Carl Stalling, composer of music for Warner Brothers cartoons.

Double Talk benefited from equally varied influences. During a phone chat a few days before the work’s world premiere, Bunch explained that he was especially influenced by the jazzy irony of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 for piano, trumpet, and strings.

Bunch wrote the new piece expressly for Nakura, the fourth work he has written over the past six years for the virtuoso. “Before meeting [Nakura] I never thought of the [marimba],” Bunch admitted. “But he makes a strong case for it as a solo and orchestral instrument. I love its color and rhythmic vitality. There’s a roundness to the tone and I have a sensibility for that, since I’m a violist. The marimba is the viola of the percussion world, with a mellowness and versatility that can remind you of a gamelan orchestra or the sounds of nature.”

Bunch didn’t find there to be any special challenges in orchestrating a work for marimba and trumpet. He explained that the two instruments “offer a delightful counterpoint” and the trumpet does not drown out the marimba since “the marimba can be really loud—you’d be surprised! The balance is quite nice between the two—the trumpet doesn’t feel he has to play on eggshells.”

Bunch said that he chose to write for a scaled-down classical-sized orchestra, defying the trend in contemporary music, including Bunch’s own, to include a battery of percussion driving an entire work. Instead, he opted for a work that was “really about the soloists and the orchestra as characters in the piece, not to overwhelm one with another.”

Bunch’s new work, which was performed alongside works by English composers like Handel, Britten, and Elgar, had an appropriately British-like wit. As Bunch stated to me, “I’ll never be British, but I do think [Double Talk] will fit in because it has a certain neo-classic sensibility which I find a lot in Britten, who is a composer hero of mine.”

Marimbist Makoto Nakura Photo by Emi Hatsugai

Bunch composes music with the pleasure principle firmly in view, and in this sense Per Brevig was the ideal conductor for the occasion, as he seemed able to inspire his Texan musicians to play as if for the sheer enjoyment of it, a very rare quality among conductors. Double Talk was notable for its Stravinsky-like bright rhythms and blithe, Poulenc-style melodies. Nakura, dressed in a saffron-colored silk shirt, played with exuberant, urban zest, with some of the acrobatic humor of Danny Kaye—light years away from the humorless playing of Japanese kodo drummers. Sims displayed plenty of burnished tone, although some of the ironic razzing in Shostakovich’s works for trumpet might have also been welcome in this context.

Dispite the work’s title, the marimba and trumpet do not really converse, but like a long-married couple, they carry on two separate monologues, sometimes simultaneously. The real conversation seems to be as much between the composer and his marimbist as between the two soloists. While the writing for trumpet is plush and glamorous, at times close to European jazz-influenced compositions like those of Claude Bolling, the challenging marimba part is more often in earnest.

In the slow second movement (Double Talk follows the three-movement form of the classical concerto) the marimba seems to express a series of interrogations about unfulfilled love. As a solo instrument, its limited range, even when played as exquisitely as Nakura does, creates a certain isolation onstage compared to the rest of the orchestra. The marimba might almost be a sort of soon-to-be-extinct bird or other endangered species, telegraphing solo taps like an SOS message doomed to remain unanswered.

Although Double Talk ends with a spirited conga like an orchestral dance composed by Leonard Bernstein, it leaves a lingering impression of the sheer virtuosity of Nakura’s playing. There is a sense not just of a showcase for a brilliant player, but an emotional portrait of the abilities and personality of a soloist. When writing a concerto, any young composer might take heed of Bunch’s evident awareness of the performer he is writing for, both as a musician and as a person.

This intimate knowledge became especially clear when Nakura played a solo encore in response to the audience’s ovation, the surefire dazzler Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” arranged for marimba. Yet although played with brisk perfection, the work seemed generic, and even cutesy, compared to what Bunch had written with the same soloist expressly in mind.

Double Talk: A Conversation for Marimba, Trumpet, and Orchestra will receive two more performances on November 17 and 19 by the Stockton Symphony conducted by Peter Jaffe with the soloists Makoto Nakura (marimba) and Brian Anderson (trumpet).

Though there are no immediate plans to record Double Talk, Makoto Nakura’s performance Bunch’s Triple Jump for solo marimba (2001) is available on his recent disc out on Kleos Classics

Ian Moss

Earlier this month, several hundred musicians, industry representatives, and lawyers descended upon George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium for the Future of Music Coalition’s 5th Annual Policy Summit. FMC was founded by rocker Jenny Toomey in 2000 as an advocacy organization purporting to represent artists’ interests in the face of the rapid evolution of digital technology and the laws and policies governing intellectual property. Not surprisingly, those issues dominated the three-day conference, which featured appearances by FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol, CDBaby.com founder Derek Sivers, REM bassist Mike Mills, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Public Enemy co-founder Hank Shocklee, and legendary funkmaster George Clinton, among many others.

Here’s a quick summary of impressions from this composer who was in attendance:

• While even the RIAA’s Mitch Bainwol acknowledged that piracy on peer-to-peer networks is never going to go away, there does seem to be a definite trend toward “legitimizing” digital downloads, spearheaded by the success of the iTunes Music Store and affirmed by the recent 9-0 Supreme Court decision in the so-called “Grokster case.” The current intellectual property battles center around three issues: 1) how best to monetize the existing avenues for distributing music online and what the appropriate price point should be; 2) whether digital downloads qualify as a “performance” and are thus subject to licensing by performing rights organizations, particularly in the context of podcasts; 3) whether there should be a compulsory performance license for sampling purposes, the same way that there is for recordings.
• Did you know that classical is the third-best selling genre on iTunes? This tidbit came form Magnatune founder John Buckman, whose own small online record label features classical as the number-one selling genre. (Of course, in the case of Magnatune, “classical” means mostly Renaissance- and baroque-era music on period instruments, but we’ll take what we can get.)
• One issue that came up but was never really thoroughly discussed was the subject of how the current system of collecting fees for intellectual property can be a burden on musical genres and communities that do not enjoy mass-market appeal. An afternoon session on how best to utilize the PROs (ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC) quickly turned into a referendum on this very topic, with an attendee from the Folk Alliance claiming that several well-respected venues were recently forced to shut down in part because they could not afford the appropriate licensing fees. It raises the question of how artists, composers, and PROs can do more to be sensitive to the larger ecology of niche music markets. 
• A recurring theme throughout the conference was that there is simply not much money to be made in selling CDs, even for big-name artists. Most musicians make their living from their live shows and their merchandise. That’s news to me, as a composer/musician who has routinely taken in $20 or less from the door at gigs that were better attended than some of the shows I see in New York, but I guess I’ll take their word for it. One avenue for substantial income that many composers may not have considered is licensing one’s existing music for use in films and television programs.
• The final panel, “The ‘Unheard’ Music,” was of most direct interest to the new music community, with representation from pianist Matthew Shipp as well as Meet The Composer head honcho Heather Hitchens and IAJE President Suzan Jenkins. It was an interesting gambit on the part of the FMC organizers to pair the abovementioned three panelists with representatives from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, djDIY.com (a site focusing on electronica artists), Just Plain Folks, and XM Satellite Radio’s “Unsigned” channel. The implication, of course, was that all genres of music marginalized within the industry are essentially in the same boat, a concept that I think is very important for the classical and jazz communities to embrace. Case in point: Billy Zero, program director of XM’s “Unsigned,” reported that he receives approximately 350 CDs a week, of which 80-90 percent qualify as some variety of indie rock. Yet Zero claims that he is open to playing any genre of music, including classical, if the opportunity were to present itself. A quick browse through the “classical” section of indie music darling myspace.com (also known as the most-visited website in the galaxy) turns up major-label artists Kronos Quartet and Hilary Hahn, a small handful of under-30 composers, and a whole bunch of classical guitarists. Composers would do well to become hip to the methods that unsigned rock bands and underground rappers, among others, are using to level the playing field and hustle for attention. I suspect we may find the mainstream more accepting of what we have to offer than we might expect.

Kudos to the kind folks at Future of Music Coalition for confronting these issues head-on and for reaching out to the classical and jazz communities for inclusion in these events. Hopefully classical and jazz musicians will reach back and attend next year’s policy summit, ’cause they sure were few and far between at this one! Luckily, you can go back in time and relive some of the highlights by visiting the summit’s website–click on the “Audio” or “Video” buttons to experience the discussions firsthand.

Recommended viewing/listening:

• Panel 02: New Label/No Label Models
• Panel 04: State of the Union
• Special interview with George Clinton and Hank Shocklee
• Panel 08: IP in a post-Grokster World
• Music by avant-garde jazz pianist Matthew Shipp
• Panel 11: The “Unheard” Music

Scott Winship Photo by Kathryn Gritt

With students heading back to the classroom, it becomes more and more clear that summer has come to an end. And to be honest (and I never thought I would utter these words), I’m a little grateful. It has been one hell of a hot summer here in Chicago and with cooling temperatures comes the rebirth of the classical concert season.

It seems that most cities of any size tend to offer up a summer concert series of one thing or another—the local community band, a pick-up pops orchestra, etc.—to play at the Fourth of July picnic or summer evening events. Chicago is no different in this respect, although I would have to argue that Chicago offers a rare treat in the land of summer orchestra performances, beyond Sousa and John Williams to that of new American music.

For those of you not in the know, I am referring to the Grant Park Orchestra and the Grant Park Music Festival. Operating for 70 years, the GPMF offers “the nation’s only remaining free, municipally-supported, outdoor classical music series.” Initially performing in a makeshift band shell in Grant Park, one of Chicago’s great parks right on the lake front, the GPMF recently moved across the street to take up residence in the state-of-the-art (and visually stunning) Jay Pritzker Pavilion, deep in the heart of Mayor Daley’s biggest pet project, Millennium Park. Calling the Pritzker Pavilion state-of-the-art is a total understatement. You should see this thing. Designed by the renowned architect Frank Gehry, the Pavilion features an ultra high-end sound system created by the Talaske Group, Inc. which boasts digitally processed “virtual architecture” and an open-air acoustical canopy. Designed to provide a “concert hall” quality sound to an outdoor concert, the pavilion is constructed with a trellis of steel and sound speakers that crisscross the outdoor lawn seating, so whether you’re in the first row or on a blanket in the back of the lawn with a picnic basket you get the best quality sound. The pavilion holds 4,000 fixed seats and can accomodate an additional 7,000 people on the lawn under the trellis.

The GPMF’s commitment to new music is stunning for any orchestra series, let alone a “free municipally-support classical music series” operating during the summer. In this season alone 8 of 21 concerts prominently feature new music from home and abroad. Concerts titles such as Baltic Voices (new choral music by Pärt, Sisask, Schnittke, Nørgard, Kreek), Modern Masters (Corigliano, Harbison, Martinu), American Romantics (Hailstork, Barber, Hanson, Gershwin), and Bernstein to Adams (Corigliano, Bernstein, Adams) including the odd sprinkling of Copland and others throughout, show the obvious commitment to new music.

My girlfriend and I decided one lovely night to spend the evening on a blanket on the lawn underneath this trellis of speakers and steel to take in the “Bernstein to Adams” concert. The first thing that we noticed, and were quite taken aback by it, was that when we arrived the majority of the permanent seats were filled near the stage. And it appeared that the entire lawn was filled with a huge mix of children, blankets, couples, lawn chairs, families, coolers, and the elderly all settled in to listen to new American music. I was overjoyed to see thousands of people on this lovely evening sitting to enjoy the concert, including all of the people strolling by as they were enjoying the rest of Millennium Park. Could anything be more wonderful? It was so crowded that we were forced to sit to the side of the official “lawn” seating section with several other listeners. But not to worry, thanks to the sound system, we were able to hear perfectly well even if we couldn’t really see all that much.

The concert consisted of John Corigliano’s Fern Hill, Bernstein’s Arias and Barcaroles and the piece that I really came to hear, John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls. Corigliano has had a long-standing tradition with the GPMF, receiving several performances each summer including a performance of his Midsummer Fanfare earlier this season. I was concerned that, in an outdoor environment, Adams’s subtle and poignant Transmigration might get lost. And it did to some degree for us out in left field, but it still held a powerful voice. It truly was a great thing to see families of all shapes and sizes enjoying this music in such a beautiful setting. I am really looking forward to spending much more of next summer under the trellis in the open air listening to quality new American music…I’ll just remember to get there early.