West Coast, Left Coast Festival IIIb
Harrison “was the first major composer in the Western world to seriously incorporate alternate tuning systems into his music,” Adams wrote, “composing pieces in a variety of just-intonation systems and bringing back long-forgotten temperaments, as he did in his Piano Concerto (written for the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett), in which he calls for the solo piano to be tuned in an archaic mode called ‘Kirnberger 2’ that is subtly different from our garden-variety equal-tempered scale.”
The orchestra also participates in this tuning. Its unusual scoring calls for instruments, as Harrison wrote, “chosen basically for ability to play the intonation with some grace and because I like an integration of percussion with other facets of my music, and besides, who can resist writing for harps?” The results are a piquant sound, fresh but not jarringly “wrong.”
West Coast, Left Coast Festival IIIa
Rock as New Music
West Coast, Left Coast Festival Part 2b
http://www.laphil.com/tickets/festival-wclc.cfm
Sunday: Listen Up!: Los Angeles Master Chorale
22 Nov 2009 at 7:00pm
WDCH: Ron Burkle / Ralph’s Food 4 Less Foundation Auditorium
Another evening of New Music you don’t run into very often – music for chorus They did not sell seats behind the chorus; about 90% full. LAMC seems to be leading the country in commissions for chorus.
1) Ingram Marshall (1942-): “Savage Altars” (1991) for chorus, violin, viola & laptop. Very very very serious, anti-war, text (Tacitus and sections of the Magnificat) . The laptop was way way too loud and the violin & viola buried under the chorus. Major miscalculation by composer or engineer or both.
Marshall came to San Francisco at the same time as John Adams, and for a while shared a flat there. They have been friends since then.
2) Morten Lauridsen (1943-): “Mid-Winter Songs on Poems by Robert Graves” ( the original version for chorus & piano). He was Composer-In-Residence for LAMC from 1994 -2001 and this piece is a favorite with audiences and former music directors and is included on a CD. It is quite lovely. I did notice that 63 voices don’t quite fill the room. And they do not compare with the CSO Chorus in articulation.
During intermission, I had a nice discussion with a composition student from Pepperdine, whose seat was right behind mine. We had met in the Lobby earlier – he is carrying “The Rest Is Noise”. so we had a great chat about the book. He had tried to hear the LAPhil / Dudamel / Shaham matinee today. I watched a lot of disappointed people yesterday , leaving the Box Office, when they learned that , yes there are tickets, no there are no student or rush tickets – please hand over 100 dollars or more. He watched the concert on the video monitor, in the Café.
The other intermission entertainment is watching all the orchestra risers lower and raise – they lower them all to a flat floor position, so that music stands could be placed, then raised only the last three rows for the chorus, leaving the front ones flat, for a bigger area for the big percussion group.
3) Eric Whitacre (1970-) “Cloudburst” (1992) for chorus, piano & 3 percussion . Text by Octavio Paz ” (‘The Broken Water-Jug’, 1955). Words of course, then and bells, finger snapping, body percussion. Clever piece and big hit with audience.
4) David O (1970-): “A Map of Los Angeles” (2007) (Commissioned for the ‘LA is the World’ project) for chorus, piano, dbass, Mexican Folk Harp, 2 percuss and Heavenly Trio.
With these titles you knew this was going to be interesting and fun:
Introduction (Map I); Los Los Angeles Angeles; Bus Interlude (Map II); The The Tar Tar Pits; Meditation (Map III);
El Cementerio Evergreen).
The percussionists and bass double player wore LA Angels baseball shirts. At one moment, the bells were struck with a base ball bat. Later, a framed section of chain-link fence was attacked with drum sticks. The Heavenly Trio walked up to the organ console for their solo; and several others, moved to the top of aisles , for the bird and animal calls , he thinks you might have heard around the tar pits. (Another nice feature of the this hall – musicians can move directly from stage to aisles all around the audience).
Two night – lots of new New
Teddy D. Boys
West Coast, Left Coast Festival Part 2a
http://www.laphil.com/tickets/festival-wclc.cfm
Sunday: Listen Up! Los Angeles Master Chorale
22 Nov 2009 6:00pm
WDCH: BP Hall
The Festival is under the LAPhil umbrella, but several organizations are participating I learn they do not participate at the Box Office – you can’t book a ticket for this event through the LAPhil and LAMC brings in their own laptops and printers and occupies the box office the evening of the performance.
This is the pre-concert talk – all of the composers and the music director are here; the moderator is from the local classical radio station.
“Culture on the West Coast? ::: Do your own thing.
Lauridisen notes that he starts every day and every class by reading a poem out loud.
As usual 100% full, plus standees
Teddy D. Boys
West Coast, Left Coast Festival I::
Kronos Quartet and Matmos and Michael Einziger and Terry Riley
The first of two Big Festivals of Contemporary Music this season, embedded in the LAPhil subscription season – can you imagine such a an idea in Chicago?
I discovered my seat was moved “for production reasons” to Orchestra East, which is where my Green Umbrella seat is – so I was not unhappy. In fact , since this was a sound system event entirely, it was a great advantage as the on-stage loudspeaker unit was in – line with Kronos, so directional realism was good, for a change. Also, overall, this was the best quality amplified sound I have heard here.
A couple of other technical points: Matmos included videos with a couple of their pieces. As you might expect, this near Hollywood, image quality is excellent. The concert hall has a rigging system and a lighting system and a major collection of stage lifts and designers who can use the equipment, so they can make events look 1000 times better than anywhere else.
I estimate about 1200 – 1500 people attended – about the same size that attends Green Umbrella. “For production reasons ” was code for “you are one of the very few people who bought a ticket in Terrace East and we can’t afford to hire another dozen Ushers, so we have moved you”.
LAPhil / Dudamel / Gil Shaham played a 2pm concert, leaving the crew little time to carpet the stage floor (black on the orchestra risers, red on the flat floor for Kronos); hang lighting trusses and intelligent lights and projection screens, move the organ console onto stage, plug in a jillion amplifiers, processors, laptops, keyboards ; place a perimeter ring of (sound-absorbing?) thick, black flats behind the performers.
And do a sound check.
The printed program was a little mysterious, not indicating that the performers would be doing joint ventures, nor stating on the first page the names of the compositions. You have to read the details to find out the names / dates of some of the compositions.
Kronos opened with “It Got Dark” by Thomas Newman (1955-) for amplified string quartet, recorded sounds and text and possibly some live processing, controlled by Jeffrey Zeigler, their cellist. A lovely, gentle piece, except for one mad-bowing movement.
Matmos was next, but Kronos did not leave the stage, joining them for – I’m guessing here – “For Terry Riley” with video. Matmos is a duo: Drew Daniel & MC Schmidt, electronics and keyboards and stuff. Then a piece for Matmos alone “Supreme Balloon” with video. Similar idea for both of their pieces — an electronic beat is established and they improvise on top of it — “Bolero” for the 00s. The second piece concludes with one of them carrying a couple of sound – making devices in to the audience, traveling the aisles, sounding a lot like an electronic bagpipe – west coast of Scotland maybe?.
After intermission , Matmos returned to accompany Michael
Einziger, electric guitar – a short prelude to Michael’s big piece of the evening :: “Forced Curvature of a Reflective Surface” for 12 electric guitars and 2 dbass & 6 violins & 6 celli. This is second piece that I know of inspired by Gehry’s building. Clearly Michael is the local guitar hero. (I learn he is a founding member of Incubus)
Then Terry Riley moves to the on-stage organ console and the entire cast plays a piece by Terry. Ah……remember those glorious days in Haight-Ashbury in 1968. Every one is done except Terry, who moves to the permanent console integrated into the pipes — Hurricane Mama! Is the name he has given to the Disney organ Improvisations. He loves those bass notes and those Tibetan chimes and bells.
At 12:30p I had to bail out.
http://www.laphil.com/tickets/festival-wclc.cfm
Opening Event: Eureka!:: 21 Nov 2009 – - – 9:30pm! (Surely, a matinee in Venezuela)
WDCH::: Ron Burkle / Ralph’s Food 4 Less Foundation Auditorium
(Note: the building is the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The LAPhil performs in Ralph’s – the LA supermarket chain, equivalent of Jewel Foods – one of several facilities in WDCH)
Teddy D. Boys
Interesting Juxtaposition
Monday at the Harris Theater the CSO’s MusicNOW ensemble performed two works rather unrelated, one jazzy and the other very serious, that puzzled me.
As fate would have it, I plopped myself down next to Osvaldo Golijov and behind Mark-Antony Turnage.
Conductor Cliff Colnot was really into the jazzy “A Jazz Calendar” by
Richard Rodney Bennett, but I’m not sure how this piece fits into the mission of MusicNOW.
The second piece, by Turnage, “Twice Through the Heart”, was very powerful. It was sung by mezzo Barbara Rearick who had all the right stuff to express the torment of a murderer of her abusive husband.
On a lighter note, during the pizza & beer reception I talked with Deborah Rutter, who pointed out the new composers-in-residence, Mason Bates and Anna Clyne who had that deer-in-the-headlights look when I asked about MusicNOW next season. However, I expect good things will develop.
Bruce Oltman
My Weekend with Palomar and Orion
No it wasn’t an astronomical observation trip to SoCal, but rather two nights of music by The Palomar Ensemble (of Accessible Contemporary Music) and the local Orion Ensemble joined by guest artists Amy Conn and Baird Dodge.
After the concert on Saturday night I chided Seth Boustead about his group’s
first name which is “accessible” because the concert was just that. And that
made it very enjoyable. I noted a few crossover players in Palomar: Violinist
Austin Wulliman (who also plays with dal niente) and flute player Alicia Poot (who also plays with Anaphora), who tooted a great piccolo too.
There was a composition by 16 year old Daniel Silliman for flute, cello and piano that amazed me. Congrats were definitely in order at the reception afterwards.
Sunday I ventured up from the South Loop to Evanston’s Nichols Concert Hall for Orion (”The Hunter” in astronomical terms). Two song cycles were offered along with a Dohnanyi quintet. Soprano Amy Conn was substituted for Alicia Berneche (who is ill), and she did a wonderful job on short notice with “Six German Songs” by Spohr and “Which Way Home?” by Drew Hemenger (a commission for Berneche).
The Dohnanyi quintet for string quartet and piano from 1902 was new to me but didn’t touch my inner ear-bone. There were too many 19th century-isms carried over into the 20th.
The Music Institute of Chicago has some interesting concerts coming up in 2010 that I’m putting on my calendar. Check out http://www.musicinstituteofchicago.org/index.php
Shimmering and Shining
Thursday (Nov 19) night at the MCA I experienced the full dose of Kaija Saariaho’s music performed by members of ICE. I’ve heard her work before, but only interspersed with others. This time her genius was revealed to me. It was wide open and dazzling like the Northern Lights portrayed in “Lichtbogen”. For me, the “Six Japanese Gardens” for percussion and electronics was the highlight. It was performed brilliantly by Nathan Davis, with a foot-pedal to synchronize the electronics.
Claire Chase looked “ab fab” in tall boots when she tooted a breathy flute for “Terrestre”. She sure hit the mark in pulling this
Saariaho montage together.
Bruce Oltman
Review of Aaron Koppel Quartet
Aaron Koppel will be a guest artist (electric guitar) with CUBE on our April 8, 2010 concert at Sherwood Conservatory at Columbia College.
Here is a recent review of his new album with his quartet
Downbeat Review:
Falling Together Falling Apart showcases guitarist Aaron Koppel’s writing and arranging skills ahead of his playing. This translates into more solo time for what amounts to more then a quartet with pianist Matt Nelson, drummer Robert Tucker, and bassist Graham Czach being joined by alto saxophonist Greg Ward and tenor saxophonist Geof Bradfield on selected cuts… Across 10 originals, the emphasis is on group interplay, with active basslines and lively arrangements… Among the standouts is pianist Nelson, who gets the nod more often than not. His close connections with Czach form the basis of many songs, among them the serene ballad “The Bad Decision” and the lively multi-layerd ‘The Big Tease” which opens the album… There are a fair number of introspective moments on Falling Together Falling Apart, thanks again to Nelson’s knack for getting off the beaten path, but there is the occasional up tune that suggests these guys might be used to people dancing at their shows. “Electric Cowgirl Boogaloo” is just such a number, featuring some bouncy funk swing with saucy playing from Ward along with lots of spritely lines from Czach, his bass playing a driving if delicate force. In the end, what makes this disc enjoyable is the way the 26-year-old Koppel takes a conventional form (mainstream jazz) and makes something of it, breaking up the material, avoiding the tendency to just write blowing vehicles…” – John Ephland, Downbeat, December 2009.
Check out: www.myspace.com/aaronkoppelmusic
Thanks,
Aaron Koppel
