composer's notebook
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
East River vs. Thames
Now that it's almost July, UGA's new CD including the world premiere recording of My Hands Are a City (also the third movement of Symphony No. 1) is finally available.
Naxos does an enjoyable podcast about their new releases which I listen to whenever I can; their latest is an interview with conductor John Lynch about the album. John says such lovely things about us. I had to go and listen again.
I'm quite familiar with everything on the record (I was at some of the sessions) but I when I received the CD last week I listened to the whole thing all the way through and was completely floored. It not only sounds amazing (engineered by the great Bruce Leek, pictured so eloquently in the above JM link), but the disc also tells an engaging story about ecstatic celebration, with my piece, Kristy's gorgeous piece, and Hammersmith as the big "descriptive" works, basically serving as pillars.
JM's Kingfisher's Catch Fire is a rocket ship in the middle of the record. It's both a spectacularly crystal-clear recording, where I hear all kinds of things I never heard live (that contrabassoon! Who knew the chimes came in there?) and, for the bombastic nature of the 2nd movement, an amazingly subtle performance.
The CD is up on Amazon now, but you can also download it, which, let's be honest, is what you'll do. My track is "Album Only" on both the iTunes Store and the Amazon MP3 Download store. Probably because it's kind of long. Sorry 'bout that.
Your recompense will be that while on iTunes, you can pick up the University of New Mexico's new As the scent of spring rain... recording on Summit Records for $0.99. That's like $.03 for every bi-tonal cluster! Act now.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
March me
Yesterday I signed a marching band arrangement license. This wouldn't be a big deal, except that it's my very first one. Ever. Until now, no one has yet asked if any of my 13 (depending on how you count it) wind ensemble pieces (the most common fodder for such things as I understand it) could be arranged for another ensemble.
I actually find this fact totally fascinating. I mean, I'm lucky enough that people who are looking for music to arrange are likely aware of my stuff - yet there must be something inherently weird about the music which makes it unsuitable for arrangements...or at the very least, make it easy to pass over as a more difficult choice. I have some ideas of what that might be, but it's still an interesting question. Makes one (well, me) think about qualities in my music in ways I never thought before. Which has been a curious experience. There were even certain works I was convinced I'd be getting calls about, but never did. That kind of thing is probably more about me not knowing what I'm talking about, though.
Even so, this particular milestone is sort of a full circle thing for me, because (and this isn't something I usually admit in public without significant prodding) I used to be one of those kids marching around on a football field. In fact, back in the day, I was proud "squad leader" of the trombone section of the Wyoming Valley West Marching Spartans. O! We had a blast. Probably because we had no idea how stinking-bad we were.
My career as a marching trombonist peaked when I played the featured solo in our show's (no doubt stellar) arrangement of Maestro Ritchie's Say You, Say Me, atop an aluminum ladder. It's a cautionary tale, really.
So now I leave the marching, and the arranging, to the experts. Who are now obligated to send me a video of the final product, of course.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Carnegie Grind
Last night's MAYWE concert at Carnegie was a super fun ride, and my sincere thanks to Robert Ambrose and Laura Moates Stanley and the whole ensemble, who shouted Avenue X to the heavens at the Isaac Stern Auditorium. Maestro Ambrose also programmed the gorgeous Dusk, which made the evening into a rare opportunity to hang with SB.
My Day with Bryant began earlier when we popped in on on the Bang on a Can Marathon down at the World Financial Center yesterday afternoon. It was the usual schmooze-o-thon, only this year with the unusual addition of an audience full of of babies. Apparently infants and toddlers really dig Ethyl. This is a hypothesis easily tested at home, and I'll get right on it. In any case it seems clear that we're all getting older, and those who go to these things are now procreating in order to make more little Cantaloupe CD-purchasers.
Getting stuck behind the President's motorcade on West St. combined with a last-minute re-shuffling of program order meant we actually missed the two pieces we were most interested in hearing in our allotted time slot: the new Bill Frisell, in which our old friend Carrie Stinson was playing, and a new piece by Ted Hearn of whom I became a fan after enjoying scenes from his opera at this year's City Opera Vox readings. Oh well. I heard they sounded great.
So in fact it turned out that the most intriguing piece for me that hour was a little ditty by Jeppe Just Christensen for five amplified coffee grinders. You'd think that would be easy fodder for The Snarky, and of course I was quite ready to, but instead I found myself totally enjoying it. Different amounts of beans made for different pitches, and the hocket-y (caffeinated!) rhythms were fun and unpredictable. And as the beans ground down the tones of the machines eased down, creating a natural denouement. It was actually sort of brilliant.
You can probably hear many of the Marathon pieces if you check out their summer season at MassMoCA up in North Adams, not far from The Newman Compound™. If you go, give a call and we'll meet at the BrewHaha.
And while you're surfing around all those amplified Downtown websites, open a new tab onto the aesthetic opposite that is johncorigliano.com. It's live and online, and full of nifty pictures of JC's African Art collection.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Search me
Since the slowing down in notebook entry frequency has become more the rule than exception, one of the more interesting results is that some of you are simply giving up on reading anything new, and instead attempting to mine older postings for Newman Goodness. This is ultimately a good thing, I think, but I haven't exactly made it easy for you. There are a good five years of archives, listed only by date. This turns out to be less than useful, which some of you pointed out (nicely). After receiving some e-mails in quick succession, all asking where in the world one can find the entry on this or on that, today I added search function, courtesy of Mr. Google, who as long as he's taking over everything that actually matters, might as well take over jonathannewman.com, too.
It's not ideally placed in the layout, but it'll do in a pinch. The whole notebook is by now, years after creation, a little outmoded and probably in need of a refresh. Blogger ca. 2004 was not the highest-end of techy advancement, and now the whole thing could use a makeover, both in engine and working parts, and in (now that there are functions like search and drop-down menus and such which weren't in the original layout plan) design.
But the search field should work, which is the important part. Try it out with your favorite keywords, like "cheeky" or "Star Trek" or "Mackey" or something like that. Maybe I've written something brilliant about it.
Monday, May 18, 2009
If you enjoyed
I've been happily receiving very complimentary and ego-soothing feedback on the live Symphony No. 1 performance recording from Indiana University. Surprisingly, I've actually listened to it myself a few times. Usually I wouldn't put myself through that, but in this case, the voice in my head (you know, the one that screams "This is awful. What were you thinking?", etc.) never fully drowns out the music itself, and for much of the piece I can vaguely enjoy listening.
In addition to satisfying myself that the Symphony actually exists, I've been catching up on what my colleagues have been up to this year. (Because apparently, it wasn't all about me. Who knew?) I missed hearing most of these pieces live because I was squirreled away in New Hampshire during the National CBDNA Conference in Austin, so the performance recordings had to do, and I pass them on here. When you take in the following links (listed in no particular order) make sure you listen some time well after my stuff, because they are all way too good, and any direct comparison doesn't favor me at all.
--SB's Ecstatic Waters is beautiful, glorious, spellbinding, and every other adjective like those. Anyone who's heard it, live or otherwise, will no doubt confirm the above, but I am probably the least surprised out of anyone. When Steve sent me a copy of the MIDI realization last year I flipping teared up while listening. The skill and imagination involved in this work is staggering, and when this becomes one of those pieces we talk about, remember I knew him when.
--JP's written a ton lately, including a euphonium chamber work I haven't listened to yet because I am overdue on writing one myself, and I know if I listen to Joel's I won't be able to remove my sobbing self from the corner of the room to actually do it. But I have listened to his exciting and brilliant new violin concertino. And a new live performance recording of It Perched from Vespers Nine confirms for me how gorgeous that work is, and how much I wish I had written it.
--I also happily received a recording of JB's Diabolus Ex Machina, which stuns the listener by slapping him upside the head with a completely original sound world. If I had heard it without knowing the source, I would have guessed this sucker to be Frank Zappa's lost masterwork, and I'm hoping that this posting will kick Jim into updating his website and posting the live premiere recording so that more than five people can hear it.
--And no one needs me to point them toward JM's Asphalt Cocktail, of course, because downloads of the live performance John put on his website reportedly nearly brought down the server. Still, I've been listening to it repeatedly with a smile on my face, in part because it's got my name on the top of the score, but mostly because the insane ear-splitting roar that is that piece is a marvel of craft and creativity.