Thursday, July 29, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Acadia!
So, we went to Acadia National Park. No Obama, no moose, but it was beautiful anyway.
Josh, Elizabeth and I hike all around and eventually reached the top of one of the peaks in the park (where the video above was filmed). The views were spectacular as was the weather.
And, we got to pick wild blueberries (and eat them!):
Simply AWESOME. Too bad my camera died 3 pictures in, otherwise there would be more fun photos.
----
Back in the world of music (why I'm here, right?) the quartet assigned to my piece has been rehearsing and played for me for the first time on Friday. They were awesome! Flexible, excited and very skilled. My piece, a movment for string quartet called "The Nascent Past," is being played Tuesday, I believe. Recordings, videos and whatever else I can post here will be available.
Josh, Elizabeth and I hike all around and eventually reached the top of one of the peaks in the park (where the video above was filmed). The views were spectacular as was the weather.
And, we got to pick wild blueberries (and eat them!):
Simply AWESOME. Too bad my camera died 3 pictures in, otherwise there would be more fun photos.
----
Back in the world of music (why I'm here, right?) the quartet assigned to my piece has been rehearsing and played for me for the first time on Friday. They were awesome! Flexible, excited and very skilled. My piece, a movment for string quartet called "The Nascent Past," is being played Tuesday, I believe. Recordings, videos and whatever else I can post here will be available.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Beethoven: Ying style.
This past Friday held the most recent installment for the "Festival Fridays" concert series, which is most usually the venue for orchestral pieces and concerti. Ray Chen played the Brahms violin concerto, and very well at that. He is quite a showman, and an excellent violinist. Though I doubt his full potential was on display due to a lack of orchestra rehearsal time (2 rehearsals just isn't enough for an orchestra that meets bi-weekly), his ensemble and attention to the group as well as himself was remarkable, and it came across in the music.
The most interesting portion of the evening for me, however, was the first half of the program. The Ying Quartet, in residence here at Bowdoin for the first three weeks, played the Beethoven "Rasoumovsky" quartet. Simply awesome.
Their performances of the fourth movement and encore of it after a 5-minute standing ovation were spectacular, but not because they were necessarily supremely accurate. Many of my colleagues here remarked that the playing in their ultra-fast rendition lacked clarity and accuracy of sound. Of course they didn't sound like they were putting their bows or fingers down willy-nilly, but not every passage was pinpoint accurate. And, I think that might have been part of what was so incredible.
Given the blistering pace at which they took the movement it was astonishing to hear how cleanly and evenly matched the transitions, thematic trades dynamics were. Despite the number of notes that were sounding there was a constant sensibility of long lines and big, beautiful phrases that were built from the twittering beneath. The energy was palpable while they were playing and the way that each performer was able to communicate with the others was magical. That magic, that unspoken, inarticulable connection, is what made the music come alive. By "talking" to eachother on stage they brought the whole audience with them.
As a composer I am one step removed from that. I can't make sure of any performer constantly reaching that place, and to expect it would be unrealistic. But, there may be a way to do that on the page - to push things along in a way. Making that discourse happen on my manuscript paper is now explicitly and precisely part of what I am working towards with my music.
I'll let you know when I figure it out...
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Off to Acadia National Park (and maybe a little Bar Harbor). Pictures forthcoming!
The most interesting portion of the evening for me, however, was the first half of the program. The Ying Quartet, in residence here at Bowdoin for the first three weeks, played the Beethoven "Rasoumovsky" quartet. Simply awesome.
Their performances of the fourth movement and encore of it after a 5-minute standing ovation were spectacular, but not because they were necessarily supremely accurate. Many of my colleagues here remarked that the playing in their ultra-fast rendition lacked clarity and accuracy of sound. Of course they didn't sound like they were putting their bows or fingers down willy-nilly, but not every passage was pinpoint accurate. And, I think that might have been part of what was so incredible.
Given the blistering pace at which they took the movement it was astonishing to hear how cleanly and evenly matched the transitions, thematic trades dynamics were. Despite the number of notes that were sounding there was a constant sensibility of long lines and big, beautiful phrases that were built from the twittering beneath. The energy was palpable while they were playing and the way that each performer was able to communicate with the others was magical. That magic, that unspoken, inarticulable connection, is what made the music come alive. By "talking" to eachother on stage they brought the whole audience with them.
As a composer I am one step removed from that. I can't make sure of any performer constantly reaching that place, and to expect it would be unrealistic. But, there may be a way to do that on the page - to push things along in a way. Making that discourse happen on my manuscript paper is now explicitly and precisely part of what I am working towards with my music.
I'll let you know when I figure it out...
-----
Off to Acadia National Park (and maybe a little Bar Harbor). Pictures forthcoming!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Take me out
Last Saturday we took a trip down to Portland to see the minor-league team, The Portland Sea Dogs. They're the minor league affiliate of the Boston RedSox. It was fun, mostly because my group decided to (aggressively) support the away team (we're all New Yorkers...).
After some children gave us the stink-eye and Linnea was called, "potty-mouth" we slumped into a hot-dog and beer-induced coma, eventually leaving at the 7th inning stretch. (The away team won, by the way. I'm saying it was in no small part thanks to us.)
This week has been busy - hence my lack of updates. I've been working away at the song cycle, getting mired in some text that moves more quickly than I'm used to (from image to image). It's fun, but I don't think I have these next two songs down yet. I've handed the first two over to the singer for the next session of the festival, which begins Monday. Hopefully at least some of the songs will make their way into performance.
Tonight there is going to be a bit of a sight-reading party. Players here are great and I think my quartet might even get a read-through. Also, if we do the reading somewhere with a piano I might fake through the Schubert's "Trout Quintet", which would be great.
More soon...
After some children gave us the stink-eye and Linnea was called, "potty-mouth" we slumped into a hot-dog and beer-induced coma, eventually leaving at the 7th inning stretch. (The away team won, by the way. I'm saying it was in no small part thanks to us.)
This week has been busy - hence my lack of updates. I've been working away at the song cycle, getting mired in some text that moves more quickly than I'm used to (from image to image). It's fun, but I don't think I have these next two songs down yet. I've handed the first two over to the singer for the next session of the festival, which begins Monday. Hopefully at least some of the songs will make their way into performance.
Tonight there is going to be a bit of a sight-reading party. Players here are great and I think my quartet might even get a read-through. Also, if we do the reading somewhere with a piano I might fake through the Schubert's "Trout Quintet", which would be great.
More soon...
Monday, July 05, 2010
4th-y weekend.
A bit of a hiatus from blogging, yes. But, July 4th weekend was lots of fun!
Friday 'started' with a lesson (really, it was at 4pm). Claude Baker seemed to like my song by the end of it. Although, I should probably be working more towards more meaningful tonal strides. In time, I suppose.
After that, I left composition behind for a couple days (oops). Friday evening held a concert that was impressive for its firepower. Glenn Dicterow, Liang Wang, Ray Chen, and a host of other fantastic players in an all-Schumann program. Liang Wang played the "Three Romances," which he saved from being the schmaltz that they are through his fantastic playing and lovely performance - very rarely have I seen an instrumental soloist spend so much time away from sheet music when it was available. His perhaps overly-conspicuous sojourns from the page actually drew greater attention to some of his superbly expressive detail. Next was the Schumann piano quintet in E-flat, Op. 44. Always an amazing piece, but with Glen Dicterow at the helm there were certainly more wonderful moments than usual. His economy of movment is always astounding, as is the sound he produces from his Guarneri. It was also interesting to watch how he lead the much younger Ray Chen. Ray is a masterful player and his youthful styling provided an interesting foil for the other more seasoned players in the group - all of which were at least 10 years his senior. The final piece on the concert was the Piano Concerto in a-minor - one of my favorites. This was, however, the first outing for the festival orchestra, with a new soloist and only two rehearsals. The tempi were impeccable and, at last, the performance struck me as one not of precision but heart and energy - wonderfully enjoyable and very exciting.
That night there was a party. A great party. A party that I was still recovering from Saturday morning when I embarked on a trip down to Kennebunk.
I spent much of Saturday and Sunday at my friend Kelly's (well, her family's) in Kennebunk. I lived with Kelly when I was at Vassar in my senior year. A couple of her tennis teammates were there as well - Jamie and Courtney - with whom I was also friendly. It was great to have a miniature Vassar reunion and to see Kelly's parents, who were the most gracious and generous of hosts. Lobster at the boat club, tennis in the morning across the way, and some sun at the beach - need I say more?
After returning to Brunswick on Sunday morning, the 4th, I spent a bit of time having some beer with my housemate Josh and some other string players from the festival - Laura, Laurel and Linnea. After making a bit of dinner we took off in my car for Portland, where there were going to be fireworks. After a lot of searching for parking and eventually finding space in what looked like the local projects (dubious), we walked over to the hill where the fireworks were to be. The Portland played some "American Favorites" (with a bit of Tchaikovsky for good measure...) to about a 45-minute fireworks show, which was very impressive.
After we returned, there was a bit more beer and the following portrait of Laurel, Josh and Linnea (L to R) which, though ambiguous, remains iconic in my mind:
Epic, to say the least.
In any event, I'm back to writing. It feels good, almost comfortable in a relaxing sort of way. Hopefully I'll have another song (mostly) done by tomorrow... fingers crossed.
Friday 'started' with a lesson (really, it was at 4pm). Claude Baker seemed to like my song by the end of it. Although, I should probably be working more towards more meaningful tonal strides. In time, I suppose.
After that, I left composition behind for a couple days (oops). Friday evening held a concert that was impressive for its firepower. Glenn Dicterow, Liang Wang, Ray Chen, and a host of other fantastic players in an all-Schumann program. Liang Wang played the "Three Romances," which he saved from being the schmaltz that they are through his fantastic playing and lovely performance - very rarely have I seen an instrumental soloist spend so much time away from sheet music when it was available. His perhaps overly-conspicuous sojourns from the page actually drew greater attention to some of his superbly expressive detail. Next was the Schumann piano quintet in E-flat, Op. 44. Always an amazing piece, but with Glen Dicterow at the helm there were certainly more wonderful moments than usual. His economy of movment is always astounding, as is the sound he produces from his Guarneri. It was also interesting to watch how he lead the much younger Ray Chen. Ray is a masterful player and his youthful styling provided an interesting foil for the other more seasoned players in the group - all of which were at least 10 years his senior. The final piece on the concert was the Piano Concerto in a-minor - one of my favorites. This was, however, the first outing for the festival orchestra, with a new soloist and only two rehearsals. The tempi were impeccable and, at last, the performance struck me as one not of precision but heart and energy - wonderfully enjoyable and very exciting.
That night there was a party. A great party. A party that I was still recovering from Saturday morning when I embarked on a trip down to Kennebunk.
I spent much of Saturday and Sunday at my friend Kelly's (well, her family's) in Kennebunk. I lived with Kelly when I was at Vassar in my senior year. A couple of her tennis teammates were there as well - Jamie and Courtney - with whom I was also friendly. It was great to have a miniature Vassar reunion and to see Kelly's parents, who were the most gracious and generous of hosts. Lobster at the boat club, tennis in the morning across the way, and some sun at the beach - need I say more?
After returning to Brunswick on Sunday morning, the 4th, I spent a bit of time having some beer with my housemate Josh and some other string players from the festival - Laura, Laurel and Linnea. After making a bit of dinner we took off in my car for Portland, where there were going to be fireworks. After a lot of searching for parking and eventually finding space in what looked like the local projects (dubious), we walked over to the hill where the fireworks were to be. The Portland played some "American Favorites" (with a bit of Tchaikovsky for good measure...) to about a 45-minute fireworks show, which was very impressive.
After we returned, there was a bit more beer and the following portrait of Laurel, Josh and Linnea (L to R) which, though ambiguous, remains iconic in my mind:
Epic, to say the least.
In any event, I'm back to writing. It feels good, almost comfortable in a relaxing sort of way. Hopefully I'll have another song (mostly) done by tomorrow... fingers crossed.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
On we go.
Here at Bowdoin it's been an eventful couple of days. Tuesday's lesson with Claude Baker was an interesting getting-to-know-you kind of meeting. I showed him the two pieces I am submitting for the Gamper Festival, to which I think (hope) he responded favorably. I'm proud of the string quartet, even though it's a bit short at 5'30". These musical products are starting to feel more authentically "me."
The best part of the lesson for me was the crystallization of something that I was just beginning to perceive in my music and to which I think most of my other teachers had merely alluded, hoping I would get the hint. My harmonic language is too static in a large-scale way - often my pieces were getting locked into a set of pitches, returned to over and over again, that made the piece stand still even if the gesture and rhythms of the music looked like the they should chug forward. The string quartet does this less so, I think (I got the impression he did as well). But, now that I am keenly aware of it, the songs I am writing should take on a sensibility informed by the careful consideration of this kind of harmonic action. I'll be bringing in the first one to lesson tomorrow - we'll see how it goes.
-----
The weather yesterday was absolutely perfect. Today as well, despite a few extra clouds. "Home," pictured above, is a great place to hang. All of the people in the contiguous apartments are great fun and have been making our little area of campus quite warm and comfortable. The mosquitos, however, have not. They are vicious. The vermin even come out in the middle of the day - something to which I am not accustomed, coming from northern NJ. Good thing I have plenty of DEET in the spray I bought.
I found a driving range and 3 golf courses today as well. Those should provide some amusement in the coming weeks. Hopefully they won't be too much of a distraction from writing.
The rest of today has a master class with Glenn Dicterow and then lots more writing. I think Chicken Tikka Masala is on the menu this evening. Hopefully so is a lot more of the song cycle.
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