Alt-Classical

With all the buzz out there regarding small-label alt-classical, I thought I should let you know just how much you can find on the NML. Here's a quick sampling of labels and albums to hear in this genre.


New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam Records was formed as a haven for the young New York composers and performers whose music slips through the cracks between genres. Artists include the ‘adventurous cello songstress’ Jody Redhage and the band Build (made up of violin, cello, piano, bass and drums, and led by composer/violinist Matt McBane).

Sarah Kirkland Snider- Penelope NWAM023
Missy Mazzoli/Victoire- Cathedral City NWAM025
Janus- i am not NWAM024
Corey Dargel- Someone Will Take Care of Me- NWAM021


Cantaloupe Music
Cantaloupe Music is the record label created in March 2001 by the three founders of New York's legendary Bang on a Can Festival: composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, and Bang on a Can managing director Kenny Savelson. Cantaloupe Music has made a massive impact in the new music community, and been recognized by critics and fans around the globe for its adventurous sounds. Their goal is to provide a home for "music that slips between the cracks."

David Lang - Child CA-21013
Tristan Perich - 1-Bit Symphony CA-21054
So Percussion/Matmos - Treasure State CA-21065
Evan Ziporyn - Melody Competition CA-21022


Innova
Innova recordings (founded in 1982) is the record label of the American Composers Forum. Innova champions work that pushes and challenges the boundaries of contemporary music. From Avant-jazz to Electronic music, to the very latest from the Classical frontlines, innova chronicles music before it hits mainstream ears.

Harry Partch - 11 Intrusions INNOVA561
Judith Shatin - Tower of the Eight Winds INNOVA770
Maya Beiser - Provenance INNOVA778


Non Classical
Established by Gabriel Prokofiev, the grandson of Sergei (yes, THAT Sergei Prokofiev), the label Nonclassical represents Gabriel’s determination to re-engage pop fans with classical music by breaking down the barriers of genre. Each CD of forward-thinking compositions comes with a selection of remixes from electronic producers.

John Matthias and Nick Ryan - Cortical Songs NONCLSS004
Mercury Quartet - Mercury Acoustic NONCLSS009
Gabriel Prokofiev - String Quartet No. 1 with Remixes NONCLSS001


Open up to the alt-classical movement. It might change the way you think about classical music. Just ask Judd Greenstein.


Pro musica,

Mo
nmlhelp@naxosusa.com

Opera in the Present Tense

If you're not an active opera fan you may not know that there's opera other than La Bohème performed in America. No, I don't mean Carmen. Or The Mikado.

I mean opera composed by people who are still alive. This is exciting to me not only due to the excellence of the music, the brilliance of the singers, and the incredible vistas of the sets which are art in themselves. It excites me because there is new life constantly being breathed into the genre.


Here's a sampling of some new American opera that's making waves.

Il Postino--Daniel Catán
Based on the 1994 film by the same name as well as the 1985 novel Ardiente Paciencia by Antonio Skármeta, this opera addresses the end of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's life in exile from his homeland. Premiered at LA Opera in August 2010.

Shadowboxer--Frank Proto and John Chenault
Based on the tumultuous personal life of boxer Joe Louis. Premiered at the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in April 2010. Along with the pit, the opera calls for an 8-piece jazz combo onstage.

Moby Dick--Jake Heggie
Exactly what it sounds like. This adaptation of the classical Melville novel had a positively triumphant premiere with an all-star cast at the Dallas Opera in April 2010.

The Inspector--John Musto
To be premiered in April 2011 by the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. Loosely based on Gogol's satire The Government Inspector.

Orpheus and Euridice--Ricky Ian Gordon
Orpheus and Euridice saw a smashing success in 2008 at Long Beach Opera. The work casts a soprano as Euridice and a clarinetist as Orpheus, both of whom dance throughout the opera.

Paradise Lost--Eric Whitacre
Whitacre is primarily known for his choral works and caused quite a stir when, at a very high point in his popularity, he announced this work. A mixture of styles was used in what he calls "music theatre." Inspired heavily by Japanese anime and manga, the show melds opera with musical theatre, electronica, film score, and Asian drumming.

Madame White Snake--Zhou Long
A classical Chinese transformation myth about a white snake demon who turns into a beautiful woman in order to experience love. Premiered February 2010, Opera Boston.

Before Night Falls--Jorge Martín
Produced by the Fort Worth Opera (my hometown, by the way) in May 2010, this work is based on the book and subsequent film of the same name. The story is autobiographical, a look at the life, imprisonment, and escape of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas.

Two Boys--Nico Muhly
The first opera from the 28-year old darling of the "nonclassical" genre, this is said to be the story of a murder hatched by two young men in a chat room. To be premiered at the ENO in 2011.


National Opera Week wraps up on Sunday, November 7. I hope that you will enjoy some more opera before that day and beyond!




Pro musica,

Mo
nmlhelp@naxousa.com

Living Music

When most people think of classical music they think of the tried and true standbys of opera and orchestra—Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Verdi, Debussy, and so on.
You know, the dead white guys.
But when you love classical music like we do, you know that we also need to look forward in order to keep it growing and vital.
Today I want to briefly look at a few living composers who continue to change the face of art music by pushing boundaries, blending uncommon elements, or just quietly filling the world with the beautiful.




David Lang (b. 1957)
I have a slight obsession with the work of Bang On A Can co-founder David Lang. I’m deep in score study on his Pulitzer Prize-winning Little Match Girl Passion for SATB soli and percussion. Lang’s work is known to be quite easy on the ear-- especially as far as postminimalist composers go—but it is in truth mathematically conceived, heavily structured, and driven by fidelity to meter. Pieces like his orchestral work Pierced demonstrate the surprisingly accessible result of this percussionist’s metrical attention.
Lang also pushes the boundaries of art music by bringing in popular references. From Jimi Hendrix (Are You Experienced?) to reworking the Velvet Underground tune “Heroin” into an 11-minute, lush motivic meditation for voice and cello.

Found it on the NML:
- Pierced / 8.559615 / orch
- Heroin / 8.559615 / chamber
- Are you Experienced? / CHAN9363 / orch
- Memory Pieces / INNOVA734 / solo piano





Hilary Tann ( b. 1947)
Tann is a Welsh-born composer now living and working in the U.S. Her compositional style is often described as being reflective of her environmental background in Wales: lyrical, unvarnished, spare. The lyricism in her works, however, is at little risk for mawkishness by virtue of the composer’s astute attention to texture and harmony.
The Moor, an a cappella duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano, pits two voices, two textures, two rhythmic functions, against one another and allows them to rub and pass one another like feet on a bare floor. Though Tann’s Welsh heritage informs much of her output, she is known to draw inspiration from yet another culture noted for appreciation of simplicity. After cultivating a musicological interest for some time, Tann took a short teaching residence in the Kansai region of Japan and pursued study of the shakuhachi, or Japanese bamboo flute, which appears in several of her works.

Found it on the NML:
- Llef / PH05019 / chamber
- The Cresset Stone / PH05019 / chamber
- Shakkei / NSR1048 / orch





Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960)
Born in Argentina to Eastern-European Jewish parents, Osvaldo Golijov spent his early life surrounded by tango, klezmer, Jewish liturgical, and classical chamber music. From this uncommon musical soup came a composer with a singular voice and a broad compositional scope.
Golijov’s music can swing between Jewish and Latin American cultures with astonishing speed, though most of his pieces have a prevailing cultural language. His work La Pasion Segun San Marcos (St. Mark Passion) is a massive bombshell of a piece, turning the genre dominated by Bach on its ear with blaring brass, pulsating percussion, and Spanish text. Other pieces, such as klezmer-influenced works Yiddishbbuk and Rocketeyka, have a distinctly Jewish tone. Still others, like Mariel for cello and marimba and much of his vocal work recorded by Dawn Upshaw, simply showcase a composer with an acutely advanced harmonic language.

Found it on the NML:
- La Pasion Segun San Marcos / CD98.404 / oratorio
- Yiddishbbuk / DSL-92108 / chamber
- Tenebrae / ORC100012 / chamber



Pro musica,

Mo
nmlhelp@naxosusa.com