Modern Day Varèse
Interesting review of a recent concert by the Manhattan School of Music Percussion Ensemble performing Edgard Varèse. A notable quote:
Having grown up surrounded by hiphop, industrial, and electronica, these kids find nothing unusual in the idea of a piece which is all about sirens, noise and thunderous percussion. In fact, I think they get a work like Ionisation in a way that most classically-trained musicians of previous generations have a lot of trouble wrapping their heads around.
Via aworks which also links to an mp3 download of Ionisation.
January 31st, 2007 at 6:29 pm »
Yes, and the next concert in the series is one of Zappa’s music. Is anyone going to this in NYC who can report? See:
http://www.millertheater.com/Events/EventDetails.aspx?nid=1020
January 31st, 2007 at 7:03 pm »
Sounds like it was an exciting event. I can relate to what he said about the way younger people relate to the rhythmic aspects of the music. I went to a Varese concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall several yars back which was aimed at secondary school children, and they really seemed to enjoy it.
January 31st, 2007 at 11:42 pm »
I’ll be reviewing the Zappa composer portrait as well.
February 1st, 2007 at 8:05 am »
An orchestral King Kong? Curious.
February 1st, 2007 at 8:31 pm »
Very nice write up (and I was there). Try googling the NY Times review wherein Varese is labeled as “wistfully dated” by the mental midget.
February 2nd, 2007 at 3:47 am »
Who says February is the cruellest month?
Absurd as it may sound, this’s my first exposure 2 Ionisation of more than 20sec. duration … mmm, stochastic … & noisy … yup, I can see a certain smart-ass kid w/ a big nose now, drivin’ his Ma up the wall by cranking THAT up full-blast – a seminal moment in 20th Century Music.
February 5th, 2007 at 11:06 am »
New York Times has a review of the Zappa concert at the Miller theater (as mentioned above by Rick Wood).
February 5th, 2007 at 1:07 pm »
Mine’s up now too. And at the bottom, I link to some of the other blogosphere reviews.