Mixed Media

Great Composers & a World Premiere with the Binghamton Philharmonic tomorrow (4/5/08)

Binghamton Philharmonic Composer-in-Residence Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez (pictured, right) and Music Director José-Luis Novo stopped by for a live radio interview today. I hadn't had the opportunity to interview either gentleman before, so it was a treat for me. I could have kept them for an hour, especially on the subject of new music and its place in the concert hall and on our airwaves.

The new music in question today is ...Ex Machina for for Piano, Marimba and Orchestra by Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez , which was commissioned by the Binghamton Philharmonic. Guest performers for the work are marimbist Makoto Nakura and pianist Cristina Valdés.

Sánchez-Gutiérrez also appeared on WSKG TV's Expressions program last night, holding forth on the same subject. You can see that program online.

The concert tomorrow night in Binghamton University's Anderson Center also features Brahms Symphony No. 2 and Beethoven's Egmont Overture (which we inadvertently played twice on WSKG Radio today within the same hour--I played it with the interview then our network classical service coincidentally played it right after the 10am news. I hate it when that happens.)

Interestingly, Sánchez-Gutiérrez work is inspired by the kinetic sculptures of Arthur Ganson, who joins the composer for a pre-concert talk in the Anderson Center Chamber Hall an hour before the concert. The lecture is free for ticket holders.

--Gregory Keeler

www.binghamtonphilharmonic.org

composer Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez' website

sculptor Arthur Ganson's website

'Ain't Necessarily So' captures the artists' true colors

Culled from a three-night run at Birdland in May 1997, Ain't Necessarily So captures the pianist/vocalist on the cusp of a transition. The booking came on the heels of Ballads, Blues And Bey, a solo recital on which Bey, then 57, primarily known for the power and rhythmic snap of his soulful baritone, complemented his supple, multitextured instrument with a startling array of free-flowing piano voicings and harmonic colors. In doing so, Bey revealed himself to the broader public as an A-list crooner, whose approach to the jazz songbook could be mentioned in the same sentence as similarly silkvoiced antecedents Billy Eckstine and Nat Cole. A year later, Shades Of Bey launched a trilogy of more elaborately produced studio albums.

Read the full review here.

Outlaw country singer tries a new pasture

Merle Haggard has been churning out albums for nearly 40 years, fashioning a career as an iconoclastic country-music legend and scoring dozens of hits — including that slap at the hippie generation, "Okie from Muskogee." Now 70, "The Hag" has just made a foray into bluegrass: The Bluegrass Sessions features revamped versions of songs both old and new.

One of the new tracks, "Learning to Live with Myself," was written in his bathtub — or at least, according to Haggard, "There was water everywhere."

"At my age, I've learned how to live with my spouse and I've learned how to live with my beautiful children," Haggard says. "I learned how to be friends with everybody and do everything. The only thing I hadn't learned how to do was to learn to live with myself. I think that's probably the hardest thing we all have to do. We can lie to everybody else, but you can't lie to yourself."

Click here to read the full article and listen to the piece originally broadcast on All Things Considered.

Musicologist Leonard B. Meyer dies

Leonard B. Meyer, a pioneering musicologist whose 1956 book, “Emotion and Meaning in Music,” remains one of the most significant scholarly works in the field of music cognition, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by his daughter Carlin Meyer.

“Emotion and Meaning in Music,” adapted from his doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago, placed Mr. Meyer at the forefront of the emerging field that connects music theory and aesthetics to psychology and neuroscience. In the book, considered his most important, Mr. Meyer sought links between emotional responses and musical patterns, especially those in which an expectation is built up and then delayed or diverted — for example, the “deceptive cadence,” a chord progression figuring prominently in Mozart’s compositions in which the dominant chord (based on the fifth note of the scale in question) resolves in an unexpected way rather than returning to the key’s “home” chord, or tonic.

Mr. Meyer was among the first scholars to explore the relationship between game theory and music composition, and suggested that the value of a musical work was in direct correlation to how well the complexity of the work engaged the listener. For instance, works in which the audience’s every expectation was met were found to be ultimately unsatisfying. So, too, were works in which no expectations were met.

Click here to read the full article.

Top Ten Unknown Artists of 2007

It's a great time to be a musician. Anyone can have a home studio and record an album, and there are more ways to distribute that album and get it heard than ever before. In Second Stage's year-end Top 10 list, All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton shares the best of the great unknowns. These are the year's best outsider artists: musicians whose remarkable recordings went largely overlooked in 2007.

Click here for the full list and audio.

Top 25 CDs of 2007 (chosen by NPR listeners)

Tens of thousands of listeners voted in the All Songs Considered poll for the year's best CDs. It was tight for much of the race, with Radiohead and Arcade Fire running neck-and-neck for first place. But in the end, Radiohead's In Rainbows pulled ahead as an overwhelming winner.

There were also surprises: Some of the year's most anticipated CDs (like Rilo Kiley's Under the Blacklight), or most popular albums (like Lily Allen's Alright, Still) barely made the top 25. Meanwhile, smaller acts like Andrew Bird wound up in the Top 10.

Click hear to see the top 25 CDs of 2007 voted by listeners just like you.

The Sounds of the Ehru

It sounds almost like a violin — but not quite.

The erhu is a traditional Chinese instrument. Ma Xiaohui says that in China, people associate it with beggars.

But Ma is a virtuoso performer on the erhu, fluent in both regional Chinese and Western repertoire. She recently spoke with Robert Siegel about her craft.

The erhu is an instrument with two long strings, played using a bamboo bow strung with horsehair. Sound projects out of the small windows on the back of the instrument's body, which is made of old redwood and snakeskin.

The right hand controls the bow. Press down, and you play one string; pull up, and you play the other.

The left hand always touches both strings. Without frets, proper intonation is difficult, but the possibilities for tonal flexibility are great.

Listen to the feature that originally aired on All Things Considered.

Drum circle offering in Oneonta

ONEONTA, N.Y. -- Kirtrina Baxter will offer a presentation entitled "Drum Circles: Connecting Human Spirit Through Rhythm" at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 18, at the Center for Multicultural Experiences in Lee Hall at the SUNY College at Oneonta. Admission is complimentary, and members of the community are invited to attend.

A drum circle is a group of people gathered into a circle for the purpose of making music with percussion instruments. Circles can range from a few friends in a living room to hundreds of people at an event. Drum circles are thought to contribute to creativity, healing, and empowerment.

Kirtrina Baxter began playing percussion instruments as a child in her church. As an adult, she re-discovered her relationship with drums. She began playing with friends, in a band, and as a drum circle leader. She now conducts drum circle workshops through which she tries to "share the creative, healing aspects of drumming, and empower others to find self-expression and wholeness through music."

More information about Kirtrina Baxter's appearance at SUNY-Oneonta is available from the Center for Multicultural Experiences at (607) 436-2663.

Update: Opera great Pavarotti dead at 71

Luciano Pavarotti passed away this morning after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. The online news sites are full of articles about his life and his death, and many memories are pouring in from fans around the world.

A few links that caught my eye and might be of interest to those of you reading this:

AFP's Obituary

U2's Bono Pays Tribute to Pavarotti

Quotes by Pavarotti (taken from his 1995 autobiography "Pavarotti: My World)

Tributes from around the world

NPR's Tribute to Pavarotti

And, of course, an example of the great man doing what he did best:

Pavorotti reported in 'serious condition'

Opera star Luciano Pavarotti's health has worsened in his battle against pancreatic cancer. The singer, now 71, has been released from the hospital and is now being treated at home, although his condition remains 'very serious.'

The full article reporting this news can be found here.