Conductor and pianist Reinbert de Leeuw has died. Leeuw was a staunch champion of contemporary music and an absorbing interpreter of the works of Erik Satie. For Nonesuch records, he recorded music by Louis Andriessen and Steve Reich.
He was also a longtime friend, mentor, and collaborator of Barbara Hannigan. Together, they gave some riveting recitals.
Leeuw died on Valentine’s Day. He was 81 years-old.
Steve Reich, “Tehillim”
Louis Andriessen, “De Staat”
Leeuw plays Satie:
With Hannigan, in recital – with performances like these, who needs the translations?
Has Sir Harrison Birtwistle ever cracked a smile? One that isn’t at the expense of his audience, I mean?
Today is Sir Harry’s 85th birthday. Despite sharing his fascination with Gawain, Punch, the Minotaur, Anubis, Orpheus, King Kong, and any number of other subjects that form the bases for his operas and concert works, I find he’s a composer whose music I have only ever moderately warmed up to.
I vastly prefer the output of his contemporary and fellow former enfant terrible of the so-called Manchester School, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Late in life, Max may have been appointed Master of the Queen’s Music – you can’t get more establishment than that – but he never lost his impish glint. To some extent, it is that sense of mischief that makes even his earlier, more scandalous works somehow approachable.
I don’t really need music to be “easy” or even tonal. There are times when I can put on a Birtwistle record and totally go with it. But I don’t know that anything he has written engenders much affection in me. This is not an objective assessment, of course, and perhaps you will react differently.
Birtwistle has a local connection, by the way. He attended Princeton University on a Harkness Fellowship, beginning in 1965. There, he completed his opera “Punch and Judy,” which begins with Punch tossing his baby into the fire. This commences a murder spree that includes the stabbing of Judy, his wife. All this is presented in human form, making it much more disturbing than when enacted by puppets.
Perhaps you will find something to latch on to in one of these pieces recommended by The Guardian.
If I had to recommend one with which to start, it would be “Earth Dances” from 1986. I confess, listening to it now, it is not as impenetrable as I remember it being. In fact, it actually kind of makes sense.
There is something primordial in Birtwistle’s work, but it is not someplace I choose to live. At least the music has integrity, which I can’t always claim for some contemporary works of an easier-going disposition.
See what you think. Here is Birtwistle’s “Earth Dances.”
His music may not be the most conducive for wrapping up a work day, getting one through the afternoon commute, or enhancing the enjoyment of a cocktail hour, but we’ll see how I feel. One of his could be among the featured selections on my air shift today from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
If so, hang in there – it’s also the birthday of British Light Music master, Ronald Binge!
A work for amplified Volkswagen, played with flashlights. An opera for eleven dogs. A piano piece in which the performer crawls inside the lid and lets the piano play him.
Move over, Till Eulenspiegel. Today is the birthday of Robert Moran.
Moran, who’s made his home in Philadelphia for over 30 years, is contemporary music’s merry prankster.
Following studies in Vienna with Hans Erich Apostel, with whom he “learned to count to twelve” (as in twelve-tone music), Moran attended Mills College, where his teachers were Darius Milhaud and Luciano Berio. His classmates at Mills included Steve Reich, Phil Lesh, and Tom Constanten. Lesh and Constanten went on to play for The Grateful Dead. I wonder what ever happened to Reich?
While there, Moran became involved with the whole San Francisco scene. He gained notoriety in the late 1960s and early ‘70s through a series of performance pieces incorporating entire cities, including San Francisco, Bethlehem, PA, and Graz, Austria. These involved tens of thousands of performers.
His many stage works include “Desert of Roses” (after Beauty and the Beast), written for Houston Grand Opera, and “Alice” (after “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”), composed for the Scottish Ballet. Maurice Sendak introduced him to the Grimm fairy tale “The Juniper Tree,” which became an operatic collaboration with Philip Glass.
For the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Moran was commissioned to write a work for the youth chorus of Trinity Wall Street, the so-called “Ground Zero” church in Lower Manhattan. “Trinity Requiem,” scored for children’s chorus, four cellos, harp and organ, offers a similar brand of solace to that conjured in the 19th century masterwork by Gabriel Fauré.
With Moran, you never know what you’re going to get. In his more puckish moments, he might write for harpsichord and electric frying pan. But then there are times when his natural gift for lyricism will melt your heart. Whether he’s writing for Houston Grand Opera, 39 autos, giant puppets, or electric popcorn popper, his music is always vital and worth getting to know.
Join me today, between 4 and 7 p.m. EST, for music by Robert Moran, among our birthday celebrants, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
An aria from “Desert of Roses:”
Selections from “Trinity Requiem:”
“Obrigado” for Iowa Percussion:
Bob introducing his “Lunchbag Opera” for the BBC in 1971:
Mélomanie means music mania! It also could be translated, more charitably, as “a love of music.”
On today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, we’ll enjoy performances by Mélomanie, the Delaware-based ensemble that specializes in provocative pairings of early and contemporary music.
From the 17th century, we’ll hear from Michel-Richard Delalande (the Chaconne from “Les fontaines de Versailles”); from the 18th century, Johann Christian Shieferdecker (his Musicalisches Concert No. 1 in A minor) and Benoît Guillemant (the Sonata in C major, Op. 3, No. 4, for two bass instruments); and, from closer to our own time, Mark Hagerty (“Ultraviolet,” in its world premiere performance), Matthias Maute (“It’s Summertime: A Trilogy,” after George Gershwin), and Liduino Pitombeira (“Impressões Quixerés” and “The Sound of the Sea,” also receiving its world premiere).
Mélomanie’s next concert will take place on Sunday at 2 p.m. at The Delaware Contemporary, 200 S. Madison Street, in Wilmington, DE. You can learn more by visiting the ensemble’s website, melomanie.org.
It may be summertime for Matthias Maute, but, on this good, moody, October day, the rest of the afternoon will be seasoned with more autumnal fare, until 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
It’s getting rather late in the day on July 5. I’m kind of tapped out after the holiday, so here’s a brief essay for saxophone quartet by Michael Torke, called “July.”
