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.
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
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.
I’ll be reviewing the Zappa composer portrait as well.
An orchestral King Kong? Curious.
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.
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.
New York Times has a review of the Zappa concert at the Miller theater (as mentioned above by Rick Wood).
Mine’s up now too. And at the bottom, I link to some of the other blogosphere reviews.