cmashing
Last night Dan and I ventured out to the city to see a CMASH concert. I knew one of the composers on the program, and the singer also, both of whom I'd met at the CSU Summer Arts Fresno thing. The concert was at the SF Conservatory, in the recital hall.
Ann (the singer) was amazing. The pianist was great too, but let's face it, these were all art songs and so it really was all about the singer for the most part. The concert opened up with a collection of A A Milne songs (you know, the Winnie the Pooh guy), which were cute little pieces about childhood. It's nice sometimes to go to a concert where not everything is trying to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Really people, it's ok to have cute little pieces. And this was one of them, good cute little pieces.
The next song was by a more established composer, John Thow. I know I'd heard the name before, but I didn't really know who he was. Just a glance at his dates and of the piece (started in the 80s and finished in 2003) was clue enough to what I was going to be hearing. It was alright...I mean, it wasn't new, but it didn't suck, though I still wouldn't run out trying to find eveything John Thow or anything. I heard some people afterwards who were talking about it, who didn't like it. But whatever, you take a chance going to a new music concert. It was definately different from the rest of the concert, and quite jarring after the first piece, and so maybe these audience members were caught off guard. I don't know, I've been to enough of these to come to expect this kind of thing. Whatever.
The final piece on the first half was probably my least favorite of the night. For one, Ann got covered up by the other instruments (bass, drums and piano, of course an unmiked singer will get covered up!) and then there was the matter of the music itself. Obviously, this composer was influenced by minimalism, which isn't a complaint really, I like minimalism, it's influenced me too. But it had minimalism and was emotionally manipulative and had monty python-esque transitions, none of which seemed to work together at all and most of which made me quietly cringe in my seat. especially the emotionally manipulativeness, and no, I doubt I could adequately explain what exactly that means.
After the intermission, we came back to hear a collection of songs I failed to understand. I'd heard one of the songs before, though it had been rewritten since I heard it. Each piece on it's own was ok, I still didn't care for the over-the-topness of the one I'd heard before, but they didn't seem to make much sense to me as a collection. I get that each poem was about the moon, but shouldn't there be more to tie everything together? Either I missed it, or it wasn't there.
The second song of the second half was again influenced by minimalism, and upon research in the program, found he studies with the guy who wrote the piece just before the intermission. It sounded a little immature to be honest, and so I think this composer has more to learn.
The last piece was probably the one I enjoyed the most. This composer was one of the more established, has written a bunch of operas and is composer in residence at SF opera I believe. Now this was good. Admittedly, the first of the four songs had a lot of pentatonicness going on, and yeah, maybe it was a bit much, but it made sense, there was never a point in the piece where I didn't understand what was going on, there was never a transition that didn't make sense. And I had the feeling I'd actually heard the third song before somewhere else, as another piece...it seemed very very familiar. But despite all these complaints, the last collection was quite good. In fact, quite amusingly, the last of these songs was exactly the kind of thing that two of the other pieces were trying to be, with the exception that this last song succeeded.
Even though this criticism may seem a little harsh, I did enjoy the concert, and it gave me the chance to hear what other young composers are writing. In fact, I enjoyed it more than I've enjoyed some of the composer inc concerts I've been to recently.
On the graduate school front, still no new news. have booked my trip out to BGSU and Hartt (and NEC as a side trip, no interview there).
Last week I had my first lesson in...two months? eek. Anyway, I was working on a bowed piano and chamber choir piece...and after a lot of post-lesson thinking, debating, and whatnot, I've come to the conclusion that the piece I was working on is not the piece I should be working on. From a practical stand point, that's not the piece that will get played. A piece I can workshop with the new music ensmeble at school, that's a piece that I can learn from. Even a band piece would be more practical, it would not be difficult to get one performed (it would, however, be difficult to write a band piece I didn't think was crap). So, after all I heard yesterday, I think I'll have some ideas to try and work with this week.
Ann (the singer) was amazing. The pianist was great too, but let's face it, these were all art songs and so it really was all about the singer for the most part. The concert opened up with a collection of A A Milne songs (you know, the Winnie the Pooh guy), which were cute little pieces about childhood. It's nice sometimes to go to a concert where not everything is trying to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Really people, it's ok to have cute little pieces. And this was one of them, good cute little pieces.
The next song was by a more established composer, John Thow. I know I'd heard the name before, but I didn't really know who he was. Just a glance at his dates and of the piece (started in the 80s and finished in 2003) was clue enough to what I was going to be hearing. It was alright...I mean, it wasn't new, but it didn't suck, though I still wouldn't run out trying to find eveything John Thow or anything. I heard some people afterwards who were talking about it, who didn't like it. But whatever, you take a chance going to a new music concert. It was definately different from the rest of the concert, and quite jarring after the first piece, and so maybe these audience members were caught off guard. I don't know, I've been to enough of these to come to expect this kind of thing. Whatever.
The final piece on the first half was probably my least favorite of the night. For one, Ann got covered up by the other instruments (bass, drums and piano, of course an unmiked singer will get covered up!) and then there was the matter of the music itself. Obviously, this composer was influenced by minimalism, which isn't a complaint really, I like minimalism, it's influenced me too. But it had minimalism and was emotionally manipulative and had monty python-esque transitions, none of which seemed to work together at all and most of which made me quietly cringe in my seat. especially the emotionally manipulativeness, and no, I doubt I could adequately explain what exactly that means.
After the intermission, we came back to hear a collection of songs I failed to understand. I'd heard one of the songs before, though it had been rewritten since I heard it. Each piece on it's own was ok, I still didn't care for the over-the-topness of the one I'd heard before, but they didn't seem to make much sense to me as a collection. I get that each poem was about the moon, but shouldn't there be more to tie everything together? Either I missed it, or it wasn't there.
The second song of the second half was again influenced by minimalism, and upon research in the program, found he studies with the guy who wrote the piece just before the intermission. It sounded a little immature to be honest, and so I think this composer has more to learn.
The last piece was probably the one I enjoyed the most. This composer was one of the more established, has written a bunch of operas and is composer in residence at SF opera I believe. Now this was good. Admittedly, the first of the four songs had a lot of pentatonicness going on, and yeah, maybe it was a bit much, but it made sense, there was never a point in the piece where I didn't understand what was going on, there was never a transition that didn't make sense. And I had the feeling I'd actually heard the third song before somewhere else, as another piece...it seemed very very familiar. But despite all these complaints, the last collection was quite good. In fact, quite amusingly, the last of these songs was exactly the kind of thing that two of the other pieces were trying to be, with the exception that this last song succeeded.
Even though this criticism may seem a little harsh, I did enjoy the concert, and it gave me the chance to hear what other young composers are writing. In fact, I enjoyed it more than I've enjoyed some of the composer inc concerts I've been to recently.
On the graduate school front, still no new news. have booked my trip out to BGSU and Hartt (and NEC as a side trip, no interview there).
Last week I had my first lesson in...two months? eek. Anyway, I was working on a bowed piano and chamber choir piece...and after a lot of post-lesson thinking, debating, and whatnot, I've come to the conclusion that the piece I was working on is not the piece I should be working on. From a practical stand point, that's not the piece that will get played. A piece I can workshop with the new music ensmeble at school, that's a piece that I can learn from. Even a band piece would be more practical, it would not be difficult to get one performed (it would, however, be difficult to write a band piece I didn't think was crap). So, after all I heard yesterday, I think I'll have some ideas to try and work with this week.
posted by Jessica at
10:23 AM
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