A Quote Just Before February 2011

Xenakis and Messiaen: Because I couldn't find a picture of Messiaen and Varèse (it was always going to be a long shot). Taken from a 'Q & A' with James Dillon on The Arts Desk.

Varèse, whom I heard him [Messiaen] describe as 'my brother, who does for the urban landscape what I try to do with nature'.

Alexander Goehr: Finding The Key ('The Messiaen Class').

Also do check out this Varèse documentary extract on YouTube. Best thing I've seen on him so far but I can't find out where to get the full length film. Don't think it's the new Frank Schaeffer film Varese: The One All Alone (which I haven't seen, yet). Looks too dated but it's hard to tell with all the stock footage and YouTube compression etc.

Listening/Reading Recently

Eötvös: writing on a score, see? (image courtesy of his site.)

Listening to and reading recently (apart from the Eötvös score and Kurtág Op2 score which I have ordered from EMB and the Feldman and the Dutilleux which I don't have access to, the Feldman isn't published anyway I don't think)

Eötvös - Sequences of the Wind ('flute and other instruments')
Scelsi - Ko Lho (flute and clarinet)
Kurtág - Officium Breve Op28 (string quartet), Wind Quintet Op2 (have a guess)
Dillon - Sgothan (flute)
Ferneyhough - Superscriptio (piccolo)
Lachenmann - Air (percussion and orchestra)
Berio - Allelujah II (for five groups of instruments), Points on a Curve to Find (for piano and 22 instruments)
Messiaen - Trois Petites Liturgies De La Presence Divine (women's choir, piano, onde Martenot, celesta, percussion, and strings)
Takemitsu - Garden Rain (brass ensemble)
Feldman - Trio for Flutes (erm)
Dusapin - I Pesci (flute)
Dutilleux - Ainsi La Nuit (string quartet)

Messiaen's Technique of My Musical Language: Available!!

This essential text was out of print for ages (I had to look for years and years before finding a copy of it, its importance as a reference and its rarity is arguably the primary reason why various scans of it are floating round on the interweb, which I won't link to here for legal reasons.)

It's now available (in legal hard-copy) from a few sources, Lynn* has managed to get a copy for the complement.inversion.etc franchise (thanks Lynn.), check it out here (only USA though, you could buy it in other territories obviously but that is where it ships from, only one in stock apparently so if you want it via the 'store' move quickly.)

I've included it as my 'deal of the week USA' if you check the side bar on the right and as the link above shows it's in my USA 'store' (which still needs its stock sorting out a bit, books are not in much of a decent order, bear with me.)

Also, you can buy it from Thompson Edition, here (ships from the USA but you can select different territories and currencies to display using the gadget thing at the bottom of the page.)

Amazon dealer price is currently $79,95, via Thompson Edition it's $71.50 (not including postage, I think.). So for those in the UK that's in the £50 'ball-park' at the current exchange rate.

And in the UK, it's available from Musicroom.com, here (a slightly pricey £79.99)

I can say (from the bottom of my 'heart') that it's a really useful text, not just for interpreting Messiaen's music, but of wider compositional interest. Importantly, its practical, succinct style and its bevy of musical examples make it an easy read.

Not only that, but I have uploaded a DVD list to my UK 'shop' which has some excellent titles on offer, most of which I have seen/own hence their inclusion, i.e. they are not a load of rubbish (I am tempted to get the Lachenmann DVD next, I don't have that, or the Wolfgang Rihm one.)

I'll do the USA DVD list next (I am holding off doing CDs and Scores for the time being, they will take longer to select, CDs particularly, obviously.)

(*I should mention, just in case my straight faced 'humour' has confused anyone, Lynn and the other 'staff' at the complement.inversion.etc store don't actually exist, just a bit of fun, i'll continue to make reference to them though, until I get bored of it/them....etc.)

Musical 'Modernism' - The Movie

Composer Casting Couch, click for larger image.

A while ago some friends and I (at least two, honest) were discussing the possibility of a movie about the Second Viennese School, who should we cast in the major roles?.

Well, I've expanded the concept somewhat to include a few more composers, some 'modernists' more or less. (or perhaps a 'post-modernist' where Cage is concerned and Debussy and Mahler are more like pre-modernists or something).

I would have included more but after searching around some composers didn't seem easy to cast (Xenakis, Boulez, Feldman, Ligeti and others).

Some 'levity' for those long winter nights anyway, 'enjoy' (if you can name all the composers and their actor 'doubles' in the picture you win a special prize, click on the image above, here is a hint, match the images to the names in the tag list).

Oh and thanks to Ross's The Rest Is Noise blog for reminding me about the Second Viennese School 'movie' concept (via his post about Susan Sarandon's slip of the tongue at the recent Golden Globes).

Boston University Messiaen Project

Thats right, its here, and very interesting/useful it is too. Also don`t forget the 2008 Messiaen conference that I mentioned in a previous post. And this centenary site (he was born in 1908 you see, so was Elliott Carter as it happens).





May I also recommend the excellent DVD about Messiaen made by Ideale Audience International, part of their Juxtapositions series. The documentaries are mostly footage of the man himself discussing his methods/ideas/concepts/practices etc (focuses on bird song and talk about nature mostly, not much technical detail or mention of his modes/rhythms etc, also some DVD extras with talking heads about his teaching etc).

Addendum [05/04/08]
Some clips from the DVD above have found their way onto YouTube...







Also the Philharmonia Orchestra have some short Messiaen documentary videos in their YouTube collection.

A Couple of YouTube Playlists

A couple of YouTube playlists worth mentioning, both from 'Iamnogaucha.'

Playlist: Contemporary Classical Music I
Description: Here are some fine performances for your pleasure. I have included several late 19th century works that influenced subsequent musical developments. Composers are organized alphabetically by last name. Individual works are arranged in like manner. Duplicated works are organized by performer(s). This playlist will be updated and expanded from time to time. Enjoy. All credit goes to the original posters of these videos. Thanx.

Playlist: Contemporary Classical Music II
Description: Here are some composer interviews and documentaries for your pleasure. This playlist will be updated and expanded from time to time. Enjoy. All credit goes to the original posters of these videos. Thanx.

Some (of my) highlights from playlist one...

Charles Ives (Quarter-Tone pieces)
Pablo Sáinz Villegas - 1 Sequenza XI - Berio (Classical Guitar)
Messiaen - Oiseaux Exotiques - Robertson, Huebner, part 1
Varèse - Ionisation - Boulez, Ensemble InterContemporain
Eonta (part 1 of 3) [1963 - 64] by Iannis Xenakis [1922-01]

From playlist two..

A documentary on Berio from the NY Phil`s YouTube channel, here is part 1.

Don`t forget that these clips can be taken down/removed without warning, if you want to keep any of them try downloading them to your PC with a free service like Vixy.net

Messiaen 2008

'Nice one' Birmingham Conservatoire (amongst others) for putting this on. The conference schedule is still to be announced but some information about concerts is available on the website.

If you cannot get to Birmingham then Monterverdi Tv are broadcasting some or all of the concerts (not specified on the site).

Juxtapositions Documentary Series

A fine series of documentaries from Ideale Audience International.

Ive seen the Stravinsky and Schoenberg one (Final Chorale/5 Pieces for Orchestra) and I will experience the Messiaen, Boulez and Kurtag/Eötvös soon (the Pierre Henry looks interesting also, next time Gadget, next time).

You can watch excerpts here (most of them anyway, some of the new ones have not been uploaded yet).