a) …have a listen to Daníel Bjarnason on Q2. The full recording of his recent show at LPR is now available streaming on the WQXR website here. Daníel is from Iceland and writes contemplative music that features bowed things, absolutely great use of percussion, and gorgeous orchestration.
For example, here’s my favorite bit of Spindrift; the soloist slips into the background and you get a simple pairing of vibe and clarinet with piano and tuned gongs gently hovering above and below. It’s Orchestration We Can Believe In:
Spindrift – by Daníel Bjarnason (Featuring Vicky Chow, pianist)
And that’s also Alicia Lee playing clarinet and Mike Truesdell playing gongs, who has a recital Friday that you should totally go to! (note: if you are using google reader, there is an audio file above you are not seeing, click through to the post to listen).
b) …check out Alex Ross’ followup post on drum corps/marching bands doing Shostakovich. Apparently there were others who wanted to make sure the Phantom Regiment wasn’t overlooked (and also point out a Shostakovich 5 from the mid-70s I literally had NO IDEA EXISTED. Warning: those 70s bugles are a little intense). I realize I could have definitely been clearer in my post about my main point, which is simply that it isn’t just about Shostakovich; these groups have been doing seriously adventurous repertoire by lots of different 20th century composers since at least the early 90s. For example, the group I marched with’s 2010 show is Bartok’s CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA. !!! Bring. It. On. dotcom. Alas, there are not videos yet. But here’s their plan.
c) …watch some dudes in haz-mat uniforms play crotales made out of saw blades. I feel this requires no further explanation.