Guess I’ll wait this one out.

I guess the premier of the Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion didn’t go so well? If only he had Dan Druckman, Jim Baker, Steve Gosling, and Steve Beck back then. This Monday, the foursome play new works for 2 pianos and 2 percussion by Charles Wuorinen, Michael Jarrell, and Rolf Wallin at Merkin Hall. I’m so bummed I can’t go but I figure that if everyone live-texts it to me from the concert I can live vicariously and still revel in the awesomeness. Seriously, this is one not to be missed.

More on the NYNME site.

The LA Phil did a similar pairing last year of a Stravinski, Britten, Boccherini first half with a Grizzly Bear second half and it’s no surprise to hear that it was a huge success; here in NY we’ve enjoyed the similarly awesome Wordless Music series, and the concept is simple: instead of whining about aging audiences and predicting the death of classical music, start curating programs for younger different people. Grizzly Bear fans are probably going to be totally into that Britten, and Dirty Projectors fans are probably going to be fascinated by that Ligeti. They just might not know it exists yet. I mentioned this last spring when Wordless paired the Japanese band MONO with Arvo Pärt and the result was two evenings of complete rapture for everyone involved. Sure, you can still sneak that Rihm onto a subscription program of Mozart and have your subscribers grumble and leave at intermission if you like. But these days the chamber music world is finding a better model for drawing in young different audiences and it is great to see orchestras start using it as well.

Speaking of MONO, they are coming back to NY in May, and also releasing a CD/DVD and 3xLP/DVD limited edition recording of their two night set from last year. Haruka and I played percussion for those shows with the Wordless Orchestra and are psyched to see how it all turned out. More info on the film, titled Holy Ground: NYC Live with the Wordless Music Orchestra, at Brooklyn Vegan. It comes out April 27.

Alarm is also camped out in NY this week for a program of Caleb Burhans’ music at Le Poisson Rouge Tuesday night. The late show will be Burhans’ band itsnotyouitsme and Son Lux.

Finally, I’m looking forward to playing the music of Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason at Le Poisson Rouge upon returning from LA. Bjarnason has an album out on Bedroom Community, which Nico posted on earlier today; this composer is incredibly talented across different types of instrumentation and is just as comfortable with electronic sounds as he is with the orchestra. And while I’m so focused on pairings I should point out that, in getting familiar with the album, I suddenly remembered Christopher Rouse’s Gorgon, and have been alternating the two all day. What do you say New York Phil, how about a Bjarnason/Rouse show? I’d go. My studio will lend you our giant ratchet.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010, 8 p.m. @ Metro Gallery

She may look like the sweet and innocent girl next door, but Washington D.C.-based composer Alexandra Gardner pens music that definitely makes the boys shake in their boots. In a language distinctly her own, Alexandra seamlessly melds the often disparate worlds of acoustic and electronic music. Tonight Mobtown Modern presents a retrospective of Alexandra’s compositions since 2004.

Tickets are $10, general admission and $5 for Contemporary Museum members and students with a valid ID.

The program:
Bach: Keyboard Concerto in D Minor, first movement
Cage: String Quartet, excerpt
Bach: Selected Prelude & Fugue
Bach: Selections from Art of the Fugue
Bach: Keyboard Concerto in F Minor

Throughout the performance, Ms. Dinnerstein and ACME will join in conversation with WQXR host David Garland. The entire evening will air live on 105.9 FM and stream at WQXR.org on Friday at 7PM.

Acid Girls – Lightworks OFFICIAL VIDEO dir. Steven Ilous from Steven Ilous on Vimeo.

Side chained four on the floor CAKE IN YOUR FACE.

10/27: Line C3

Serving Size 4 Bunnies is now available on iTunes, or as a CD single (email me and I’ll send you one). Line C3 wants to thank Carl Schimmel for allowing us to independently record and release his music, as well as for letting us run with it and even adopt some of its personality on ourselves as a group. Here is the official press release (via Christina Jensen PR).

4 movements, 4 anthropomorphized bunnies in deliciously fragile emotional states: depressed, irascible, anxious, deliriously happy. Carl wrote for squeaky toys in each of the four movements, but instead of just relying on the obvious comedy inherent in them, he instead used them as thematic glue. Over the course of the piece the listener is introduced to their various expressive possibilities, along with a battery of other small instruments and found objects like noisemakers, qtips, kazoos, and an air horn.

Excerpt from “In which a bunny, delirious from the sugary fumes, degenerates into a hysterical grinagog.”

Haruka recording Kazoos at 2 AM

Comp geeks may delight in Carl’s use of the Fibonacci sequence, also known as the “Bunny Problem.” Percussion geeks will appreciate the unusually thoughtful writing for marimba, an instrument often overused but underutilized. Bunnies really represents an ideal for the kind of repertoire we set out to find from the beginning: music that 1) is fun to watch, 2) is fun to play, 3) is compositionally fascinating, and 4) requires me to blow bubbles on stage (see 1 and 2, above). Over the process of learning, performing, and recording the piece, I admit I have become a bit obsessed – I find more in it each time we come back to it.

Serving Size 4 Bunnies
I. In which a bunny ponders its meaningless existence.
II. In which an irascible bunny takes out its frustrations on others.
III. In which a lavender bunny is a yellow chicken.
IV. In which a bunny, delirious from the sugary fumes, degenerates into a hysterical grinagog

Music by Carl Schimmel

Performed by Line C3:
Haruka Fujii
John Ostrowski
Sam Solomon
Chris Thompson

Recorded by Ryan Streber and Michael Rice
Mixed by Ryan Streber and Chris Thompson

www.LineC3.com
www.CarlSchimmel.com