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Satie's Tennis Ball

Mike and Metropolis perform Tennis from Sports by Satie arranged by me.







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Estrella Morente

There's a big difference between good flamenco and bad. Seeing Jesus Montoya at Ainadamar the other day reminded me of the need for good flamenco (he was on fire). A rather lame hunt through itunes using the keyword 'flamenco' revealed rather a lot of the bad side of flamenco - cheesy, overproduced, cliche-ridden. Then I remembered the incredible singing on Almodovar's Volver - a quick search on that lead me to the voice behind the Cruz - Estrella Morente, who it turns out is the daughter of one of Flamenco's leading lights, Enrique Morente. Anyway, she really has gyspy passion in abundance, and listening to Mi cante y un poema make's the heart sing and weep in equal measure - as only good flamenco can.

There's some great lyricism on the album, but I'm always a fan of the flamenco 'Buleria', of which this album boasts some fist-stompingly fine examples.



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Satie arrangements

The full recording of my arrangements of Satie's Sports et Divertissements is now available here. The first performance here was given by the Metropolis Ensemble, conducted by Andrew Cyr and narrated by Mike Daisey.

I've added the texts that Mike Daisey read and the full recording including Mike's narration is at the bottom of this page. I must say I was particularly pleased with the tennis ball effect in no.21 (it's the conductor bouncing it).

Here are a couple of my favourites:

02 - La Balancoire - In a swing: My heart it is that swings and swings, it never gets dizzy. What tiny feet it has. Will it want to come back to my chest



09 - Le Bain de mer - Sea-bathing: The sea is wide madame. At least it's deep! Don't sit on the bottom it's very damp. Here come some nice old waves. Oh Madame! You are all wet. Oui Monsieur, they're full of water



10 - Le carnaval - Carnival: Confetti is falling all around. That one has on a melancholy mask. A tipsy Pierot tries walking straight. Enter, gracefully, some masked ladies. People push to see them, are they pretty?



15 - Le Pique-nique - Picnic: Everyone has brought potato salad. You have on a lovely white dress. Oh my! An aeroplane. Not at all, it's a storm coming up.



19 - Le Flirt - Flirtation: They say pretty things to each other. Modern things. 'How are you?', 'Don't you find me nice', 'Leave me alone', 'You have such big eyes', 'I wish I were on the moon'. He sighs. He shakes his head.



21 - Le Tennis - Tennis: Play? Yes! He has a good serve. What handsome legs he has. And a fine nose! A slashing serve. Game!







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Full Recording of A Bird in Your Ear

I've made a full recording of the first performance of my opera/oratorio A Bird in Your Ear available here.

(...and am still waiting for proper the photos to come through)



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A chat with Mike Daisey

During my trip to New York last month I popped into the city to have a chat with Mike Daisey who is going to be the narrator for my arrangement of Satie's Sports et Divertissements - this was organised by the Metropolis Ensemble to promote the forthcoming concert - see the video clip above for Part 1 of our chat.

If you're in NYC this Thursday do please head along to the Metropolis Ensemble Spring Concert to hear the concert. I can't wait to hear what the ebulient Mike brings to the piece. There's lots of other great music on the programme including a premiere by Ryan Carter, and pieces by Salonen and Ravel. Essa-Pekka himself is reportedly attending.

Update!

Three more short videos of the chat are now available here, including, in part 4, details of The Great Tennis Ball Secret. Tickets to the concert are reportedly selling fast, so if you fancy coming book now



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Bird Premiere

The premiere performances of A Bird in Your Ear at Bard College, NY, were a great success at the weekend. I hope to have some better pictures and samples later, but for now here is one with all the soloists:



and one of me with wonderful Dawn:



And here is a taster:

Taster

Numbers 2-3 - I was a nightingale


Number 4 - The nightingale sings


Number 5 - Ivan went out walking


Number 6 - When the storm was over


Bard College Orchestra & Choir, conducted by James Bagwell, Yulia Van Doren soprano, Sungeun Lee tenor, Yohan Yi Baritone, Chanel Wood Soprano, Rie Miyake Soprano, Kristin Ezell Soprano, Melissa Wegner,Soprano, and Tania Rodriguez Mezzo-Soprano.font>

Want to hear it all? Click here to listen to the complete first performance



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Kylisms

A very nice collection of quotes by Kyle Gann, collected by his students. My favourites are:

One of the ways you know you're developing as a composer is when people start performing your pieces better.

- this is so true and I take it to mean that if a piece sounds badly played, it's usually your fault as the composer (OK Maybe not always!)

I can write a good piece of music in three weeks. A bad one takes me six months.

One can prove by analysis that, in reality, Webern's music is highly unified. But art isn't about reality: it's about appearances.

- I love that one.

Mystery is easily achieved. It's clarity that's difficult.


Subtleties tend to get lost in performance. That's why Beethoven was so successful - he didn't put any subtleties in his music.

I don't get this one, though:

Stravinsky was the master at sustaining a musical idea.

Isn't Stravinsky's success based on the fact that he knows when to stop an idea? One day I hope to ask Mr Gann about that one.



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Dawn, Doug and Virgil

A nice profile of Dawn Upshaw in the Observer:

http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/story/0,,2265712,00.html

The article mentions my Bird opera, which is deep in rehearsal here at Bard College, and all going very well. The other half of the programme is Virgil Thomson's 4 Saints in 3 Acts, which from the bits of rehearsal I've seen is one strange piece - it seems to be trying to out-Satie Satie. The composer himself described it as 'seriously obscure' in this fascinating article on the piece in the NY Times from 1986
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/06/reviews/thomson-saints.html

"Stage directors are thrown by the very idea of it." Thomson says, but at Bard, director Doug Fitch is bringing it all marvellously, zanily and suitably surreally to life.



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Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Award

I'm delighted to have just been awarded this year's Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Award, for "composers of exceptional talent and integrity". The fund was set up by the great French teacher Nadia Boulanger, in memory of her Prix de Rome-winning sister Lili, who died tragically young. Past winners have included Derek Bermel, George Benjamin and Per Norgard, so it's quite an honour; and I'm of course especially grateful to Osvaldo for nominating me.



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Birds and Dates

Rehearsals are now well underway for my opera/oratorio/dramatic cantata A Bird in your Ear at Bard College. [ Read the Bard Press Release here ]

Melissa Wegner (who premiered Piosenki, and who is one of the narrators in the piece) kindly recorded some of the on-going vocal rehearsals - it's a very curious feeling to hear a recording of an as-yet-unheard composition which took place without you on the other side of the Atlantic! But it all sounds like it's shaping up very nicely and its comforting to be reminded of the fantastic standard of musicianship they have at Bard.

Meanwhile, off tonight to another bout of Opera Speed Dating with Tete a Tete



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