The American Composer Gets a Break (1935)

Do not miss Robin D. G. Kelley's Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, for it will stand as the definitive biography of the great American composer and pianist for many years to come. What distinguishes Kelley's treatment of Monk's complicated and enigmatic life is the sheer depth and breadth of primary research, including, for the first time, the active cooperation and involvement of Thelonious Monk's family. In his acknowledgments, Kelley describes a long process of convincing Thelonious Monk, III to grant permission culminating in a six-hour meeting in which his knowledge, credentials, and commitment were thoroughly tested and challenged. Once he had secured “Toot's” blessings, as well as that of his wife Gale and brother-in-law Peter Grain, Kelley was introduced to Nellie Monk, Thelonious Monk's wife, and a wide range of family and friends who shared their memories and personal archives of photos, recordings, and papers. This is not an authorized biography, however, since Thelonious Monk, Jr. never demanded the right to see drafts or dictate the content. Rather Kelley was admonished to “dig deep and tell the truth.”

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Electronic Music

Artful Noise ◽

10.5622/illinois/9780252043130.003.0008 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 107-117

Author(s):

Thomas Siwe

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Real Time ◽

Electronic Music ◽

John Cage ◽

World War ◽

Karlheinz Stockhausen ◽

Edgard Varese ◽

American Composer ◽

The Difference ◽

Musique Concrete

With the end of World War II came the rebirth of European radio. Government stations in both France and Germany established experimental studios for research, from which arose a new kind of music, “electronic music.” The station in France, Office de Radiodiffusion Télevision Française (ORTF), was directed by the engineer/composer Pierre Schaeffer and his partner, Pierre Henry, who called their musical creations musique concrète. In Germany the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) studio produced music through the process of “synthesis.” This chapter will explain the difference between the two approaches used to create electronic music with examples from the percussion solo and ensemble repertoire. Early experiments using wire recorders, test records, and tape recorders by composers Halim El-Dabh, John Cage, and Edgard Varèse precede the major electronic works of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mario Davidovsky, and the American composer Stephen Everett, whose use of computers in “real time” brings the reader into the next century.

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RODNEY LISTER (b. 1951)Songs to Harvest (2006)

Vocal Repertoire for the Twenty-First Century, Volume 2 ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199390960.003.0044 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 141-143

Author(s):

Jane Manning

Keyword(s):

Good Deal ◽

Medium Range ◽

American Composer ◽

Voice And Piano ◽

The Voice

This chapter focuses on American composer Rodney Lister’s Songs to Harvest (2006). As shown in this attractive cycle, Lister has a distinctive and fascinating way of writing for voice and piano. The voice projects succinct, shapely phrases, while linear piano parts weave a tapestry of sinuous counterpoint, frequently in two parts only, often with three-against-two rhythms. When the voice stops, the piano continues, its luminous texture ebbing and flowing. Ingeniously, it seems to give a subliminal commentary as well as an irresistible propulsion to the music. The prime test of the songsmith is to set words so that they can be heard easily, and Lister passes this with flying colours. A predominantly medium range guarantees comfortable articulation—the highest note occurs only once, fleetingly. The cohesive musical idiom is discreetly contemporary, disciplined, and carefully modulated. Pitching should be relatively unproblematic—there is a good deal of doubling with the piano, and plenty of time to plot each interval cleanly.

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MISSY MAZZOLI (b. 1980)As Long As We Live (2013)

Vocal Repertoire for the Twenty-First Century, Volume 2 ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199390960.003.0047 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 148-151

Author(s):

Jane Manning

Keyword(s):

Repetitive Nature ◽

American Composer ◽

Bang On A Can ◽

Louis Andriessen ◽

Balance Problems

This chapter describes American composer Missy Mazzoli’s As Long As We Live (2013). Showing the influence of figures such as the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen as well as some of those involved in the worldwide Bang-on-a-Can movement, this work, which is also available in a version for baritone, could just as easily fit a club setting or popular concert as a more formal recital venue. In order to alleviate balance problems, the singer could be amplified if need be. It is even possible that singer and pianist could be the same person, a situation more frequently found in ‘pop’ concerts. The straightforward appeal and seductively euphonious harmonies of this extended song conceal considerable artistic acumen and an acute ear for subtleties of timbre. Both the simplicity of the vocal line and the characteristically repetitive nature of the piano writing are deceptive. A classically trained singer with a well-centred purity of tone and a firm middle register is surely essential to achieve the pinpoint tuning of intervals, many of which are quite close and clash with the piano’s triadic harmonies.

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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BACH'S ST. MATTHEW PASSION: THE PASSION SETTINGS OF DAVID LANG AND JAMES MACMILLAN

Tempo ◽

10.1017/s0040298213000065 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 67 (264) ◽

pp. 40-51 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dominic Wells

Keyword(s):

21St Century ◽

The Other ◽

Passion Narrative ◽

Sacred Texts ◽

High Profile ◽

Other Hand ◽

American Composer

AbstractIn 2007, two high-profile musical responses to the Christian Passion narrative were written: the little match girl passion, by American composer David Lang, and Scottish composer James MacMillan's St John Passion. A devout Catholic, MacMillan's faith has influenced almost every work he has written to date, and a passion setting therefore seemed inevitable. Lang, on the other hand, has Jewish roots, and is relatively secular in his choice of extra-musical themes in his works: even when using sacred texts, he usually sets them in a secular context. Unsurprisingly, MacMillan's and Lang's contrasting approaches towards the Christian Passion resulted in fundamentally different works, yet both composers cite Bach as a key inspiration in their settings. This study examines the extent to which the influence of Bach's St Matthew Passion, in particular, is present in this pair of 21st-century passions, with regard to both their music and their theology.

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‘from a musical point of view, the world is musical at any given moment’: an interview with bill fontana

Organised Sound ◽

10.1017/s1355771805000737 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 97-101 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

jøran rudi

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

New York City ◽

York City ◽

Large Scale ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Point Of View ◽

Naturally Occurring ◽

The World ◽

American Composer ◽

Brooklyn Bridge

bill fontana is an american composer and artist who has been working with large-scale sound installations since the 1970s. in his installations he recontextualises sounds by transmitting them from one location to another, and uses the transported sounds as acoustical ‘overlay’, masking the sounds naturally occurring in the installation spaces. his installations often occur in central urban environments, and he has, for example, been commissioned in conjunction with the fifty-year anniversary of d-day (1994, paris), and the 100-year anniversary of brooklyn bridge (1983, new york city).

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