Alex Ross's Blog, page 252

Cage at 98

Laura Kuhn has an update on recent Cage doings.

Another book

The first copies of Listen to This have arrived. Maulina is exuberant. The publication date is September 28th.

4'33" playlist (Rabbit Fur Coat Berceuse)

The late Mr. John Cage celebrates this Sunday his ninety-eighth birthday. Last year or the year before, someone on the Internet — was it The Standing Room? — had the excellent idea of marking the occasion by creating a 4'33" playlist on iTunes. I'll celebrate on Sunday with my own version: everything on my computer that's four minutes and thirty-three seconds long. Although Mozart is a little over-represented — the legacy of my 2006 slog through his complete music, Köchel by Köchel — and...

BBC Beyoncé update

Tim Rutherford-Johnson has a piece in the Guardian on Mark-Anthony Turnage's Beyoncé escapade. It was, of course, intentional: Turnage's son Milo loves dancing to "Single Ladies."

Let there be Haas

Sylvain Cambreling / Klangforum Wien; Kairos 1233.

The fiercely original Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas is at the center of a late-summer festival entitled Moving Sounds 2010, which unfolds over the next few days at the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Czech Center, and (Le) Poisson Rouge here in New York. The curator for the event is Michel Galante, director of the Argento Chamber Ensemble. The Austrian Forum and the Music Information Center Austria have provided...

Hammered ring

Did Mark-Antony Turnage have a bit of fun with Hammered Out, his recent Proms commission? Tim Rutherford-Johnson, of The Rambler, drew attention to the fact that the opening minutes of the work bear an uncannily close resemblance to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies." None of the preliminary commentary mentioned a Beyoncé connection, but once you listen to the mash-up above — and see the mischievous expression on David Robertson's face — you'll find it hard to believe that Turnage...

Hiatus

Excuse me while I disappear, at least until September.

Pre-hiatus miscellany

Stephen Hough illuminates the topic of string vibrato.... Ethan Iveson writes a brief history of jazz blogging.... Lisa Bielawa recounts the latest rendition of her Chance Encounter, on the Tiber in Rome. An excellent video, by Renato Chiocca, is embedded above.... Jeremy Eichler sums up the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood, which I was sad to miss.... OMG OMG Cosima Wagner is on Twitter!!! (All entries are taken verbatim from her diaries, with day and month matching.) .....

James Levine v. Lotte Lenya

I've received advance copies of the Met's CDs and DVDs honoring James Levine. The first item I put on was the 1979 telecast recording of Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, with Teresa Stratas as Jenny and Astrid Varnay as the widow Begbick. In this production, which was by John Dexter, Varnay gave her final run of performances with the company, thirty-eight years after her electrifying youthful debut at the house, in Die Walküre. The great soprano talked about Mahagonny in...

Listen to This update

 

I've sent off my final corrections, and the book is done. I'm now at work assembling the Audio Guide and also arranging musical samples for the audiobook version, which I read myself. On my book tour this fall, I'll give a lecture based on the second chapter, "Chacona, Lamento, Walking Blues."

Photo by Tyondai Braxton.