skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Much interest in the gamelan threads started by my Colin McPhee posts and webcast, including this comment from Jessica Duchen - 'One of my most fascinating musical experiences was playing in a gamelan orchestra at Dartington when I was a student. After you've entered and become part of that soundworld with all its ringing overtones for two hours at a stretch, a Mozart violin sonata can seem very strange indeed.'
Follow this link and sample that special soundworld online with a complete concert from CBC of music for gamelan by Colin McPhee and contemporary composers.
While elsewhere you can play your own Virtual Javanese Gamelan using free software developed by WCS Music using the Javanese Gamelan of Wells Cathedral School. Their website reports that using the expertise of the music faculty of the Cathedral School, and leading consultants, an innovative and award winning suite of music education software has been created. This allows users to explore one of the liveliest forms of Javanese Music, the Lancaran, and take part in an ensemble performance using sampled sounds from a gamelan. There is also the opportunity to compose and export audio files, and learn about Indonesian Music using online resources.
The first module of the Virtual Javanese Gamelan is available for immediate download free of charge from the WCS Music website. Reader reports on the software are welcome.
Lou Harrison was one of the Western composers who embraced the gamelan. I am very grateful to regular reader Jean Missud of Fitchburg State College, Massachusetts for sending me a link to a wonderful interview with Lou Harrison. Which is a very approprite way to end this gamelan post.
Image credit CBC.Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
As the media resonates with spurious stories about the death of the classical recording indutry here is an interesting opportunity on the website of the Contemporary Music Centre Ireland:
"The Contemporary Music Centre is commissioning a report on the feasibility of setting up an Irish recording label and/or download platform for specialist/non-commercial musics.
In an important initiative to examine the reasons behind the lack of commercially available recordings of new music by Irish composers, the report will look at establishing an Irish recording label to draw together a range of specialist/non-commercial musics (contemporary, early Irish classical, jazz, electronic etc) on one identifiable label or download platform.
With the assistance of funding from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, the study will provide recommendations for the strategic development of such a label, and will also examine effective ways in which existing recordings of Irish music can be best distributed. The study will be carried out during 2007 and a report containing the main findings and recommendations will be published and submitted to the Arts Council for consideration with a view to funding.
An advisory group with representation from the Arts Council, RTÉ and CMC will oversee the research and it is hoped that the input of these organisations will help to identify workable solutions to the issues raised.
CMC now invites tenders from interested parties to carry out the study and full details of the brief are available in the Opportunities section of this site."
Now read about contemporary Irish music.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
The danger of all arts broadcasting is that everything is treated as equally important, with a permanent mood of celebration. No one on BBC Radio 3 ever says that some composers are second rate, or that some writing is vapid and some poetry gobbledegook: everything is presented with equal reverence, as if it all had profound importance. You would never believe from listening to Radio 3 that the arts are as much about controversy as about achievement. When I began as Controller there were very few lighter moments on the network, and far too many dull hobby-horses being ridden. The Music Department was particularly susceptible to that favourite feature of the gramophone industry, 'the complete works' - all the quartets, all the sonatas, or whatever. Anniversaries were relentlessly celebrated ...
John Drummond recalls his time as Controller of BBC Radio 3 in the 1980s in his autobiography Tainted by Experience (Faber, ISBN 0571200540). And plus ça change, today BBC Radio 3 starts a celebration of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky that plays all their music in a week, at the expense of anything else. The BBC's Tchaikovsky Experience is fronted by 'classical jock' of the moment Tom Service, and the nearest it comes to controversy is the chance to vote online for your favourite piece from the Tchaikovsky Top Ten, after listening to a 60 second download of the 1812.
Now try this cure for Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky fatigue.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
