Following
hot on the heels of Tom Service’s article in the Guardian, Guy Dammann’s profile
of Pierre Boulez appears in this week’s Economist, giving readers a concise
overview of the composer and conductor.
Guy Dammann’s blog is here.
“A sensual musical bath of sonorous reverberation and exotic resonance, music that shimmers and glints with a seductive play of instrumental timbres”
Tom Service on Pierre Boulez’ Sur Incises in today’s Guardian
In the same article, Gillian Moore, the Southbank Centre’s head of contemporary culture, asks if Boulez’ Pli selon Pli is “greatest orchestral work of the past 50 years”.
The Southbank Centre’s Exquisite Labyrinth: The Music of Pierre Boulez, takes place from Friday 30 Sept to Sunday 2 Oct.
Congratulations to The Opera Group for their production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, now on at the Young Vic in London.
The Telegraph gave it four coveted stars: “If you want to see a theatre at full stretch and maximum throttle, head to the Young Vic, which is reviving its thrilling production of Kurt Weill’s 1947 ‘Broadway opera’, Street Scene.”
The production tours to Vienna and around the UK following its run in London. See the Opera Group website for dates and venues.
Read more about the work on the European American Music website and at the Kurt Weill Foundation.
Our recent releases have received some great reviews in the international press. Here’s a selection of the juicy bits.
Mike
Cornick
Play the Piano!
“This new adult beginner guide makes an excellent attempt at achieving the unachievable.”
“I have nothing but praise for the way in which aural skills are built up throughout the book.”
“A useful publication for the adult beginner” (International Piano Magazine)
“The book goes to the top of the pile of piano tutorials currently available for the older beginner.” (The Pianist Magazine)
Gustavo Beytelmann
Solo Tango Solo Piano
“The perfect way to explore the spirit of real tango” (Music Teacher Magazine)
Nikolai Podgornov
Nikolai
Podgornov’s Graded Pieces for Piano Volume 2
“These three volumes could constitute your entire curriculum and nothing would be neglected.” (In Ten of the Best, Music Teacher Magazine)
James Rae
Repertoire Explorer Clarinet Book 2
“A useful and well-presented book which I will certainly be using in the future, and I hope that more volumes of Repertoire Explorer come to fruition soon.” (Music Teacher Magazine)
Mary Karen Clardy
Classic Etudes for Flute
“This is a good choice of study book which includes some technical and musical challenges and would suit intermediate players.” (Flute Magazine)
“If you can’t afford the lot, pick almost anywhere … These are stimulating releases. What next, I wonder?” (Music Teacher Magazine)
Mauro
Giuliani
Sonata in C
major Op. 15
from the New Karl Scheit Guitar Edition
“A great sonata; lots of fun, hard but not too much so and a piece that unlike so much from this era of guitar music, really has something to say.”
“A flawless edition.” (Classical Guitar Magazine)
Santiago De Murcia
Villanos –
Fandango – Gallardas – Cumbees – Marizapalos – La Jotta
from the New Karl Scheit Guitar Edition
“Most players of moderate to intermediate standard will be able to enjoy the interesting melodies and part writing … Nicely printed and produced.” (Classical Guitar Magazine)
Maurice
Ravel
Gaspard de
la Nuit - Wiener Urtext Edition
“What this new offering does is to combine state-of-the-art musicological research and authenticity with down-to-earth help for aspiring interpreters … The most detailed critical commentary I have yet seen for this music”
“A multipurpose edition that deserves widespread admiration.” (International Piano Magazine)
Anne-Sophie Mutter talks about her new CD featuring four world première recordings.
Included on the disc are Wolfgang Rihm’s Lichtes Spiel and Dyade.
Here’s a snapshot from last week’s première of Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
The production by La Fura dels Baus came to Moscow fresh from its success at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
The banners read “Freedom for the Oligarchs” and “For a fair justice”.
How do locals and visitors escape and find respite in New York, a “city that never sleeps”?
The Guggenheim Museum responds with stillspotting nyc, a two-year multidisciplinary project that takes the museum’s Architecture and Urban Studies programming out into the streets of New York’s five boroughs.
For the second edition of stillspotting nyc, Arvo Pärt and the renowned architects’ studio Snøhetta collaborate on a series of stillspots around Lower Manhattan that explore the special relationship between space and sound.
Read more on the stillspotting website.
His music “shimmers with iridescent detail”, he “defies accurate categorisation”, his “command of skills is complete”, he “tightens his score with unerring focus”, there is “unfailing originality and distinctiveness of everything David Sawer composes” …
… and he’s 50 years old today.
Congratulations David. We’re proud to have you in the UE catalogue and look forward to all the music you’re going to write.
Read more about David Sawer, listen to excerpts from his works and find background information and reviews of his works.
Feel free to send David your birthday wishes on our Facebook page.
Update
Here's a preview of our forthcoming new composer brochure
Update 2
Here's the finished composer brochure
Here’s Tom Service on the recent performance of Georg Friedrich Haas’ in vain at the Lucerne Festival.
“... an hour-long ensemble work that made a shattering nocturnal impression … a monumental work”
We've just reviewed the various outlets for UE information on the internet, and the results are quite impressive. Here they are:
We have 94 promotion documents available on issuu, and our new website has a further 590 documents with sample pages from our publications. You'll find them on the various pages of the website.
Views so far: 194,013
We currently have 38 videos online at vimeo, including the interviews from our Mahler Blog.
Views so far: 34,800
Our Mahler videos are also on YouTube, but only since March this year, and the resonance there is even stronger.
Views so far: 11,491
We've only been on Facebook since February, but our group of friends is steadily growing.
Post views so far: 121,304
Again, we've only been on Twitter since February, and it's refreshing to see that there is a strong community of classical and contemporary music people out there. Follow us at @uemusic.
Number of tweets so far: 197
Number of followers: 151
We've been sending our email newsletters via the excellent Campaign Monitor since 2007. If you haven't already subscribed you can sign up here.
Number of emails sent: 121,783
And last but not least, we mustn't forget the new website itself, now online since March 2010 (so it's sort of still new).
Composers: 1273
Works online: 9899
Publications online: 11258
Number of audio excerpts: 1801
We have just completed a very major database update on our works and products. You won't be able to see anything specific, but we can assure you that the quality and accuracy of our catalogue information has been improved considerably.
It's great to see the amount of interest in our information, which gives us a strong incentive to keep expanding our online services.
Johannes Maria Staud’s latest work for ensemble, Par ici!, was given its world première by Ensemble intercontemporain this June, conducted by Susanna Mälkki.
The concert
will be broadcast at 8pm (Paris time) tonight, Monday 5th, by france musique. Click here to listen. Once again we’re
giving you the opportunity of following the full score during the broadcast. Here
it is.
Click 'Expand' to show the score in full screen view.
Let us know about your experience reading along to a broadcast.
This fascinating new video introduces Jay Schwartz’ unique Music for Autosonic Gongs. Sit back and enjoy the mesmerising sounds.
Forum
Gitarre Wien, a week of guitar courses, concerts, lectures and a competition, is taking
place in Vienna this week.
Amongst the teaching staff are Siegfried Steinkogler, whose 24 Competition Pieces are published by UE, and Olaf Van Gonnissen, co-editor of the New Karl Scheit Guitar Edition.
See the Forum Gitarre website for the full schedule.
From the web today, part 1
“Noten für
Roger Federer”
A slide
show of a tennis match between Federer and Djokovic complete with Arnold Schönberg’s
tennis notation (from the Zurich Tages-Anzeiger, with thanks to @alexrossmusic for the tip).
From the web today, part 2
Pierre Boulez:
“Ce qui m’intéresse, c’est la pointe de l’invention”
Read the full interview in Le Monde (with thanks to @iIRCAM for the tip).
The Suntory
Hall in Tokyo is presenting music by Julian Yu this August. Tomorrow night, his Scintillation
2 for piano, two vibraphones and glockenspiel can be heard, along with Philopentatonia
for chamber orchestra.
Yasuaki Itakura conducts the Tokyo Sinfonietta.
See a list of works by Julian Yu published by UE, and view his page at the Australian Music Centre.