Archive for March, 2007

The first Bourlandiad

Sunday, March 18th, 2007

Since we have started a tradition of having little concerts in our home for friends, it seemed appropriate that I give a concert as well. The only music I have ever performed publically has been my music and pop music. I don’t play Mozart or Beethoven or Haydn piano sonatas in public. There are plenty […]

Cover for Rufus’s new album

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

Rufus Wainwright website.

Zappa/Varese lesson continues

Friday, March 16th, 2007

FZ: I really got into studying IONISATION. I have found so much more than I ever did. I’ve typed up my analysis for you to check.
EV: Hmmml… This is amazing. I never knew the piece had this symmetry but your argument is convincing. Yes, yes, YES! Frank, you got it!
ANALYSIS
by Francesco Zappa

Rufus fires Charles Ives

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

[Ides of March, 2007; Rufus writes to Hector Berlioz begging for a different teacher.]
Cher Hector,
Please make that mongoose Charles Ives go away. He’s a jerk and really not that good of a teacher. He’s constantly popping up on my computer screen, my television, and even the GPS in my car. I can’t take it anymore. […]

CAGES premieres in Singapore

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

The Graham Streeter film that I scored last year, CAGES, was premiered yesterday in Singapore. As far as I can tell, it was a big hit. The main actress writes about it on Graham’s blog. Here is a clip with a few interviews and the trailer.

Sleepy heads make progress in Denmark

Monday, March 12th, 2007

99% of my class made it on time today with the time change and a cranky letter from me.
On the way home I heard a segment on the radio that told of a group called the “B society” in Denmark who have decided to fight back against the early-riser hold on their society. “‘Why should […]

Sleepy college students

Sunday, March 11th, 2007

I have a handful of students in my 9 am music theory class that can not haul their asses out of bed to make it to class on time. I have been assured it is a “sleep issue” and not boring lectures that is the problem.
I remember seeing a documentary on our need for […]

Thinking about jazz

Saturday, March 10th, 2007

Last weekend I went to a concert featuring my old friend Fred Hersch. Fred and I were close when we met at the New England Conservatory of Music in 1976-7. He then moved to New York and began a great career as a jazz pianist.
The concert I attended was held in a museum at UCLA […]

Edgard Varese: Offrandes

Thursday, March 8th, 2007

For those who don’t know Varese, this piece gives a better picture of his harmonic language. Here is Pierre Boulez conducting [I’m fairly sure] the Ensemble Intercontemporain with Anna Steiger singing.

Edgard Varese: Ionisation

Thursday, March 8th, 2007

Here is Varése’s percussion masterpiece, IONISATION. Note every percussion instrument except for a kitchen sink. You’ll see the lion’s roar, and lots of sirens. This was Frank Zappa’s favorite piece. I’m not sure who the ensemble is but one of the readers says the conductor is Daniel Kawka. And I’d swear that Rufus Wainwright is […]

Schubert WAS gay! Rosemary sez so…

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007

Drawing by L. Kupelwieser, 1813

Rosemary Brown had this to say about Franz Schubert:

[Excerpt from a ripped LP of A MUSICAL SEANCE, featuring Rosemary Brown, released on Phillips Recordings in 1970]

Rosemary gets icky, channels Beethoven

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007

It’s getting like Harry Potter around here. I was innocently watching Robert Altman’s THREE WOMEN when all of a sudden the screen froze and who should appear in all her homely glory? Rosemary Brown, the official channeler of dead composers who has been overseeing my work with Ives and the rest. Well, she was not […]