Roger Bourland
writes about music and life

Rufus Wainwright website.

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

[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. [...]

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.

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.

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 [...]

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]