From the category archives:
When I first came to UCLA, many of my colleagues referred to this chap as “Jamie”–a nickname he now supposedly loathes. He did his Masters work at UCLA, was a TA, a classmate of Mark Carlson, and was on the way towards getting a PhD, but the Roger Corman films started coming fast and furious. [...]
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I loved Glass’ work in Koyaanisqatsi. Music is foreground; hand in glove with the imagery. Some of his other film scores seemed, to me, heavy handed: imposing themselves on the scenes rather than providing underscore.
Philip Glass’ score for THE ILLUSIONIST is his best yet. The harmonies are fresh; the melodies are new; the textures are [...]
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I remember when Frederic Rzewski came to visit us at Harvard in the composition seminar. I remember when Musica Electronica Viva came and performed at UW Madison. “The People United…” is emblazoned into my brain. I have the LP and he played it for us in the seminar. He reminded me that one shouldn’t ask [...]
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My primary flaw as a composer of late, is that I have lost interest in aggressively promoting my work (other than this blog). As Beethoven allegedly said: “I refuse to bow to Napoleon; he must come to me.” I teach my students that this NEVER happens, so who am I kidding?
I LOVE composing, and am [...]
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Walter Rimler just sent in this amazing find. The music from Schoenberg’s 4th quartet seems peculiar–hardly back up music, but a cool bit of archival history for 20th century music fans. Listen to the eulogy Schoenberg gives to Gershwin at the end. Touching. Mr Rimler also has a new book on Gershwin I must read.
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I was greatly saddened to see the passing of Kate McGarrigle, mother of Rufus and Martha Wainwright and sister of Anna and Jane. I thought her cancer was in remission but evidently it returned. She touched many lives and helped shape the aesthetic of one of the great songwriters on the planet, Rufus Wainwright.
Like many [...]
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J & M ignored my Scrooge attitude about Christmas and gifted me the complete set of remixed and remastered Beatles in stereo. Daniel got the flash drive version.
I opened each beautifully-made fold-out CD, ripped it onto my computer and watched the little 3-5 minute video that comes with each disc.
The music sounds terrific. Better [...]
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Over the holiday I watched two movies, twice: Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes. Like Howard Shore in the Lord of the RIngs trilogy, Mr Horner’s score for Avatar is wall-to-wall music, and, for my money, effective and not memorable. Throwing in a song over the end credits didn’t matter as most of us were racing to [...]
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