Facing the Music with Nico Muhly

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accordion, Andrew Carwood, anthem, Ave rosa sine spinis, Beyoncé, catalogue, CD, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, compact disc, Destiny’s Child, Different Trains, Disclosure, English, evensong, Glenn Gould, Goldberg Variations, harp, headphones, Hindemith, Indigo Girls, Into the Woods, iPhone, iTunes, James Blake, jazz, jazz club, La Forza del Destino, London, loudspeaker, Merrily We Roll Along, musical theatre, Nasty Girl, oboe, opera, Orlando Gibbons, performance practice, photography, Pierre Boulez, radio, Radio 3, reed, saxophone, sculpture, Stephen Sondheim, Steve Reich, Stravinsky, Symphony in Three Movements, Tallis, tenor, The Cardinall’s Musick, The Guardian, The Hague, viola da gamba, Wendy Carlos, western art music, woodwind

Nico Muhly

The Guardian interviews composer Nico Muhly:

How do you listen to music?

In general, I listen at home on my big speakers. When in transit, iPhone with headphones. On the road, via satellite radio tuned almost entirely to 90’s on 9. Radio 3 until once they played Hindemith saxophone music and I had to take a month off.

What was the last piece of music you bought?

Via iTunes, Tallis: Ave, rosa sine spinis and Other Sacred Music, recorded by The Cardinall’s Musick and Andrew Carwood.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

No music should be associated with guilt; it is all pure pleasure. (Real answer: the Indigo Girls)

If you found yourself with six months free to learn a new instrument, what would you choose?

The oboe! Although one gathers it takes somewhat longer than half a year to get past the painful parts.

Is applauding between movements acceptable?

Sure, why not? Or maybe you should be tried at The Hague for it. I don’t know. The press have decided to invent some great crisis about applauding and I’m not entirely sure why. You know what’s scary? Going to the jazzzzzz clubbbbb. I have no idea what to do, when to applaud, how to grow my facial hair, when to stroke it etc. Go bother them about elitism and audience participation for a few years and let us get on with our work here, then let’s check in.

What single thing would improve the format of the classical concert?

I’ve always thought that in England particularly, it would be great to have a free program, particularly at the opera. It’s never struck me as being a £5 question to know who that lovely tenor was, or, indeed, to remind me of the basic plot of something fussy like La Forza del Destino. Even a simply printed thing would be, I think, useful; it doesn’t need to be glossy or have commissioned essays.

What’s been your most memorable live music experience as an audience member?

It hasn’t happened yet in the concert hall – for me, the sublime is attained on a random Tuesday, at a sparsely-attended evensong somewhere, with an Orlando Gibbons verse anthem being sung almost perfectly.

What was the first ever record you bought?

Lol, “record.” I think it would have been Different Trains, by Steve Reich, in 1992. It was a CD.

Do you enjoy musicals? Do you have a favorite?

I have a particular obsession with Sondheim. Into the Woods is a triumph in every way, and I live for Merrily We Roll Along.

How many recordings of the Goldberg Variations do you own? Do you have a favorite?

I own the world’s most fantastic collection of the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) played not on the keyboard. Violas da gamba, reeds, accordions, harp, you name it. One of the things about Bach is that once you start ignoring the performance practice crazy people, with their orthodoxies and internecine cattiness, you realize that Bach works despite a saxophone arrangement. That having been said, I put on Slow Late Gould when I am feeling self-indulgent and Fast Early Gould in moments of controlled mania. If Wendy Carlos got her act together and made a recording I would buy it in one second.

Which conductor of yesteryear do you most wish you could have worked with?

I think I would have to say Pierre Boulez, even though he is still, at the time of this writing, quick. I’m obsessed by his Stravinsky recordings: how he teases out the brittleness and brightness of the woodwinds. I have a recording of the Symphony in Three Movements with Chicago that gives me chills to this day.

Which non-classical musician would you love to work with?

James Blake. I keep on telling English papers to tell him to call me and nobody is making it happen. Also those boys from Disclosure. I’m leaving this in your hands now.

Imagine you’re a festival director here in London with unlimited resources. What would you program – or commission – for your opening event?

Obviously Tom Adès arrangements of Beyoncé’s entire catalogue – including Destiny’s Child-era best-of. Then you get a huge orchestra together, fly Bey over, and get a graphic designer to make a big deal about accents aigu and grave with perhaps a commissioned sculpture and boudoir photographs. I’m shocked nobody has done this already. Can you imagine his version of “Nasty put some clothes on [gong] I told you [bell + muted trumpet] don’t walk out the house without your clothes on [piccolo filigree]?“

What do you sing in the shower?

See above.

– The Guardian

A Futile Distinction

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American Idol, ballet, Beyoncé, Chris Hanna, emotions, James Joyce, Karen Zacarías, Kindle, La traviata, literature, Moby Dick, Nicki Minaj, Norfolk, Paradise Lost, Spotify, Starbucks, Stephenie Meyer, Swan Lake, The Age of Innocence, The Book Club Play, The Da Vinci Code, The Fault in Our Stars, Twilight, Ulysses, Virginia Stage Company, Wells Theatre

Karen Zacarías, author of The Book Club Play

In a time where I can download Ulysses and have it sent straight to the Kindle that I toss into my purse with the rest of my personal debris, the distinction between high and low culture becomes less concrete. This line is further blurred when I put on my headphones and listen to Nicki Minaj on Spotify in the Starbucks while beginning to tackle the nine hundred page monster that is James Joyce’s seminal masterpiece. The cultural gulf that we have constructed between what art is “good” for you and what popular art is for “funsies” has become intangible and irrelevant. People tend to blend their consumption of high and low art. This makes our tendency to place literary high art for the “cultural elite” on an unscalable pedestal seem out of touch.

The Book Club Play, directed by Chris Hanna and presented by the Virginia Stage Company through 16 November 2014 at the Wells Theatre in Norfolk, VA, topples this pedestal as it poses the philosophically heady question “What constitutes literature?” in the realm of everyday people. The show connects high and low art to a real community of people. Throughout the action, the characters endear themselves to the audience by inviting them into their personal struggles that are simultaneously comic and authentic. The book club, lead by the “smart . . . accomplished . . . mother bee” Ana, argues about whether it should be reading Twilight and The Da Vinci Code or Moby Dick and The Age of Innocence.

After reading Karen Zacarías’s script, I couldn’t help but think about how the distinction between high and low art creates a value system which says that certain art is for certain people. Alex, a character in the book club, advocates for Twilight, “the cultural phenomenon,” by Stephenie Meyer. Ana argues against the book club taking a turn for the popular, saying the the book club is about “real literature.” She wouldn’t be caught dead reading something so “trivial.” I caught myself agreeing with Ana; it wasn’t hard for me to picture her lines coming out of my mouth: “No, of course I don’t like that book” or “that song.” And I think we have all made similar statements that try to distance ourselves from popular culture that is somehow below us.

But how do we make that determination? And when we make those statements, what are we saying about the “other kind of people” that consume that art? I mean, it is popular for a reason: people enjoy it and are clearly getting something out of their interaction with that art. And isn’t that the point of all art, to give something to the people that enjoy it to affect them in some way? Does it matter whether the effect is intellectual and “good’ for you or is emotional and is just for “funsies?”

The Book Club Play reminds us that art and culture only truly happen when people get together as a community to exchange ideas prompted by artistic and cultural products. In other words, the value placed on art has to be based on its impact within culture. It doesn’t matter if the art is being discussed between a college professor and her students or people sitting on the train on the way to work. In this respect, the value or relevancy of a work of art, whether it be The Fault in Our Stars or Paradise Lost, is created when people connect through the work itself. As it turns out, good and fun art don’t have to be antonyms after all. Or as Alex puts it in The Book Club Play, “A truly cultured person sees La traviata, Swan Lake and American Idol; a truly cultured person listens to both Bach and Beyoncé.”

Kat Martin – AltDaily

Miley Cyrus Disappoints

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Bangerz Tour, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Bruno Mars, catalogue, circus, Disney Channel, Dolly Parton, Flaming Lips, Fleetwood Mac, Fourth of July, Hannah Montana, Hey Ya!, hot dog, Icona Pop, Jim Harrington, Jolene, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Landslide, Lincoln, Madonna, marijuana, medallion, Miley Cyrus, Mount Rushmore, Oakland, OutKast, Person of the Year, popular music, Rihanna, Shakira, Sky Ferreira, time, Vallejo Times Herald, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus wasn’t going to conquer the world with music alone. That much was abundantly clear from her records, which combine to make Britney Spears‘s catalogue seem like the collected works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

She’s had to travel other avenues to get to the top. She’s had to court controversy and generate hype, in a fashion that might make Madonna blush. She’s had to twerk and tease, shock and surprise, disrobe and dismay – with nothing less than complete abandon.

How’s that emphasis working for her? Well, let’s just say that she didn’t become a finalist for Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” based on the strength of her songbook alone. Cyrus seems to understand this, perhaps better than anyone.

Her current “Bangerz Tour,” which supports last year’s chart-topping album of the same name, is all about embracing her new role as pop culture’s premier wild child. It completely slams the door on her kiddie-pop past – the career-making stint on the Disney Channel‘s Hannah Montana – and attempts to position her in the same league with Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and other titans of the pop music world.

The big-budget tour mirrors its star. It’s full-on razzle-dazzle, pulsating with equal amounts of energy, ambition, personality and mediocre music. It’s also curiously complicated, with an air of desperation and a sense of compensation hovering over nearly every move.

Recently, in Oakland, the show offered up two fairly strong opening acts. The first was promising indie-rocker Sky Ferreira, who was also referenced by this crowd as “I have no idea who this person is.” Icona Pop was up next, and did a better job connecting with the audience. Yes, the duo really only has one song that we wanted to hear – and it’s one that we’ve all heard dozens of times before.

I don’t care. I love it.

Once the table had been set, it was time for the main course. The house lights dimmed and a huge headshot of Cyrus appeared, floating about on a video screen in back of the stage. Her eyes circled round and round, then her mouth opened, revealing a long tongue, which stretched to the floor. Out came Cyrus, sliding down the tongue and onto the stage. She raced toward the crowd, dropping an F-bomb in her first sentence, and we were off and running.

The 21-year-old star hit us first with SMS (Bangerz) and then quickly followed with another new album track, 4×4, while chaos reigned supreme onstage. The music was completely overshadowed by the swirling visuals – which, given the quality of the tunes, wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It was like a circus had set up shop at a lingerie store on the Fourth of July.

Cyrus wore some absurd outfits, such as a marijuana-themed green bodysuit and matching leaf medallion, most of which left very little to the imagination. The wardrobe was definitely risqué, perhaps even raunchy, underscoring the concerns that many parents reportedly had about their young ones seeing this show.

Ironically, this was not a sexy show – at least not in the same sense that one routinely gets from the likes of Rihanna, Beyonce and Shakira. Yet, Cyrus isn’t Rihanna, Beyonce or Shakira. She shoots for crude, and often hits the mark, but anything beyond that just feels fake and forced.

The best part of the night was when Cyrus and her band moved to a small stage erected at the back of the arena floor for a five-song acoustic set, which featured covers of Dolly Parton‘s Jolene, the Flaming Lips‘ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1, Fleetwood Mac‘s Landslide and OutKast‘s Hey Ya!

Yet, that brief interlude – the rare moment when the music actually seemed to matter – was soon followed by more ridiculous high jinks. Cyrus returned to the main stage to boogie with a purple shark, a magenta monkey and other furry creatures, later high-stepping it with Abe Lincoln, Mount Rushmore and other American icons.

The main set ended as Cyrus flew off into the night, riding on a giant hot dog.

No, I didn’t make that last line up. But I wish I had.

Jim Harrington – Vallejo Times Herald

Iskandar Widjaja, Indonesian Sensation

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Addie MS, Aula Simfonia Jakarta, Bali, Berlin, Beyoncé, Chaconne in D minor, emotions, Franz Geissenhof, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Iskandar Widjaja, Kindra Cooper, Konzerthaus, Lady Gaga, Midori, popular music, Rheingau Music Festival, Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, soundtrack, Tanglewood Music Center, Tel Aviv, The Dharmawangsa Hotel, The Jakarta Post, Twilite Orchestra, violin

“Issi”

Award-winning violinist Iskandar Widjaja speaks of music as being on the cusp of science and art, describing Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions as having “the most complex mathematical structure.” Yet, he concedes, the interpretation of a classical music piece hinges on the artist’s ability to become emotionally permeable – before hundreds of spectators. “[Classical music] is so difficult to play and it doesn’t scream as loud as pop for attention. It is a finer language that you need to focus on to appreciate it. . . . It certainly takes time to get used to a new language, but this journey is worth it,” he says.

With his schedule booked solid until June next year, the young sparkplug – who will be awarded the LOTTO Förderprize of €15,000 by the committee of the Rheingau Music Festival, Germany’s largest music festival, during his 23 July concert – looks set to light many of the world’s most eminent stages for years to come – or at least those he hasn’t already graced.

The Konzerthaus Berlin and Tel Aviv Opera already have a checkmark; likewise, Spain, Brazil, Croatia and Indonesia have played host to his evocative performances.

This year will see Iskandar crack Hong Kong, where he will make his debut with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in October, and release his second album, Clear as Bach, a homage to the composer that he declares as “the one, the greatest of all!” who is indeed the founding father of the sonatas and partitas that have formed templates for the study of the solo violin until today. He believes such passion and enthusiasm toward classical music can develop in Indonesia with the help of key figures with young minds. “In Jakarta, we already have wonderful venues like Aula Simfonia Jakarta and orchestras like Twilite under Addie MS – these certainly help,” he says.

Unlike what one might assume of a classical musician, “Issi,” as the violinist is better known, is not contemptuous of mainstream pop music, conferring praise where it is due on artists who perform with the rawness and verve to which he aspires every time he picks up his seventeenth-century F. Geissenhof.  The musician cited American R&B star Beyoncé Knowles and pop singer Lady Gaga as two such artists who command his respect.

“I recently went to Beyoncé’s live concert in Berlin and was blown away by her utmost perfection. She was the definition of a superhuman, and to imagine all the money that went into that production was just staggering,” he says. “Yet, Lady Gaga’s concert had a somewhat more personal touch and displayed more of her inner self. Doesn’t an audience want to see ‘soul striptease?'”

In July, the musician, who readily replied with “The Chaconne” [from Partita in D minor (BWV 1004)] when asked what soundtrack he would like to be played at his funeral, will be working with equally illustrious violinist Midori, whose legendary Tanglewood performance during which she broke two E strings resulted in the headline “Girl, 14, Conquers Tanglewood with Three Violins” on the front page of a major US newspaper the next day.

On 19 September, Issi will grace Indonesia’s stages at The Dharmawangsa, playing alongside Addie MS’ Twilite Orchestra.

Although he spends forty percent of his time in Berlin and the rest traveling and touring, he concedes that his favorite pastime when coming home to Indonesia is eating. “I love rendang [beef stew], kue dadar [pancake], kenari nuts and also to dress up and go to events, partying in Bali.”

Kindra Cooper – The Jakarta Post