The Fredösphere

Many people have commented on Stanley Kubrick's brilliant choice of music for 2001:  A Space Odyssey.  By using classical standards, Kubrick maintained more personal control over his movie.  These pieces--Zarathustra, Lux Aeterna and the Strauss waltz and all the rest--were originally placeholders, music Kubrick inserted into early drafts of the film while he was waiting for the commissioned score by Alex North to be written.  (In a shameful episode, North did not find out his music was axed until he saw the film just before its release.  North's score was eventually released as an album.)

Here's a take on the film that's new to me:  2001 as a kind of visual music in three movements.  Experts discuss the film, its music, its musical nature, and what the heck the ending is supposed to mean, anyway.  (Short answer:  anything you like.)

Labels: movie, sci-fi, SoundClip

Frankly, if you're going to email me asking for my help and you can't even be bothered to do me the courtesy of placing your apostrophes correctly, don't expect me to call 911 for you.

Here are two excellent a cappella groups to sample.  First, via A Capella News, it's Naturally 7:



This group is so hot, they make their tour bus burst into flames.  Meanwhile, Chicago A Cappella is equally caliente--listen to samples of them singing Mata del ánima sola by Antonio Esévez, Son de la loma by Miguel Matamoros, arr. J. Castillo, and Salseo by Oscar Galian.

My hoary custom of playing Bach's St. Matthew Passion every Good Friday has gradually given way to Golijov's La Pasion Segun San Marco.  I switched because I figured the hot Latin rhythms would be more compelling to my kids ears (plus, they have enough Spanish that they can translate most of it).  What I didn't anticipate is the way the music sets their feet a-dancing.  We compromise, and I make them wait a decent interval, then let them cut loose.  Watching them dance to the Death of God is disconcerting, but their urges are innocent and I think it would be wrong to suppress them completely.

Labels: Choral, SoundClip, VideoClip, vocal

No Halloween is complete until you've taken three minutes to listen to The Superstitious Ghost.  Use the mp3 player above, or the one below, or use this link.  Listen, especially if your name is Brett Luginbill.  (Brett is a young conductor I just had the privilege to meet today.  He wants to start a classical music concert series at the University Lutheran Chapel, and, as Homer Simpson would say, I wanna let him!)



Enjoy the fine performance by my friends Lorna Young Hildebrandt, Kara Alfano, Karl Schmidt, Paul Max Tipton, and on piano, Tom Strode.  Then go see the extreme pumpkins.  (Hat tip to Transterrestrial Musings.)

Labels: Composition, SoundClip

I'm pleased to announce my music can now be heard thanks to the shiny new XSPF player I have added to this site, which you no doubt noticed above.  Select one of the tunes, then work the start/stop/pause controls to your heart's content.

At the same time, I am unveiling the recording of Poor Richard's Almanac, premiered by the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Ann Arbor, directed by Ben Cohen.  They did an excellent job performing the piece, and I am grateful to them for comissioning it.  I hope you enjoy it.

Labels: Composition, SoundClip

My friend Alan reports The sixteen have cut a new album of early music with guitarist Kaori Muraji.  You can here excerpts on the MPR broadcast.  Oddly, this time director Harry Christophers leads an ensemble with... sixteen singers, not the eighteen you would expect.

Labels: SoundClip, vocal

My friend Alan sent me a link to a Saint Paul Sunday show in which Harry Christophers leads The Sixteen (all eighteen of them) in a concert and discussion of Renaissance and Baroque music.  Any concert that leads off with the Lotti Crucifixus a 8 and the Tallis If Ye Love Me can't be bad, but the singing of the Sixteen is so close to perfection, I felt I needed to pass the link on to you.

The interview portions of the show are conducted in a semi-whisper which is both amusing and compelling, as if the music and the church setting placed a holy awe upon those involved.  It reminds me of my college choir director's over-the-top reverence for the Lotti Crucifixus, which was so extreme he seemed afraid ever to let us perform it in public, although we rehearsed it every year.  A sad case, really, yet one that made a lasting impression on me.  Listening to that piece in a casual way is impossible for me now.

Labels: Renaissance, SoundClip