Kulesha Premiere

WOW, there's a lot of cool stuff happening this week! Check out the calendar!!

-RP

November 28: Thomas Annand, 8pm, Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica

Ottawa organist Thomas Annand will present a recital marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Olivier Messiaen.

Presented as part of the Pro Organo series, Annand's recital will include Messiaen's Messe de la Pentecôte and pieces connected to Messiaen or to the church where he performed in Paris.

Other composers will include Alexandre Guilmant, Marcel Dupré and Naji Hakim. The recital will also include the premiere of Canadian composer Gary Kulesha's Sonatine. Kulesha studied the organ and has said that his style has been influenced by Messiaen's language and techniques.

Tickets: $20 general, $15 seniors, $10 students. Information: 613-728-8041.

Link to Naji Hakim website.

Link to Gary Kulesha website.

Link to Thomas Annand bio.

I agree

You know Ryan, I agree with you. There is something too exclusive about the term CREATIVE concert music. We discussed on the phone a few weeks back that a depth of engagement seems to be important to us. This concept of not merely repeating, but engaging material from many aspects, and connecting with it as a means to create something relevant. As I reflect, I have found a few interesting points. It seems that we really are supporting more than one thing, and that giving a single name might not work. Even though 'new' and 'contemporary' have become dated terms, they are still referring to something which we are supporting - a movement of composers to expand the possibilities of music beyond the pre-20C models. Furthermore, there is a spectrum of how far composers push. Some revolutionize, others continue the evolution of the tradition, while others arguably do both. There is also this aspect of supporting music that is on the cutting edge of the present - recently finished, in progress, improvised, or not even thought of yet.

I have no ambition to present or support a unified new music aesthetic. You are onto something with this idea of 'music of the last 100 years'. One could say that we are supporting music from the 20C to the present, and leave it to our discretion after that. I feel that if we start getting too specific, we'll not only alienate others, but probably alienate ourselves. I would much rather be a little too inclusive than exclusive.

C.

Creative Concert Music

I like the term. My only qualm is with the "creative" modifier. It's a little exclusionary.

It's one thing to attach labels like "romantic" and say that "Mozart was not a Romantic composer". Even though one might be able to find elements of romanticism, it's not the defining characteristic of his work. But I think it's potentially dangerous to call current-era music "creative", because it suggests "Mozart was not a Creative composer," with which many, myself included, would take issue.

The problem with labeling current-era music is that composers are no longer trying to write according to a particular style. It's a complete free-for-all. The more accurate terms "new" and "modern" were applied so long ago that they aren't literal anymore, and we've had to invent oxymoronic terms like "postmodern".

I don't have a solution to offer. I think I'm going to start referring to "concert music of the past 100 years", but I need a nickname for it. The problem with that term is that it shifts - it won't mean the same thing tomorrow as it did today. But it ought to do until I think of something better.

I very much like the addition of the word "concert" to our term. I hope we don't run into problems with it as some of our contemporaries attempt to erase borders between concert and pop by performing in pubs and bars...

Imperfection

"The German chemist Ernst Fischer mused that "as machines become more and more efficient and perfect, so it will become clear that imperfection is the greatness of man." A creature designed by an engineer might never know love, never enjoy art, never see the point of poetry. From the perspective of brute rationality, time spent making and appreciating art is time that could be "better" spent gathering nuts for winter. From my perspective, the arts are part of the joy of human existence. By all means, let us make poetry out of ambiguity, song and literature out of emotion and irrationality."

-Gary Marcus, "Kluge"

Link to klugethebook.com

More mandate ideas.

This is an edited version of my statement. I wanted to change something. I am taking a cue from the Canadian New Music Network FORUM 2009 in Montreal, to change my CREATIVE ARTS statement to CREATIVE CONCERT MUSIC.

Ryan,

I think that you are right about the question of semantics. There are just so many dimensions to classification. For instance, we have a broad definition of classical music which encompasses a long lineage that has evolved from a specific tradition. It often includes pre-classical and modern pursuits. Notwithstanding its vagueness, the terms serves a purpose (if not as a means for many to elevate it, and categorize it as more artful, or better, etc...). However, we also have the term classical, which refers to a certain period, and to those savvy to the genre, invokes a certain expectation.

To clarify/make ambiguous, we can draw reference to dance movements. Within dance, we have contemporary and modern movements, neither of which are currently contemporary or modern. To confuse things even more, in philosophic terms, we have Modern, which isn't always now, and Post-modern, which comes ambiguously after Modern, but might not be now either.

And so, we run into the same problems in music. We have new music, which isn't new, and contemporary music, which isn't contemporary. From this I have drawn a few conclusions that may be useful. Genres date themselves when they refer to a subjective point of time, ie: contemporary, modern and new. However, a movement that refers to somethings specific, whether a temporal period, or a style, seem to be more lasting. Jazz may be a good place to look for non-temporal genres (although, it also has "modern" jazz). Ragtime, swing, bebop (and all the other bops), free, fusion, all seem to evoke something specific. And so, as I reflect, I feel that we need something non-temporal, that reflects a grounding in an idea, or philosophy that we adhere to. As such, I would like to propose something along the lines of the CREATIVE CREATIVE CONCERT MUSIC.

I believe that it's broad enough to encompass many things, including media arts like the Electric Fields festival, but specific enough to weed out Strauss. In also invokes a philosophy of timelessness - always on the edge, pushing and creating new ideas, ways of thinking. Moving us beyond our comfort zone while drawing on a sense tradition (even in rejection of it, as nothing is without context).

I think these ideas will help us to chose and clarify our mandate.

Mandate Questions

Craig,
Okay, let's kick off this discussion. Here's the email I sent you the other day:

Something I've been meaning to ask you regarding the blog... what's our cutoff point for what constitutes "new music"? It doesn't have to be absolutely rigid, but we should probably at least discuss it a bit.
My suggestion is: music written by a composer who wrote most of their music after 1900. If anyone falls on the cusp, we use our judgement. So technically Richard Strauss and Bartok fall under this definition, but no - they're pretty mainstream (not that there's anything wrong with that). I wasn't sure about including Webern, like I think I mentioned, but it's still challenging enough to the modern ear that I wanted to go for it, even though he was only 10 years younger than Strauss.
Do you have any thoughts on this? I just added a concert that's gonna have some Healy Willan on it. Willan's solidly in the 20th-century (in time if not in style), plus he's Canadian (which has nothing to do with the blog per se, but I have a soft spot for local boys). His music is pretty neo-rom though. I'm on the fence about it.
R.

Here's your reply:

Well, I think that we have to decide if we're supporting 20C+ music, 'new' music or contemporary music, which, are kind of all different things. 20C+ music is easy: written in 20thC and later. New music is tough, but it generally gives the aesthetic of post-tonal to me. Yet, that isn't rigid. Verklarte Nacht is still pretty romantic. For me, contemporary music deals with the present. Things that are going on now. But, I think that post 1900 is a good start, with the cusp being judgement. Webern was not a bad decision. It's tough. --->in many cases 'new' music is something that challenges the mainstream model of what music is accepted to me <--- Plus, this is Ottawa! Right now there is still only a small amount going on, that I feel it better to include a broad range, rather than try to pigeon hole to one single aesthetic. I also know that the electronic field festival is pushing it. It deals largely with Djs. but it also deals with experimental electronics.

And here's my reply to your reply:
Right. We're not exactly awash in contemporary, paradigm-challenging sounds here, although compiling events on the calendar has really opened my eyes to how much there is going on; I doubt I'd have even found out about half this stuff otherwise. But I digress. With the relative scarcity of modern music being performed in the Ottawa area, we would do well to be inclusive rather than exclusive at this point in time. If we find, later, that our target is too large and we're listing all sorts of events that have no connection to, as you say, "things that are going on now", we can adjust our sights accordingly.
I'd never thought of "new music" as being post-tonal, but maybe you're right. The problem is in the semantics - something can only be "new" for a while, and it's a completely relative and subjective term. I mean, hell, 'new music' ought perhaps to include Coca-cola jingles and sitcom theme songs as well, but we have to draw the line somewhere.
So clearly, 'new music' doesn't refer to any music that is newly-composed. Maybe it should be defined as music composed recently that deals with modern ideas. But then, we don't always know the works in question, or even some of the composers, so we're assuming based on dates of composition that the music fits our parameters.
Will a time come when Webern is no longer challenging to most listener's ears? And if so, do we then shift him out of our invented categories of 'new' or 'modern' music? I think we're just going to have to define our parameters as we go along. We seem to agree on a starting point, though, so that's good.
R.

This Just In!!

Hi,
The following events have just been added to the calendar. The first involves the premiere of a new work by an Ottawa composer, be sure not to miss it!

November 15: "Tonecluster Unplugged". 8pm, Church of the Ascension, 253 Echo Drive. Jane Perry conducts Tonecluster, Ottawa's gay and lesbian choir, in the opening concert of its 15th season with music for unaccompanied choir, including pieces ranging from the 17th century to Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy. The choir's guest, Ottawa cellist and composer Kirk Starkey, presents the first performance of Hidden, for cello and sampler. Advance tickets are $15 at outlets that include After Stonewall, mother tongue books, Wilde's, The Leading Note, Collected Works. Tickets at the door are $20. Free admission for children under 12, accompanied by an adult.

Link to Tonecluster's website.

Link to Kirk Starkey's biography.

November 17: Ottawa Symphony Orchestra. 8pm, Southam Hall, National Arts Centre. In the 100-piece Ottawa Symphony Orchestra's second concert of the season, David Currie conducts the Ottawa Symphony in Healey Willan's Overture to an Unwritten Comedy; Benjamin Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes; and Vaughan Williams' Job, a Masque for Dancing, an orchestral showpiece inspired by William Blake illustrations. Tickets, starting at $22 general, $20 for seniors and $11 for students, are at the NAC box office and through TicketMaster outlets (613-755-1111).

Link to OSO website.

Electric Fields Festival

Electric Fields
Electronic music and media arts festival
November 13th to the 23rd, 2008

Complete Festival Schedule >>

Hey Ottawa! This is coming up. I think that it is going to be pretty awesome. Some interesting performances and lectures on experimental electronic music and media, along with some DJs and a few parties. I've posted their festival on our calendar.

Electric Fields is a biennial festival dedicated to the presentation of new and significant performance and installation works created at the crossroads of art, science and technology.

Started in 2003 as a collaboration between Galerie SAW Gallery and SAW Video, Electric Fields is now in it's third edition. The festival strives to bring a snapshot of the most innovative Canadian and international electronic art, from music performance to installation, to the nation's capital, and this year we hope to raise the bar for not only the festival but for the city itself.

This year also marks a significant rebirth of Electric Fields. With the general direction of the festival now within Artengine, we strove to foster a network of organizations enabling us to bring Ottawa-Gatineau a unique experience on the scale that these artists deserve.

This collaboration of art institutions, media art production centers, film presenters and promoter/DJs, as well as other festivals, demonstrates the importance of the intersection of art and technology. Each of them have already expanded beyond the traditional definitions of the discipline at the heart of their organizations, presenting visual art that is no longer just visual, music that is not really music, club nights that are not just a party or video and film that has little to do with tape, glass tubes or celluloid. This messy spill-over between disciplines is almost always a given when artists creatively engage with technology, and what Electric Fields does is highlight and coordinate the spill-over to create an audience experience that is at once fragmented and seamless.

We are delighted at the collaborations that enabled this festival to grow to the size it should be, and want to thank everyone who helped make this happen. We hope that the experience for you, the audience, is as fun and rich as it has been for us here at Artengine.

Electric Fields is presented by Artengine and SAW Video

Including co-presentation with The Ottawa Art Gallery, Carleton University Art Gallery, The Canadian Film Institute and Daimon

Free Guitar Concert

November 8:

FREE CONCERT!

6:30pm at the Sheraton Ottawa Hotel (150 Albert st.).

Canadian Guitar Quartet: Philip Candelaria, Denis Donegani, Patrick Roux and Louis Trepanier

Works by Beethoven, Rossini, Hans Brüderl, and Patrick Roux.

The series of concerts to which this belongs, put on by the Austrian Embassy, has been very popular. Doors open at 5pm and seats may be reserved by calling 613-789-1444, ext. 235.

link to Hans Brüderl's website (in German).

Improvised Music and Dance.

Friday, November 8th at 9pm:
A short set of Improvised Music and Dance

Apartment 1A (at the very back of the house) 232 Lisgar St.
(613) 447-4871 for more information.


Featuring:

Catalina Insignares, dance
Craig Pedersen, trumpet.

New music for cello and electronics

Jaqueline Fay, cello

Following the concert there will be a birthday celebration.
Bring yourself and a bottle of your favourite fancy and we'll make a night of it!