Composed and deComposed: Music of Our Centuries

The events surrounding the terrorist destruction of the Wold Trade Center has had a peculiar effect on the musicians and other artists I’ve spoken with.

Composed and deComposed: Music of Our Centuries

So many releases, so little space, even here in cyberspace.

Composed and deComposed: Music of Our Centuries

There has been so much activity on the new music front that I am physically incapable of writing about some of the concerts I’ve attended this season.

Composed and deComposed: Music of Our Centuries

It’s alive, music is. The concert halls this year are filled with the most amazing work and, just like discs, I cry over the ones I couldn’t get to hear, such as the Messiaen piano festival at Cooper Union.

Composed and deComposed: Music of Our Centuries

It’s another new music season in New York. If Carnegie Hall is any indication, 20th century music is finally part of the general repertoire, where at least half of the works on the schedule seem to be Stravinsky and beyond.

Composed and deComposed: Music of Our Centuries

To paraphrase the great musical parodist Anna Russell, “The beauty of opera is that it doesn’t quite matter what you do, so long as you sing it.”

Composed and deComposed: Music Of Our Centuries

Carnegie Hall presented an all-Kurtág concert in their “Making Music 2000” series. Kurtág was supposed to appear and perform, but is, moderator Ara Guzelimian told us, “reluctant to travel.”