From Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries at WPRB: “SACRED BRIDGES” IV

“The fourth annual program: SACRED BRIDGES Wednesday April 4, 2012
presented during the time of important Jewish and Christian holidays, but focus is on music from multiple religious traditions rather than just two.

Dr Marvin Rosen

On this program of spiritual music you will hear Four Biblical Tableau by the Russian/American Composer, Aaron Avshalomov (1894-1964), Requiem and Resurrection by the American Composer, Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000), Vous vous invitons a la Pere, Op. 58 by the Indian/English Composer, Hidayat Inyat Khan (1917- ), Miserere (2009) by Scottish Composer, James MacMillan (1959- ), Da Lamentatione Jeremiae by English Composer John Mundy (c. 1555-1630), Gurdjieff: Violin Concerto No. 2 by Australian Composer, Larry Sitsky (1934- ), Requiem by English Composer, Sir John Tavener (1944- ) plus music by Hermann Berlinski, Isabella Leonarda, Meira Warshauer and many others.

The program will also include a number of selections by the Greek/Armenian traveller, Mystic and Composer Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1877-1949)”

G.I. Gurdjieff

Listen in the Central New Jersey area at 103.3FM, or at wprb.com

From Marvin Rosen – a Pre Thanksgiving Treat

“This Wednesday, November 23, 2011 from 5:30 till 11:00am

Classical Discoveries will present it’s 15th Annual program celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday with music of composers of the American Continent titled:

MUSIC OF THE AMERICAS

In this special program Classical Discoveries will present:
Time Machines for Violin and Orchestra (2007) by American Composer, Sebastian Currier (1959- ),
String Quartet No. 5 (2005) by American Composer, Jefferson Friedman (1974- ),
Mass for Saint Cecilia’s Day by American Composer, Lou Harrison (1917-2003),
Fantasia…sul un linguaggio perduto by Canadian Composer, Marjan Mozetich (1948- ),
Te Deum in stilo barocco for chorus and orchestra by Brazilian Composer, Amaral Vieira (1952- ),
An American Composer by American Composer, Gwyneth Walker (1947- )
plus music by Venezuelan composer Diana Arismendi, by American Composers Nancy Galbraith and Richard Yardumian plus many more.

AND

THIS WEDNESDAY ON CLASSICAL DISCOVERIES GOES AVANT-GARDE – MUSIC OF THE AMERICAS

This Wednesday, November 23, 2011 from 11:00am till 1:00PM

MUSIC OF THE AMERICAS

will continue on the Avant-Garde Edition

More music from American Continent like
Ballad Nocturne by American Composer Ann Millikan,
For Si by American Composer Christian Wolff (1934- )
plus music by American Composer Missy Mazzoli, Canadian Composer Robert Morin plus many others

WPRB 103.3 FM or on the internet

Emerging Talent: Jennifer Castellano

Jennifer Castellano Spectrum
© Jennifer Castellano 2011

Jennifer Castellano is a wonderful newly emergent composer and pianist. I first became aware of her work via the New Music Master Marvin Rosen at WPRB radio. Marvin and I share a motto, “support living composers”. But, that is all we share: Marvin is a talented pianist, radio host, and teacher. I am just a listener.

So, some time ago at Classical Discoveries, Marvin’s Wednesday program at WPRB, I learned about Ms. Castellano. I heard some of her music and I was overjoyed. Now, she has a self produced CD, Spectrum , available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jennifercastellano .

About Jennifer:

From
New York Women Composers-

“Jennifer received her Bachelor of Arts in Music at Manhattanville College and a Master of Music at Purchase College. She has studied classical piano with Donna DeAngelis, Catherine Coppola, and Flora Kuan. Teachers of composition include Mary Ann Joyce-Walter, Huang Ruo and Joel Thome. Besides her great love of birds, many of her compositions reveal her philosophy regarding the similarities between sound and color as well as music and visual imagery. Such works include Spectrum: Seven Preludes for Piano and Bionic Birds, an electronic, audio-visual presentation. Jennifer is a member of Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss, Piano Society and is Secretary/PR Coordinator for New York Women Composers.”

From Jennifer’s own web site:

Jennifer, who is both visually and hearing impaired, is a member of the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss, Piano Society, ASCAP and serves as Secretary/PR Coordinator for New York Women Composers. She is a member of the music faculty of The Mike Risko Music School and is a member of the recreation staff applying music therapy techniques at Sunshine Children’s Home & Rehabilitation Center, a nursing facility that specializes in the care and treatment of medically complex children who require post acute, rehabilitive care.

Jennifer and friends

Now, I am not a musician, musicologist or critic. I am just a listener. But, I can say that I have listened to the tracks and I find them to be really wonderful.

I asked Jennifer to send me her liner notes for this album. Here is what she has to say:

“To Scriabin (2003)
In fall of 2003, the music and ideas of Russian pianist and composer, Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915), inspired me to write To Scriabin. This particular piece was my way to pay him homage as he was one of my musical influences. He based many of his later compositions on a chord which he called the “mystic” chord (spelled C F-sharp, B-flat, E, A, D). This composition is based on this same six-note chord.

Sketches (2009)
Sketches is a collection of three piano pieces, each suggesting a general image or picture to the listener. The work was written for Max Lifchitz, pianist, composer, conductor and founder of North/South Consonance, an organization devoted to performance and recording of contemporary music from the Americas. Max gave the world premiere performance of Sketches in April 2010 at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church in New York City. The first piece in the collection, “Escapade”, is a playful piece that takes the listener on a lighthearted adventure. The next piece, “Daydream”, is more relaxed and carries this title because of the manner in which ideas came to me. The last piece, “Tarantella”, is my way of paying homage to my Italian roots. The tarantella, is a lively, whirling southern Italian dance for couples usually in 6/8 time.

The Castle at Sunrise (2003)
The Castle at Sunrise refers to the magnificent castle located on the Manhattanville College campus in Purchase, NY. The Castle is called Reid Hall, as it was formerly owned by Whitelaw Reid (1837-1912), a politician and journalist who served as editor, president and chairman of The New York Tribune.

Conflicting Colors (2004)
Conflicting Colors was inspired by a painting, Contrasting Sounds, by the Russian abstract artist, Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). This work was my first exploration of color and sound. The idea of colors conflicting is illustrated by the black keys of the piano sounding simultaneously against the white keys.

From a Dream (2002)
From a Dream is the first piano piece I wrote when I began composition studies with my first teacher of composition, Mary Ann Joyce-Walter. The main idea which forms the basis of this piece, came to me in a dream that I had the year before the work was written.

Spectrum – Seven Preludes for Piano (2006)
Spectrum, Seven Preludes for Piano was inspired by Spectrum V by American artist, Ellsworth Kelly (b. 1923). The work consists of thirteen large panels, each contained a different color or shade of color. To me this work was a visual representation of a chromatic scale played one full octave up the piano keyboard. I decided that I wanted to make an audio representation of the seven colors of the rainbow, each represented by a different tonality or pitch center: A being red, B orange, C yellow, D green, E blue, F indigo, and G violet.”

Visit Jennifer’s album page at cdbaby and sample the tracks. Then, if you enjoy what you hear, support this living composer. She has a great future.

My Music Sources

These are my sources for music and information. If you have any suggestions for me, I would appreciate seeing them in Comments.

All About Jazz – For all of the news of the Jazz world

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/

American Mavericks – A history of serious music in America from Minnesota Public Radio

http://www.musicmavericks.org/

American Composers Forum – Fostering artistic and professional development

http://www.composersforum.org/

Bang On A Can – At the heart of the Downtown New York New Music scene

https://www.bangonacan.org/

Blue Note Records – an iconic Jazz label still putting out great recordings

http://www.bluenote.com/

Cantaloupe Music – the recording arm of Bang On a Can

http://www.cantaloupemusic.com/

Classical Discoveries – Marvin Rosen’s Wednesday survey of great new music and the avantgarde on WPRB, Princeton, NJ

http://classicaldiscoveries.org/

Cuneiform Records – great taste in new music

http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/

ECM – possibly the finest recording company in the world

http://www.ecmrecords.com

The GreeneSpace, the live presentation space of New York Public Radio with programming from WNYC, WQXR, and Q2

http://www.wnyc.org/thegreenespace/

Hearts of Space – Stephen Hill’s great weekly mix of music for relaxation, contemplation, mediation, and…
This is a paid service.

http://www.hos.com

Innova – creating an environment for new compostion and musical maturation.
The recording arm of American Composers Forum

http://innova.mu

Live365 – niche audio streaming – any genre or sub-genre you want. This is a paid service.

http://www.live365.com

New Amsterdam Records – “…a non-profit-model record label and artists’ service organization that supports the public’s engagement with new music by composers and performers whose work grows from the fertile ground between genres….”

https://www.newamsterdamrecords.com

NPR/music – Jazz, Classical, interviews, news, concerts, “first listens”, artist profiles

http://www.npr.org/music

Q2 on the internet, “for the new music we crave” the home of New Music

http://www.wqxr.org/q2

WBGO bringing Jazz from Newark, NJ to the world

http://www.wbgo.org

WNYC – the home of John Schaefer’s Soundcheck and New Sounds programs

http://www.wnyc.org

WPRB, Community Radio, Princeton, NJ
For the most serious presentation of Classical music and the most erudite presentations of Jazz

http://www.wprb.com

Classical Discoveries Special Programming: “ALAN HOVHANESS – 100TH BIRTHDAY MARATHON”

This is not to be missed.

Our great teacher Marvin Rosen will present a 24 hour marathon dedicated to the music of the Maestro Alan Hovhaness. Marvin is a Hovhaness specialist without peer.

Marvin Rosen

The title of the presentation is MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS WITHOUT END

This broadcast at 103.3 FM and the web stream from WPRB starts SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2010 – 7:00 pm and ends
MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2010 – 7:00 pm

We cannot fail to thanks the veteran radio on-air hosts who have stood aside to allow this incredible special to take place.

Be there, Aloha!

Denver Post:”Classical music is going new places to lure new faces”

A very interesting article at the Denver Post about the future of Classical Music..

The article speaks about both people and places. Not surprising, a fair amount of new success is found in New Music and in the venues that support it.

Just some bullets from the artilce to entice you:

Le Poisson Rouge
Sarah Kirkland Snider
Present Music
New Amsterdam Records

And, hey, it’s Denver. There is a lot more going on. Look back to my post

http://musicsprings.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/from-the-new-york-timesfreelance-musicians-hear-mournful-coda-as-the-jobs-dry-up-but/

Some of the other successful new groups are noted.

And, by all means, listen to Q2 from WQXR.
Listen also the Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries every Wednesday morning at WPRB, Princeton, NJ

See the Denver Post article here.

Daniel Bernard Roumain Makes It to All About Jazz

By Mark Saleski and copyright AAJ Something Else, so just a taste here.

“Not long after receiving Etudes 4 Violin & Electronix, I got up one morning before the alarm went off, and settled myself down to some coffee. The idea was to catch up on the reading material that had stacked up over the past few months. What ended up happening over the next 10 minutes or so was that I stared a hole through an advertisement featuring a reproduction of Edward Hopper’s painting “Nighthawks.”

Hopper’s artwork has always resonated with me. There’s just something about how he perfectly captures an instant in time, giving the viewer a scene that’s visually pregnant, just begging for an explanation. Each painting tells a story or, at the very least, implies one. It’s that story implication that makes the painting so rich. Every viewer becomes part of the story, providing their own details

There are definitely parallels in the music world. When a piece of music succeeds, it does indeed tell a story. The framework presented by the composition gives the listener the opportunity to extend the themes, if not provide resolutions.

Each time I listen to this Daniel Bernard Roumain recording, much like the “Nighthawks” experience, my local attention dissolves as I float up into the world of its possibilities. Collaborating with the likes of DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, Peter Gordon, Ryuichi Sakamoto, DJ Scientific, and Phillip Glass, Roumain conjures up a set of tales that manage to stand on their own as well as nest comfortably together.”

Read the rest of Mr. Saleski’s article here.

Postscript: I met Mr Roumain, “DBR” to the cognoscenti, at WPRB when he was interviewed on Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries radio prorgam. He is one heck of a violonist and a really nice guy to boot.

John Meets Marvin – I’d Love to Be A Fly On The Wall

I have some of my best – or worst – ideas while out on my exercise walks. Here is my latest:

I would love to be present when John Schaefer of WNYC’s New Sounds and Soundcheck and Marvin Rosen of WPRB’s Classical Discoveries and Classical Discoveries Goes Avantgarde might meet.

John Schaefer is the absolute impresario of New Music in New York City, maybe now, with the internet, the whole wide world. I have been listening to John it seems forever. New Sounds took me from my father’s world of Beethoven through Copland to the heights of the late 20th century with Arvo Pärt, Sir John Tavener, the Turtle Island Quartet, Steve Reich, Philip Glass and oh so many more great artists and composers. These days, Soundcheck is the key destination for artists and composers both new and not so new. It was on John’s Soundcheck celebration of New Sounds’ 20th anniversary that the Turtle Island guys said and I paraphrase, no New Sounds, no Turtle Island. I still have a copy of the 1985 interview with Steve Reich from the broadcast premier of the Desert Music.

John Schaefer

Marvin Rosen is the impresario of the Classical Discoveries web site. His two programs Classical Discoveries and Classical Discoveries Goes Avantgarde are a constant education. One of Marvin’s mottos, identical with mine, is “support living composers”. On Marvin’s longer programs this Summer, he has hosted extended interviews with Maya Beiser, Jennifer Castellano, Piffaro – The Rennaisance Band, Ethel, guitarist and Princeton University Professor Steve Mackey, Innova’s Philip Blackburn, and Barbara Harbach. What? You don’t know who some of them are? Tune in every Wednesday from about 6:00AM-3:00PM during the rest of this Summer and you will surely learn who they are and get a fuller education. Marvin is Dr Marvin Rosen, member of the Arts Faculty at Westminster Conservatory.

If I had to thank John for one composer, it would be Arvo Pärt. When I went all digital, I had to rip 16 CD’s to .mp3 .
From Marvin, it would be Alan Hovhaness. By this time, I was buying albums in .mp3 from Amazon. Right now, the number is nine, but we are still counting.

There is no way to thank these guys for the abundance of educational material they present to the listener each and every week.

Marvin Rosen Presents “Sacred Bridges”

Marvin Rosen will be presenting a special program of sacred music on WPRB Tuesday, March 30, 2010.

The program will be aired and streamed beginning at 5:30AM and running until 11:00AM

Marvin says the program “…focuses on music from multiple religious traditions rather than just one, and explores the elements that make music an international language….”