Comments: 0 Edit
NMB and Seqenza21
By: Philip Fried Date: Feb 19, 2010 - 07:35 PM
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=6270
What else is new?
By philmusic
This "opportunity" has some problems. In the first place "one day to work with the ensemble" simply would not be enough time. For me anyway.
Besides, the point is moot because as a serial composer this ensemble would never perform my music.
Phil Fried
Phil'd Page
___
http://www.sequenza21.com/2010/02/20-composers-x-a-50-dollar-application-fee-a-self-funded-commission/comment-page-2/#comments
Phil Fried says:
February 16, 2010 at 9:27 pm
It’s a pity about all those lonely unsolicited scores, Chris. One might suppose there is another pile for the recommended composers. Anyway I’m not included in either pile. A serial composers chances aren’t very good these days.
Even with the best intentions: what you seem to be saying is this:
Your not cool, but if you pay our fee we will show you around the VIP room.
Philip Fried
Phil Fried says:
February 16, 2010 at 11:31 pm
On second thought
Hey there is an opportunity here–why doesn’t 8BB or another a new music ensemble do a marathon reading of every single work submitted?
Say 100 dollar fee but every work is performed with structured limitations of timing and instruments? recording extra???
that sounds a least win win!!!
Phil Fried stressing the positive.
Phil Fried says:
February 16, 2010 at 11:39 pm
naturally one expects more than sight reading.
Phil Fried says:
February 17, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Dennis, I think the entry fee should be $1000 , for each band member.
Comments: 0 Edit
NMB fun and not so
By: Philip Fried Date: Feb 13, 2010 - 11:20 AM
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=6267
this is a a sore point for many if as I say here is true: then the new musicology is a "no neck bastard" and simply political speak. Again Pgblu makes an overbearing case obviously he is a goog guy.
Well...
By philmusic
I don't think Colin that you change intentionality by merely changing ones choice of words. Being fired or being downsized or rightsized amounts to the same thing.
Rather one should draw a distinction between what one says and one does.
Phil Fried, Phil's main page
Thursday, February 11, 2010, 8:56:44 AM
US and Them
"McClary' work belongs to what we like to call New Musicology...."
Well I couldn't have put it better myself.
Phil Fried Phil's Page
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=6262
Adorn? No!
By philmusic
No problem Pugblu--it seems that you were correct. Some folks around here have not read the book.
Phil Fried, talking tough as usual. Phil's Page
Cat People Unite!
By philmusic
My cat had a great success in Germany!
Don't get me started on Bunnies!
Phil Fried, will be in NY soon!
Friday, February 05, 2010, 5:38:36 PM
U asked for it!
By philmusic
Bun-Buns Behind Bars
This is one of my facebook albums, perhaps to see them you will have to friend me.
Come on in!
Phil Fried
Thursday, February 11, 2010, 9:00:13 PM
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more NMB
By: Philip Fried Date: Feb 13, 2009 - 04:31 PM
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5868
"...and it's true that sitting one out on the bench doesn't tank your
carreer...writing some lame, half-assed sketch of a piece does..."
I'm not so sure about that. Among the many composers I know - getting the "job" and
keeping it comes before all other considerations.
This is the professional mindset and not to be confused with artistic judgements.
This does not imply that successful composers are making artistic compromises for that commercial
success. We have had these discussions before its just that some composers
have a knack for the pulse of now. More power to them. <br><br>
Yet, if one allows for the many opinions composers have for each others
work, not just their own, the very opposite is true. To paraphrase a well
know composer -
Not only is 3rd rate composition tolerated-its demanded.
Comments: -1 Edit
Back from NY more NMB roundups.
By: Philip Fried Date: Feb 6, 2009 - 07:23 PM
It seems that its the same converstaions again and again folks pretending to have opinions being "bad" saying dumb and dunber thnngs so I get w-ell you'll see:
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5849
????
By philmusic
"...A charge that was raised herein, and one which frequently gets raised by folks who are anti-modernist, is that modernism engages in a willful obfuscation with the audience..."
Green
Rock
brake
noodle
small
kleghorn
shark
cola
Ebola
credit swap
Am I getting warm?
Phil Fried
Monday, February 02, 2009, 7:50:59 PM
Comments: 0 Edit
NYC performances!! not much NMB
By: Philip Fried Date: Jan 16, 2009 - 05:29 PM
Phil's NY performances
Host:
Music on MacDougal
Type:
Music/Arts - Concert
Network:
Global
Time and PlaceDate:
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Time:
8:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:
Players Theatre
Street:
115 MacDougal St.
Contact InfoPhone:
2124751449
http://web.mac.com/msgouros/Site/Phil_Fried_%26_Lily.html
Event InfoHost:
Roulette
Type:
Music/Arts - Concert
Network:
Global
Time and PlaceDate:
Friday, January 30, 2009
Time:
8:30pm - 9:30pm
Location:
roulette intermedia
Street:
20 Greene Street (between Canal and Grand Streets).
City/Town:
East New York, NY
View Map
Google
MapQuest
Microsoft
Yahoo
Contact InfoPhone:
2122198242
Email:
roulette@roulette.org
http://www.roulette.org/
____________________________________
Phil's term for newly composed short term disposable opera:
FLOPPERA
__________________________________________________________
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5835
A little levity:
On the other hand...
By philmusic
"..What if my treble dial has fallen off for good?.."
As some of us know Colin, Its all about the bass!
Phil Fried Phil Fried
Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 10:58:29 AM
_________________________________________
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5838
a thought or 2
By philmusic
Frank, you cover a lot of ground on this one so I will give my answers in reverse.
As a listener I believe in no sonic prejudice, that does not mean that I like everything I hear. Rather I try to experience each work on its own and as openly as I can. Easy for me as I have no team to support. (For me its not serial composers right or wrong.)
Attitude
Most composers I know have a positive attitude in spite of the many rejections prevalent in our business.
It must be remembered that Pollyanna was not a "ninni" but a survivor. Yes a positive attitude is a good thing, then again, so is talent.
Phil Fried
Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 7:09:29 PM
__________________________________________
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5839
Phil's patented operatic resume stuffer
By philmusic
Colin: I composed an opera titled:
Leading Opera houses in the United States and Europe.
This work has two singing parts:
Major Roles and Prima Donna
So If you perform my work you can add to your resume:
Performed Major Roles in Leading Opera houses in the United States and Europe.
Or the Prima Donna in Leading Opera houses in the United States and Europe.
Phil Fried
Comments: 0 Edit
reply to Edward Ortiz
By: Philip Fried Date: Jan 8, 2009 - 11:41 AM
http://newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=5825
Something about this article rubbed me the wrong way. Not the ideas because clearly grand opera and chamber opera are different genres that need different approaches.
The subject of New Music Theatre, though not mentioned, is fair to avoid in this context.
Its not the facts eaither. It is reasonable to assume that recent music might be more expensive than warhorses. Though with all the variables of an opera production the figure of 4 times the cost for a new work (verses a new production of an old one for example )seems a little, well, suspect. One is reminded of the Vinyl shortage of the 1970 as a reason for the lack of new album releases.
What bugs me is this; the implicit acceptance of the operatic institutions and gate keepers as the nexus of the operatic art. Composers at best come in as a poor third place and thats only when they create works that are an "easy sell."
Well include me out.
Phil Fried
__________________________________________
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5838
a thought or 2
By philmusic
Frank, you cover a lot of ground on this one so I will give my answers in reverse.
As a listener I believe in no sonic prejudice, that does not mean that I like everything I hear. Rather I try to experience each work on its own and as openly as I can. Easy for me as I have no team to support. (For me its not serial composers right or wrong.)
Attitude
Most composers I know have a positive attitude in spite of the many rejections prevalent in our business.
It must be remembered that Pollyanna was not a "ninni" but a survivor. Yes a positive attitude is a good thing, then again, so is talent.
Phil Fried
Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 7:09:29 PM
__________________________________________
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5839
Phil's patented operatic resume stuffer
By philmusic
Colin: I composed an opera titled:
Leading Opera houses in the United States and Europe.
This work has two singing parts:
Major Roles and Prima Donna
So If you perform my work you can add to your resume:
Performed Major Roles in Leading Opera houses in the United States and Europe.
Or the Prima Donna in Leading Opera houses in the United States and Europe.
Phil Fried
Comments: 0 Edit
Doctor Atomic on TV
By: Philip Fried Date: Dec 29, 2008 - 10:09 PM
I suppose that I was disappointed in this work, yet not in the way that I expected--simply put I was bored. In this work the music, character, and voice were subsidiary to the visual concept.
First --thank god for the pan and scan cameras and those close ups or this work is dead in the water. Also without the supertitles most text would not be understood.
Problems:
1. Unmotivated activity:
The elements of theater do not align-
Music does not reflect the text, the text avoids the story
--unmotivated stage business and staging, unmotivated text, unmotivated music.
Scene 2 almost works but why do the two Oppenheimer's suddenly start fighting?
there are no text or musical clues for this or any other dramatic occurrence.
The music gets intense-yet the text is placid -the text gets intense-the music ignores it.
1. Orchestrally no obbligatos only accompaniments
2. All the accompaniments are ostinotos
3. constant syllabic text settings except for 2 notes at the end of every phrase, the women provide some relief, but not much as the melizmas are not on text but open vowel
4. the vocal lines have the effect of a typewriter
5. many vocal parts don't seem composed just improvised over the changes and in a hurry.
6. -text high points are not also musical ones
7. odd text choices for musical high points at that.
8. colorless meandering vocal lines, very similar, that all the characters use
9. no duets, no real ensembles.
10. Though I appreciate the use of the concept I call "context" in -batter my heart -this almost works, like Les Miz works, because of the text and music repetitions -yet again this goes on way too long. Also the success could be due to the excellent performance (a la Les Miz) in spite of the composition. Also Batter my heart is a real poem. This helps.
11. The chorus was impossible to understand
12. Inexperienced text writers, who look to Rock Opera, rather then grand opera, for its models.
13. instrumental composer composing theatrical vocal music again
14. the vocal music is never reflected or imitated in the orchestra
1. every story detail is expressed the same emotional level
1. the seams of the work's construction are very visible
The instrumental segues are interesting but seem made up of modernistic "effects" and though they sonically provide contrast and underscoring they frame scenes that they are also divorced from. Even here they the music is subservient to the set changes.
All this guilt about an event that according to many folks saved 500,000 American lives. This work also avoids many interesting side issues such as racism, or the Japanese experience within the work. The tack on at the end, with no emotion (irony), suggests that this is opera for the art crowd not for musicians.
The most important theatrical moment, the end, is not musical.
Other important theatrical musical moments are instrumental and not sung.
When there is music it does not explain the characters and the characters do not interact except as a staging device.
I think we have to look at what it takes to get a new opera done at the Met, or anywhere else for that matter. I wish I could say that the standard is high. This seems like an opera it just has no core. Perhaps the use of the term avant garde is just an excuse to sweep the dramatic failings under the rug-or perphaps this work is the true representation of its generations feelings. No feelings at all.
I'm afraid that only those who have a knack for getting high profile performances are the ones who can get an opera performed these days. Believing that skill as a vocal composers would be a factor in this is naive. Sigh. The Met was willing to use a director that had no opera experience. So why not a composer? Repeating the same mistakes each time does not equal experience.
One doesn't have to wonder at the critics positive reviews to this work-- its their schadenfreude at the impotence of the Modernist composers to get anything like this on board themselves.--still Berg and Schoenberg are in the opera repertory.This is spite of Mr. Adams positioned himself as the antidote to modernism. Actually there is much in common with this work and Mr. Carter's recent opera. Still, in Carter the music comes first.
The styles have changed and new gods are worshiped.
Oddly this work takes the musical delicatessen approach.
One is perhaps a little shocked that since the "met" has traditionally performed 3rd rate new music in its time, that this and other recent works are not included in this category. Why? Snob appeal perhaps? Fear of missing the boat? Professionalism is a given at the Met in all production areas but composition is something else again. Composers are not in house.
Why do so many folks who claim to be "outsiders" need to look up to an obvious insider as a "leader?" Outsiders can't get performed at the Met. It was bad enough when Boulez pretended to be the inside outsider. I still like his music. I can't say the same thing for Mr. Adams.
Music- D+
Character -F
Voice (vocal writing -- not the singing) - F
Extra Credit: direction, performances, costumes, sets, A+
Comments: 0 Edit
nmb round up
By: Philip Fried Date: Dec 26, 2008 - 02:28 PM
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5810
lock stock and fach
By philmusic
Opera has become over the few last decades a directors art, re-dressing the old rather than creating the new, Even then the look is everything. One expects times to change and the opera with it yet many folks point out that many of the great singers of the recent past could not work today.
Visual trumps sound.
In America, in any case, the public is out of the loop as such decisions are made by the gate keepers. The overall health of music theater in America was strong, but who knows now? Yet the recent hard times might create opportunities for companies to go back to the basics and commissioning new operas to fit.
As long as there is music, character, and voice, opera survives.
Phil Fried
the means is the message?
By philmusic
".. people today are still uncomfortable with confronting the complex moral issues of the story. and it is, of course, incredibly sexually explicit and violent. it boils down to the fact that more modern pieces deal with more modern issues, and these are often issues that people don't want to deal with either in art or real life.."
Hmm.. Can you then explain Tbriggs why "spring awakening" by the same author with a story just as explicit is such a successful Broadway musical? Is it merely because the musical language and the English translation make it so accessible?
I think so. Its not about the text issues at all--its about the music. Which I love.
Phil Fried
_________________________________________________________________________
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5814
my fav
By philmusic
Christmas and my soul, Laura Nyro
Phil Fried
__________________________________________________________________
http://www.sequenza21.com/index.php/1004#comment-14980
sequenza21 stuff
4 responses so far ↓
*
1 Phil Fried // Dec 24, 2008 at 11:02 pm
The next Music On MacDougal show will be Likeness to Lilly and Phil Fried on January 28th.
Just a heads up Happy Holidays!
see you there.
*
2 Phil Fried // Dec 24, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Oh–what am I? Chopped liver?
*
3 Steve Layton // Dec 25, 2008 at 12:26 am
We prefer to think of you as fine pâté, Phil.
*
4 Phil Fried // Dec 26, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Also your link is no good try this one:
http://web.mac.com/msgouros/Site/Phil_Fried_%26_Lily.html
Comments: 0 Edit
NMB rundown
By: Philip Fried Date: Dec 20, 2008 - 03:23 PM
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5807
I'm not sure I need to reply to this post but unless a woman takes this up I will post this latter...
I agree with you Corey, yet I must mention that many artists, not just feminists, have such a unique experience with our messy world that they refuse to be subsumed into a universality that they feel is not theirs; the AACM for example. Why should they?
The actuarial tables and the male and female categories that the advertisers create and maintain to sell us stuff, including music, can not tell us who we are.
Accepting difference also means accepting rejection.
Phil Fried
______________________________________________________________________
Some fun!!!
my apologies in advance
By philmusic
a flesh eating zombie's x-mass
Moonlight and x-mass
fulfills my desire
you ring the bells
while I feast on the choir
We hang up the stockings with the feet still within
thats when our flesh eating zombie's merry x-mass begins
Us flesh eating zombie's we have no remorse
we're flesh eating zombie's you knew that of course
If we can't find humans then well eat your horse.
Or even a spouse from a messy divorce
We head to the shopping mall just after dark
and gnaw on the pedestrians just for a lark
we hope that the sharp shooters will miss their mark
Then we chortle with glee as our meals try to escape by climbing the big x-mass tree!
Moonlight and x-mass
fulfills my desire
you ring the bells
while I feast on the choir
We hang up the stockings with the feet still within
thats when our flesh eating zombie's merry x-mass begins
Phil Fried, Copyright 2008 all rights reserved
Friday, December 19, 2008, 10:38:18 AM
Comments: 0 Edit
NMB reply
By: Philip Fried Date: Dec 15, 2008 - 11:05 PM
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5800
a thought
By philmusic
Colin, I understand your need to get back to work-I too have some things to attend to.
I'm not sure that I understand the nature of your alleged failure. Was it a performance problem, a composition problem, or a problem of personal expectations. Or was it your teachers expectations?
Yes composers should always bring their "A" game as preparation is a given, yet what was the context? Were they student performers-professionals?
Rehearsal technique requires experience especially if, for the performers, it's an early encounter with new stuff.
Colin, it just seems as if your comments on failure were not your own-rather they are the projection of the needs of others.
Phil Fried
Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 1:34:10 PM
Comments: 0 Edit
A Reply to Mr. Ness: NMB
By: Philip Fried Date: Dec 10, 2008 - 08:18 PM
http://newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=5801
A Reply to Mr. Ness:
"...composers may berate one another for poor taste or lack of judgment and curse each other's successes.."
My my. Yet nothing has the vehemence or the anger of the back biting of theorists about the subjects of their work - the composer.
True there is some bad blood between the compositional teams, but I'm not convinced that this has any connection to the tonality debate at all. Rather tonality is simply a handy cudgel to avoid the more, lets say, inelegant causes of competition. Besides there is a new trend every year and new names invented for old concepts. Jargon that is new in name only.
Composers are hardly the only ones jockeying for success in this American milieu. I suppose that I resent Mr. Ness's implication that if I like the composers he likes I must fall in lock step to damn all the others too.
Of course one must take with a grain of salt those young academics who seem not be academics.
".. once the institutions of the music school and review become marginal forces in our lives.."
Mr. Ness says that he is going to discuss things tonal yet he spends more time talking about unnamed composers he doesn't like and named composers he does. Fairly typical actually.
Perhaps this is a good place to mention my thoughts on tautology make sense here:
Frank, being human, like and dislike precede all.
Folks just create a tautology to explain themselves. If smart these explanations can be interesting, providing insight, or it can just be a mystification or a simple knee jerk reaction.
Listening to others is the hardest skill to learn.
So is knowing when not to listen because those who know how to game the system (to gain an advantage) also know that anger will trump common sense.
Phil Fried
Of course if one defines ones research very narrow and accepts every thing at face value one could come up with similar conclusions to Mr. Ness.
So lets clarify with some thoughts, my own, about tonality.
1) Sound, and its organization, has been around a very long time
2) What we think of as common practice tonality has not been around very long
3) Sound and its organization are in constant flux
4)Music does not progress, styles and materials change.
Is Beethoven better than Mozart?
5) Theory cannot prove that work "a" is better than work "b"--only provide insight as to why that may be. It can attempt to persuade. Text does have an advantage as more folks read words than music.
6)The insights of theory have always come after the fact, based on the work of composers.
Mr. Ness's comment:
"...It is no coincidence that when German composer Helmut Lachenmann describes composing as "building an instrument,..."
Though interesting this does not mean that questions about "tonality" or pitch in his music or others are superfluous. Avoiding or renaming a problem does not solve it. The question is this; why if I love a composers music must I accept their personal, or their followers, explanations for it? For me the music comes first and I prefer to think for myself.
"..we could stop writing about music altogether, but music cannot—and will never—speak for itself.."
.
I disagree. Music is its own best advocate. Speaking of conflict, many composers have tussled not because of their music but because of their advocates forming "schools" to the exclusion of others.
No sonic prejudice!!
Phil Fried
Comments: 0 Edit
Me on new sounds WNYC
By: Philip Fried Date: Dec 2, 2008 - 08:58 PM
http://www.wnyc.org/flashplayer/player.html#/play//stream/xspf/112530
Hey folks me on new sounds with some other excellent folks I'm on after 30 min--but some interesting banter about the music before.
thanks
Comments: 0 Edit
no nmb this week
By: Philip Fried Date: Nov 21, 2008 - 02:19 PM
Strange isn't It?
Well I'm gearing up for my NYC performances in Jan 28 and 30. Roulette and Music on Macdougel
Details details--I have to get a custom ata case for my bass-find a hotel. Etc.
Anyway, There is more to say!
Comments: 0 Edit
this week NMB round up
By: Philip Fried Date: Nov 14, 2008 - 07:43 PM
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5772
a long post for me but I do love the twin cities since moving here I get gigs in NY! go figure.
Inside man?
By philmusic
"Please note that I'm not trying to belittle the oasis of musical culture coincident with the 612 area code at all..."
I'm kind of torn on this one Colin as generalizations can have, well, exceptions.
First I think I can say that an organization man I'm not.
That said composition has been an uphill struggle for me as it is for many of us. My point is this I lived in NYC, the great artistic center, for many years and I couldn't get arrested. This was due to the style police out in force and my own inability to get the power folks to support my work.
It is also true that I went to many many many different types of concerts there. There are also here if you try the various dance/theatatrical/non-com rock performances.
Since moving to the twin cities me and my wife Janet have developed a career and not a bad one either. I was taken seriously from the moment I presented my work to the Red Eye theater. That was a change.
I find it interesting that there is such a strong reginal sound attached to here. Folks love it. A sound that as it happens is very differen't from my own.
The problem with your comments is that they can be misinterpreted as parochial university speak. That is;
Those who earn a living from their art, and/or outside the Academy, must be purveying a lessor sort of product than those inside.
I don't believe that yet I too miss Europe and the Arditti Quartet.
Phil Fried
_________________________________________________________
http://newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5771
A good time here!!!
Well now that you mention it..
By philmusic
"..kinda like being a Joe Liebermann of music perhaps.."
Well, I always wanted to be the "Joe da plumber" of music.
Phil Fried
Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 5:27:16 PM
By colin holter
I consider myself the Alan Keyes of new music.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 5:53:36 PM
expertise at work
By philmusic
Pardon me Colin, but I really think you might be the Allen wrench of new music.
Phil Fried
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