Arcana

Author: John Zorn
Publisher: Hips Road/Tzadik
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Book Description
Experimental music has been called "difficult," perhaps more in relation to the open-mindedness needed to let it settle between your ears than the break from traditional technique required to play it. But does that explain the scarcity of critical writing about this music form relative to visual arts -- film, photography, sculpture, painting -- that also use experimentation as a main creative force? Arcana: Musicians on Music is an answer to that call. Delving into recent development in avantgarde music, this long overdue anthology looks at the current generation of experimental players and composers. Collecting writings, working notes, scores, interviews, and manifestos, editor John Zarn gets deep under the surface of experimental music, and looks at the creative methods and philosophies of some of the most innovative experimental musicians. Among the 29 contributors are: Mark Dresser, John Oswald, Marilyn Crispell, Bill Frisell, Ikue Mari, Larry Ochs, Elliott Sharp, Anthony Coleman, Fred Frith,David Roseboom, George Lewis, Guy Klucevsek, Peter Garland, Z'ev, and Gerry Hemmingway. Containing discographies and bios on the musicians presented, this book is an excellent resource for fans and critics as well as a good introduction for the curious.

Arcana VIII

Author: John Zorn
Publisher: Arcana
ISBN: 9780978833732
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
Initiated in 1997 and now in its eighth installment, John Zorn's acclaimed Arcana series is a major source of new music theory and practice in the 21st century. This special anniversary edition presents writings spanning classical music, jazz, rock, improvisation, world music, film soundtracks and more by exciting young artists, established masters and visionary mavericks, including Jad Atoui, Steve Beresford, Per Bloland, Brian Chase, Kris Davis, Robert Dick, Rinde Eckert, Wendy Eisenberg, Harris Eisenstadt, Suzanne Farrin, Dave Fiuczynski, David Garland, Michael Gordon, Simon Hanes, Barbara Hannigan, John Hollenbeck, Matt Hollenberg, Jon Irabagon, Julian Lage, Ava Mendoza, Matt Mitchell, Nicole Mitchell, Vadim Neselovskyi, Linda May Han Oh, Shane Parish, Chris Pitsiokos, Sofia Rei, Ted Reichman, Sara Serpa, Marc Urselli, Ken Vandermark and Dan Weiss.

Arcana IV

Author: John Zorn
Publisher: Arcana
ISBN: 9780978833787
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Now in its fourth installment, with a fifth in preparation, John Zorn's acclaimed Arcana series provides insight into the work and methodologies of some of the most creative musical minds of our time. Rather than an attempt to distill or define a musician's work, Arcana IV illuminates directly via personal vision and experience, through the undiluted words and thoughts of the practitioners themselves, elucidating through manifestos, scores, interviews, notes and critical papers, composer/performers address composing, improvising, teaching, living, touring and thinking in and through music. Essential for composers, musicians, students and fans alike, this challenging and original series has now become the major source on new music theory and practice in the twenty-first century. Among Arcana IV's contributors are the late Derek Bailey, Nels Cline, Chris Cutler, Paul Dresher, Kenneth Gaburo, Shelley Hirsch, Wayne Horvitz, Vijay Iyer, Gordon Mumma, Matana Roberts, Katherine Supové and Carolyn Yarnell.

Unknown MIR Title

Author:
Publisher: Branch Line Video
ISBN: 9780978833718
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 372

Book Description
The final installment of John Zorn's major series of new music theory, with Oren Ambarchi, Peter Blegvad, Annea Lockwood, Henry Threadgill and many more Initiated in 1997 and now in its tenth and final installment, John Zorn's acclaimed Arcanaseries is a major source of new music theory and practice in the 21st century. Illuminating directly via the personal vision and experience of the practitioners themselves, who experience music not from a cool, safe distance, but from the white-hot center of the creative crucible itself, Arcanaelucidates through essays, manifestos, scores, interviews, notebooks and critical papers. Over 25 years the ten volumes of Arcanahave presented the writings of over 300 of the most extraordinary musical thinkers of our time, who address composing, performing, improvising, touring, collaborating, living and thinking about music from diverse, refreshing and often surprising perspectives. Technical, philosophical, political, artistic and mystical in nature, these writings provide direct connections to the creative processes and hidden stratagems of musicians from the worlds of classical, rock, jazz, film soundtrack, improvised music and more. Contributors include: Susan Alcorn, Oren Ambarchi, Ran Blake, Peter Blegvad, Tyondai Braxton, Patricia Brennan, John Butcher, Ben Coniguliaro, Amir Elsaffar, Kenny Grohowski, Tom Guralnick, Mark Helias, David Hertzberg, Stefan Jackiw, Dan Kaufman, Derek Keller, Richard Kessler, Pauline Kim, Ulrich Krieger, Hannah Lash, Dan Lippel, Annea Lockwood, Dave Lombardo, Charlie Looker, Thomas Morgan, Stephen O'Malley, Laura Ortman, Alex Paxton, Alexandria Smith, Conrad Tao, Pat Thomas, Henry Threadgill, Anna Webber, Fay Victor, Christian Wolff and Miguel Zenon.

Instruments for New Music

Author: Thomas Patteson
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520288025
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 251

Book Description
Listening to instruments -- "The joy of precision" : mechanical instruments and the aesthetics of automation -- "The alchemy of tone" : Jörg Mager and electric music -- "Sonic handwriting" : media instruments and musical inscription -- "A new, perfect musical instrument" : the trautonium and electric music in the 1930s -- The expanding instrumentarium

John Zorn

Author: John Brackett
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Following his English edition of Alma Mahler-Werfel's Diaries 1898-1902, Antony Beaumont presents both the first comprehensive biography of the composer and conductor Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942) and a critical assessment of his works. "Zemlinsky--all hail to you!" wrote the young Alma. "All hail to you and your art." When she first met him, Zemlinsky was the most promising Viennese composer of his generation. In 1901, when Alma abruptly ended their passionate love affair in order to marry Gustav Mahler, the crisis served to transform Zemlinsky's talent into mastery. Only long after his death, however, did his music begin to receive its due. Zemlinsky was central to the musical life of Vienna and Central Europe, and this brilliant biography illuminates a social and cultural milieu that disappeared forever with the triumph of Hitler's Reich. The author details the composer's early years as a protégé of Brahms and Mahler, his complex friendship with his brother-in-law Arnold Schoenberg, the influence of his teaching on the boy-prodigy Erich Korngold, his kindly and helpful attitude toward the hypersensitive Anton Webern, and his heartfelt friendship with Alban Berg. Zemlinsky was one of the leading conductors of the interwar period, considered by both Schoenberg and Stravinsky the finest they had ever heard. The author charts Zemlinsky's career from Vienna to Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Prague, providing insight into his Catholic-Sephardic background and investigating his keen interest in esoteric aspects of music, including color symbolism and numerology. The author's analyses of Zemlinsky's major scores are accessible and fully contextualized.

Arcana VII

Author: John Zorn
Publisher: North Winds Press
ISBN: 9780978833749
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
John Zorn's acclaimed Arcana series, now in its seventh installment, is a major source on new music theory and practice in the twenty-first century. The most varied collection to date, Arcana VII includes personal essays by New Music luminaries Pat Metheny, Bryce Dessner, Irvine Arditti, Thurston Moore, Kenny Werner, Eugene Chadbourne and David Krakauer alongside articles on musical theory and practice by veterans Joe Morris, Matt Shipp, Ben Goldberg, Ches Smith, George Steel, Billy Martin, Hilda Paredes and Gloria Coates and insightful new views by younger musicians Chris Otto, James Moore, Theresa Wong, Shanir Blumenkranz, Jay Campbell, Du Yun, James Ilgenfritz, Chuck Bettis, Aya Nishina and many others. A kaleidoscope of manifestoes, scores, interviews, critical papers, musical studies, rants and more, Arcana VII is a fascinating compendium from first word to last.

Composing Community in Late Medieval Music

Author: Jane D. Hatter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108628834
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
When we sing lines in which a fifteenth-century musician uses ethereal polyphony to complain mundanely about money or hoarseness, more than half a millennium melts away. Equally intriguing are moments in which we experience solmization puns. These familiar worries and surprising jests break down temporal distances, humanizing the lives and endeavors of our musical forebears. Yet many instances of self-reference occur within otherwise serious pieces. Are these simply in-jokes, or are there more meaningful messages we risk neglecting if we dismiss them as comic relief? Music historian Jane D. Hatter takes seriously the pervasiveness of these features. Divided into two sections, this study considers pieces with self-referential features in the texts separately from discussions of pieces based on musical self-referential elements. Examining connections between self-referential repertoire from the years 1450–1530 and similar self-referential creations for painters' guilds, reveals musicians' agency in forming the first communities of early modern composers.

Three Questions for Sixty-five Composers

Author: Bálint András Varga
Publisher: University Rochester Press
ISBN: 1580463797
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Book Description
Do today's composers draw inspiration from life experiences? What has influenced recent composers? How essential is it for a composer to develop a personal style? This book reveals the spontaneous thoughts of some of the most famous composers from around the world about their own development as composers and their reactions to the outside world.

Arcana III

Author: John Zorn
Publisher: Hips Road/Tzadik
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
Arcana III is the third groundbreaking collection of critical writings on avant-garde and experimental music put together by editor (and experimental music legend) John Zorn. In this volume, 30 distinguished composer/performers illuminate and speculate upon method and practice in the process of making, experiencing and thinking about music. Comprised of essays, scores, manifestoes and interviews both real and imaginary, Arcana III gives voice to a new generation of brave musical explorers who live outside of the mainstream academy. Contributors include John Zorn, Maryanne Amacher, Derek Bermel, Steven Bernstein, Theo Bleckmann, Gavin Bryars, Greg Cohen, Jacques Coursil, Mario Diaz de Leon, Timb Harris, Scott Hull, Jerry Hunt, Henry Kaiser, Ha-Yang Kim, Makigami Koichi, Pamelia Kurstin, Okkyung Lee, Sean Lennon, Frank London, Brad Lubman, Christian Marclay, Kaffe Matthews, Olga Neuwirth, Buzz Osbourne, William Parker, Paola Prestini, Jamie Saft, Eric Singer, Wadada Leo Smith, Laeticia Sonami and Hal Willner. John Zorn has created an influential body of work that defies academic categories. A native of New York City, he has been a central figure in the downtown scene since 1975, incorporating a wide range of musicians in various compositional formats.