Dixon Hill

And now happy birthday to RVW.

This is great to hear. That Braveheart performance is gorgeous, and the climax of the Titanic suite gave me goosebumps.

Wow. I really, really hope there's some way to hear this for people who can't make it.

Happy birthday, Monk.

There was a bit of info from Reddit that I posted last month, where his son said something like "it's too bad he's retired." Seems like he's tired of the film world, but hopefully not done composing altogether.

That's too bad. Sounds like it would have been magnificent.

Nerve. A lot of the "critical response" you'll receive goes beyond anything relevant or useful and becomes verbal evisceration. In every case? Of course not. But it's rarely worthwhile from what I know. And it's even worse for performers. It's entirely unacceptable for judges with an axe to grind to tear people down. It happens, and I've seen it firsthand. Joyce DiDonato talks about the performance side of this quite profoundly. Not to appear overdramatic. As I said, it's just that I've seen this happen to people I care about and it's infuriating.

The instructions are the same that were shown in Doug Adams' book. Sustain any indicated note, repeat indicated pattern, etc. I for one love the aleatoric stuff.

"The idea was to be a symbol. Howard Shore could be anybody. That was the point"

Competitions can be worthwhile, if you win. But that whole world has a set of its own politics and problems, and everything I've ever heard from composers, teachers, and my own instincts tells me to stay away from them.

The book differs from the movie in a lot of ways. Kubrick and Clarke worked on the screenplay and novelization together, with each of them spearheading their own medium, basing it on a previous Clarke short story called The Sentinel. The book and its three sequels constitute their own universe, and if you read all of them, you'll have a fuller appreciation of what exactly happens in the film. But I think it's worth it to let the film sink in and watch it a few more times. It stands on its own as Kubrick's own vision of the story, rather than being a perfect mirror image of Clarke's novel version.

Not surprising since he was such a champion of new music as a conductor.

Unfortunately, this is not something only we at JWFan are noticing. It's probably the most fundamental problem with the world of art music today.

There is no end of opportunities to replace an old standard with something new on a program. The problem is, they don't want to. Overly-reverent of the past, and all that.

Ah that's the one.

I'm a big fan of what I call the "Island Weirdness Motif" that pops up a lot in season 2. It's all over "The Final Countdown." Also Hurley's theme is lovely, even though it doesn't really turn up again until the end.

The Wachowskis must be fans of minimalism, particularly of Adams, since the composers for Cloud Atlas mentioned him being on the brain while writing that score as well.

Have you seen Prince of Space? Or Space Mutiny? I have such great memories of watching that show after school.

I think it's ridiculous that any of them would have requirements based on nationality. I can't even imagine what the point of that is. Like I said, just be persistent about it and send your stuff everywhere. That's all we can do, then the ball is in their court. And hey, if any organization says yes... let me know! haha

Yeah, definitely try the folks in Maine. With this sort of thing, you'll rarely see any ensemble advertising, "Hey! We'd like to play your music!" Even when the New York Philharmonic schedules a week of "new music," those pieces chosen are limited to works for soloists, most of which are written by people already associated with the NYP/Juilliard. There is an annoying lack of enthusiasm about this kind of thing. Your best bet is to just put yourself out there, even if it seems fruitless. Send scores/mockups/real recordings/whatever to any organization whose mailing or email address you can get your hands on. Be persistent about it.

I'd think that Bruckner would be thought of as just a romantic, since he was writing during that period and not reviving it later. Williams might be something of a neo-romantic in the way he approaches motives (Wagner is the obvious influence) in most of his scores, but his musical language is much more influenced by 20th century composers/jazz, I think. But who cares how things are classified. Here's some wonderful Bruckner.

It's what you might call controlled chaos.

I'm re-watching the last few episodes with a friend (she's seeing them for the first time). Probably going to regret it.

On The Paths Of Twerkwood

I'd like a Lady Gaga song, complete with a video of her dressed as Galadriel, perhaps coming to the rescue of someone dressed as Gandalf.