JSngry Posted February 14, 2016 Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 Probably going to go hear a setting of Howl he did for string quartet and narrator in a few months...the name is new to me, but a look at his biography and a skimming of various youTube clips prompted me to order one CD, We Speak Etruscan. However, there are several more. Anyway, anybody here have any awareness of his work as a whole, or even in a fairly good part? And/or opinions stemming from same? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted February 14, 2016 Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 (edited) Jim, I hate to be negative, but I saw a performance of Howl live in NYC (Cooper Union; Hyla was introduced onstage immediately afterward) some 15 years ago and truly, even profoundly, disliked it. And the moment the piece ended, a guy sitting directly in front of me turned to his companion and precisely echoed my impression, saying "God, I fucking hated that!" I had previously heard the piece on CD and didn't particularly care for it, but for some reason the performance affected me a lot more. Disclosure: I was a dedicated "new music" follower at the time (when I lived in the NYC area), attended many events at Miller Theatre, Merkin Hall, Manhattan School of Music, etc., am in no way hostile to contemporary music, and generally like "spoken word" material. I heard a couple of other short pieces by Hyla that I found "OK", but I stopped paying attention to him after the Howl fiasco. YMMV, of course. We Speak Etruscan looks like it might be interesting, with Tim Berne. Edited February 14, 2016 by T.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 Sounds like it won't be "nice"...might even be horrible . Tickets are cheap, so I will find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted February 14, 2016 Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 (edited) It's on a Kronos Quartet CD called Howl U.S.A., if you want to pre-listen. Kronos discs are probably available cheaply on Amazon, etc., since they get pressed in large quantities. Edited February 14, 2016 by T.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 Not much of a Kronos fan overall, to be honest. I'll just catch it live and see how it feels there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 I kinda like what's happening here with Hyla in terms of composition...playing, maybe not so much. But between this and the NEC background, hell, not all gigs will be good ones, and also on the bill for the night will be Battle Trance (which seems to be a little more "minimalist" in concept than I generally prefer, but when in the moment, never say never), so what the hell? It might soar, it might suck, it might do some of both, we shall see. I jsut hope it's not a night of predictability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 (edited) Jim, I didn't mean to harsh your upcoming experience... That string quartet clip sounds pretty good. From what I recall, Hyla was (he passed away fairly recently) generally well-regarded by the new music community. You'll be hearing the Brentano SQ, which is a better ensemble than I heard. The Howl I attended didn't have a live vocalist; it used a Ginsberg tape and there was video playing in the background. Please post your impressions of the We Speak Etruscan disc with Tim Berne. Edited February 15, 2016 by T.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Nah, I didn't think you were trying to do anything like that. Other than Ginsberg, these are all new names to me, so I'm basically "thinking out loud" trying to get some more input, pro or con. So your input is definitely welcome! It's a real experience, of which I with this music to this point have none. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 (edited) Dredging up old memories (holy crap, it was over 16 years ago!), I cut/pasted the program I attended below. Maybe Howl suffered a bit in comparison to the other works: Gubaidulina and Saariaho are significant names, and the Sculthorpe piece, though rather out there, was very cool. November 10, 1999 - 8:00pm - "Howl: Music for Strings" - The Great Hall Cooper Union, NYC Lee Hyla (USA) Howl (for string quartet with tape of Allen Ginsburg reciting his poem) Kaija Saariaho (Finland) Neiges (for 8 celli) ** United States premiere Sofia Gubaidulina (Russia) Silenzio (for violin, cello, and accordion) ** New York premiere Peter Sculthorpe (Australia) From Ubirr (for string quartet and digeridoo) Edited February 15, 2016 by T.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 I gotta find where/if there's a scene like that here that's not either way sporadic or even further underground. UNT has had a New Music Program for as long as I've known, but recitals often occur during weekday work hours, so that's out. I do recall going to an Electronic Music Lab recital one evening, it was all in the dark, and then at the end they brough up the lights and we were all applauding two bigass theater speakers on the stage. Funny! We got these guys, but I don't know how "new music" vs "contemporary classical" they are (although, really, both are fine!). Guess there's only one way to find out, right? http://voicesofchange.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 (edited) Decent-looking programs. Looks like they're taking the "conservative" approach of scheduling about 50:50 "new music" (composers unknown to me) vs. "safe" established international composers (Bartok, Khatchaturian, Villa-Lobos, Penderecki, Takemitsu). Bear in mind I was attending a lot of NYC events at the time. Needless to say, there were a lot of opportunities, but even then/there I had to be very mindful of announcements, as there was no single good source of a "contemporary" calendar...only one rather obscure and amateurish website (which I forget*) even came close. [Added] *OMG, the site is still around: Soundart calendar of new music in NYC ...and still a bit amateurish - trying to reach the link to the claimed 2/27 performance of Robert Ashley's Perfect Lives (one of my absolute favorite works), I hit a dead end! Edited February 15, 2016 by T.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Yeah, I need to get out of the house more, literally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted May 5, 2016 Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 Jim, the concert was about a week ago (April 29). Did you go? I didn't see any comments on the live concert thread... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted May 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 I had ev ery intention of going but family matters arose which prevented it. I did buy the Hyla CD We Speak Etruscan and enjoyed it just fine, so I feel like I missed out by not getting out. Oh well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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