Utility

I have written here before, at least in dribs and drabs, about all the things I don't have in common with people who come from a rock background, but one thing we do have in common is a growing discontent with the sound palette of the traditional classical orchestra. I myself am a player who sticks to traditional tone production quite a lot of the time, and yet there is more to this question than just that, including but not limited to rooms, recording techniques, and instrumentation. I also seldom miss an opportunity to disavow audiophilia, but admittedly this is largely an audiophile's dilemma: on the rare occasion I can summon the willpower to launch an investigation into the latest flavor-of-the-month orchestral composer, I often come away with even stronger (usually negative) impressions of the "sound" than of the piece(s).

The name Djuro Zivkovic has been circulating, and perhaps it brings hope. None of the pieces I've listened to thus far have disappointed, and I've just realized a primary reason for this: they make me forget that I've ever lamented the limitations of traditional instruments, tone production, or recording techniques vis-a-vis contemporary music. Certainly there is still much to be done in waking the orchestral world from its timbral slumber. Even so, it's good to be reminded that the usefulness of any tool depends almost entirely on the skill with which it is wielded.

Weirdest Email Ever

It isn't often that you get an email from an organization of which you only think you have ceased to be a member advertising an event at one of your alma maters but sent to the .edu address of a different alma mater 2000 miles away:

It took a good hard stare and some clenching of the brain muscle for me to figure it out: CalArts automatically signs its student composers up for ACF membership, and it was merely a coincidence that this ACF event was taking place at the U of MN. (It's not really a coincidence, actually, if you know the history of the organization, but you catch my drift.) Until I put it all together, I thought I might be caught in one of those soft nightmares where nothing outwardly threatening or unpleasant seems to be happening but something is clearly deeply wrong. I mean, the U of MN School of Music is building their convocation festivities around New Music? Maybe once I've been gone another ten years they'll be adequately supporting the jazz program and competently advising their students. I guess I'll believe it when it hits my inbox.