Performances galore, and other stuff
Jul. 7th, 2007 07:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariWe're now in the final stages of the symposium, the part when all the performances happen. My works are on the last two concerts, but things have been going well so far.
The one thing that didn't go so well was my focal group with Martin Bresnick. I presented my trio The Floating land to him, and he didn't like it much at all. He had some really useful things to say about how to move my work forward, but I would have liked at least one small compliment about the piece. Especially since I want to apply to Yale.
The performances of participants' music started last night. The format for that concert and two others is a set of piano pieces followed by improv sessions. Last night went really well and was a lot of fun. My pieces are on the third of these concerts.
Today was the Beall Hall concerts, with piano pieces from participants, plus "De Profundis" by Frederic Rzewski and "For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise", by Martin Bresnick. Both pieces have theatrical/spoken word elements for the pianist. Lisa Moore was incredible, and even handled a technical problem with one of the mikes smoothly and gracefully. I liked the Rzewski better than the Bresnick. "De Profundis" is based on and uses text from the work of the same name by Oscar Wilde, and it's completely riveting and very moving. The Bresnick was also quite good - more lush than the Rzewski. However, I think the accompanying video was not that great. It worked with the music just fine, but the visuals were kind of rudimentary.
The late nights and relentless pace have been wearing on me a bit, though. I'm still having a good time, but I've been feeling tired and a bit cranky lately. I'm looking forward to Other Kenjari's arrival and having a restful bit of vacation in Oregon before returning to Boston and moving to a new apartment.
The one thing that didn't go so well was my focal group with Martin Bresnick. I presented my trio The Floating land to him, and he didn't like it much at all. He had some really useful things to say about how to move my work forward, but I would have liked at least one small compliment about the piece. Especially since I want to apply to Yale.
The performances of participants' music started last night. The format for that concert and two others is a set of piano pieces followed by improv sessions. Last night went really well and was a lot of fun. My pieces are on the third of these concerts.
Today was the Beall Hall concerts, with piano pieces from participants, plus "De Profundis" by Frederic Rzewski and "For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise", by Martin Bresnick. Both pieces have theatrical/spoken word elements for the pianist. Lisa Moore was incredible, and even handled a technical problem with one of the mikes smoothly and gracefully. I liked the Rzewski better than the Bresnick. "De Profundis" is based on and uses text from the work of the same name by Oscar Wilde, and it's completely riveting and very moving. The Bresnick was also quite good - more lush than the Rzewski. However, I think the accompanying video was not that great. It worked with the music just fine, but the visuals were kind of rudimentary.
The late nights and relentless pace have been wearing on me a bit, though. I'm still having a good time, but I've been feeling tired and a bit cranky lately. I'm looking forward to Other Kenjari's arrival and having a restful bit of vacation in Oregon before returning to Boston and moving to a new apartment.
