by Kenneth Woods | Sep 14, 2006 | A view from the podium, Favorite posts, Music and Media
Every time I go to Portland, Oregon I learn something about music. One of my oldest friends, who I stay with when I’m there, is a recording engineer and producer. Since I walked away from rock n’ roll in 1991 when my last band broke up, I’ve largely stopped listening...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 8, 2006 | A view from the podium, Favorite posts, Mahler, Nuts and bolts
You’ll want to have a score of the piece handy while working through this essay. Here is a copy. It is well known that Sibelius’ approach to symphonic composition was intensely organic- in his mature music everything in a given piece grows from the same little...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 21, 2006 | A view from the podium, Favorite posts, Performing Life
Last August, Suzanne and I spent our holiday time traipsing around Normandy and Brittany. One afternoon, we found ourselves in a beautiful and unspoiled little medieval town in western Brittany looking rather aimlessly about. Having quickly found the market and the...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 7, 2006 | A view from the podium, Favorite posts, Nuts and bolts
Very briefly…. My favourite moment in the second movement of Beethoven 3 is bars 157-159 (just after letter E), when we hear a very soft, very high a-flat in the first violins, followed by a very loud, very low a-flat in the celli and basses, then a very loud a-flat...
by Kenneth Woods | Jun 25, 2006 | A view from the podium, Favorite posts
The last day of this year’s workshop. On paper, it looks like the most laid-back schedule of the week- we start a little later, have only one teaching session and the concert. It wasn’t unreasonable of me to think that this would be the one day I could get a few...
by Kenneth Woods | Jun 3, 2006 | A view from the podium, Favorite posts, Music and Media
Note- This is the first of a projected two part series on modernism in music. Today’s piece is essentially about the argument against modernism, the next one is the argument for modernism. Stay tuned! KW Recently, the British composer Harrison Birtwistle made the news...
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