Night After Night

All is forgiven.

Hillary, please, ignore everything I've said since Wednesday night: I didn't waste my primary vote, and I love you all over again. This beautiful speech made me proud to be a thinking American.

Viola.

Morton Feldman - 'The Viola in My Life'
Marek Konstantynowicz, violist; Cikada Ensemble; Norwegian Radio Orchestra, conducted by Christian Eggen.
ECM New Series 1798; CD.
The New York Times, June 8, 2008
(ArkivMusic, Barnes & Noble)

Desperately seeking Dmitri.

I don't usually use this blog to solicit shopping tips, but I'm trying to get my hands on what is proving to be a most elusive CD. For a major project I'm currently working on, I'd very much like to track down a copy of a recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 4 by Dmitri Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic. Practically every reference source devoted to the Vaughan Williams symphonic canon mentions this account, and apparently the composer thought highly of it, too.

Mitropoulos and the "Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York" recorded the symphony on January 9, 1956 at Columbia's 30th Street Studios in Manhattan; it was issued on LP in 1957. I scored a used copy of the original album moments ago on eBay -- and I know, I know: my valiant buddy FJO and other vinyl purists figure I should stop at that. But for reasons too lame and unwieldy to go into, playing LPs here is something of an arduous ordeal at the moment, and I default to aluminum laziness whenever possible.

Besides, the two CD issues of which I've learned -- both British Sony BMG issues, naturally -- include compelling added incentives. One is a Mitropoulos/New York Phil recording of Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, recorded on March 3, 1958 at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn,  and released in the same year. The other is the Symphony No. 6, recorded by Leopold Stokowski and the Phil in the 30th Street Studio on February 21, 1949, and issued that year -- notably, a year before Vaughan Williams revised the Scherzo movement, which means this disc includes the original version. (I've got Boult's recording of the first version, but would love to hear Stoki's.)

Both of the above discs are available for serious gobs of pounds through secondhand sources on Amazon.uk, but I'm wondering if anyone can offer me a better deal. Comments from those who know these performances are welcome here. But if you've got a CD with which you'd be willing to part -- even temporarily -- e-mail me via the address in my ABOUT profile.

(Recording specifics courtesy of James H. North's impressively researched New York Philharmonic: The Authorized Recordings 1917-2005: A Discography.)

Newly on the blogroll: So I've Heard, the recently promised, just ignited blog of left-coast senior correspondent Alan Rich, among the most vibrant and vital classical reviewers currently tapping keys. (Props to ACD for noting the launch.)

Playlist:

:Zoviet*France: - Music for a Spaghetti Western (Klanggalerie), In.Version (Charrm), Gris (No Man's Land) and Mort aux Vaches: Feedback (Mort aux Vaches/Staalplaat)

Fish - 13th Star (Chocolate Frog)

Made Out of Babies - Trophy and Coward (Neurot), and The Spoiler (The End)

Reformed Faction - The War Against... (Soleilmoon) and Vota (Klanggalerie)

A Storm of Light - And We Wept the Black Ocean (Neurot)

Emmylou Harris - All I Intended to Be (Nonesuch)

Torben Waldorff - Afterburn (ArtistShare)

Eivind Opsvik - Overseas III (Loyal Label; sample the sounds in this nice review by Hank Shteamer)

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Symphonies Nos. 1-9 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vernon Handley (EMI Classics)

The Residents - Duck Stab and Eskimo (Ralph/Mute)

Post minimalism.

Bruce Brubaker at the Stone
The New York Times, June 7, 2008

Total recall.

Bang On A Can Marathon 2008 - Dan Deacon "Ultimate Reality Part 3" from Justin Levine on Vimeo.

Blogger Justin Levine caught some of the sweet spots in the weekend's Bang on a Can Marathon, including this nice video of the first two minutes from the already legendary Dan Deacon performance that touched off Bang on a Can's first-ever mosh pit. (Thanks to Alex for the tip.)

Justin's video cuts off before the music shifts into hardcore mode, the point at which the pit actually started boiling. Also not visible: The mix of terror and amusement on the faces of two elderly women who'd staked out front-row seats at 3:45am, in anticipation of Stockhausen 's Stimmung (which was due at 5am, and arrived at 5:30). One turned to me and asked whether I thought all those kids would still be standing in front of the stage after Deacon's performance was over. I said I suspected most would leave, and others might lay down flat on the floor for Brian Eno's Discreet Music, which would precede the Stockhausen.

"If they're still there," she replied, "I'm going to go sit on the stage."

One young composer from NYU came over to very sincerely congratulate these women for "representing for their generation." During the fracas, the moshing kids took pains to avoid falling on, hitting or otherwise damaging these two hardy souls.

More reportage: Bruce Hodges (who gets extra points for attending the American Symphony Orchestra's excellent space-music concert on Sunday afternoon), Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Lauren Cartelli.

Update: One colleague just told me that she couldn't see Justin's video because her computer didn't have the appropriate version of Flash. For anyone else in that camp, Name Drop Acid has a YouTube clip of the Dan Deacon performance -- slightly longer and shot from a different angle, and once again cutting off before the real freakout began.

Marathon, man.

Bang on a Can Marathon at the World Financial Center
The New York Times, June 2, 2008

Update: Darcy James Argue, among my companions for the duration, has posted a scrupulously detailed, characteristically insightful play-by-play account of the marathon, complete with photos.