Last Wednesday the ASO flew me down to Atlanta to meet with Lizz Wright and discuss plans for next year's concert. It will be an interesting challenge to translate Lizz's songbook into a larger orchestral setting, especially when it comes to adapting Craig Street's spare, intimate arrangements from Dreaming Wide Awake. We are both very excited about this project -- Lizz came prepared with a playlist she wanted me to check out, which included some music I already knew (a song from Sufjan's Greetings from Michigan, a couple of things from Iron & Wine and Tom Waits), and some that's new to me (Virgina Rodrigues, Jonatha Brooke, Damien Rice, Emiliana Torrini). After lunch, we wandered around Atlanta's Botanical Garden, checking out the orchids and Niki de Saint Phalle sculptures while chatting about her upcoming record (due spring of '07). This is going to be a fun collaboration.
On the flight back to Gotham, I listened to the ASO's recording of Gollijov's Ainadamar. I know I'm late to this party, but goddamn is that ever a fucking great piece of music. I tend to be rather skeptical of opera, especially the traditional rep (sorry, Steve) but Ainadamar completely blew me away, and I'm now kicking myself for not trying to score tickets to the Lincoln Center performance back in January.
I've done arrangements for the ASO a few times before so I know how great they sound, but this record is a perfect showcase for their strengths, especially when it comes to the more rhythmically challenging material. (It ain't easy to get an entire orchestra to play flamenco rhythms accurately... ) Even purely from an orchestration-geekout P.O.V., the combination of cajón, acoustic guitar, voices and orchestra is such a blissful sound, it makes me want to drown myself in it.
Jerry Zinser of S21 has a review of Friday's performance of Ainadamar at the Ojai Music Festival -- apparently, Eighth Blackbird opened, with the version of Rzewski's Coming Together from Fred -- another recent acquisition.
Thursday night was Pulse at Galapagos. More on that here -- oh, and many thanks to David Adler for coming out to the show! If you don't know David's blog, definitely check his reports from his recent travels in Turkey and Khurdistan, available here and here -- for the second link, scroll to the bottom, then read upwards. David and I aren't always on the same page, politically, but this series is undeniably great reading.
Oh, and if you missed us on Thursday, you can still catch Pulse this Sunday at St. Peter's, 7:30 PM.
Last night, Elizabeth! and I took in the Barbarian Horde at Tea Lounge, and a good time was had by all. I first met the certifiable Eric Biondo at the Banff Jazz Workshop back in the summer of '99, so it's nice to see he hasn't slowed down any since then.
Oh, and Monday, I will be interviewing Jean Rohe for the first-ever Secret Society podcast. Stay tuned...
I can hardly wait for the pod cast. Can I hear it if I don't have a pod?
Posted by: suzib | 13 June 2006 at 12:34 PM
I'm enjoying AIDAMAR myself. Not as much as AYRE or the PASSION, perhaps, but it's an excellent piece of work. Am surprised the reviews of the performance were mixed. I didn't manage to go see it either.
Gabriel M
Posted by: GabrielM | 14 June 2006 at 04:36 PM