Kind of Blue - again

Creative Review have featured some lovely examples of new music packaging in one of their recent blogs.

One of the interesting results of the prevalence of digital music has been the renewed interest in the high end reissues and packaging of vinyl. The media focus on Radiohead's innovative marketing campaign for In Rainbows was mainly about who did or didn't pay but more interesting is the number of deluxe versions they were able to sell after the furore had died down.

If packaging continues to be this innovative and thoughtful then there will clearly be room for high end products as well as free downloads.
The 50th anniversary reissue of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue - which includes a 5.1 mix, vinyl, a book, outtakes and a documentary - though a lovely package, is the 8th reissue of this classic album since 1984 and would have benefited from a free download option too. Read more

Preparing for Skellig – Tod Machover (MIT Professor and Society of Sound Fellow)

I’m in Newcastle-on-Tyne right now, in the final stage of rehearsals for my Skellig opera which premieres here at the Sage Gateshead next Monday and runs from November 24-29.
Newcastle is a lot smaller than Boston, where I live, but it has a familiar feel of an East-West running river that empties into the ocean with two contrasting cities on each bank (Newcastle/Gateshead, Boston/Cambridge), and blasts of wind from the sea that cause the weather to change often, the sky to be dazzlingly blue when the weather is nice, and one to be almost blown off the street and into the river when the weather isn’t so nice.

Skellig is a bit of an unusual project (as – I guess – most of mine tend to be)



because it is an opera created for a non-opera house. It is by far the largest project that the Sage – a spectacular music complex designed by Norman Foster that opened in 2004 - has mounted. This means that we are stretching the Sage’s production capacity (augmented by an army of audio and theatrical consultants, as well as two fantastic students of mine from the MIT Media Lab) to the limits, and also that I’ve had to think about creating a piece that immediately appeals to almost anyone – since there is no obvious “opera” audience here, and since much of the audience will not likely know much or anything about my previous work – while retaining all the qualities that make my music, well…..mine!

It both helps and is slightly scary that the opera is based on David Almond’s very popular (especially with tweens and teens) novel: helpful because many people know the brand and the story, scary for the same reasons – while composing the opera I kept imagining lovers being bent out of shape by what I had done with 'their story'. It’s that kind of book.
But as everything takes shape – yesterday was our first rehearsal with singers, orchestra and electronics together – I am increasingly confident that the piece just might work on these various levels. It was just thrilling to hear the music well up into physical space that had been only trapped in my head for the past year or so. The melodies and the overall flow seem to carry people along, and there is plenty of complexity and craziness – especially in the hybrid audio textures combining acoustics and electronics, and both real and “musical” sounds – to interest those who listen below the surface.

I am especially pleased with how the teenage chorus is rising to the task. Since Skellig is a coming-of-age story about a young boy and girl (age ca. 13) – admittedly stranger than it sounds, since they meet a decrepit homeless person who turns out to be an angel! – I decided to recruit an untrained group of teens for each production, to sing alongside some of the world’s top professional singers, and along with the excellent Northern Sinfonia orchestra and plenty of electronics. Most of these teens can’t read music, but they’ve been working for months to learn the opera’s sounds, melodies, harmonies and movements – often aided by an “audio score” which guides them while they sing – and yesterday really showed their stuff. We did the first run-through of the opera with all forces together, and in spite of absolutely brilliant and moving performances by each of our principals, the chorus literally blew everyone away. They made creepy sounds of insects, birds, wind and “the world”, morphed from background to foreground with great ease, and sang their big musical numbers with lovely sound and intense passion that soared above the orchestra and conveyed all the emotions that I had intended. The fact that we were able to interest and train such a group of non-professional young people and to integrate them into such a high-level production, confirms my deep conviction that music must be for everyone and anyone, and that all can participate to powerful effect given the right context and the right tools.
Read more

Young Musician of the Year Finalist exclusive recording

We were looking for a classical artist to be represented in our B&W Music Club and a senior engineer at Abbey Road suggested young pianist Benjamin Grosvenor.
Having won the Keyboard Final of the BBC young Musician of the Year in 2004 age eleven, Benjamin has been growing steadily in stature with two documentaries and a number of critical acclaimed appearances at Carnegie Hall, The Barbican and the Royal Albert Hall amongst others under his belt.

He signed a development deal with EMI but up until now had yet to record anything. Usually all our Music Club albums are recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World but Benjamin wanted a different kind of space and settled on the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin school. There he has recorded a beautifully judged selection of music including Chopin, Brahms and Kapustin exclusively for us. Listening to the recording here, it’s hard to believe that a sixteen year old can play with such poise and confidence.

Available for one month from the 21st November, this is an exceptional album and one we’re very proud to have commissioned.

Read more

Music With Everything?

There's an interesting debate on Music Tank at the moment on the perennial question of how we should be delivering new music.

Celestial jukeboxes, Nokia’s Comes With Music – it all gives me an overwhelming sense of inertia. Rather than discovering a wealth of new music to love and cherish I end up with option paralysis. The more choice we’re offered the less choice I feel I have.
How would I decide which of my instantly accessible 3 million songs to listen to first?

The focus always seems to be on the volume of music offered rather than the quality –if I thought the music had been chosen with some thought and made available as a decent file size it would be far more attractive but as it is, there’s too much of it with such varying quality that I don’t want any of it.

If you’ve ever been to an Eat All You Can buffet in Las Vegas, you’ll know how I feel. Read more

Tod Machover - The Future of Music

Tod Machover: cutting edge composer, a Professor of Music and Media at MIT’s renowned Media Lab and a Fellow of B&W’s Society of Sound. Tod is in the UK in November for two exciting events: a lecture in London on the Future of Music and the premier of his new opera Skellig at The Sage Gateshead.The keynote address takes place at the Royal Society of Arts on 11th November, and while admission is free it’s important to book your place in advance. Tod will discuss the boom in user-created content and even the phenomenon that is Guitar Hero.

Email lectures@rsa.org.uk to book your place.The 24th of the month sees the premier of Tod’s opera Skellig. Based on the book by David Almond, who wrote the libretto, Skellig tells the mysterious story of a world-weary angel who regains his wings through the care and belief of two young people.

Performances are on Monday 24th, Tuesday 25th, Thursday 27th, Friday 28th and Saturday 29th November at 7pm. Tickets are £19.50 or £5 for under 19s, seniors £2 off and students half price – to find out more or book online at www.thesagegateshead.org/skellig or call 0191 443 4661. Read more