Writing notes for the Ojai Festival brings new challenges each year because making connections between works and composers, and teasing themes across several days of concerts inevitably involves trying to “suss out” (as they say in Britain) the logic behind the programming choices of the festival’s music director. This year’s Festival bears the imprint of George Benjamin’s personality. I first met George in 1998 when he was my guest on one of the Los Angeles Philharmonic “Surprising Century” seminars. I had long admired his music for its inventiveness and diamond-edged precision, and was delighted to find him every bit as scintillating in conversation as he is in his scores. Our topic was rhythm, about which he had much to say, but our discussion ranged widely because for George no parameter, whether rhythm, timbre, pitch, or harmony, functions in isolation. He is a composer obsessed with a achieving a balance of elements, which is one reason his works are so deeply rewarding. As this year’s Festival program began to take shape – and it took shape rather quickly with relatively few last minute changes – it had a “classic” feel, the kind of Ojai program that celebrated the Festival’s distinguished legacy. Its concerts are anchored by major works by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Boulez, and Messiaen, all composers who have had a direct relationship to the Festival and Southern California. And you couldn’t ask for a more compelling advocate for this music than Ensemble Modern, a group I have heard often in concert, in broadcast, and recording.
What leaped out immediately was the inclusion of Frank Zappa. His music has long been a staple of the Ensemble Modern repertoire and it is about time that Zappa had a hearing in Ojai, his own backyard. Still, Zappa’s free-wheeling, open-ended, eternally entertaining, and stylistically diverse world of “Anything Anytime Anyplace For No Reason AT All (AAAFNRAA)” offers a marked contrast to Benjamin’s painstakingly slow search for “the right notes.” The contrast is all the more striking when one compares the flood of music and recordings Zappa produced in his 53 years as opposed to Benjamin’s relatively compact catalogue of works. Opposites attract? We’ll have to ask. But it occurs to me that both Zappa and Benjamin, however different their musical personas, share an abhorrence of dogma and a commitment to trusting their ears. That is certainly what attracted them both to the music of Edgard Varèse, whose own small oeuvre of “right notes” defied all existing rules. Ears, like fingerprints, are unique to each individual, and this goes beyond questions of shape and contour. For the composer the ear guides the process by which personality, belief, and experience are translated into sound. This is a Festival of “right notes” chosen by a composer who trusts his ears and is not afraid to ask his audiences to trust their own.
- Christopher Hailey
Read the Program Notes here >>
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UPDATE - Apparently M. Boulez was unable to make it to the States, his trip was another casualty of the volcanic ash crisis. This is no reason for you to miss out on hearing him conduct though. See below!............................................................
Pierre Boulez has been honored with a Kyoto Award for his groundbreaking contributions to the world of music - both for his work as a composer and for his work as a conductor and administrator. He will be conducting his Sur Incises at the Kyoto Symposium in San Diego, Thursday the 22nd at the University of San Diego. Admission is free, but you need to register (CLICK HERE) to attend.
If you can't get to San Diego to see Boulez live, you can listen to his conducting of the same piece in Ojai 2003. VISIT OUR LISTEN + VIEW PAGE HERE >>
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( 2.9 / 353 )Below is a translation from the Ensemble Moderne's 1992 program book. These are Dietmar Wisner's rehearsal notes, as translated by our own resident musicologist/linguist/all around good guy, Chris Hailey. Truly fascinating.
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Wonderful flight – the whole time radiant sunshine.
Arrival – party with the Zappa family on Mulholland, first meeting between Europe – America. The invitation “come to my house and visit my swimming pool” is not meant literally. Listen to his synclavier pieces in the basement studio, which is full of master tapes and video recordings of his shows, and normal, everyday American television
life.
Next to that a room full of largely unplayed orchestral scores and arrangements. Next day: first rehearsal in Joe’s garage near the Hollywood city airport – pretty uninviting neighborhood.
The studio is well protected through high, electric metal gates.
A ghetto-like area – largely Latino – otherwise factory buildings.
Organized to perfection: there is a professional around the clock who takes care of everything (Zappa’s guitar equipment, electronics, coffee, clean-up).
Zappa puts out music: “This is a test” – Hindemith-like composition: getting musically acquainted.
Then improvisation exercises, which he conducts with seven famous hand gestures (how to make music with an audience within a TV show, Sydney, 1970s).
The next days – improvisation exercises, everything is digitally recorded or sampled on his synclavier.
After about 10 days move into a full professional studio in the attic of his house on Mulholland Drive – with recording room and solo booths for percussion instruments and voice.
In addition a digital mixing console purchased especially for this project.
A computer and recording technician who works for Universal studios is available all day.
The ensemble is sampled on the synclavier in small groups – woodwinds, brass, strings, etc. –
p.s. Zappa is extraordinarily friendly the whole time, no demands, focused on what is possible.
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( 3 / 633 )Ok, it's not exactly like Alex Ross came out and said that Ojai was doing everything right, but to our ears, it's awfully close. Check out this part of his recent lecture at Wigmore Hall.
"Perhaps concerts should become, in a way, more old-fashioned — more local, communal. By this I don’t have in mind superficial matters of dress or etiquette. Rather, institutions might work on strengthening the bond between performer and public—remarks beforehand, gatherings afterward, and, certainly, a relaxation of the Rule. I’m with
Emanuel Ax when he says, 'I think that if there were no rules about when to applaud, we in the audience would have the right response almost always.' David Robertson has much the same attitude: he sometimes invites listeners to applaud when and where they wish. At the same time, I feel that the prevailing atmosphere is too humdrum, too perfunctory. We fail to do justice to the music’s uncanny presence. There are too many opportunities for distraction. I’m always disheartened when I see people around me burying their heads in program booklets. Perhaps it would be better to lower the lights in the hall and train the spotlight on the musicians."
and
"One encouraging trend in contemporary classical performance is to bring musicians out of their accustomed, 'official' settings and place them in more intimate environments."
With his appreciation of "intimate settings" and greater artist/audience interaction, not to mention his reference to two recent Ojai artists, it certainly sounds like an endorsement of the Ojai approach. I'm happy to connect those dots for you, Mr. Ross.
We concur with your statements completely.
- Christiana Thomas
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( 2.9 / 657 )Tom Morris and I spent a few days together last week. Yes, Tom made it out of the historic winter storms on the East Coast last week--only delayed by a day! We spent time in Ojai refining the Festival schedule (you'll see that we will be moving the Friday symposium a little earlier than originally planned to accommodate the artists' schedules). Tom and I then flew up to Oakland to meet with a friend of ours, Matias Tarnopolsky, who recently assumed the responsibility of running Cal Performances from the legendary Robert Cole. Tom and I have always been interested in the idea of collaborating with another organization on our programs and giving these programs another performance outside of Ojai; we thought that we might want to explore this idea with him. In short, the three of us are all very enthusiastic about the idea and are now in the process of seeing if this works for the artists that we have booked starting in 2011. More to come as details unfold!
While I was in Berkeley, I also enjoyed meeting with board member, Russ Irwin, at the famous landmark Cafe Strada. We talked about the recent San Francisco Contemporary Players concert featuring Brad Lubman, who will of course will be in Ojai this summer! He also talked about his excitement about talking with George Benjamin while he was in residence at the SF Symphony. I also enjoyed catching up with former board member Sara Sackner, who is now Director of Development for the Berkeley Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archive. While at the museum she shared with me the exhibit by James Castle -- well worth seeing . We then enjoyed a nice lunch at Adagai across the street. I had a few extra minutes to explore the area and was pleased to find one classical CD store/cafe that still exists, The Musical Offering. Of course, I had to support them and buy some CDs!
- Jeff Haydon
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