Performance at the 2011 festival

The June in Buffalo festival, a week-long festival and conference of new music, will take place June 4-10, 2012. The festival includes many workshops, lectures, open rehearsals, and evening concerts. Each year, different resident ensembles and senior composition faculty participate. This year, the senior faculty are Robert Beaser, David Felder, Fred Lerdahl, Steven Stucky, and Julia Wolfe.

The Music Library has been preparing for the festival by filling out our collection of works by all of the senior faculty, adding new scores and recordings to our collection. The following will take you to a list of library works by each of the composers:

• Works by Robert Beaser
• Works by David Felder
• Works by Fred Lerdahl
• Works by Steven Stucky
• Works by Julia Wolfe

You can also search DRAM for streaming audio recordings of many of these composers.

Whether it’s “homework” before the festival begins or pure enjoyment, have fun checking out works by this impressive roster of composers. We will feature guest soloists and resident ensembles in a later post.

Summer hours at the Music Library have begun. We will be open 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday.

You can check hours for all of the UB Libraries at http://library.buffalo.edu/hours/.

For those of you on campus over the summer, we hope to see you in the library. Research help and reference assistance is available all summer, and email, phone, and chat help is available if you can’t get to the library. For those of you who are graduating, our warmest congratulations. For those of you returning, see you in the fall! Best wishes for a rejuvenating, productive, and musical summer.

The music image is a manuscript of Sumer is icumen in, British Library Harley MS 978, f.11v. See the British Library’s online exhibit for hte full-page image and more information.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos are some of the most frequently recorded pieces of Bach’s, and the Music Library owns many recordings on CD and LP. We have recently added yet another recording of Brandenburg Concertos which has received rave reviews by many music critics. For instance, the Chicago Tribune hailed the recording because “rarely has Bach been played with such spirit and joy.” Recorded in 1977 and 1991, the CD features four of Bach’s works performed by many musicians which were affiliated with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at some point in time.

The first piece, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, BWV 1047, features soloists  Donald Peck (flute), Ray Still (oboe), Samuel Magad (violin), and Adolph Herseth (trumpet). The second work, Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050, even features James Levine as harpsichordist and conductor. The third work is Bach’s celebrated Wedding Cantata featuring soprano Kathleen Battle with an  accompanying ensemble comprised of the above players conducted by James Levine. Finally, the last work on the recording, Bach’s Orchestral Suite no. 2 in B minor, features the  flautist James Galway with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester and conducted by Jörg Faerber.

Be sure to stop by the Music Library and ask for CD 18289 at the Circulation Desk.

Good luck on finals!

–by Jared Rex, Music Library Graduate Assistant

The Music Library has just received an interesting new book for chamber music lovers. Chamber Music: An Essential History (ML 1100 .R34 2012) is written by Mark A. Radice, Professor of Music History, Theory, and Composition at Ithaca College. This book traces the development of chamber music beginning with the Renaissance and continuing to the twentieth century. Some chapters focus on a certain time period, while others focus on music for a specific type of chamber ensemble. There are also chapters that discuss the chamber music of certain composers, from Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms to Schoenberg, Shostakovich, and Husa.

If the subject of chamber music interests you and you would like to find some more information, check out some of the other books available in the music library here.

If you are looking for chamber music to perform, there are some great resources in the reference section to help you find a piece to play. There are general catalogs of chamber music, as well as more specific catalogs for different types of instruments. Check out a list of these resources here.

And once you find a piece, remember that the Music Library has plenty of scores and parts available to check out. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, just ask and we are happy to help!

–by Jessica Nay, Music Library Graduate Assistant

Please note that the Music Library will be open this Saturday, April 28, from 11 am to 5 pm.

We know you may have last-minute research as the semester reaches the end. As always, we can help with your research questions and help with finding books, scores, CDs, audio, DVDs, video, digital images, and articles. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need assistance!

The Music Library has recently added a new CD which may be of interest to lovers of American contemporary music. The recording, titled River of Light: American Short Works for Violin and Piano, was recorded in 2009 for Naxos and has received many rave reviews. It features new works by contemporary composers including the title work River of Light (2007) by Richard Danielpour, Air (1995) by Aaron Jay Kernis,  and The Light Guitar (2006) by Patrick Zimmerli.

In case you prefer slightly older American works, never fear—the recording also contains Graceful Ghost Rag (1979) by William Bolcom, Wistful Piece, op. 16, no. 2 (1953) by Ruth Shaw Wylie, and “Knee Play 2” (from Einstein on the Beach) (1976) by Philip Glass.  In addition, the recording also features works by composers Kevin Puts, Lev Zhurbin, and  Jennifer Higdon.  River of Light features violinist Tim Fain and pianist Pei-Yao Wang.

If you’d like to check out this recording, ask for CD 18261 at the circulation desk. If you’re off-campus and affiliated with UB, you can also listen to it in our online streaming database, Naxos Music Library, which features over 85,000 recordings, by logging in with your UBIT name and password. Be sure to take advantage of this intriguing recording!

–by Jared Rex, Music Library Graduate Assistant

If you are interested in hip hop music, take a look at this new book in the Music Library. Close to the Edge: In search of the global hip hop generation (ML 3531 F46 2011), by Sujatha Fernandes, explores hip hop and street culture around the world. Fernandes has travelled widely to experience these phenomena firsthand, with destinations including Chicago, Caracas, Havana, and Sydney. In her discussion of hip hop as a vehicle for expression and social change, Fernandes addresses the deeper issues of dispossession, racism, and poverty that affect this hip hop generation of urban youth.

For more information on hip hop music, there are many more books available in the UB libraries. Check them out here.

Sujatha Fernandes has published other books on the social impact of art in other countries. So if you like Close to the Edge, check out these other titles by Fernandes available here at UB:

• Cuba Represent!: Cuban arts, state power, and the making of new revolutionary cultures (NX180 .P64 F47 2006)
• Who Can Stop the Drums?: Urban social movements in Chavez’s Venezuela (HN363.5 .F47 2010)

-by Jessica Nay, Music Library Graduate Assistant

The Music Library has recently added two recordings of French Baroque music to our CD collection, which may be of interest to early music lovers. The first recording titled Grands Motets Lorrains features a program of three motets (“Usquequo Domine,” “Lauda Jerusalem,” and “Domine, ne in furore”) by French composer Henry Desmarest (1661-1741). As a consistently underrepresented composer in recorded sound, the liner notes speculate that this new recording will assist in returning Henry Desmarest “to his rightful place in the history of French music, between Lully and Rameau.” You can access this recording by asking for CD 18190 at our Circulation Desk.

The second recording, Les Divertissements de Versailles, features excerpts of operatic scenes, ballets, and incidental music by celebrated French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully. In an attempt to give a survey of works from Lully’s duration at the court of the King Louis XIV, CD 18191 features numerous excerpts from Armide, Roland, and Georges Dandin, in addition to many other works.  The Baroque performing ensemble featured on the recording, Les Arts Florissants, is the resident orchestra of the Théâtre de Caen in Caen, France and was founded by harpsichordist William Christie. He is also the conductor in both recordings and is originally from Western New York. Be sure to listen to these newly added Baroque treasures!

 –by Jared Rex, Music Library Graduate Assistant

Please note that the Music Library will be closed on Sunday, April 8.  Many of the UB Libraries and Cybraries will be closed or open reduced hours on Sunday. For a complete schedule for all UB Libraries, please see http://library.buffalo.edu/hours/.

If you’re looking for some new music to listen to, we’ve recently added a CD here at the Music Library which may be of interest to electronic music lovers. Recovery/Discovery: 40 Years of Surround Electronic Music in the UK features electronic compositions by four composers written between 1971 and 2008. Some of the recordings have been remastered from their original sources while others were recorded specifically for this album. The earliest work, Chronometer, was composed in 1971 by Sir Harrison Birtwistle and, according to the liner notes, could be the “first piece to use digital sampling and one of the first to employ quadraphonic recording in electronic music, as well as being largely generated under computer control.” Another piece, Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco, was composed by Jonathan Harvey in 1980 based on sounds sampled from real bells. Additionally, the recording features Javier Alvarez’s Temazcal (1984) for electronics and maracas as well as Mira Calix’s Nunu Wadudu (2008) featuring a string quartet and bass clarinet.

Be sure to ask for CD 18193 at the circulation desk and experience some fascinating electronic music! Remember that you can borrow compact discs for up to 3 days at a time.

–by Jared Rex, Music Library Graduate Assistant