The music library has just received a great new resource on Korean music and culture. Music in Korea: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (ML 342 .K867 2012) is a new book by Donna Lee Kwon that explores the intersections between Korea’s musical culture and other aspects of its society. Kwon addresses the complex political issues in Korea and how these influence the experience and transmission of the country’s musical culture. In researching for this book, Kwon conducted extensive fieldwork, interviewing performers and witnessing authentic performances first-hand. The book is accompanied by a CD with recordings to provide the reader with a more complete experience of this unique musical culture.

If you want to learn more about music in Korea, the Music Library has other resources that can give you more information. Volume 7 of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music covers East Asia, including China, Japan, and Korea. General books on world music are located in the ML 3545 section. Books specifically dealing with Korean music can be found through a catalog search.

Or, if you are interested in hearing more Korean music, there are also some recordings available in the Music Library. Check out a list of them here.

–by Jessica Nay, Music Library Graduate Assistant

The Music Library has recently added two new recordings of contemporary music which may be of interest to you. The first CD, titled Bird Concerto with Pianosong, features selections of compositions by British composer Jonathan Harvey. His compositional influence of composer Olivier Messiaen is evident in the first work, Bird Concerto with Pianosong, which the program notes say “is a celebration of the kind of technical advances in electroacoustics which the creator of Oiseaux exotiques and the Catalogue d’oiseaux was never able to explore.” This album also includes the composer’s Ricercare una melodia for oboe and live electronics, Other Presences for trumpet and live electronics, and Ricercare una melodia for cello and live electronics, performed by the London Sinfonietta among other various soloists. Ask for CD 18133 at the Circulation Desk.

The second CD is a compilation of contemporary violin music involving some world premiere recordings. CD 18134, titled In Nomine, primarily features the violinist Movses Pogossian. Works include Signs, Games, and Messages for solo violin (1989-2006) by Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag, Hommage à G.K. for two violins & piano by Artur Avanesov (world premiere recording featuring additional violinist Varty Manouelian and the composer at the piano), Lamento for solo violin (1980) by Tigran Mansurian (world premiere recording), Sonata for Two Violins, op. 56 by Sergei Prokofiev, and Zemestani, Bahari, Beheshti for violin and piano (2008) (world premiere recording). Take a break from your studies and listen to something new!

–by Jared Rex, Music Library Graduate Assistant

This new book by Stephen Sondheim, subtitled “Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with attendant comments, amplifications, dogmas, harangues, digressions, anecdotes and miscellany,” provides the lyrics to his works with his own personal annotations. This gives the reader a look into Sondheim’s views on his own works and compositional process.  He includes stories about the productions of his works and events in his own life to create a broader picture of how these works came to be. The works featured in this volume include Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins, and Passion; as well as music from movies and television.

This book is the second volume of Sondheim’s collected lyrics. The first volume, Finishing the Hat, includes the lyrics of his works from 1954-1981 and is also available in the Music Library. This volume includes West Side Story, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeny Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, among other works. Together, these two volumes provide an intimate look into Sondheim’s life and work as a songwriter, even including some previously unpublished songs.

If you want to hear the works featured in these books, the Music Library also has plenty of recordings of Stephen Sondheim’s works. Check them out here.

–by Jessica Nay, Music Library Graduate Assistant

The Music Library will be holding a sale Wednesday, Jan. 25-Friday, Jan. 27. Scores, books, LPs and CDs will be available.

We hope you will take advantage of the resources and support available at the Music Library. Here are a few highlights to start off the semester:

• To request course reserves items located in the Music Library, ask at our circulation desk. You can look up your course by instructor or course number to see where reserve materials are located.
• Services available include research consultations and help, library tours, and help finding or evaluating sources including books, scores, articles, DVDs, CDs, or online resources.
• We continue to offer music-friendly resources online: streaming audio (DRAM, Naxos Music Library), Grove/Oxford Music online, the Music Index, RILM, Project Muse, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, and the fake book index.
• If you are an undergraduate and you haven’t taken the Library Skills Workbook yet, we offer a music version as one of the optional versions.

Check back here for research tips, event notices, new additions to our collections, and other news. As always, if you have any questions about our collections or services, please contact us. Best wishes for a productive semester.

Please note that all University Libraries will be closed on Monday January 16, 2012. All libraries begin the spring semester schedule on Tuesday, January 17. For the Music Library, that is:

• Monday-Thursday 9 am-9pm
• Friday 9 am-5pm
• Sunday 2pm-9pm

All library hours are posted at: http://library.buffalo.edu/hours/

Happy 2012! One last look back at 2011, with a selection of “2011″ lists from around the music world.

A list we missed? Let us know in the comments.

• AllMusic. 2011 in Review.
• BBC Music. BBC Music Writers’ Albums of 2011.
• Billboard. 2011 Year End Charts  and The Best of 2011: The Year in Music
• CBC Radio 2. CBC Radio’s Top 50 Artists of 2011.
• NPR Music. “In Memoriam: Musicians We Lost In 2011.”
• NPR Music. 50 Favorite Albums of 2011.
• Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone’s Best of 2011.
• Alex Ross. “The Best Classical Music Recordings of 2011,” in The New Yorker, Dec. 6, 2011.
• SPIN. SPIN’s 50 Best Albums of 2011.
• TimeOut New York. Best Classical Albums of 2011.
• UB Music Library. We don’t have a list, but we did add 900+ CDs to our collection in 2011, from CD 17104 (Wolfgang Rihm Lieder performed by Clare Lesser and David Lesser) to CD 18006 (Kenneth Leighton’s Earth, Sweet Earth and Benjamin Britten’s Winter Words, performed by James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook). You can check out these–or the 900 CDs in between–at the library. Happy listening!
• One last Liszt. 2011 was the the bicentenary of Franz Liszt’s birthdate. Image from Library of Congress. Franz Liszt, ca. 1850; reproduced in James Huneker’s Franz Liszt (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1911; page 36).

Source: IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana.

The Music Library will be closed December 24 through January 2.

If you need materials from the Music Library, Silverman Library, the Silverman Multimedia Center, or the Law Library from Tuesday, December 27th through Friday, December 30th, you may request that materials be retrieved from closed libraries at the Lockwood Circulation desk or submit requests for materials via e-mail at libcirc@buffalo.edu. As staffing permits, the Circulation staff in Lockwood will retrieve materials when requested for walk-in patrons.

Materials requested via e-mail and received prior to 12:00 noon will be available at the Lockwood Circulation desk after 1:00 p.m. on the same day requested. Materials requested after 12:00 noon will be available at the Lockwood Circulation Desk after 10:00 a.m. the following day (except for December 30th). An e-mail notification will be sent to the requester when items are available at the Lockwood Circulation Desk.

All of us at the Music Library wish you a very happy break. See you in 2012!

You can view or download the sheet music pictured above as well as some other versions from Indiana University’s IN Harmony collection at http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly/devincent/LL-SDV-079021

Composer Elliott Carter celebrated his 103rd birthday yesterday on December 11. Despite his age, he has continued to produce a prolific compositional output and, since his 100th birthday, has written new works which are yearly debuted by performing ensembles every December. In a concert tonight, (December 12, 2011), at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, the last of this year’s three world premieres will be heard in concert. You can check out this year’s press release here as well as watch three videos of Carter talking about his music here.

If you’re interested in checking out some of Carter’s recent compositions from the last ten years, CD 16788/89 may be of interest to you. Recorded in 2008-2009, this set includes 16 works for various instruments including Carter’s Horn Concerto (2006) featuring Martin Owen and the BBC Symphony Orchestra,  Tintinnabulation (2008) with the New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble, and Retracing III (2009) for trumpet and performed by UB Music Department faculty member Jon Nelson.

The Music Library has many other sound recordings and accompanying scores for many pieces if you find yourself wanting to listen to more music by Carter. If you’re interested in reading about his compositions and life, be sure and check out our selection of books as well. Remember that Music Library offers Naxos Music Library, an online streaming music database, from on and off-campus which also offers many Carter recordings!

–by Jared Rex, Music Library Graduate Assistant

Reminder: the Music Library is open on Saturday Dec. 10 from 11-5.

For complete Music Library hours, see http://library.buffalo.edu/hours/music_hours.html. Hours for all UB Libraries are posted at http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/hours/.

Music: Amilcare Ponchielli, La Gioconda, Dance (Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1883) from Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music at the Library of Congress, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/sm1883.16616