Irvine Arditti - Happy 60th Birthday!

Chamber music is, and has always been, my overriding musical love-interest. Years ago, when I was on the board of directors of the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, I used my powers of persuasion to get the Society to present the Arditti String Quartet in performance at Detroit's wonderful Orchestra Hall. The Arditti Quartet, led by its founder Irvine Ardiddi, performed Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 1 (1905), György Kurtag's Officium breve, and Mauricio Kagel's First, or was it his Second, Quartet. It was a wonderful evening of music. Werner Klüppelholz writes in his notes to the Arditti's DisQues Montaigne Kagel recording:

It was Goethe ... who was responsible for the apt and often quotes remark that a string quartet is like a conversation between four intelligent individuals. Since the age of Viennese classicism the string quartet has remained the crowning glory of chamber music (if not all music). [p. 11]

I have a quibble about Klüppelholz's parenthetical condition - since the age of American classicism (aka "Bebop") the quintet has remained the crowning glory of THIS MUSIC.

The glory that was that Arditti evening in Detroit's Orchestra Hall has never been - perhaps never will be - repeated. However, the economics of chamber music verses orchestral music certainly fits today's bust-economy better than yesterday's boom-economy. So perhaps chamber music - both THAT and THIS MUSIC - will, in a manner of speaking, flourish.

Try this: http://boulezian.blogspot.com/2013/10/sixtieth-birthday-concert-for-irvine.html

 

EDGEFEST 2013 • Kerrytown Concert House • Ann Arbor, Michigan

Last week I attended the 17th annual EdgeFest, an exciting four days of creative, improvised music-making. Percussion was the thing - Hamid Drake, Tom Rainey, and Matt Wilson took care of the drums; while piano percussion was provided by Eri Yamamoto, Lucian Ban, Kris Davis, Connie Crothers, and Tad Weed. Bassists William Parker and Ken Filiano kept the bottom of the music tight and swinging.
   The trumpets of Lewis Barnes, Ralph Alessi, and Ron Miles; saxophones of Rob Brown, Jorge Sylvester, and Skeeter Shelton; and reeds of Piotr Michalowski were excellently played with expert musicianship, and feeling. If I missed anyone, it's because I wasn't present for their performance.
   Congratulations to Edgefest Director, Deanna Relyea and the KCH Staff for another exciting week of creative, improvised music.