New Releasings
Labor Records in collaboration with Naxos is releasing a series of recordings of my work covering more than half a century! The most recent release is "Jukebox in the Tavern of Love" paired with a new work by Meredith Monk. "The Nude Paper Sermon" and "Wiretap" is a double album containing no fewer than five works; see below for details. "Civilization & its Discontents" is a words-and-music collaboration with Michael Sahl. More information, reviews and ordering (physical or digital editions) is available below or by going to Labor Records.
Review of the New York Premiere of Salzman’s Brecht Suite
The New York premiere of Salzman’s Brecht Suite—music from the Theatre du Trident French-language production of the Santa Barbara version of Brecht’s La Bonne Ame de Setchouan—had its New York premiere on December 2, 3 and 4, 2009, at the cell theatre, produced by the cell with the Center for Contemporary Opera (CCO). The performers were mezzo Laila Salins, virtuoso accordionist Bill Schimmel, Machiko Ozawa and Marc Levine, violins, and Leo Grinhauz, cello.
Schimmel also played Salzman’s Accord: Solo for Schimmel. Other works on the program included Schimmel’s version of the Poet & Peasant Overture, a set of Latvian songs performed by Ms. Salins (who is Latvian-American), and a rousing set of tangos by Osvaldo Pugliese as arranged by Schimmel. Harry Rolnick (of ConcertoNet.com) had this to say:
“Mr. Salzman redeemed himself triplefold with the music for Brecht’s “Good Woman of Sichuan.” Mr. Salzman, as critic, musicologist and composer, is virtually synonymous with “music theater,” and when he found Brecht’s second working of the drama in Los Angeles, he was ecstatic. No music had been written for it (Kurt Weill was on the outs with Brecht), so Mr. Salzman took it in his own hands, resulting in a Quebec performance. The five excerpts here were splendid, with a typical Salzman surprise. The middle three songs did have that biting Weill-type melody. Ms. Salins didn’t have to do a Lotte Lenya: her own drama was fascinating enough. But the first purely instrumental work was eerily different. It had the resonance of 18th Century modal American church music, or like Virgil Thomson’s film music of America. What was it doing here? Not until the final song did we find out. The same music was used as background for a Weill-like ersatz anthem, performed beautifully by all five musicians.”
The entire program was recorded and should be available on a CCO CD and excerpts will be posted on YouTube. There are also plans for the program to tour abroad.
Date Posted // December 09, 2009
In Categories // Brecht Suite, News, Reviews, Works and Productions
Salzman Published in Yale’s Theater Magazine
Eric Salzman’s article, Speaking in Tongues, or Why Should Eclectic Be a Bad Word?, has just been published in the Up Front section of Theater Magazine (Vol.39, no.3) published by the Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theater.
Date Posted // November 29, 2009
In Categories // News, Speaking in Tongues, Writings
Performances of Salzman’s Brecht Suite and Accord
On December 2nd, 3rd and 4th, Salzman’s Brecht Suite of music from a French-language production of the Brecht Good Person of Szechuan, and Salzman’s solo accordion work, Accord, will be performed at the cell theatre on 23rd Street in New York’s Chelsea district. The Brecht Suite will be performed by Laila Salins, mezzo, William Schimmel, accordion (the same two who performed it last June at the Southampton Cultural Center) with Machiko Osawa and Marc Levin, violins, and Leo Grinhauz, cello.
Accord is a solo piece written for Schimmel which not only requires him to play classical, pop and virtuoso accordion but also to stroll, sing, laugh and even break down crying. The program also includes a solo piece by Schimmel, a set of Latvian drinking songs and tangos, and a set of tangos by Osvaldo Pugliese—perhaps the greatest of all the classic Argentine tangeros. The concert is at 8:00pm and is part of the Center for Contemporary Opera’s 2009–2010 season. Read the full press release (PDF).
Date Posted // November 06, 2009
In Categories // Accord/Discord, Brecht Suite, Events, News, Works and Productions
Review of the October Performance of Salzman’s Five Dances
The very successful performance of the Five Dances on October 30th at Bard was described by the John Cage Trust Blog as follows:
“Given the paucity of arrangements in his own catalog, one might wonder what Cage would think of the two works that make use of his works that were featured at last month’s John Cage at Bard College Symposium. Of all of the pieces included in the two evening programs at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on October 30 and 31, these little-known arrangements were clear audience favorites. The first, Eric Salzman’s Five Dances (1996-97), is an arrangement for string quartet of five works by Cage originally composed for prepared piano: Our Spring Will Come (1943), Dream (1948), Totem Ancestor (1943), In a Landscape (1948), and A Room (1943). While long available from C.F. Peters as EP 67725, the work is rarely performed. Here’s the third movement from the feisty performance by four of Bard College’s finest Conservatory musicians—Fanghue He, Yue Sun, Leah Gastler, and Laura Hendrickson.”
Date Posted // November 03, 2009
In Categories // Five Dances for String Quartet, News, Reviews, Works and Productions
Premiere of Salzman’s Five Dances for String Quartet
On October 30th, Eric Salzman’s Five Dances for String Quartet, based on prepared piano music written in the 1940s by John Cage, will be performed for a concert of Cage’s music at Bard College as part of a three-day symposium on Cage, celebrating the Cage Trust at Bard. Read the full press release (PDF). Note that, although individual pieces have been performed separately (Totem Ancestor was widely performed and recorded by the Kronos Quartet), this is the premiere of the set as a whole.
Date Posted // October 03, 2009
In Categories // Events, Five Dances for String Quartet, News, Works and Productions