Volume 9 Issue 10 - July/August 2004

Rochester - It's a Breeze, continued from pageJ 5
BooK
SHELF
a Commission Project workshop tution in Rochester, and charting
conducted by John Faddis, direc- new paths for music education. His
tor of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Or- deep pockets and aesthetic interest
chestra. His adeptness at gently supported facilities like a 3 ,094-
moving students to exceed them- seat acoustic and visual jewel of a by Pamela Marg/es
selves equals his vaunted abilities concert hall. His new conservato-
on the trumpet. ry encouraged American composi- INTRODUCTION
A painfully shy clarinetist was tion, helping pierce the monopoly Herearefiveternficnewnovelsabout
unable to express her evident mu- of European repertoire. A young music - perfect for summer reading.
sicality. Faddis asked whether her composer, Howard Hanson, be- The protagonist of French novelmama
was present, then exclaimed: came Eastman's director in 1924. ist Jean Echenoz's Piano (New
"Hey mama, is this girl so bashful The Hanson Institute· for Ameri- Press) is a renowned concert pianist
at home?" Marna replied: "I only can Music, established when he re- who goes through a masterfully dewish!"
Faddis spoke quietly but tired in 1964, reflects his sutcess . scribed episode of stage fright, dies a
firmly; "Girl, you have the music Wide public involvement in clas- much-anticipated 'violent death' afin
you. To get it out, or do any- sical music was also an Eastman ter an especially successful concert,
thing in life, you ipust stand straight goal. A comrriunity music school · and spends the rest of this surreal,
and look everyone in the c;ye." She and open-door concert policy were funny novel as a ghost. He ends up
did, and will remember Faddis' integral to the new conservatory. on earth doing 'vesperal service' as a
counsel for the"rest of her life. He believed music students should bartender.
Thanks to seeds planted by Ned experience a broad liberal arts ed- In Music of a Life (Arcade), An-
Corman, a jazz musician and char- ucation; the conservatory became drei Makjne, delves into the tragic
isrnatic teacher at a Rochester high the University of Rochester's first repercussions of war and political
school, equivalent experiences are professional school, and hosts its repr~ssion . A young Russian pianist
spreading. Ex-students who sue- own humanities department. is forced to 'steal a life' from a dead
ceeded in business and the prof es- The School recently assumed a soldier during the Second World War.
sions did not forget Corman, or vanguard role in training young His story, told to the narrator as a
jazz. They've mobilized resourc- musicians to navigate the musical ' poetic,heartbreakingreminiscenceby
es for his Commission Project. marketplace once they have their a stranger, gives Makine the oppor-
M y main point is that Rochester sheepskin. Eastman would be pleased. tunity to examine the meaning of
as The Project's starting point is Overlaps between Eastman's fac- music from the viewpoint" of deprinot
simply an accident of Corman ulty and the Rochester Philharmon- vation.
landing a job in a local school. Ro- ic Orchestra, plus a chain of sate)- Writer Christopher Miller
chesterthhas excedptihonal links be- lite chamber ensembles, provide a presents Simon Silber: Works for
tween e arts an t e commumty , , , Solo Piano (Hoµghton Miffiin) as
I'd b h R · h t , nch music season. Eastman s com- . . f
at large, et t at oc es er s . . h 1 d d the liner notes accompanymg a set o
nk U S . . . mumty music sc oo an a secon d. f · · ·tt
top ra am?n~ . . cities m pat- / community resource, the Hochstein recor mgs o compos1t1ons wn en
ents
.
per capita
.
is
·
paralleled by art S
c
h
oo 1 f
or
M
us1c
,
an
d 0 ance, pus 1 and performed by Simon Silber, who
music per capita.
.
No other
,
metro-
. a goo
di
y popu 1 a
t.
10n o
f
arna
t
eur
didn't want anyone else playing his
polita~ ~eg 1on of ~ochester s SlZe, choral and instrumental groups, music. In fact, "he didn't even want
1. 1 rrulhon, comes close. Nor do . . . d" to be whistled". The fictional author,
I . . I , f ·h. bmlds an enthus1ast1c core au 1- F th
many arger cities t s re res mg music critic Norman ayrewe er
. . · k . ence. Canadian saxophonist John
to visit a pla~e where roe . mus1- Nugent can run an impressive jazz Jr., says about his deceased friend
cians complam about .skewmg_ re- festival in this modestly sized city "that '.'nevertohavehatedSilberwould
sources towards classical music. . 1 b f th Ro he te mean never to have known him".
Exceptional community/arts precise Y. ~cause? 1 e th c . s r Playwright and musician Robert
links are part and parcel of excep- commumty s music_a en usias~. Ford's first novel, The Student
, 1 bl" . 1 b R If you want to en JOY a ferry nde .
tlona Pu
'
1c
,
mvo vement
. .
y o-
and sample Rochester's song an
d Conductor., (Putnam) is an engrossches~er
s busmess ehte. Mmus a wine this summer, two events stand ing, suspenceful account of the life
readily assembled network of Roout:
E
astrnan
,
s
IM PROV"
ies
t
orchester
movers and shakers to back 1 1 20 22. t Jin during the fa.II of the Wall. It exof
an American music student in Ber-
, d .d h" p . gan concerts on u 1f - , rum-
Corman s goo 1 eas, is roJect eter Paul Smoker at the Bop Shop p~ores relationships - to
1
overs,
would have crashed on take-off. P 1 1 12 teachers, political ideals, and above
on u y · all to music.
George Eastman's generosity set
the standard for the Rochester elite.
Standard practice among early twentieth
century American multi-multimillionaires
was to leave their fortunes
for public purposes after they
died -- a good ticket to be directed
upstairs rather than down. Eastman
gave away most of his Kodak
fortune beforehand, and with a firm
sense of purpose.Eastman was
what the French term a melonume.
He established the Eastman School
in 1921 with double goals.: creating
an eminent international insti-
32
Here are some web sites to keep
abreast of Rochester's music: The Song of Names (Review) is
www.rochester.edu/Eastman; the the first novel by British music critic
R~c hester Phil at wy.iw.rpo.org, Norman Lebrecht. It deals with
and the Arts and Cultural Associ- friendship, musical genius, and the
ation, www.artsrochester.org/directories/orgframe.htm.
For jazz: brilliant young violinist who "left the
horrors of war. The author recalls a
www.bopshop.com and Roches- stage before the eurtain rose, and he
ter's 24-hour jazz radio station, took with him half of my being and
www.wgmc.org. For wineries: allofmyhope". This novel is more
earnest and affecting than I expected
www.newyorkwines.org/wine- from a writer 'notorious for his acercountry
I fingerlakes/ index. asp.
And for .the ferry schedule, bic exposures of musical skuldugvyww.
thebreeze.com/lndex.asp. gery', as Lebrecht describes himself
in a nice twist atthe end.
WWW .THEWHOLENOTE.COM
Three of the best - and most delightfully
readable - b~oks on music
from recent years are now out in paperback,
and all are absolutely not to
be missed: Piano Notes: The World
of the Pianist by Charles Rosen (Simon
& Schuster), Sviatoslav· Rkhter:
Notebooks and Conversations
(Princeton), edited by the great documentary
film-maker Bruno Monsaingeon,who
has worked exiensively
in Canada, and Parallels and Paradoxes:
Exploratio.ns in Music
and Society ):Jy Daniel Barenboi.rn
and Edward Said (Vintage).
Barenboim, and Rosen are, among
so many other things, brilliant pianists,
and Richter remains one of the
great eccentrics of the piano, unmatched
in much of his repertoire.
But what stands out in each of these
brilliant books is not just the revelations
about music-making, but the
presentation of music as a way of
living- as Barenboim says, as 'a conception
of the world'.
Aural Cultures
edited by Jim Drobnick
YYZ Books - Walter Philips G!!llery
Editions
288 pages with CD $29.95
This far-reaching collection of essays
expands the boundaries of music by
linking hearing to other senses and
creating dialogues between various
disciplines.
Georgina Kleege underlines the importance
of recorded books to the
blind, and the effects of different accents
and shifts in tone. Richard
Leppert politicizes the experience of
music; by treating it as a 'socio-erotic'
experience. Sherry Simon analyzes
how the countertenor voice represen'ts
androgynous, anti-romantic
purity, in the context of current theories
of gender identitiy and cultural
relativism. Jennifer Fisher describes
non-narrative, atmospheric museum
audioguides created by artists, while
Andra McCartney illustrates how
soundwalks by composers like R.
Murray Schafer illuminate the 'sociopolitical
and sonic resonances of a
particular location'. About Flatus Voe
is: Somatic Winds by ChristofMingone,
which apparently deals with
' the volatile sounds emanating from
JULY 1 - SEPT 7 2004