When composer
Jack Wall (shown above) wanted to add a unique flair
to the new Myst IV: Revelation video-game soundtrack,
he turned to the Warsaw Village Band, a seven-piece Polish
group that blends the passion and sadness of traditional
music with the rhythmic drive of punk rock. "It's
just such a great sound, so different from the formal
kind of string playing we hear all the time," Wall
says of the popular folk-punk group (and winners of a
2004 BBC3 World Music Award), which includes two violinists
and a cellist. "It's a more folksy, ethnic sound
that I don't hear every day, so I became quite enthralled
by it."
To record
the orchestral sections, Wall, 41, overcame a language
barrier and turned to another Eastern European ensemble:
the Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra, a 76-piece ensemble
with 50 string players.
For Wall—part
of a growing segment of composers and musicians delving
into the interactive-sound market—this was his second
video-game score. In 2001, he scored Myst III: Exile
using Seattle-area symphonic players. "That project
went really, really well," he recalls. "It has
this enormous sound; I had a 51-piece orchestra and an
eight-person choir. It sounds like the wrath of God. This
one has a more powerful main theme but the orchestral
score is more fluid and lush."
To foster
the use of flesh-and-blood musicians in the interactive-sound
genre (which ranges from cell phone tones to slot machines,
toys to video games), Wall last year cofounded the Game
Audio Network Guild (www.audiogang.org),
a coalition of composers, sound designers, musicians,
and other professionals. GANG, with 600 members in 18
countries, promotes the creation of better-sounding audio
in the belief that will advance interactive-audio industries
by helping to produce more competitive and entertaining
products. Last year, GANG met with representatives of
the Recording Musicians Association in Los Angeles to
create a new video-game union agreement.
That commitment
is reflected in the Myst IV recording project.
"I set up a pretty big challenge for myself, going
around the world and working with groups I had never worked
with before," Wall says. "I wanted to raise
the bar creatively. The experience was a mixture of heaven
and hell and I loved every minute of it."
Music enthusiasts
won't have to journey to the arcane world of Myst
to sample the results; downloadable tracks from the Myst
IV soundtrack are available worldwide at the Apple
iTunes Music Store and a commercial CD release is in the
works.
—Greg
Cahill
History
in the Making
A Texas-based
nonprofit organization is joining with more than two dozen
top luthiers to create a collection of 33 historical violins
that will be placed on an eight-year world tour before
being loaned to outstanding young string players. The
$3.5 million project hopes to use the instruments to provide
a means for orchestras and museums to attract new audiences
and patrons. "An extraordinary performer, coupled
with an exemplary instrument, is an experience that forever
remains in an audience's memory," says Amati Foundation
chairman William Townsend (shown above), a violin
maker and entrepreneur who is part of the founding management
team at the Internet search engine Lycos. Among the luthiers
involved in the project are Christopher Germain, Jan
Spidlen, Gregg Alf, Joseph Curtin, Samuel Zygmuntowicz,
Raymond Schryer, and Mario Miralles.
DuPré's
Gift
Conductor
Daniel Barenboim has given a cello once owned by his
late wife, Jacqueline du Pré, to Kyril
Zlotnikov of the Jerusalem Quartet. Barenboim had
offered the gift after working with Zlotnikov in the
conductor's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which Barenboim
cofounded with the late Arab-American scholar Edward
Said. The instrument, originally a gift from Barenboim
to his wife, was crafted in 1971 by Philadelphia maker
Sergio Peresson. Du Pré once described the Peresson
as "strong like a tank, with a wonderfully rich
sound that reaches the corners of the largest hall."
Du Pré used the Peresson for everything except
playing chamber music in small halls. For that setting,
she relied on her Strads (one from 1672, the other from
1712).
Du
Pré, a star cellist of her generation, was diagnosed
with multiple sclerosis in 1973 and died of complications
from the disease in 1987.
Zlotnikov,
25, first met Barenboim two years ago when the pianist
joined the Jerusalem Quartet onstage at the Jerusalem
Chamber Music Festival to play a Dvorák quintet.
"It was an unbelievable concert that everyone there
found electrifying," Zlotnikov recently told the
Australian publication The Age. "We just
went to a different world."
Last
year, Barenboim invited the cellist to join the Divan
Orchestra.
As
for the du Pré cello, Zlotnikov told the Aussies,
"It really suits me."
—Greg
Cahill
Class
Notes
Midori
has started her position as Jascha Heifetz Chair at the
University of Southern California’s Thornton School
of Music, a
post that had remained unfilled for several years. Meanwhile,
Michael Hersch’s new violin sonata, "the wreckage
of flowers," written for Midori, receives its UK premiere
in her hands at London’s Barbican on October 27. The
US premiere follows on December 7 at Carnegie Hall.
Violinists Jasper
Wood (shown above) and Eugenia Choi have joined
the faculty at the strings division of the School of Music
at the University of British Columbia. Wood, who made his
orchestral debut at age 13, has performed with various ensembles
throughout the world, ranging from Baroque performance groups
to contemporary ensembles. Choi, who established her solo
career at a young age, is completing her doctoral degree
at the Juilliard School.
On
the Move
Carnegie Hall
has selected Clive Gillinson, 58, managing director
of the London Symphony Orchestra and a former orchestral
cellist, to be executive and artistic director of the venerable
New York institution. He replaces Robert J. Harth,
who died on January 30 at age 47. "Carnegie Hall is
the inspirational home for the world's greatest music and
musicians," Gillison noted. "I cannot imagine
a greater honor than to be asked to lead it into the 21st
century. . . ." Gillison will remain with the LSO throughout
its Centenary and will start his Carnegie Hall job on July
1, 2005.
Delivering what
by all accounts was a searing rendition of Szymanowski's
violin concerto, 16-year-old Nicola Benedetti has
become the first Scottish player to win the title BBC Young
Musician of the Year in the competition's 25-year history.
The honor also comes with a crystal trophy, a chance to
perform at a lunchtime recital at Wigmore Hall, and the
opportunity to study abroad.
Passings
Richard D.
Colburn, 92, (shown above) a prominent philanthropist
and amateur violinist whose generosity benefited the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, died on June 3 in Los Angeles. In
1950, he started a small preparatory school at the University
of Southern California's School of Music. In 1986, the institution
was renamed the Colburn School of Performing Arts. Alumni
include violinists Anne Akiko Meyers, Leila Josefowicz;
and violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama. At the time of his
death, Colburn reportedly was working to develop a new American
conservatory of music.
Cellist Boris
Pergamenschikow, 55, a regular fixture at the Manchester
(England) Cello
Festival, lost his long battle with cancer on April 30.
Pergamenschikow, who had won the 1974 Tchaikovsky Competition
in Moscow, was a revered soloist and chamber musician who
played regularly with pianist Lars Vogt and collaborated
with Gidon Kremer, Thomas Zehetmair, and others.
The cellist
Edmund Kurtz, who gained renown as the editor of
Bach's Six Cello Suites, died in London on August 19. He
was 95. His 1983 edition of the famous work, first undertaken
at age 70, is still regarded as the definitive version.
Kurtz, an outstanding cellist and enthusiastic collector
of bows, was still preparing and editing new cello editions
right up until the time of his death.
Photo of Colburn by Paul Siemion
News, from the US or abroad, is always welcome. Please
mail to Greg Cahill, News & Notes, Strings, PO Box 767, San
Anselmo, CA 94979; fax to (415) 485-0831; or email to greg@stringletter.com.
Wall of Sound
