Mobtown Modern presents The Rite of Spring for Jazz Orchestra, what!?
by Adam Hopkins on May 11, 2010
Music lovers, go to this event. I say that without having heard the arrangement of the piece. And actually, I’m a bit skeptical myself. Stravinsky is my favorite classical composer. The Rite of Spring isn’t my favorite Stravinsky piece (although I love it), but it is certainly a masterpiece of the 20th century, and deserves all of the praise it receives. It blew it all wide open…tonally and rhythmically, and it pushed the limits of what certain instruments were thought to be able to do at the time. It isn’t my favorite Stravinsky piece, but it is awesome. Arranged for big band? I don’t really know. If there’s anyone around that I trust to do it, it’s the minds behind (Brian Sacawa, Erik Spangler, Contemporary Museum) the great Baltimore music series Mobtown Modern (check it out further at mobtownmodern.com). Every concert they’ve hosted at Metro Gallery that I’ve been able to attend has been great. New music, in a more relaxed environment, with drinks served, but taken no less seriously than in a concert hall. This is a concept that I can get behind (I do, and will continue to get behind it). I might hate this, but I might absolutely love it. I’m willing to take the chance. Show is tomorrow, Wednesday May 12 at The Metro Gallery. Sets at 7:30 & 9:30pm. More details from the Mobtown website:
Rite of Swing
May 12, 2010, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. @ Metro Gallery
For nearly 100 years, Igor Stravinsky’s riot-inducing icon The Rite of Spring has stood as a pillar of modern composition. Time to shake things up a bit. Tonight we present a new arrangement of Stravinsky’s Rite for modern jazz ensemble. Created especially for Mobtown Modern by award-winning jazz arranger Darryl Brenzel, the “jazz Rite” may not incite any riots but is sure to go down in history.
Tickets are $10, general admission and $5 for Contemporary Museum members and students with a valid ID.
Thanks for the plug! Also worth a mention is that the 7:30 p.m. set will be livestreamed by Radar Redux at http://www.radarredux.com/live/
[...] over at his vital ‘new music’ community website Sequenza21, by our friends from the Out Of Your Head collective, and by Shawn Galvin, a percussionist and ‘new music’-lover from Raleigh, [...]
i’m so glad i went to this it was really awesome! and the conductor guy was great in his movements. (oh, definitely uncomfortable in those chairs – but still totally worth it.)