The Music of Elliott Goldkind

“There’s a widespread idea in the general culture that classical music is “smart,” and that it requires a certain amount of knowledge to appreciate. And yet the level on which it’s generally apprehended, as outlined above, is not particularly smart at all.”

via The Classical Beat – Form and content.

I actually don’t agree with a good bit in this article, particularly her use of “form” and “content.”  (Then again, even John Cage, in his writings, had a very idiosyncratic understanding of those very terms.)  But be that as it may, I think it’s a good assessment and critique of classical music vis-a-vis its audience and society at large.

Here’s a recording of my “Was War” for string quartet.  Pretentious or not, the title is both English and German (meaning “what was”).  I wanted to upload it to this page or my reverbnation page but the file is too large for either/both.  (Grr!)  Oh well.

The score of this piece is available here: http://www.ornette.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Was-War-for-String-Quartet.pdf If any quartets or string players would like to play or perform this, please let me know.

You can hear it here: www.ornette.com/WasWar.mp3 Enjoy!

Nice review, with a very kind mention of my musical score.  Thanks Jayne!!!  (I love that my music is often described as “haunting” … BOO!)

via Jayne McKay: Newport Beach film festival.

No, this widget doesn’t have all my available tunes. That can be found here. But, for whatever it’s worth, here’s yet another way to click and hear a ditty or two.

Alan Gilbert takes over the New York Philharmonic : The New Yorker.

This is an exciting development, and of course one that makes me wish I could spend more time in Avery Fisher, not to mention in NYC in general.  It would be nice if the NYPhil could become a significant force in modern music again.

Top 10 Composers Who Died Unnatural or Odd Deaths – Listverse.

via Esa-Pekka Salonen: L.A. has been in good hands – Los Angeles Times.

Excellent piece on Esa-Pekka in today’s LA Times.

I’ve started recopying and uploading to the Sibelius site. I really am loving this program and the site is a great way to find and download scores.  A few up now, but and more coming soon.

You can find my work here: http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/goldkind

The film’s been doing great, and we have another screening coming up.  This one is at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Saturday, April 25th, 3:15pm.  Come on out!

http://www.newportbeachfilmfest.com/