Prior to the start of the first concert of OM 11, held on February 24, 2006, Charles Amirkhanian moderated this panel discussion with the featured composers and some of the performers of that night’s musical offerings. Phil Niblock describes his interest in composing works with long sustained tones and how they are typically accompanied by films of his own making. Michael Nyman, who has composed numerous movie soundtracks, talks about how often music can not be tied down to a certain time or geographical location. For example, in the movie “The Piano” his decidedly 20th century compositions were based on traditional Scottish melodies and were used to accompany images of a life in 19th century New Zealand, while other works by him have been used as film scores for cinema vérité films shot in Moscow and Manhattan during the 1920s. Daniel Bernard Roumain then livens things up with his discussion of how he has sought inspiration for his music from his heroes, many of which are established Civil Rights leaders. He also relates how his childhood desire to be cool led to his distinctive blending of classical violin music with elements of hip-hop and rock music. The discussion concludes with guitarist Seth Josel providing a description and demonstration of the “e-bow” that was to be utilized in that evening’s performance of Niblock’s work “Sethwork.” |
