19. August 2023, 13:00
Featuring music by Lou Reed, Gustav Mahler, Miles Davis, Gil Scott-Heron, de la Soul, Henry Cowell, Morton Feldman and more
It starts with a little New York conversation, one on the phone. He was at home when the bell woke him up from his nap. And then a bit of “gossip” started, as Lou Reed calls it himself, “Did you hear who did what to whom”, New York scene gossip. Until at the very last moment, two lines before the end, the truth suddenly comes out. I’ll call you, yes, because, hm, for I know this night will kill me, if I can’t be with you. Lou Reed needs just a minute and a half in his gem of a song to get to the point of hidden longing in a “New York Telephone Conversation”.
What could be more obvious when visiting New York than to start with a stroll down Broadway. Like a pulsating main artery, it runs through the organism of Manhattan, connecting upper and lower town, entertainment, commerce and art. George Gershwin is a prototype for this New York intersection. Concert hall, street, jazz club, theater or a glamorous ball in one of the luxury hotels with the haute volée, he is a welcome guest and welcome guest everywhere. And Gershwin formulates the need of the hour. If you want to be “in” in the 1920s, money or success might help. But the important thing is the rhythm: “I got rhythm”.
The legacy of the New Yorker George Gershwin was continued in his own way by the composer Leonard Bernstein with stage plays such as “West Side Story”, which, by the way, was originally to be called East Side Story, which transferred the story of Romeo and Juliet to New York in the 1950s and also premiered on Broadway. As a conductor, Leonard Bernstein contributed to the renaissance of a composer who celebrated the great successes of his last years in New York, namely Gustav Mahler. We flash back briefly to the year 1907. Mahler is going through difficult times, both professionally and privately, also knows about his critical health condition, but has signed a contract with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. When he leaves Vienna for New York, it was December 1907, this farewell becomes a social event. Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Gustav Klimt, Bruno Walter and Alfred Roller are waving at Vienna’s Westbahnhof station, along with a good two hundred other friends and acquaintances. Gustav Mahler’s performances in New York should again bring him wonderful success, privately he slid into the next fiasco. His wife’s lover sent a letter to Mahler himself instead of to her, Mahler is totally devastated. And: He is writing his 10th symphony. Leonard Bernstein performs it decades later with the New York Philharmonic.
The New York pressure cooker has spawned remarkably odd blossoms in almost every genre. Henry Cowell taught at Columbia University Uptown New York. Born in California, he later became a polyglot – he studied musicology in Berlin with Erich von Hornbostel, was the first American composer to make a guest appearance in the Soviet Union, that was in 1929, taught in between in Tehran and Madras, founded several platforms for new music, taught in New York, among others, John Cage. And Henry Cowell kept inventing strange new playing techniques. Bela Bartok, for example, asked Henry Cowell if he could use the piano clusters that Cowell invented. The antithesis to violent piano clusters was the invention of airy, ghostly playing directly on the piano strings. Henry Cowell himself liked to let his hands stroke the strings and conjured up a musical fairy in New York. And she was to make a difference in the minds of younger New York composers, this “Banshee.”
Another Californian who ended up in New York was enchanted by it for life, namely John Cage. And so many other composers and artists were impressed by this that they – from Laurie Anderson to Yoko Ono – produced an album together that pays homage to the master, including a simple field recording street scene, recorded outside of John Cage’s apartment, probably also as a homage to Cage’s famous break piece..
series
layout
Elke Tschaikner Christian Scheib
Playlist
Composer: Lou Reed
Composer: David Bowie
Composer: Mick Ronson
Titel: New York telephone conversation
Soloist/Soloist: Lou Reed.
Performer/Performers: David Bowie /vocals with accompaniment
Performer/Performers: Mick Ronson /vocals w.accompaniment.
Performer/Performers: The Thunder Thighs /singing with accompaniment
Length: 01:31 min
Label: RCA RCD 13806
Composer: George Gershwin/1898 – 1937
Titel: I got rhythm/instr. / aus dem Musical “Girl crazy” (a)
Soloist: George Gershwin /piano
Length: 02:30 min
Label: ORF Radio Austria 1 CD 33
Composer: George Gershwin/1898 – 1937
Titel: My man’s gone now/instr. / aus der Oper “Porgy and Bess”/live
Soloist: Miles Davis / trumpet with accompaniment
Solist/Solistin: Marcus Miller /Bass
Soloist: Bill Evans / Saxophone
Soloist: Mike Stern /guitar
Solist/Solistin: Al Foster /Drums
Solist/Solistin: Mino Cinelu /Percussion
Length: 07:05 min
Label: Columbia 4694022
Composer: Gustav Mahler/1860 – 1911
Title: Symphony No.10 in F sharp major
* Andante
Orchester: New York Philharmonic
Direction: Leonard Bernstein
Length: 03:55 min
Label: Sony SMK 60732
Composer: Gil Scott Heron
Titel: New York is killing me
Solist/Solistin: Gil Scott Heron /Gesang m. Begl.
Length: 04:29 min
Label: XL Recordings/edel 471 XLCD
Composer: David Jude Jolicoeur
Composer: Kelvin Mercer
Titel: Cool breeze on the rocks
Performers: De La Soul /Rap with accompaniment
Length: 00:47 min
Label: Tommy Boy TBCD 1019
Composer: Davis
Titel: Jenifa taught me
Performers: De La Soul /Rap with accompaniment
Length: 03:24 min
Label: Tommy Boy TBCD 1019
Composer: Henry Dixon Cowell/1897 – 1965
Title: The Banshee – for Piano
Soloist: Henry Cowell /piano
Length: 02:31 min
Label: Smithsonian/Folkways Recording
Title: New York City – taken outside of John Cage’s apartment
Performer(s): Street Noise of New York
Length: 01:11 min
Label: Koch 372382 Y6 (2 CD)
Composer: Morton Feldman
Titel: Extensions 3 (1952)
Solist/Solistin: Morton Feldman
Length: 05:00 min
Label: ed. RZ 1010
Title: John McEnroe
Performers: The Athletic Sports Band
Length: 01:59 min
Label: Motern Media (634479848469)
Composer: Joe Zawinul/1932 – 2007
Titel: Frog legs/instr.
Solist/Solistin: Ben Webster /Tenorsaxophon
Soloist/Soloist: Joe Zawinul /Piano
Performer/Performers: Thad Jones /Cornet
Performer/Performers: Sam Jones /Bass
Performer/Performers: Philly Joe Jones /Drums
Length: 05:31 min
Label: Riverside/ZYX Music OJC 201092
Composer: John Kander/born 1927
Lyricist, text source: Fred Ebb/1932 – 2004
Titel: New York New York / a.d.gln.Film/live
Performers: Original West End Cast
Performers: The Rat Pack Big Band
Conductor: Barry Robinson /conductor and piano
Soloist: Stephen Triffitt / Vocals – Frank Sinatra
Solist/Solistin: Mark Adams /Gesang – Dean Martin
Soloist: George Daniel Long /Ges. – Sammy Davis Jr.
Length: 03:47 min
Label: Edel Records 0155402 ERE
2023-08-19 23:51:41
#York #York
