Just finished reading an amazing interview with John Corigliano on NewMusicBox. It's really fantastic to hear a prominent composer like Corigliano speaking out about the cruddiness of programming by major musical institutions. The little ensembles do an amazing job of playing a great variety of music, old, new, accessible, scary, and while there are specialist ensembles, they rarely just play the same stuff over and over again - within their field, they'll often programme lesser-known works or composers, and they'll take risks that the major organisations would never even dream of.

I also found his comments on style extremely interesting - in particular his comment on being "an 'A' person. Eighty per cent of [his] pieces gravitate towards an A, as a tonal thing". I'm a 'D' person, myself - with most pieces (about ninety-five percent, hoping to one day get it down as far as eighty!) I'll get a certain way along and then end up stuck on a D in some way - either in an ostinato, or thematic material that just keeps curling back into that comfy position, or even just an excess of Ds and D-tending voice leading in the chords I'm using so that the music just wants to rest there. Which is generally the point at which I have to stop thinking about it for a couple of days, then cut the last 30 seconds off the piece and try again. SO relieved that I'm not the only one who has an involuntary fixation on a single pitch.

As always, the rest of this month's issue ("Classical" Music - R.I.P. (1750 - 2005?)) looks fascinating too - there's even a primer on how to write for accordion! Just love the idea that the accordion's big appeal might partly lie in its being able to "assist in the musical courtship rituals between young men and women"; romance would not be the same... In defence of this poor instrument, I do have to say though - for the sceptical - that beautiful accordion music does exist - have a listen to some of Howard Skempton's accordion works (Recessional, Small change and Under the elder have snippets online at this link) before you scoff too much.