The Sound Post » Bach

Open Goldberg Variations: Bach for Everyone

Colin Oettle — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:00:07 +0000

In what will hopefully become a trend in the industry, a team of musicians has recently undertaken a project to create a new, free edition of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The project, called Open Goldberg Variations, hopes to make Bach’s masterwork available to the public by releasing both a score and recording in the public domain—that is, without copyright. The name “Open Goldberg Variations” comes from the “open source” ideology of the tech world. Just as open-source software makes the code for its programs available to the public, Open Goldberg Variations plans to create an edition of the Goldbergs that will be available for anyone to download, view, or edit without the copyright restrictions enforced by conventional publishers.

While creating a copyright-free release of both a score and recording is already exciting, the philosophy behind the project encompasses a bigger issue than simply “free Bach.” It represents a movement away from expensive, designer editions of works which amateur, or even some professional musicians, might be less inclined to purchase. This could potentially curb the frequently discouraging discovery that a desired work is either scarce, unaffordable, or both. However, like many benevolent efforts, the project must first raise enough funds to pay expenses prior to the release.

Open Goldberg Variations has been campaigning primarily on Kickstarter.com—a website dedicated to helping creative projects acquire funding. The campaign has 15 days remaining, and while it has already met its goal, further donations will ensure the project not only succeeds but continues to inspire similar efforts within the musical world. And, if you need some inspiration, there are rewards for pledges at all levels. While $25 will earn you a complimentary CD of the recording, a $300 pledge allows you to claim a dedication for one of the variations.

The project’s own website, www.opengoldbergvariations.org, contains detailed information about the project and its partners. Spearheading the project are Executive Director Robert Douglass and German pianist Kimiko Ishizaka, who will record the piece. The pair have partnered with MuseScore, an open-source music notation software, as well as other giants in the online music world such as IMSLP. The collaboration will hopefully lead to a more open community for both recordings and sheet music. As described on opengoldbergvariations.org:

It's really hard to find truly good scores and recordings of the Goldbergs that are just free; free to download, listen to, perform, share, arrange, or mash up. And almost none of them are gratis. The Open Goldberg Project is solving this problem, at least in the case of the Goldberg Variations, while exploring the intersection between open source software, public domain, crowd sourced funding, and emergent web technologies for music. The primary goal of the project is to create a new edition of the score of the Goldbergs, as well as a new studio recording, played on the piano by Kimiko Ishizaka. Both the score and the recording will use the Creative Commons Zero tool to place them into the public domain, assuring that they'll both be free (gratis and libre) forevermore.

Classical Newcomer Writes Book On Bach Cello Suites

Colin Oettle — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:47:41 +0000

Eric Siblin, a pop music critic whose classical education is wanting at best, shares his take on Bach’s six cello suites in his book “The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece.” The book is the result of Siblin’s pseudo-obsessive exploration into the six suites, despite an overall unfamiliarity with Bach and classical music in general.

Siblin was inspired by the same Casals recording that brought the suites into the spotlight of cello literature, and he begins the book with an attempt to shed light on what NY Times writer Janet Maslin identifies as the suites’ “elusiveness.” Bach’s intentions are still murky, as the alternate tuning required by some movements suggests the works may not have been written for cello. Or if they were, that the outliers among the suites do not belong in the same collection that modern musicians have come to accept as an indisputable volume.

Delving into the histories of both Bach and Casals, Siblin applies the musicians’ respective political and social environments to his analysis of the cello suites. Still, Siblin’s research was incomplete until he attempted to play the cello himself. While he didn’t acquire the prowess necessary for Bach, Maslin found his writing “entertaining if not exactly new.”

Check out Janet Maslin’s Book Review over at the NY Times.

WQXR Makes Debut Broadcast on 105.9

Colin Oettle — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:09:59 +0000

Fans who tuned into WQXR at its new address, 105.9, at 8:00pm today were greeted by a message recorded over 70 years ago by WQXR co-founder Elliott M. Sanger. The recording expressed WQXR’s commitment to bring classical music to a widespread audience, and to maintain its listeners’ satisfaction. WQXR and its new parent company, WNYC, wished to reaffirm that mission, and have already made good on their promise by broadcasting the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra live from Carnegie Hall.

To recap briefly: WNYC, a member of National Public Radio, bought the rights to WQXR from the New York Times Company, and has transplanted the station to 105.9FM from 96.3FM. The new ownership brings new programming and a new website. The site (which seems to be down currently) has information about WQXR, as well as access to four different internet radio streams. 93.9 (NPR), their AM classical station, 105.9 (now WQXR), and Q2. Q2 is the new internet-only radio stream that will broadcast music geared toward a more niche oriented listener base. This includes contemporary music, and some chamber and vocal music. Read up on the details on our previous articles. Otherwise click ahead for info about tonight’s performance.

The concert, supported by a campaign spearheaded by Emanuel Ax and supplemented by a $5 million matched donation by the Jerome Green Foundation, featured the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra playing Stravinsky’s Concerto in E-flat Major “Dumbarton Oaks,” Webern’s Fuga (Ricercare) a 6 voci from Bach’s Musical Offering, BWV 1079, the New York premier of Kernis’s Concerto with Echoes, and violinist Henning Kraggerud playing Beethoven’s famous violin concerto.

The concert was hosted by WNYC’s David Garland and WQXRs Midge Woolsey—two voices listeners can expect to hear on WQXR in the future. So remember to change your dials to 105.9 in the NYC area, or point your browser to http://www.wqxr.org, which will hopefully be online very shortly.

Researchers Recreate Extinct Instrument

Colin Oettle — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:16:12 +0000

Realize Why No One Plays It Anymore

A group of Scottish researchers helped develop a replica of the Lituus—a musical instrument last known to exist during J.S. Bach’s lifetime.

The Lituus has been virtually extinct since 1736. Not only is Bach’s “O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht” the only known piece that calls for it, but there are no surviving examples of the instrument itself. In an effort to recreate this abandoned musical instrument, the Swiss-based conservatory Schola Cantorum Basiliensis enlisted the help of Scottish PhD student Alistair Braden and a software he wrote intended to improve the design of modern brass instruments. Researchers from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland built a model of the Lituus from criteria provided by the conservatory regarding both the physical and tonal characteristics of the instrument.

The result was a thin, straight horn that is 2.4 meters (~7.9 ft) long with a flared bell. Its range is apparently quite limited, though it supposedly produces a haunting, airy tone. The instrument was used in an experimental performance of O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht—the first time anyone has heard the instrument in 300 years.

See the articles at redorbit.com and telegraph.co.uk here and here, respectively.
Additionally, scientificblogging.com even has a video in their article.