"I've been playing with some guys for 20 years, and I don't know their last names or what they do for a living," said Ray Leslee, a composer of Off Broadway musicals.
The fugue halfway through the evening may be a well-educated composer showing off, but he is allowed.
John Cage's objection to recordings was (mostly) about the relationship created between an audience member and a recording, with the composer suffering off to the side.
But every composer takes off from Bach in a different direction, perhaps adopting the same instrumentation, the same overall contour or the same spirit; perhaps none of the above.
Anthony Holden A studio recording prior to a South Bank concert performance last year, this Bellini showcase marks the moment the young composer cast off Rossini's infl uence and found his own, more controlled, melodious, highly romantic voice.
The first demolishes the myths of Gershwin's homosexuality (in fact, he was quite a ladies' man) and his lack of classical technique (Henry Cowell, one of his many distinguished teachers, marvelled at his facility), and offers jewel-like images of the protean composer burning off his joyful excess energy; Kay Swift recalls his penchant for tap-dancing while waiting for an elevator.
Composers show off by writing breakneck melodies, sudden meter shifts and quick-change structures; musicians show off by executing every whipsaw maneuver with pinpoint accuracy and improvising with a flourish.
Appropriately, all those composers set off in dashes will be represented in "Mahler and His World," a festival that runs this weekend and next at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.
In A Great Scandinavian Cinnamon Bun-Off, the composer of Borgen's theme tune tasted a selection of cinnamon buns, while Eat Like a Scandi revealed the secrets of Scandinavian cooking.
THEY offered the job to Adam Guettel, the composer of the Off Broadway musical "Floyd Collins".
