Neely Bruce is a fine pianist, intrepid interpreter of the music of Charles Ives and quite a composer. He's been friends with fellow composer William Duckworth for over 4 decades; in fact, he debuted Duckworth's "The TimeCurve Preludes" in a solo piano recital at Wesleyan in 1979. The "Preludes" have been called one of the most impressive works of "Post-Minimalism."
This Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m., Professor Bruce revisits the program once more, a concert that will also include a performance of the "Thoreau" movement of Ives' "Concord Sonata" (in honor of Henry David Thoreau's birthday on 7/12) and "Duckworth's "Walden Variations." The concert is free and takes place in Crowell Concert Hall.
Perhaps, you'd rather take in a classic flick - head over to the Goldsmith Family Cinema at Wesleyan (Washington Terrace) for week #2 of "Bogie & Bacall." This week, it's the 1944 Howard Hawks' adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "To Have andHave Not." The screen writers include William Faulkner and Jules Furthman who work hard to tell the story of an American expatriate Humphrey Bogart) hired to bring a Free France Resistance Fighter and his wife to Martinique (Cuba in the book.) He is also friends with the beautiful singer (Lauren Bacall) and her piano player (Hoagy Carmichael) and does his best to avoid a slew of bad guys. Lots of adventure, cigarette smoke and the occasional kiss plus the snappy dialogue make this a great piece of "escapist cinema." This was the first time the couple met; they married a year later and stayed together until Bogart's death in 1957.
As I write this (10 a.m.), the snow is swirling around and sticking to the roads making tough to maneuver. The forecast claims that the worst should be over by mid-afternoon.
Therefore, you may still want to make plans to go to Neely Bruce's "All Mozart New Year's Eve Concert" at 7 p.m. in South Congregational Church, 9 Pleasant Street. The program, free and open to the public, includes "Sonata in A minor, K. 310", "Fantasy and Fugue in C major, K. 394", and "Sonata in D major, K. 284". Phyllis Bruce (soprano) will join her pianist husband who promises that the concert won't last more than an hour, leaving time for a short reception and enough leeway to make plans for the rest of the evening.
The Russell Library continues its Teen Anime Film series with a presentation of "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind", the 1984 animated film by Hayao Miyazaki. According to the film's website (click here), the story revolves around "Nausicaa, the princess of a small nation who lives in a world devastated by a holocaust called the "Seven Days of Fire." She tries to stop other warring nations from destroying themselves and from destroying the only means by which their world can be saved from the spread of polluted wastelands." The screening takes place at 4 p.m. in the Hubbard Room and refreshments will be served. The event s free and open to all. For more information, call 860-347-2528, extension 135.
Wednesday December 30:
You have but one more day to check out the "natural images" of photographer Ross Powell currently on display in The Buttonwood Tree. The Cromwell resident (and Connecticut native) has many peaceful photographs to remind one how beautiful this area can be. Call 860-347-4957 for viewing times.
Thursday New Year's Eve:
South Church, corner of Main & Pleasant Street, presents pianist Neely Bruce performing an all-Mozart program at 7 p.m. Joining him will be his wife Phyllis, a fine soprano. The event is open to the public and an offering will be taken for the Church's Organ Fund.
New Year's Day 2010:
The Friends of the Long Hill Estate and the Long Hill Estate Authority presents the 11th Annual New Year's Day Open House, scheduled to take place from 1 - 4 p.m. There will be carriage rides and guided trail walks (weather permitting) and bluegrass music featuring Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters. Light refreshments and docent-led tours of the building are also on the day's menu. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.wadsworthmansion.com or call 860-347-1064.
On Sunday January 3, my radio pal at WMRD-AM 1150 Ed Henry celebrates his 60th year (!) of his weekly "Polish Melodies Show." When the show began in 1950, Harry Truman was the President and Chester Bowles was governor of the state. Nat "King" Cole had a big hit with "Mona Lisa" and Patti Page was all the rage with "Tennessee Waltz". The top movies of the year were "All About Eve", "The Asphalt Jungle" and Walt Disney's "Cinderella" The Cold War was is full swing and the Korean conflict began. Mr. Henry will be celebrating on air (as he does every week - his shows are usually filled with joy) - tune in from 10-11 a.m.
Happy New Year all and have a good, safe, celebration!
Wesleyan Professor of Music Neely Bruce stopped by the WLIS/WMRD studios to record a short interview for my Sunday morning program. Next Saturday (October 10), he's premiering a new work by his close friend, Gerald Shapiro (pronounced "Shah-pie-row"), composer and Professor of Music at Brown University. "12 Fugues" is the name of the piece and Bruce has been working extremely hard to get ready for this performance. The show on Saturday starts at 8 p.m.and takes place in Crowell Concert Hall. Also on the program will be selected pieces by Stravinsky and Ravel. For ticket information, go to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa or call the Box Office at 685-3355. The program will be repeated at Brown on Thursday October 15.
Professor Bruce is always a joy to talk to (he even sings a bit during our chat), he's one busy performer, professor and composer. His 2005 work, "The Bill of Rights: 10 Amendments in 8 Motets", will be performed Tuesday October 20 at 7 p.m. in the Pequot Chapel of Mitchell College in New London. For more information, go to www.neelybrucemusic.com/bill-of-rights.htm.
Vinnie's Jump & Jive, Main Street, presents "Barefoot Boogie" Saturday evening at 8 p.m. I can't say it any better than they do: "Come as you are, kick off your shoes and dance the night away to an eclectic blend of music - old, new, world music, dance music, pop and much more. You get t pick what we dance t by signing up for a DJ spot and bringing your favorites on an iPod, mp3 or a CD mix. No rights, no wrongs, moving your own way, as you like, just for the fun of it." Want to know more? Go to www.vinniesjumpandjive.com or call 347-6971, extension 3777.
This missive from Professor Neely Bruce: On Sunday September 27, at 4:00, local artists and enthusiasts will celebrate the memory of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Tagore, a remarkable polyartist and educator, is equally prominent in his native India as a poet, playwright, essayist, composer and political thinker. A farsighted and radical educator, the school he founded in India at Santiniketan still flourishes, and his educational ideas were crucial in the establishment of Dartington College in England and many other schools in the West. Knighted by the British Crown in 1915, he later renounced his knighthood to protest British imperialism. At the age of sixty he took up painting, producing a number of striking images in an original and multifaceted style. Hailed early in the twentieth century as “the finest poet India has produced” and considered a saint in his native Bengal, his reputation in the West is in eclipse.
To remedy this situation, several Tagore enthusiasts in Middletown have organized " A Tribute to Tagore" at South Congregational Church. Soprano Phyllis Bruce, with her husband Neely at the piano, will perform the song cycle "Gitanjali" by John Alden Carpenter—settings of texts taken from the 1912 book of poetry that earned Tagore the Nobel Prize. Edwina Ranganathan, who taught at Santiniketan for three years, will read the poems in English. Stan Scott and Saiyara Fahmi will sing several of Tagore’s own musical compositions in the original Bengali. Six prints of Tagore’s paintings will be on display, and Jennifer Barber will dance. Ushakumari Williams, who was born into an Indian family in Tanzania, will speak on the political, social and spiritual conceptions of Tagore. This unique event will have something for everyone—poetry, music, dance and ideas, all suitable for all ages.
"A Tribute to Rabindranath Tagore" is free and open to the public. An offering will be taken to benefit the new organ stop at South Church. For more information contact Neely Bruce at 347-3003 or by email: nbruce@wesleyan.edu.
Next week, I'll be posting an article about the Wesleyan "creative music" connection and, specifically, 3 graduates who have studied and performed with Professor Anthony Braxton and all of whom are connected with Firehouse 12, the fine recording studio, performance space and bar (hey, got to pay the rent) located at 45 Crown Street in New Haven. The venue's fall 2009 Concert series started last Friday and continues (every Friday save for Thanksgiving weekend) through December 18. Find out more about the series and venue by going to www.firehouse12.com.
In the meantime, tonight (9/25) the Firehouse presents the Matt Wilson Quartet at 8:30 and 10 p.m. (separate admissions.) Wilson, a drummer/composer who has worked with many great musicians, has a great sense of the jazz tradition and a wicked sense of humor. To that end, here's a video of "Martha The Juicer" - it should be self-explanatory.
Wesleyan Professor Neely Bruce is a passionate composer, performer and conductor. An article published in today's New York Times (June 23) documents the Father's Day concert in New York City's Guggenheim Museum of Henry Brant's "Orbits", a "spatial work" composed for 80 trombones, organ and soprano.
Brant (1913-2008, pictured) is a person and composer that Professor Bruce will talk about at the drop of a hat. From Bruce's bio on his website:
"...he (Bruce) obtained for Brant a commission from Wesleyan University in honor of the school’s sesquicentennial, and was the coordinator of two major works commissioned by Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors; "500: Hidden Hemisphere", and "Dormant Craters". In March of 2003 Bruce conducted the American premiere of Brant’s "Ghosts and Gargoyles", played by members of the New York Flute Club, with soloist Robert Aitkin."
Read Anthony Tomassini's review of Sunday's concert by clicking here.
There's nothing more warming on an early, frigid and snowy Winter evening then sitting in a square and singing old songs.
That's the tradition of shape note singing, or singing the songs of the Sacred Harp. It's an ancient tradition of singing sacred songs which some say began in England, but is best identified with its precedents in the American South, and the songbook, The Sacred Harp, which was published in 1844 by Benjamin Franklin White and Elisha J. King.
Here in Middletown, Neely Bruce, professor of music and American studies at Wesleyan, is a "noted" shape note scholar and singer, who leads regular sings in Middletown.
I stumbled upon one on Sunday at the Downey House on High Street. Neely led a group of about twenty singers, seated, as tradition dictates, in a square, with various harmonic parts (trebles, tenors, basses, altos) representing sides of the square.
This gathering was a diverse group of young students, ardent shape note veterans, and even a professional singer or two. Bruce led the group by suggesting "numbers" from The Sacred Harp, occasionally stopping to review a song.
"I apologize for rehearsing," Neely said to the group. "It's not in the spirit of the music."
Members of the group also suggested songs, favoring songs of the season. Each song begins with a singing of the shapes (each note of four, fa, sol, la, mi) is indicated by a shape in the musical notation, which helps in sight reading, and then flows into the verse. The harmonies are sharp, primal and powerful. One of the features of the music is that it's designed for the singer, and not an audience. The music is actually quite powerful to hear, but more powerful as a singing participant.
Though the tradition is hundreds of years old in the American South, Bruce noted that the Sacred Harp revival in New England holds it's own.
"The revival has been going on for, what, 40 years?" he said. "I guess that officially makes a true New England tradition of the Sacred Harp."
This form of music received attention when it was featured in the film Cold Mountain. More recently a documentary on the Sacred Harp, Awake My Soul has received acclaim, and the accompanying soundtrack, which features modern interpretations of the classics, has been equally praised.
