By Frank J. Oteri There are so many limits as to what a composer can do with the orchestra based on the limits of rehearsal time and the weight of established conventions (on administrators, orchestra musicians, conductors, and audiences alike), yet many composers this week were able to contribute small details that I had never heard before in quite the same way as in their pieces.

More proof that it’s a Taylor Swift world and we just live in it came with Sunday night’s American Music Awards show, where Swift won five prizes. These included artist of the year, which had been expected to go to Michael Jackson. Swift also won favorite female artist in the pop/rock and country...

Finishing my impulsive three-part series on how/why contemporary classical music -- as presented by mainstream classical music institutions -- isn't really part of current culture. In the first two parts -- here and here -- I showed how, both now...

Elizabeth Cotten’s “Shake Sugaree” is a delightfully whimsical song that carries at its heart a good deal of wisdom. Cotten developed the simple melody of the song from folk sources, and used it as a lullaby when putting her great grandchildren to bed in the evening. She encouraged the kids to...

Friday, 3.30pm I don’t know why I expected it to be otherwise, but I’m still surprised not to see the area around the station full of people obviously on their way to a new music festival. There aren’t any useful maps either. Google just gave me a large white area around the station, minimal landmarks. I [...]

New Yorkers were treated to a rare performance by Big Star on Wednesday night, when the iconic power-pop band — whose touring lineup now comprises frontman Alex Chilton, longtime drummer Jody Stephens, and Posies members Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow — performed at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple...

Continuing what I started in my last post. 3, Recent history, art and music. Music. Atonal composers started dominating composition -- in prestige, grant-worthiness, faculty hiring, and, retrospectively, in the way classical music history has been written -- sometime in...

This week we’ve got the usual stunning array of new bands to thrill, chill and amaze you. From New Jersey noise poppers to SF psych poppers to Welsh collectives, these are all names to learn because they are going to be big timing it in 2010. Next week we’ll bring you another overflowing bounty of...

I'm going to write again about new music and orchestras, because -- in the present state of these discussions -- it's easy for me to be misunderstood. This isn't my fault, or the fault of the people who misunderstand me....