Arthur Jarvinen Birthday Concert

There was a time when Venice, home of canals, was an independent city.  Then in 1925 it was swallowed up by the voracious mega-metropolis Los Angeles.  Today the old Venice city hall is the home of the Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center.

Beyond Baroque hosts the very adventuresome new music concerts called Beyond Music.  This series is "curated" (to use a trendient word) by composer Daniel Rothman.   Daniel deserves much credit for his programming.  It is cutting edge and it is a showcase for local artists - at the same time.

Daniel deserves even more credit, in my opinion, for making complete videos of some presentations available online on the Beyond Music YouTube page.  These include both works on the Beyond Music Art Jarvinen birthday concert, Conspiracy of Crows (for three oboes) and 100 Cadences (for string quartet).

You could go back and read the two Mixed Meters posts I wrote before that concert.  One was entitled Beyond Baroque, Arthur Jarvinen and Me - about performances Art and I had given of each other's music there over the years.  The other, Preparing to Hear a Concert of Art Jarvinen's Music, briefly discussed the music and history of each piece.

But now, thanks to the combined miracles of consumer video, YouTube and the Internet, you can watch and listen to the performances of Arthur's music right in the comfort of your own ... well,  these days I guess you can listen almost anywhere.

Arthur Jarvinen: A Conspiracy of Crows - Kathleen Pisaro, oboes - January 27, 2012, Beyond Music

Arthur Jarvinen: 100 CADENCES with four melodies, a chorale, and a coda ("with bells on!") - The Formalist Quartet (Andrew Tholl, Andrew Mcintosh, Mark Menzies, Ashley Walters) - January 27, 2012, Beyond Music

The Jarvinen Birthday concert was reviewed by our own newspaper of record, the L.A. Times.  Critic Josef Woodard concluded:

One couldn’t escape the feeling that this meditative lament of a work was looping back to reflect on its very creator, except that his inventive spirit was alive and well in this intimate room. As if to accentuate that notion, after the applause, someone in the back bellowed out “Happy birthday, Art.”

The "intimate room" - it's small, painted completely black, even the windows - continues to host music and poetry events.  There's two Beyond Music concerts next weekend (March 23 and 24) performances by the youthfully intense "modern music collective" wild Up.

To prepare you for that event, you might watch this beyond-hyper performance video from a previous Beyond Music wild Up concert.   It's just one of the gems posted on Beyond Music's YouTube page.  I hope there'll be more to come.

Clarence Barlow:  Septima de Facto - wild Up - November 19, 2011, Beyond Music

Beyond Tags: Beyond Baroque. . . Beyond Music. . . Formalist Quartet. . . Kathy Pisaro. . . wild Up. . . new music concerts. . . Daniel Rothman