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Ed. note: If you missed our first post earlier this week on New Amsterdam Records, be sure to check it out here. Part 2 in the mini-series, on Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, can be found this-a-way. Today, we continue with Part 3 by introducing you to another of New Amsterdam’s exciting, new artists, Nadia Sirota.
If you live in NYC, or listen to WNYC online, and you are, like me, a night owl who loves to listen to the radio, you probably already know violist Nadia Sirota. She co-hosts Overnight Music, the midnight show on 93.9 FM. While she’ll often play new recordings of big, famous symphonies, the best part of the show is when she promotes up-and-comers on the scene, local musicians like those we’ve been talking about this week in connection with New Amsterdam Records.
Sirota, herself, has a new album out on the label, First Things First, featuring new music by composers Nico Muhly, Marcos Balter, and Judd Greenstein, New Amsterdam co-founder.
Sirota commissioned nearly all the pieces on the album, including this cool track called entitled “Etude 1A” (there’s a second, similar piece later on the CD entitled “Etude
1″). For these two pieces (an etude is traditionally a lesson piece, or a study piece) Sirota commissioned composer Nico Muhly. You can’t help but hear the Philip Glass influence in
these lovely little pieces, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, as Muhly’s day job is assisting Glass full-time (one of Muhly’s jobs is
to feed Glass’s manuscripts into a computer program that plays the scores back to the composer).
If you’re wondering how she got the viola to sound like an organ, she didn’t. That’s a computerized organ accompanying her.
[Read on for more track excerpts and a short Q&A with Sirota where she unearths the origins of all those nasty viola jokes. Also, be sure to check out our contest at the end of the interview for your chance to win a copy of First Things First.]
While the majority of the tracks on First Things First feature Sirota alone, or with one other instrument, there is one larger work on the album, written by Greenstein, a piece for string quartet called “The Night Gatherers,” featuring the Chiara String Quartet.
Pretty Romantic, with a capital R, eh? That’s another thing that’s so compelling about this debut CD: there’s a little bit of everything, in a great, Post-Modern sort of way. Be sure to pick up a copy through New Amsterdam’s site, or try for your chance to win a free copy below, after the interview.
Q&A with Nadia Sirota
DI: Talk a little bit about how your relationship with New Amsterdam Records came about and what the process of putting out your first CD with them was like.
NS: I’ve been thinking of putting a record out on New Amsterdam since the label was founded, a couple years ago, I think, by a few wonderful composers. One of them, Judd Greenstein, I had worked with extensively, and, in fact, is the composer of two of the pieces on this record. Judd and I met at an idyllic music festival in the berkshires in 2004. There were a lot of bourbon-inflected commissions and general contemplations about the classical music infrastructure as it stood. That kind of thing. When I heard about this label, it seemed like the perfect home for the sort of record I wanted to make. New Amsterdam is unique in that it’s kind of a cooperative label. It offers the musician pretty complete artistic control and a lot of handy artist services, in addition to a lovely stable of label-mates. The handoff is that the projects are a bit more DIY than they might be on, say, Deutche Grammaphone, or whatever. What’s great about that is that I really feel like I poured a ton of me into this album.DI: What’s the best part about having your own radio show?
NS: All the crazy programming I can dream up!
DI: What’s the worst part?
NS: Scheduling. Free landing in music is a puzzle. Fitting in radio is a puzzle. I dig it, though!
DI: Some of our readers may know this already, but violists have their own immense category of jokes made about them, a tradition that’s existed for decades. What do you know about the origin of this tradition? How does it make you feel when you hear a viola joke? What’s the best viola joke you’ve ever heard?
NS: So yeah. Back in the day, the story goes, the majority of violists were violinists who’d been politely asked to consider another profession. The resulting violists were somewhat less than stellar. Viola jokes inevitably emerged. Most of them are punny, cheap, lewd, that kinda thing. But come to think about it, that’s sort of how Jokes go. I’m happy to hear new ones! As for “the best I’ve ever heard,” I don’t think any of them really deserve a superlative in print, but here are couple of prime examples of the genre:
How do you know when the stage is level? The violist is drooling out of both sides of his mouth.
What’s the difference between a violist an a prostitute? A prostitute knows more positions.
Sigh.
We’re giving away a copy of First Things First to one, lucky, random winner. To qualify, you must leave a comment below telling us what your favorite orchestral instrument is, and why. No brownie points if your answer is the viola!
Check out past On Music posts here.
Comments (31)
Comment
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I definitely have to say cello (independent of the fact that I am a cellist). It’s the string instrument that most closely resembles the human vocal range, and I love the romantic sound it produces.
posted by kathleen elise on 5-7-2009 at 12:47 pm
I have always loved solo piano music. I think it is amazing how many different things and complicated pieces can be made from one instrument. Also I like to pretend one day I might learn how to play, and untill then, I can vicariously do so through listening to excellent musicians and stum along on my desk top.
posted by elizabeth W. on 5-7-2009 at 12:57 pm
Cello! I have sound to color synesthesia and the sound of a cello shows a beautiful, deep red with navy. Plus, I played cello in the 5th grade.
posted by Kelsey on 5-7-2009 at 1:00 pm
I have to agree with kathleen on the cello. The sound is so full bodied and rich it is like a glass of wine for your ears (sorry if that sounds corny. only way I could think of to describe it)
posted by JaneM on 5-7-2009 at 1:06 pm
I think we can all agree on the tuba. The tuba can range from the beautiful to comedic foil, all in one stanza (is that the right word?)
posted by Scott on 5-7-2009 at 1:13 pm
The triangle for two reasons:
1. it is, by design, the ultimate ‘one trick pony’ instrument
2. Ed Grimley could completely rock out on it.
posted by EV on 5-7-2009 at 1:30 pm
Glockenspiel, because it’s fun to say.
posted by Alex on 5-7-2009 at 1:35 pm
I would have to say the trumpet. I think they are severely under-rated. Most people consider them to be harsh utility instruments, but there is something about the tone that is very soothing.
posted by Josh on 5-7-2009 at 1:36 pm
The cowbell!
Just kidding (unless it gets me the album, then I’m totally serious).
My favorite orchestral instrument is the glockenspiel. Not only because it’s fun to say, but because it’s the xylophone’s cooler cousing.
posted by Shelly on 5-7-2009 at 1:37 pm
I’m a violin kinda guy myself. I tend to like more melancholy-sounding stuff, and a well-played violin can absolutely break my heart. But then, I’ve also heard pieces where violins have been able to convey tremendously violent emotion, maybe more so than any other instrument I’ve heard. I like me some violins.
posted by chad on 5-7-2009 at 1:39 pm
Oops…cousin. Apparently, I can spell glockenspiel, but not cousin. Go figure.
posted by Shelly on 5-7-2009 at 1:40 pm
The stand up bass because its case is a unicycle
posted by NateJ on 5-7-2009 at 1:47 pm
I’m going with black powder cannon. During the 1812 Overture.
posted by Matthew on 5-7-2009 at 1:54 pm
I’ve got to agree with cello. My favorite cellist was Jacqueline DuPree but now it is Yo Yo Ma. I fall asleep every night to the gentle soothing sounds of the cello.
posted by Catherine on 5-7-2009 at 1:56 pm
I’m going to go with the cello due to the full and diverse sound it brings to the orchestral experience. Any instrument that can birth groups such as Apocalyptica is a force to be reckoned with.
posted by Ben on 5-7-2009 at 2:00 pm
The bullwhip in the instrumental holiday song Sleigh Ride.
posted by Christian on 5-7-2009 at 2:00 pm
My favorite orchestral instrument is the Euphonium. The biggest reason for my admiration is the fact that I played one in high school. The second reason is that it is not a run of the mill instrument sometimes takes some explanation to get people to understand what it is. It is sometimes referred to as a baritone horn because its range resembles that of a baritone male voice or even a baby tuba, because it is in the same conical bore horn family. It has a similar range to a trombone with the tone quality of a horn (note: some people call them French horns, but the correct term is simply “horn”).
posted by John on 5-7-2009 at 2:02 pm
The cello -it’s such a rich-sounding instrument that adds so much depth to a piece…
posted by Nancy Bird on 5-7-2009 at 2:05 pm
The cello- it’s such a rich-sounding instrument that adds so much depth to a piece.
posted by Nancy Bird on 5-7-2009 at 2:08 pm
My first impulse was to say the bassoon (because it’s a “great noise,” as Frank Zappa once said) or the tuba (because I spent seven years farting away on the thing from sixth grade through high school), but I think I’ll have to go with the bass clarinet here.
I first encountered the instrument through Eric Dolphy and Captain Beefheart, but even when played in its “usual” context (orchestral), I just love the timbre of the bass clarinet. It takes the round, woody sound of the clarinet and drops it down into the bass octaves, and the result is just…well, it’s just a great sound. And it lends itself to avant-garde jazz honking, which is always a plus.
posted by Clint on 5-7-2009 at 3:06 pm
Oboe
The opening notes to Rhapsody in Blue with the lone wavering oboe are locked in my mind forever. Haunting beautiful exciting.
posted by Brandon on 5-7-2009 at 3:18 pm
I love the whole percussion section in the back! They are always so interesting to watch. ….If I have to pick one instrument it would be the cymbals because the players are always so enthusiastic about the anticipation of their note.
posted by Lisa on 5-7-2009 at 3:33 pm
I have two, the bassoon and the ever popular cello. The bassoon brings me back to fourth grade music and Miss Willette. She showed us the section of “Fantasia” featuring Micky Mouse as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and I was hooked. The cello has a rich sound found nowhere else, to my knowledge. Bach wrote some great pieces for cello.
posted by gus on 5-7-2009 at 3:59 pm
Trumpet… though, admittedly, that’s my instrument. In a few words, I love the excitement it brings to the orchestra and its versatility.
posted by Frances on 5-7-2009 at 4:11 pm
The cello- It can hit all the low notes and can carry a tune as well as a violin.
posted by Brent on 5-7-2009 at 4:12 pm
the PIANO…
a mere 88 keys and look at the sheer volume of pieces – from Rachmaninov’s piano concertos to Gershwin to show tunes, Bachrach, etc…. – that have been composed from them!
posted by Amy on 5-7-2009 at 5:09 pm
I have to agree with Clint – the BASS CLARINET is delicious-sounding – it rumbles on the low notes and soars on the high notes. I played it for several years in high school, it requires a lot of lung power to really make it sing, but when it’s done right, it’s absolutely beautiful. And yet so underrated. I think wind instruments in general lend themselves to a quality of sound not found in the string section – it’s that breathy, full-bodied sound… wonderful.
posted by dangermouse on 5-7-2009 at 5:45 pm
The upright bass I love the deep heavy sound, and I have always wanted to learn how to play it. I wanted to learn even more when my dad told me he had wanted to play bass in a jazz band when he was younger.
posted by Doedina on 5-7-2009 at 7:36 pm
the cello. I didn’t know it was everyone’s favorite.. I like bass/low sounds.
posted by aracir on 5-8-2009 at 3:52 am
Oh, violas!
I played for about 7 years,
So I must say that I have a soft spot for them.
They can sound just as beautiful as a cello, but they’re a whole lot easier to transport.
I do secretly love an orchestra with a harp though. So while violas are my first love, the harp is right up there. It has a mysterious sound to it.
posted by Megan Fryling on 5-8-2009 at 8:24 am
My fav is the djembe drum. At the hands of a masterful player, the sounds are amazing and full of life!
posted by Laura on 5-8-2009 at 10:08 am