Newer music for the lute is a tough sell because it subverts audience expectations. I don't think it's too much of an assumption to say that most lute fans (both listeners and players) became interested in the instrument because they were attracted to early music first. Therefore, in this mindset, the lute is "for" early music and anything else introduces disconcerting cognitive dissonance. Some folks are genuinely offended that anyone would play something other than old European music on a lute. That's a significant enough segment of the already tiny lute audience that one risks alienating. That's a large disincentive to spend the time learning modern pieces, even for those interested in expanding the repertoire. (Personally, I've never seen it this way at all. To me, anything that sounds good on the instrument is fair game, regardless of style or period.)
It's interesting that the harpsichord has not had this problem. There is a sizeable body of contemporary music for solo harpsichord as well as in ensemble compositions written by heavy weight composers. The late Elizabeth Chojnacka made virtually her entire career out of performing contemporary harpsichord music. (She passed away this past May.) Chris Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A. Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com -------------------------------------------- On Fri, 12/22/17, Tristan von Neumann <[email protected]> wrote: Subject: [LUTE] Re: New music To: "lutelist Net" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, December 22, 2017, 9:32 AM Not exactly "new", but modern: Charles Tournemire requests a lute in his 8th Symphony (1924) :) Not a piece you can play with your friends though, except if you are friends with a Philharmonic Orchestra... Am 22.12.2017 um 12:23 schrieb Jim Dunn: > As the lute becomes slowly more popular, I think we'll see more > contemporary lute music popping up equally slowly (I think lutes in > their various guises have a very interesting tonality and set of > limitations to compose for, I'm enjoying making my own ham-fisted > efforts at least...) > Meanwhile, not necessarily all 'new' material, but I've been enjoying > Peter Söderberg's three contemporary lute records: 20th century stuff > like Cage, Tenney, Stockhausen etc, as well as recordings of more > recent things written specifically for lute. The non-lute material he > has selected comes over very well in my opinion. > Here's to more! > > On 22 Dec 2017, 00:21 +0000, Eric Hansen <[email protected]>, > wrote: > > Hartt School composer David Macbride composes solo lute music for > me, a > total of 13 pieces as of this writing. I played one of them at the > Lute Society Seminar in Cleveland a few years ago, it's up on > YouTube. > He and I have begun to record the pieces, a few at a time. > Best to all, > Eric > On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 5:38 PM, Jacob Johnson > <[1][email protected]> wrote: > I don't think that's entirely accurate. Ronn McFarlane plays his > own > compositions, Jakob Lindberg performs the Britten Nocturnal (I > know, > it's not that new, and it's not really for lute, but IMO it kinda > counts), Chris Wilke recorded a whole cd of Roman Turovsky's new > works > for baroque lute, I saw Elizabeth Kenny perform TWO recent > theorbo > commissions at the LuteFestWest, and there's certainly more > examples I > just can't think of at the moment. > As soon as I can afford to do so, I intend to commission some > works for > myself to play. > Jacob Johnson > [uc?export=download&id=0B6_gM3BRE6ZrYVVZZU5QNmJqdDQ& > amp;revid=0B6_g > M3BRE6ZraW9nQ2U4SGNwV0tYVWxobnNBVjBsZi9FNHhzPQ] > Guitar/Lute > [1][2]www.johnsonguitarstudio.com > [3]469.237.0625. > On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Christopher Stetson > <[2][4][email protected]> wrote: > Hello all. > An interesting question, Peter, thanks for bringing it up. > To > answer > honestly and personally, I'm not especially interested in new > music, > per se, for any of the instruments I play (mainly lute, guitar, > mandolin, but some others too). I couldn't really say why, > except > that the music I've looked at from the last 30 years tends, and > I > mean > tends, to be difficult and not especially tuneful to my ear. > There > are exceptions, of course, and I play some of those, though > mostly on > guitar. I'm not a professional, so I tend to be fairly > conservstive > in the music I choose to spend time seeking out and playing. > I > also > don't play many of the old compositions that fit the above > criteria. > I fully realize. however, that one person's difficult is > another > person's interesting, and I'm really glad that people are > writing > new > music for lute. > Best to all, and keep playing, > Chris. > On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 2:34 PM, Peter Martin > <[1][3][5][email protected] > wrote: > Hello all, > I recently bought a Wigmore Hall Live CD of a 2013 concert > by > countertenor Iestyn Davies and lutenist Thomas Dunford. > It > included > the world premiere performance of a substantial piece by > Nico > Muhly > called Old Bones. Up to now, I'd never heard of it, > which > surprised > me because Muhly is a very successful young American > composer. > His > new opera Marnie has just premiered at English National > Opera, > and his > previous opera Two Boys was given at ENO and at the Met in > New > York. > The score of Old Bones is available from Music Sales. > Yet I > can't see > that the lute world has paid the slightest attention to it. > Which sets me wondering, not about Muhly as such, but about > new > music > generally. With the honourable exception of Jacob > Heringman, > scarcely > anyone plays it. Any thoughts on why this is? Are > we > simply > not > interested in new music? > Peter > -- > To get on or off this list see list information at > [2][4][6]http://www.cs.dartmouth. > edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- > References > 1. mailto:[5][7][email protected] > 2. [6][8]http://www.cs.dartmouth. > edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- > References > 1. [9]http://www.johnsonguitarstudio.com/ > 2. mailto:[10][email protected] > 3. mailto:[11][email protected] > 4. [12]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 5. mailto:[13][email protected] > 6. [14]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- > Eric Hansen > Librarian & lutenist > -- > References > 1. mailto:[email protected] > 2. http://www.johnsonguitarstudio.com/ > 3. tel:469.237.0625 > 4. mailto:[email protected] > 5. mailto:[email protected] > 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 7. mailto:[email protected] > 8. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 9. http://www.johnsonguitarstudio.com/ > 10. mailto:[email protected] > 11. mailto:[email protected] > 12. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 13. mailto:[email protected] > 14. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > > To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
