“On Thursday, a singer smashed a violin to bits on a stage. It seemed cathartic,” writes Jeremy Reynolds in Monday’s (9/24) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The Pittsburgh Festival of New Music wrapped on Thursday … with new music by Marilyn Shrude and a disturbing-in-the-best-way performance of Peter Maxwell Davies’ ‘Eight Songs for a Mad King.’ The festival is biennial and features new music ensembles and composers both local and imported for several concerts during September…. Ms. Shrude described her piece—‘Within the Wall’—as a meditation on the process of painting frescos, scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano.…. The real meat of the program was the [1969] ‘Eight Songs for a Mad King,’ which … retains an alien feeling of otherworldly freshness. Scored for baritone, Pierrot ensemble (flute, violin, clarinet, cello and piano) and percussion, the piece is a monodrama based on the words of King George III…. Composer and baritone Paul Pinto and the musicians of Tenth Intervention demonstrated that they were more than up to the challenge…. Some of the noises Mr. Pinto made were hair-raising…. During the piece’s climax, Mr. Pinto smashed a violin into matchsticks. Listeners were invited to take a piece as a souvenir.”
Posted September 26, 2018
