Site Seeing

Music Website News

with KEITH BRAMICH

Welcome once again to Music & Vision's weekly look at some of our friends and neighbours on the 'weltweit infobahn'.

Musicians' Marketplace

Specially set up by Mikael Rydh in Stockholm to help you buy and sell musical instruments on the web, netinstruments.com is a worldwide marketplace for musicians which features free musical instrument classifieds and which aims to provide the best service on the internet for linking buyers and sellers of musical instruments and musical services.

The Sixteen

Gramophone called The Sixteen 'One of the finest choirs of our time', and their website lists their various activities, with and without their own baroque orchestra, the Symphony of
Harmony and Invention. Visit www.the-sixteen.org.uk to see their discography (containing more than 70 titles), a review of one of their explorations into opera, and their current tour schedule.

Ensemble die reihe

Rudolf Illavsky, General Manager of Austria's Ensemble die reihe, asks us to draw your attention to their website at homepages.netway.at/diereihe/  The ensemble was formed in 1958 by Friedrich Cerha and Kurt Schwertsik to create a permanent forum for new music within the traditional musical life of Vienna.

Classical Search

Classical Search is a global search engine for the classical music internet community, including more than 15,000 international classical music sites, and expanding at a rapid rate. All entries are checked prior to acceptance, with validation taking place within a week of submission. Only sites considered to be directly relevant are listed, their mission being 'to make sense of the internet for those who have a real interest in music but have experienced difficulties in finding high quality information sources amongst the web's hundreds of millions of pages.' Classical Search is at www.classicalsearch.com .

Cognitive Psychology and Music

Visit the Cognitive Science, Humanities and the Arts website (a part of the Cognitive Science Initiative at the University of Houstan) moderated by Cynthia Freeland and Anne Jacobson at www.hfac.uh.edu/cogsci/index.html for references to recent writings on cognitive psychology and music.

Rarely-heard American music

Benjamin Tubb has produced various extended MIDI files and libretti for rarely-heard American music. These are available for download as follows:

The Professor's Dilemma (a Recital in Song and Verse for 12 Ladies) by Frederic Woodman Root (1846-1916).

The Landing of the Pilgrims also by Frederic Woodman Root (1877) (SATB with Two Pianos, words by Felicia Hemans).

The Haymakers (1857), an Operatic Cantata by George Frederick Root (1820-1895, and Frederic Woodman Root's father). George Frederic Root wrote 36 operatic canatas, and Benjamin Tubb is currently working on Phyllis, the Farmer's Daughter (1892), which he hopes to complete and make available by the end of the month.

Joseph in Egypt (c1870), an Original Cantata with words by George Cooper and music by Henry Tucker (1826-1882)

Joy in Heaven! or, The Returning Wanderer's Welcome (1871) by Henry Clay Work (1832-1884)

Jammin' in Jeans

Derek Baker announces a new site for a new chamber orchestra in Portland, Maine (near Boston) - The Atlantic Chamber Orchestra. Their aim is to bring classical music to a younger generation, most of whom are not familiar with the music, but will probably like it when exposed to it. Put on your jammin' jeans and visit www.jamminjeans.com !

Radio stations on the web

WBJC in Baltimore is now on-line throughout the Real Audio world via www.wbjc.com . (Click here to listen.) WBJC ask that you limit your listening time - their server only supports a limited number of streams.

No Lessons Required

A new interactive music application uses a computer to assist in music performance while retaining 'creative' aspects such as harmony, melody, rhythm and dynamics. [I'm wondering what kind of music we'd have without these.] 'U-Play Music turns your standard multimedia PC into a revolutionary new kind of musical instrument that anyone can play.' There's more information for those interested at www.u-playmusic.com .

Quotations and Aphorisms

Of slightly dubious relevance (and specially suited to the short-sighted) - the heat must be getting to me - but fun to finish with, I think this page does have two music quotes somewhere ... freunde.imperium.de/gansel/quotes/quotes2.htm

Copyright © Keith Bramich, June 29th 1999