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February 2000 top websites revisited

Continuing our visit, one year on, to the Chamber Music America top 50 websites ...

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The EMF / Leonardo Guide to the World was at place No 30. (EMF is an acronym for Electronic Music Foundation, and Leonardo Online is the website of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology.) The site gives information about new music, electronic music and the media arts, and seems to be reasonably up-to-date, although a few signs indicate that it may not yet have been updated in 2001.

An education directory, professional opportunities listings, presentation proposals, items of interest and an internet directory all make this a very useful resource.

As with many other sites in this top 50 list, EMF appears to be centred geographically on New York City, but also covers events in three other world cities: North America, Europe and Elsewhere! (Actually, to be fair, the 'World Wide Calendar' does acknowledge one other city -- Paris.)

www.emf.org/guidetotheworld/

The Prism Saxophone Quartet (Matthew Levy, Timothy Ries, Taimur Sullivan and Michael Whitcombe), at 29, has graced the pages of Music & Vision before now, and a 'gentle reedy playing' quote from the New York Times on the Quartet's entry page continues the New York thread from the previous item. You'll find all you'd expect here, at this easy-to-navigate up-to-date site.

www.prismquartet.com

20/21 DG's Music of Our Time is the Deutsche Grammophon portal to 'music of our time', currently featuring Sur Incises (Boulez), I Hear the Water Dreaming (Takemitsu), Aura Engine (Lindberg) and Wintermärchen (Boesmans) on the main page, and with links to news and preview/catalogue pages. Position 28 in the grand scheme of things.

www.20-21.dgclassics.com

BAM -- The Brooklyn Academy of Music's site (27), America's oldest performing arts centre, is home to the Brooklyn Philharmonic and is currently geared up to selling subscriptions for its 2001 spring season. Cinemas, guides to new media and the BAMcafé are all waiting to be explored.

www.bam.org

Ensemble 21 Artists -- the contemporary music performance group Ensemble 21, composer Jason Eckardt and pianist Marilyn Nonken, appeared at position 26, and is currently announcing the launch on 1 March 2001 of Nonken's CD American Spiritual.

www.ensemble21.com

Relâche, the USA-based new music performance group, founded in 1977 is at No 25. An interesting site with composer, ensemble and guest musician biographies, an up-to-date list of current events, history, recordings and more ...

www.relache.org

Lot 24 is CDNow, the popular online CD shop, selling recorded music in all genres, of course. A link to a separate classical search is a good sign, suggesting they're not, unlike so many companies, trying to squeeze the classical area into a simple 'artist and album name' format.

www.cdnow.com

Glenn Branca and his ensemble have a site which attracted the CMA reviewers to allocate position 23. As well as a discography, a (cyberpunk) bibliography, sound bites and information about ensemble members, you'll find a video of a live 1996 performance here.

www.glennbranca.com

The distinctive design of Motion: a focal point for new music (a part of the State 51 conspiracy) achieved position 32. A UK-based review site which also publishes new music features and has a record shop finder with entries in 35 countries.

motion.state51.co.uk

Paris Transatlantic Magazine (21) is another site offering global coverage of new music. Previously the Paris New Music Review (founded 1993), it has spread its wings and now offers global coverage of new, classical and avant-garde music, film and dance. Special features on Antheil, China and the Georgian Republic.

www.paristransatlantic.com

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