Friday

Via All Things Considered, two audio articles of note. First, Bebo Valdez. Second, cellist Matt Haimovitz has a new album out. The article tease claims that the album "touches on an ongoing debate about the future of classical music." And I must admit I'm intrigued by what snippets I heard in the article. And I love the cello. Anyone suggest other cellists and/or particular pieces for cello I should hear?

An article in today's Salon on Osvaldo Golijov, calling him "the best kept secret in contemporary music." I'm listening to his Passion According to St Mark now for the second time (it's on the Georgetown server: I posted how to get to it here), and I like very much. I had never heard of him, which is no surprise, and I'm curious what others think.

So, "best kept secret?" The phrase implies intent (as opposed to "best least known" or "best composer no one's heard"). If the contemporary classical world is like the rock world, it is extremely difficult for Latin American artists in general and South American artists in particular (especially outside of Brazil) to get a hearing in the US. (I posted some songs by an Argentine artist, Juana Molina, here.) What other South American composers should I know about? And is Golijov's relative obscurity more about where he's from than what's he's writing?