Monday, January 5, 2009

RIP Betty Freeman


Kaija Saariaho's L'amour de Loin (lala) mentioned in Alex Ross' article about the passing of philanthropist Betty Freeman who commissioned this piece, as well as John Adams' landmark opera Nixon in China (lala), which I had already planned to listen to this afternoon anyway, having gotten through that part of his autobiography.

Betty Freeman provided for the living expenses of John Cage for most of his life and a decade of that of Harry Patch, as well as commissioned Partch's The Dreamer that Remains, which is in my mind the key piece to understanding Partch's idiosyncratic musical voice, and is one of my all time favorite works of art, and assisted with the CRI recording of his massive ensemble drama The Bewitched (link to the Innova recording on lala).

As a fan of many of the things of which you were a fan, thanks Betty.

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