Beethoven Remixed: An Evening of Reimagined String Quartets
Watch Live: DJ Spooky, DJ Rekha and Brooklyn Rider
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
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Q2 Music
Living Music. Living Composers.
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Audio: Listen to the Beethoven Stream
November is Beethoven Awareness Month at WQXR.
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On Thursday, Nov. 8 at 7 pm, Q2 Music presented an evening of remixes and re-imaginings of Beethoven's string quartets as part of parent station WQXR's month-long Beethoven bacchanalia, Beethoven Awareness Month.
Hosted by Terrance McKnight, the show features DJ Rekha spinning themes from the tempestuous German icon over her signature Bhangra bass lines; Seven Steps, a recomposition of Op. 131 by the adventurous string quartet Brooklyn Rider along with sound artist Justin Messina; and world premieres from DJ Spooky, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's artist-in-residence, in an ensemble set featuring Brooklyn Rider and DJ Spooky running loops and layers through his custom-made iPad software.
In her set, DJ Rekha sampled from the following recordings: Beethoven: Complete String Quartets on EMI Classics with Alban Berg String Quartet for String Quartet No. 2 in G, Op. 18/2, "Compliments"; and Complete Beethoven Edition Vol. 11 - The Early Quartets on Deutsche Grammophon for String Quartet No. 1 in F, Op. 18/1.
DJ Spooky with Brooklyn Rider (below)
Full Performance Video:
Hosted by:
Terrance McKnightFollow WQXR
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New York Now brings you live shows from New York's most dynamic venues and presenters. From live audio webcasts to a rich, evolving archive of on-demand shows, New York Now puts the best of the contemporary classical music scene directly at your fingertips. Hear New York Now Tuesdays at 8 pm on Q2 Music.
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Comments [5]
Oh please, Baron von Buzzkill. "Remixing" is just another word for what composers and improvisers have been doing for centuries. Didn't Beethoven remix the Ode to Joy after all? To respect "perfect" music, in a truly authentic and reverential way, is not to lock it in a cage and have it grow dust and slip into cliche, but to engage with it creatively and hence breathe new life into it.
Not afraid of hearing new things and new ideas. I'm excited. Really looking forward to this.It better be good though.
I have nothing against deconstructing Beethoven. The music is, after all, indestructible. But DJ Spooky? Come on, that's not only lame, but soooo tired and played out.
I agree - this amounts to sacrilege!!!
The idea that Beethoven's music needs to be "remixed" in order for it to be appreciated by the semi-catatonic dance club crowd, hipsters and dullards might be a good premise for a comedy skit on SNL, but the fact WQXR actually thinks that it is a good idea in the real world is appalling. It is the height of folly and blinding vanity to think that one can improve upon perfection, which makes ths a perfect project for Terrance McKnight and his questionable taste in music selection.
We all realize that WQXR's days are numbered, what with iPods, Pandora and the like, but this desperate attempt to be cool and hip by WQXR is more likely to hasten the station's demise rather than broaden its listener base.
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