I’m into the music “thing” since I was born, or, probably, from a few month earlier, and I started doing remixes a few years back after I quit being part of different bands I played with more then a decade. The remix contests nowadays are rarely about music, but about involving and putting up much as possible people to promote through their own social network the artist in question. It’s pity, it’s sad, it’s undeniable.
Now it’s one of the very rare cases when a remix contest it’s about the music and not the social networks. We’ve got 24 recorded, quality sounds to work with and create something special out of Dvorak’s 9th Symphony.
Antonín Leopold Dvořák (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer. Following the nationalist example of Bedřich Smetana, Dvořák frequently employed features of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia – then parts of the Austrian Empire and now constituting the Czech Republic. Dvořák’s own style has been described as “the fullest recreation of a national idiom with that of the symphonic tradition, absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of using them”.
Among Dvořák’s best known works are his New World Symphony, the “American” String Quartet, the opera Rusalka and his Cello Concerto in B minor. Among his smaller works, the seventh Humoresque and the song ‘Songs my mother taught me’ are also widely performed and recorded. He composed operas, choral music, a wide variety of chamber music, concerti and many other orchestral and vocal and instrumental pieces.
Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, is also known by its subtitle, From the New World, or as the New World Symphony. Dvořák wrote it between January and May 1893, while he was in New York. At the time of its first performance, he claimed that he used elements from American music such as spirituals and Native American music in this work, but he later denied this. In an article published in the New York Herald on December 15, 1893, he wrote, “[In the 9th symphony] I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music.” Neil Armstrong took a recording of the New World Symphony to the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969, and in 2009 it was voted the favorite symphony in a poll run by ABC Classic FM in Australia.
The piece has four movements:
Adagio, 4/8 – Allegro molto, 2/4, E minor
Largo, common time, D-flat major, then later C-sharp minor
Scherzo: Molto vivace – Poco sostenuto, 3/4, E minor
Allegro con fuoco, common time, E minor, ends in E major.
This symphony is scored for an orchestra of the following:
2 flutes (one doubling piccolo)
2 oboes (one doubling on English horn)
2 clarinets in A
2 bassoons
4 horns in E, C and F
2 trumpets in E, C and E♭
2 tenor trombones
Bass trombone
Tuba (second movement only)
Timpani
Triangle (third movement only)
Cymbals (fourth movement only)
Strings
“By holding a remix competition, the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin invites you to take part in an extraordinary experiment! We have recorded exclusive loops just for you in a special recording session. Your challenge is not just to remix or rearrange them, but to make the classical sound material your own and develop it further in line with your own artistic ideas.
The Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin has been bringing together musicians and scene fans from the classical and clubbing worlds for more than five years with its ›Casual Concerts‹ and ›Casual Concert Lounge‹ series.
In collaboration with the Casual Concerts DJ in residence, Johann Fanger, the DSO is launching this unique competition. It not only brings the two musical worlds face to face, but is intended to lead them to a productive artistic exchange. Register on this page, get the loops on Soundcloud and let yourself be inspired!”
“We’re looking forward to your contributions by 31 January 2014! A distinguished jury will then select three prizewinners and the best tracks will be published on vinyl.”
Finished remixes should be submitted HERE.
Official Site: www.into-a-new-world.de
Jake C. Taylor wrote about Symphony No. 9: “From a multicultural point of view this symphony touches the essence of what music really is about; the cohesive quality of a peaceful world – a New World.”
Read the full review at Sputnikmusic.
