The surest form of flattery

All right, folks, I'm back, somewhat refreshed from vacation. (Although I always end up a bit stressed when I'm ostensibly relaxing, because I'm acutely aware of the work that's accumulating while I'm away - which was magnified a bit by extra concerts and guest conducting weeks that were added to my fall schedule very late in the summer...)

So, an interesting bit of news, as the Olympics were winding down in Beijing. I remember Breiner's arrangements from the Athens Games as well as the controversy surrounding his setting of the national anthem of the USA. I didn't mind the lack of bombast so much, although I confess I was a little confused by the serenity of the "rocket's red glare/bombs bursting in air" bit - I don't know if I exactly buy the notion of introspection at this point, although the harmonic progressions are a nice diversion. Here's a link to the "Breiner original" (press "play" to download the audio file - sorry for the awkward presentation...)

And for comparison, here's a link to the women's 4x400 medal ceremony from Beijing (it begins around 5:17 in the video - again, sorry for the inelegant linking, I could only find this on the NBC website). The crux of the controversy are the remarkable similarities in the Breiner (Athens) version and the arrangements played in Beijing, purportedly arranged by a Chinese composer specifically for the Beijing Games.

Breiner's version is not a conventional setting. In fact, I would say it's striking. I cannot fathom how a version so similar, both in unusual orchestration and altered harmonies, could have been written without prior knowledge of the original Breiner arrangements. The only question in my mind is, was this unconscious imitation or something a bit more nefarious?

And a final bit of music new from China.