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Tina Pelikan from ECM’s New York office shared this most welcome news for Beethoven buffs:
 

On September 30th, ECM will release the last two volumes of András Schiff’s complete Beethoven cycle.
Just a couple of weeks later Schiff embarks upon the second half of his live performances in the USA – concert cities / dates are below.
Schiff recorded the 32 Sonatas live in eight concerts at Zurich’s Tonhalle during the 2004-2006 seasons.  
The repertoire on volume VII:
Sonata No. 27 e minor op. 90     (1814)
Sonata No. 28 A major op. 101     (1815-17)
Sonata No. 29 B-flat major op. 106     (1817-18) “Hammerklavier”
The repertoire on volume VIII :
Sonata No. 30 E major op. 109     (1820)
Sonata No. 31 A-flat major op. 110     (1821)
Sonata No. 32 c minor op. 111     (1821-22)
 
2008 concerts (***asterisks indicate concerts not part of the full cycle of 32 sonatas):
October 10                                     ***Washington, DC             Strathmore (Opp.54, 57, 78, 79 & 81a )
October 12 and 19               San Francisco                         Davies Symphony Hall
October 15 and 22               Los Angeles                               Disney Hall
October 24 and 26               Ann Arbor                                     Rackham Auditorium
October 28 and 30               New York City                         Carnegie Hall,
October 31                                     ***Philadelphia                      Kimmel Center Opp.54, 57, 78, 79 & 81a )
November 2                                 ***Chicago                                     Symphony Center   (Opp.31 & 53)
 
2009 concerts:
March 25 and April 1       Los Angeles                               Disney Hall
March 29 and April 5       San Francisco                         Davies Symphony Hall
April 7                                                   Chapel Hill, NC                       Univ of NC Recital Hall (Opp.90, 101 & 106 )
April 9 and 11                           Ann Arbor                                       Rackham Auditorium
April 13                                                 ***Ottawa Ontario             Southam Hall (Opp.90, 101 & 106 )
April 15                                               ***Princeton, NJ                     McCarter Theater   Opp.109, 110 & 111)
April 17 and 19                         New York City                         Carnegie Hall
Excellent articles on line:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/arts/music/21oest.html_r=1&ex=1193716800&en=0184ca6e77faf5b7&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/06/27/hes_got_beethoven_covered/

Randy Newman

Harps and Angels

Nonesuch CD122812-2 (www.nonesuch.com)

Randy Newman has remained busy in the past decade, particularly in the soundtrack field, but Harps and Angels is his first solo album since 1999. That recording, Bad Love, was a finely crafted but somewhat lackluster effort. In contrast, Harps and Angels is an energetic affair, one of the songwriter’s best to date.

A crack orchestra and a bevy of A-list supporting musicians – Pete Thomas, Greg Leisz, Mitchell Froom, Greg Cohen – appear on the recording; Froom and Lenny Waronker produce. Newman’s orchestrations have always been excellent – he comes from a family of film composers after all – but the arrangements here crackle with vitality; so too do his satirical lyrics. “Laugh and Be Happy” turns jingoism on its head, eviscerating backward attitudes towards recent American immigrants. “A Few Words in Defense of our Country” goes further, rivaling Newman’s best previous political commentary with a scathing assessment of the Bush administration, the Supreme Court, and the “War on Terror.” “Korean Parents” is a zany faux commercial, advertising a way to invest “American kids” with a recipe for overachievement.  

Amidst all the sardonic wit are moments of exquisite beauty. “Feels like Home” is a case in point; an earnestly lyrical ballad, it proves all the more touching and vulnerable in the context of Newman’s otherwise jaundiced worldview.

for Lou Harrison John Luther Adams New World Records 80669-2 In addition to the wonderful body of work he contributed, Lou Harrison left behind an important aesthetic legacy which has emboldened countless contemporary American composers. In the wake of polemical wars about compositional style, Harrison advocated individuality over orthodoxy. He suggested it was once again permissible, even fashionable, to revel in the sensuousness and beauty of sound. But Harrison’s music was in no way fluffy or easy-going; his compositions are well-crafted and thoughtfully considered as well as beautiful. Thirty years of close association with Harrison left Alaskan composer John Luther Adams eminently qualified to provide him with a suitable musical valediction. Rather than making an overt homage to Harrison’s considerable contributions to Western gamelan orchestras, Adams decided to score for Lou Harrison for string quartet, chamber string orchestra, and pianos. With this ensemble, Luther Adams subtly pays tribute with gong-like piano chords, a lush, often modal pitch field, and slowly evolving patterns that indeed revel in the sensuousness of the resultant sounds. An hour-long piece that drifts by in timeless fashion, for Lou Harrison is not only an affectionate tribute: it’s a glorious-sounding work. Stephen Drury and the New England Conservatory’s Calithumpian Consort deserve high praise for their exquisitely paced, well-delivered performance.

Brahms: The Sonatas for Violin and Piano
Curtis Macomber, violin; Derek Han, piano
Bridge Records 9258 (www.bridgerecords.com)
 

I’ve long admired Curtis Macomber’s performances and recordings of 20^th/21^st century music, but had heard relatively little of his efforts in 19^th century repertoire.

The violinist’s latest Bridge CD comes as a pleasant surprise. Joined by pianist Derek Han – another artist I haven’t heard playing Brahms before – Macomber records all three sonatas, and does a bang-up job!
Perhaps his experiences with contemporary music shed a different light on these warhorses of the late Romantic era. Macomber and Han favor a lithe, tautly drawn approach that strips the music of some of the lushness to which many listeners are accustomed; but it adds significant rhythmic vitality and formal coherence – a trade-off that provides ample compensation. Particularly thrilling are the fast movements; despite an ambitiously fleet tempo, the Vivace from the Sonata in A Major is as sure-footed and dramatically satisfying as I’ve heard it. The Presto Agitato from the D Minor sonata is stirringly tempestuous.
The brisk first movement of the Sonata in G Major negotiates a delicate balance: weighty in conception and airy in execution.  Han displays tender phrasing and resonant tone in the G Major’s second movement; the two performers are eloquently in sync in the work’s finale. Macomber’s Brahms serves as a reminder of how dangerous pigeon-holing can be; it would be terrible to be deprived by faulty preconceptions of this violinist’s interpretations of music from any century.

Portland Cello Project

S/T CD

www.portlandcelloproject.com

Given the intrument’s versatility, timbrally and in terms of playing techniques and compass, the cello is ideal for ensemble groupings. Portland Cello Project’s debut CD features a passel of talented Portland area cellists, as well as several guest vocalists. It includes both arrangements – a highlight is their lively rendition of De Falla’s Danza del Fuego - and original compositions which skirt the boundaries between concert and popular music. Songs such as Nick Jaina’s “Power” and Laura Gibson’s “Hands in Pockets” speak well of this hybridization, reminding one of crossover projects such as Elvis Costello’s Juliet Letters. “Living at the Side of Why,” credited to Hurtbird, channels Kraut rockers Einstürzende Neubauten with its incorporation of spoken-sung elements and funky rhythms into a classical context. And, without meaning to condemn them with faint praise, the ensemble’s version of Britney Spears’s “Toxic” is much preferable to the original! Their live set features Fauré; now that I’d love to hear them record next time out.

Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company, 1974-1976
Cuneiform Records CD Rune 147 (www.cuneiformrecords.com)

In the face of massive consolidation by the record industry, it’s nice to see some labels continuing to be bold: releasing prolifically and remaining daring in their selections of artists to champion. Maryland’s Cuneiform Records is a wonderfully eclectic imprint that puts out jazz, prog, electronic, and experimental music of a variety of stripes both new and old, A recent treasure is their reissue of music by 70s synthesizer ensemble Mother Mallard. Composer/performers David Borden and Steve Drews, joined by keyboardist Judy Borsher, used then-new analog synth technology to craft soundscapes that combined downtown experimentalism and minimalism.
“C-A-G-E Part II” was inspired by the group’s one-time collaboration with the Merce Cunningham Company in 1972. Enthused by performing a Cage work at the event, Borden created this motoric, oscillating piece, based on the letters of Cage’s name, as a sixtieth birthday tribute to the composer. It resembles the hypnotic character of some of Cage’s piano music – especially In a Landscape. “Downtown” certainly lives up to its title, recalling the early music of Philip Glass in its slow-moving harmonic rhythm and starkly limited pitch and gestural vocabulary. While still obsessed with ostinati, “Oleo Strut” is a bit more ambient in demeanor. Mother Mallard explores the potentialities of their equipment here, crafting a variety of beguiling textures with a formidable array of analog keyboards. Despite all the progress made in digital media, some of the sounds made by “vintage” synths – now period instruments – were wonderful and remain inimitable. Portable Masterpiece Company is a great trip down memory lane.