Year: 2022

Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, New York, Orchestral, Review, Twentieth Century Composer

The Parker Quartet premieres Jeremy Gill’s “Motherwhere”

April the First proved a propitious date for the New York Classical Players’ much anticipated program featuring a new collaboration – and premiere – with the Parker Quartet. In the mere twelve years since their inception, NYCP has consistently brought spirit and devotion to so much of what they do, and this early Spring concert at W83 Auditorium was no exception. In many respects, the highlight of the evening was Jeremy Gill’s joyous new work, “Motherwhere,” a concerto grosso for the Parker Quartet and NYCP. But well-worn, oft’-loved music by Tchaikovsky was also on offer, delivered with great heart. And

Read more
by Adam Sherkin
CD Review, early music, File Under?

Sandrine Piau – Handel Enchantresses (CD Review_

  Handel: Enchantresses Sandrine Piau, soprano Les Paladins, Jérôme Correas, director Alpha Classics   Soprano Sandrine Piau is a versatile artist who has compellingly performed a wide range of repertoire. Handel has remained a touchstone for Piau, and on Handel:Enchantresses, she explores a different subset of characters than the heroines and ingenues that were her bread and butter as a young singer. Handel is one of the great composers at illustrating grief, despair, and tempestuousness. The characters who inhabit these traits are given a showcase on this Alpha Classics CD.    Piau’s theatrical and expressive capabilities are on full display

Read more
by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, Microtonalism

Peter Thoegersen – Alien Music

Magic&Unique Records has released Alien Music, a collection of the early works of Peter Thoegersen that combine alternate tuning with polytempic meters. With pieces dating from 2002, this album offers a baseline view of Thoegersen’s long-time exploration of the interrelationships between pitch and rhythm. As he writes in the liner notes: “Alien Music is essentially my first Polytempic Polymicrotonal piece composed from a four part drumset composition in four simultaneous meters/tempos: 3, 4, 5, 7, all played in one sitting. There are additional microtonal instruments added in different tunings: 12tet, 19tet, 7 tone slendro, and 5 tone pelog, tuned to

Read more
by Paul Muller
File Under?, Fundraising

Jah Wobble Records a Dub Version of Ukrainian Anthem (Benefit)

Renowned bassist Jan Wobble (PIL) has joined with Ukrainian musicians to create a dub remix of the Ukrainian National Anthem. All proceeds will benefit Ukrainian Refugees. Please donate if you can. Ukrainian National Anthem In Dub by Jah Wobble & The Ukrainians (featuring Jon Klein) LYRICS      Ukraine’s glory has not perished, nor her freedom gone Our strong people, once again, fate will smile upon All our enemies will soon disappear like dew in the sun Then, once more will we be free, in the land we call our own Body and soul we will lay down for our

Read more
by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Molly Tuttle – Crooked Tree on Nonesuch (CD Review)

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway Crooked Tree Nonesuch   Songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Molly Tuttle makes her Nonesuch debut with Crooked Tree. Co-produced with dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas, the release includes a number of prominent traditional musicians as collaborators and focuses on Tuttle’s connections to bluegrass and roots music. Previous releases have seen Tuttle sit astride pop and bluegrass, and while Crooked Tree emphasizes the latter, the memorability and single-worthy character of many of its songs reminds us that she is a versatile and formidable talent.    Tuttle plays guitar in a flat-picking style and at turns plays nimble lead

Read more
by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, Music Instruments

MicroFest Records – Harry Partch, 1942

Harry Partch, 1942 is a combination CD and printed hardcover book from MicroFest Records that documents the events leading up to Partch’s pivotal recital in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music on November 3, 1942. This proved to be the turning point in Partch’s career, after many years of frustration and hardship pursuing his innovative tuning theory. The CD contains the original recording of the recital and lecture at Kilbourn Hall and includes The Lord is My Shepherd, selections from Seventeen Lyrics by Li Po and the iconic Barstow. The book brings together notes, letters, newspaper accounts and

Read more
by Paul Muller
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Orchestral, Orchestras

Wolfgang Rihm – Jagden und Formen (CD Review)

Wolfgang Rihm Jagden und Formen Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Franck Ollu, conductor BR-Klassik CD   Wolfgang Rihm’s hour long orchestra work Jagden und Formen (2008) has its roots in an earlier work, some fifteen minutes long, from 1996, dedicated to Helmut Lachenmann on his sixtieth birthday. The piece ultimately morphed and expanded into the version recorded here. There is precedence for this in postwar Europe, particularly in several of the works of Pierre Boulez, which remained in progress and perpetually expanding throughout his lifetime. In his program note, Rihm says that the piece will henceforth likely remain in its current form.

Read more
by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Aleksandra Gryka on Kairos (CD Review)

Interialcell Aleksandra Gryka Florian Müller, harpsichord; Klangforum Wien, Joseph Kalitzke, conductor Kairos CD   Klangforum Wien is undertaking a series of portrait recordings on Kairos of Polish composers. The first solo CD of music by Aleksandra Gyrka (b. 1977), Interialcell, is an impressive introduction to this composer. Consisting of ensemble pieces  written from 2003 to 2015, Interialcell provides a sense of the maturation of an already talented composer in her late twenties to work that takes on successively more intricate materials and formal designs in her thirties.    Regarding the impetus for her music, Gryka is fairly secretive. The hard

Read more
by Christian Carey
Bang on a Can, Brooklyn, Chamber Music, Choral Music, Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Festivals, jazz, Music Events, Performers, Premieres

Bang on a Can Long Play Festival 2022: An Interview with David Lang

Two years ago, I was editing a 2020 interview with the composer David Lang about the new multi-day festival that Bang on a Can planned for that spring, Long Play, when I realized the significance of the festival title. The year 2020 would be Bang on a Can’s 33rd anniversary. Long Play = LP = 33 rpm. Very clever! Although the festival was delayed for two years, it retains its name. The inaugural Long Play festival takes place on April 29, April 30 and May 1, 2022 at a half-dozen venues in Brooklyn, including BAM, Roulette, Littlefield, the Center for Fiction, Mark Morris

Read more
by Gail Wein
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Music for Hard Times (CD Review)

Living Earth Show and Danny Clay Music for Hard Times Self-released CD   It is fair to say that recent times have been hard on nearly everyone. Living Earth Show decided to create an interdisciplinary project, “Music for Hard Times,” to provide a source of musical comfort. They collaborated on the project with composer and music educator Danny Clay, who created a series of open instrumentation scores to be  interpreted by the group and made available for others to play. Music for Hard Times, the CD, provides one possible, and compelling, interpretation of Clay’s work.   Bell sonorities, pitched percussion,

Read more
by Christian Carey