Nordic Boomers at Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music July 27, 2026 Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey LENOX – The annual Festival of Contemporary Music concludes with an orchestra concert by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. This year, the festival was curated by Esa-Pekka Salonen, and featured themed programs spotlighting emerging composers, Gen X creators, and Monday’s concert, “Nordic Boomers,” dedicated to fifty and sixty-something Scandinavian composers. Most were colleagues of Salonen from his early days as a student composer. These connections were fruitful, but each composer forged their own path, as was evidenced by the FCM
Read moreMy Steve Reich odyssey has taken me to several cities so far this year, including Liverpool, Manchester, London, Cologne and New York, so it seemed fitting that at least one event marking the composer’s ninetieth anniversary year should happen closer to my doorstep, in Wales. In fact, it’s a two-hour drive from where I live to Aberystwyth, where Solem Quartet and singer Alice Zawadzki were performing as part of this year’s Musicfest Festival. Driving down the northwest coast of Wales towards Aberystwyth (through some astonishingly beautiful scenery, where the mountains tumble into the sea), it struck me that perhaps Reich’s
Read moreLes Arts Florissants at Caramoor July 17, 2026 Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey KATONAH, NEW YORK – Les Arts Florissants are the premiere ensemble devoted to French music of the baroque era. Though they have branched out from this remit in recent years – their most recent recording is of Haydn masses – the group remains devoted to performing French opera. On Saturday, they presented two one acts by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1633-1704), their namesake piece, Les Arts Florissants, and La Descente d’Orpheé aux Enfers. The ensemble’s dozen musicians were directed by its founder William Christie, who also
Read moreAlongside Steve Reich’s Violin Phase (1967), Philip Glass’ Strung Out (1968) ranks as early minimalism’s most important work for solo violin. However, unlike Violin Phase—which has received countless performances and several recordings during its nearly sixty-year shelf life—Strung Out has largely gone unnoticed. This twenty-minute work has remained something of an outlier, consigned to the periphery of Glass’ back catalogue. Even when I’ve discussed Strung Out with violinists who frequently perform Glass, several have admitted to not knowing about it. This definitive new release by gifted and versatile violinist Darragh Morgan will surely dispel any lingering doubts about the significance of this piece. It may not
Read moreAmbrose Akinmusire and Mary Halvorson – Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings (Nonesuch) Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings is the first recorded collaboration by the duo of trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and guitarist Mary Halvorson. Spontaneity and through composed material are on display, with both playing roles in all of the pieces. “Prelude in the Ash” begins with a questing trumpet solo before the guitar joins with a sinuous arpeggiated chord pattern. “This Vivid” is more muscular, with solo material – a high trumpet note and single line guitar solos – repeated amid ebullient shouts. Calling a piece “Soundcheck” might suggest something off the
Read moreImprovisation, especially of the largely unplanned and entirely freeform variety, can be a bit hit-and-miss, particularly when it becomes apparent that the performers aren’t singing (or playing) from the same hymn sheet. Nevertheless, when collective interactions click into place—as on this seven-track mini-album by Alexander Varty on guitar & electronics, Andres Kahre on percussion and electric cello, and violin virtuoso Jack M Campbell—the results can be truly striking and illuminating. No Room For Error came about through a serendipitous encounter between Campbell and longtime collaborators Varty and Kahre on Gabriola Island (which lies in the Strait of Georgia in British
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