Composers

Choral Music, Composers, Concert review, Conductors, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, New York, Orchestras

Adés Conducts the New York Philharmonic

Adés Conducts the New York Philharmonic David Geffen Hall January 24, 2026  Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey   NEW YORK – Thomas Adés is best known as a composer, but he is a talented conductor as well. Leading the New York Philharmonic in a program of recent works and a neglected early twentieth century piece, his approach was effusive and commanding, with a versatile and fluid gestural repertoire. The orchestra’s musicians always play at a high standard, but their performance on last Saturday’s concert was superlative, and given the challenges posed by the programmed pieces, all the more

Read more
by Christian Carey
CD Review, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical

Music for Guitars, Bass Clarinets & Contrabasses on Aural Terrains

Music for Guitars, Bass Clarinets & Contrabasses – Various Artists (Aural Terrains) Last month, I was pleased to have my music visit Cafe Oto for the first time, with Feier, a solo piece, performed on a contrabass clarinet. The venue is well known for presentations of experimental music of many kinds. Not all of the shows there are in circulation, but Cafe Oto has some releases for sale on their website. Others have been documented for the label Aural Terrains, including a new recording of a gig from 2023, made by a most heterogeneous grouping of instrumentalists: guitarists, bass clarinetists,

Read more
by Christian Carey
Choral Music, Composers, Concert review, Contemporary Classical, early music, File Under?, Miller Theater, New York

The Tallis Scholars at St. Mary’s (Concert Review)

Mother and Child The Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips Miller Theater Early Music Series, Church of St. Mary the Virgin December 4, 2025 By Christian Carey   NEW YORK – The choral ensemble The Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips, are regular visitors to Manhattan, and their December concerts at Church of St. Mary the Virgin have a devoted following (pardon the pun). Often they perform a Marian-themed program appropriate to the space, and  their appearance this past Thursday was no exception. In addition to pieces principally drawn from the English Renaissance, a new Salve Regina setting by the

Read more
by Christian Carey
CD Review, Classical Music, Composers, Twentieth Century Composer

LuLo: The Restless – Rued Langgaard reimagined

Painful footsteps are behind me Here you stand so clear and far Through the willows all I see is a lonely burning star –Thor Lange, “Sun at Rest” Cellist Kirstine Elise Pedersen and bassist Mathæus Bech, a.k.a. LuLo, came together through a shared fascination with the singular, often-misunderstood Danish composer Rued Langgaard (1893–1952). Their approach to his music is both reverent and daring. Rather than treating the scores as sacred artifacts, they dismantled them lovingly, listening closely to recordings, transcribing passages by ear, and distilling sprawling works—from piano pieces to string quartets and symphonies—down to a page or less of

Read more
by Tyran Grillo
Books, Chamber Music, Composers, File Under?, Strings, Twentieth Century Composer

A Book on Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 1

Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 1, by Laura Emmery, Cambridge Elements, Music Since 1945, Cambridge University Press.    Laura Emmery has done a great deal of analytical research on the music of Elliott Carter, and her book on his string quartets is a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning how he composes. Emmery’s latest publication is part of Cambridge University Press’s Elements series, one of several slender and specific books that each deal with a particular topic. Here, it is Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 1, which was composed in 1950-’51 and is widely regarded as a watershed work

Read more
by Christian Carey
CD Review, Composers, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Piano, Twentieth Century Composer

Pierre Boulez Played by Ralph van Raat (CD Review)

Pierre Boulez Piano Works, Ralph van Raat (Naxos)   The Pierre Boulez centennial year has seen a number of important concerts, publications, and recordings devoted to his music. Boulez (1925-2016) wrote three piano sonatas, which are considered important both in his catalog and in the avant-garde repertory. Contemporary music specialists tend to gravitate towards these totemic compositions – Idil Biret has recorded them for Naxos – but there are several other works for piano by Boulez, and they too are worthy of attention. Ralph van Raat has previously recorded for Naxos two selections by him, the early pieces Prelude, Toccata,

Read more
by Christian Carey
Choral Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Criticism

Estonians Play Their Pärt

In listening to a three-hour concert of music by Arvo Pärt, the brilliance of the Estonian composer’s craft becomes clear. His use of percussion is a masterclass in orchestration, announcing the beginning of a piece with a chime, punctuating string passages with a ding or a gong, and clamorous timpani rolls in rare fortissimo moments. This all-Pärt concert on October 23 was the first program in a season-long celebration of the 90-year old composer at Carnegie Hall. Pärt holds the Composer’s Chair at Carnegie this season (that’s the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair, to you). The occasion was also the American

Read more
by Gail Wein
Composers, Concert review, Concerts, Dance, File Under?, New York, Orchestras

Salonen Conducts New York Philharmonic (Concert Review)

The NY Philharmonic Celebrates Boulez’s Centenary Works by Bartók, Boulez, Debussy, and Stravinsky Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano New York Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor Saturday, October 4, 2025 Saturday, October 11, 2025 NEW YORK – In October, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted the New York Philharmonic for two consecutive weeks. Both programs celebrated the centenary of the composer and conductor Pierre Boulez (1925-2016), who was Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1971-1977. Boulez was a key figure of the post-WWII avant-garde and a proponent of serial music, then in its early stages. By the 1970s, Boulez was an internationally renowned conductor of

Read more
by Christian Carey
Classical Music, Commissions, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Microtonalism, Piano, Review

Georg Friedrich Haas’ 11,000 Strings At Park Avenue Armory

At first glance, it seems like a stunt: 50 pianos and pianists, plus 25 other instrumentalists, all arranged in a circle around the perimeter of the vast Drill Hall of the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. They were there to perform 11,000 Strings, a 66 minute composition by Georg Friedrich Haas, commissioned and performed by the Austrian new music ensemble Klangforum Wien. Performances began September 30 and run through October 7, 2025 (I attended on October 2). At the onset, I was ready to condemn this work as B.S., a party trick, but it’s definitely more than that.

Read more
by Gail Wein
Composers, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, File Under?, Recording review

Ken Ueno sings Sonic Calligraphies in the Tank (Recording review)

Ken Ueno – Sonic Calligraphies (Off-record) Composer and vocalist Ken Ueno is a creator and performer of notated composition, sound art, and improvisation. A professor at UC Berkeley, Ueno’s singing  involves extended techniques, with an investigation of throat-singing styles from many traditions being just one facet of them. His explorations have also often included using a megaphone.  The megaphone is not often thought of in musical contexts, but rather as an amplifier of spoken voices, often strident in demeanor and used for warning of danger, imposition of power, and inducing fear. Ueno’s employment of it in previous contexts turned these

Read more
by Christian Carey