Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard and Quatuor Bozzini – Colliding Bubbles: Surface Tension and Release (Important) Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard is a composer based in Copenhagen. On his latest EP he joins forces with the premiere Canadian string quartet for new music, Quatuor Bozzini, to create a piece that deals with the perception of bubbles replicating the human experience. In addition to the harmonics played by the strings, the players are required to play harmonicas at the same time. At first blush, this might sound like a gimmick, but the conception of the piece as instability and friction emerging from continuous sound, like
Read moreKronos Says Goodbye to Two Members After a Hello to Moondog and Sun Ra Many are celebrating the tenures of two members of Kronos Quartet – violinist John Sherba and violist Hank Dutt – who are, after more than forty-five years, retiring from the group at the end of June. As a valediction, I have been listening to and enjoying recordings from throughout their catalog. I am impressed by how enduring the quartet’s creative vitality and imagination has persisted, even on their most recent outings. Joined by the Ghost Train Orchestra and a number of guest vocalists, last
Read moreSaturday June 8, 2024 in Ojai began with an overcast sky and cool breezes, but this did not prevent a good size crowd from filling the Libbey bowl for the 10:00 AM concert. Works by three contemporary composers were featured: John Zorn, Missy Mazzoli and John Adams. Accordionist Ljubinka Kulisic opened the concert with Road Runner, by John Zorn. Ms. Kulisic is from Bosnia-Hertzegivina and received her DMA from the University of Toronto in Canada. I admit to harboring a certain skepticism about this piece; music for solo accordion would seem to belong in a different cultural orbit. Using a
Read moreThe 78th annual Ojai Music Festival opened on Thursday June 6, 2024 and continued through Sunday June 9. The Music Director for this year was Mitsuko Uchida. Featured artists included the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, violinist Alexi Kenney , cellist Jay Campbell, bassist Rick Stotijn and the Brentano String Quartet. The Ojai Festival always brings a mixture of fresh contemporary music along with the works of cherished composers such as J.S.Bach, W.A. Mozart and Béla Bartók. The cool morning weather did not deter a good turnout for the 10:00 AM Friday concert in the Libbey Bowl. First
Read moreComposer, vocalist, and instrumentalist Caroline Shaw rejoins Sō Percussion for Rectangles and Circumstance, a new full length recording out today on Nonesuch. To celebrate the release, a video for the lead-off single, “Sing On,” has been released on YouTube today. Rectangles and Circumstance combines imaginative percussion writing with abundant electronics and Shaw’s pop-adjacent singing. Shaw takes on an assured and distinctive role. Her voice is sometimes treated to make it nearly unrecognizable. Elsewhere, her singing is presented in its natural, fetchingly lyrical guise. Sō has developed a sound world that befits Shaw’s heterogeneous compositions, using a plethora of pitched percussion, drums, and electronics. Whether
Read moreCold Blue Music has released Waves and Particles, a new CD by John Luther Adams featuring the JACK Quartet. This new album by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Adams explores the deeper levels of elemental nature through extraordinary musical expression. The composer writes: “Waves and Particles was inspired by quantum physics, fractal geometry, and noise – which function as elemental metaphors in my music.” This is realized by the renowned JACK Quartet who artfully extract new and exceptional sounds from the standard string quartet. This new album follows three previous CDs by Adams, released by the Cold Blue label and recorded by
Read moreNancy Galbraith Everything Flows BMOP Sound Published by Sequenza 21 Nancy Galbraith has taught for a number of years at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. During that time, she has created a body of compelling orchestral works. Colorfully scored and post-minimal in approach, Galbraith’s music has received prominent performances but been relatively underserved on recording. As a corrective, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, conducted by Gil Rose, has recorded for BMOPsound three of her concertos, all written in the past eight years. Violin Concerto No. 1 (2017) was premiered by its soloist here, Alyssa Wang, with the Carnegie Mellon
Read moreOn February 1, 2024, sadfam records released Stained Glass, a new album of experimental electronic ambient music by Los Angeles-based keyboardist Steve Blum. Inspired by the glasswork at the Zionskirche in Berlin, this album is “…where the past and future intersect: destruction and creation, ostentation and modesty, reactionaryism and progressivism.“ Minimalist in structure with a variety of electronic and ambient sounds, Stained Glass skillfully blends technology with the art of music. Forest is the first track of the album and has a bright, bouncy piano line to open. The notes sparkle like rain drops as a countermelody is heard in
Read moreIt’s always a family affair with The Knights. The orchestra was founded in 2007 by the brothers Eric and Colin Jacobsen, who share artistic director duties as well as musical positions (Eric is conductor; Colin is concertmaster). Another family connection on the May 16, 2024 program at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall was that of the soloist, the pianist Jeffrey Kahane, for whom his son Gabriel Kahane wrote a concerto. Heirloom, a work which explores music through the lens of several generations of Kahane’s family, received its New York premiere at this concert. Its conventional three-movemennt construct and post-Shostakovich style fit right
Read moreRichard Baker The Tyranny of Fun NMC Recordings Composer and conductor Richard Baker (b. 1972) has been an important fixture on the British new music scene for over a decade. While The Tyranny of Fun refers to a work on the recording, it also could be seen as an analog for Baker’s mixture of fierceness and whimsy in many of his pieces. He had the right teacher – Louis Andriessen at the Hague – to develop this sort of emotional dichotomy in his work. He has also championed composers like Gerald Barry and Philip Venables, who both walk an
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