Stile Antico in Concert October 13, 2018 Church of St. Mary the Virgin By Christian Carey NEW YORK – The first concert in Miller Theatre’s 2018-19 Early Music Series, given in midtown at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, presented the acclaimed choral group Stile Antico from the UK. They have made regular appearances on the Miller series. As is their custom, Stile Antico sang without a conductor in a semicircle facing front. The occasional setup change consists of singers changing formation and, in pieces in which the full ensemble isn’t required, “extra” singers sit down. They
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Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Seattle
[untitled] is the moniker given by Seattle Symphony to its thrice-annual Friday night new music events. Staged in the lobby of Benaroya Hall, it’s a semi-formal atmosphere in which the Symphony can deploy its musicians in smaller groupings better suited to the exigencies of postmodern music. The first [untitled] concert of the new season took place on October 12, and featured the regional premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s Schnee, offering listeners in the Pacific Northwest an opportunity to judge how well this work has earned the considerable attention it has received in its brief ten-year lifetime. Scored for two piano quartets (one conventional,
Read moreÞráinn Hjálmarsson Influence of Buildings on Musical Tone Caput Ensemble, Krista Thora Haraldsdottir, Icelandic Flute Ensemble, Ensemble Adapter, Nordic Affect Carrier Records Composer Þráinn Hjálmarsson’s latest CD, Influence of Buildings on Musical Tone, revels in the exploratory sound world of effects and extended techniques. That said, his work is more than an assemblage of alternative ways to treat instruments. Rather, the technical extensions serve to expand Hjálmarsson’s considerable palette of expression. The five different pieces on Influence of Buildings each employ a different ensemble. The title work features the Caput Ensemble, while “Grisaille” is performed by the Icelandic Flute Ensemble.
Read moreWe’re very excited about Andrea Olmstead’s The Definitive Biography of Vincent Persichetti which is about to be published. So excited, in fact, that if you pre-order it before November, you’ll save 50% off. Here’s a factoid for those of you who don’t know much about arguably the most influential music teacher of the 20th century: His 40-year teaching career at Juilliard included students Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Jacob Druckman, Peter Schickele (P. D. Q. Bach), Einojuhani Rautavaara, and many other prominent composers. To pre-order, go to Rowman.com and enter discount code RLFANDF30, or call (800) 462-6420 ext. 3024 and mention the discount
Read moreSeason six of the wasteLAnd new music concert series began on Friday, October 5, 2018 at Art Share LA in downtown Los Angeles. Katherine Young is the featured composer this season and her work was front and center in a program consisting of three of her pieces, including a world premiere. Ms. Young stated in the liner notes that “…each of these pieces to different degrees and in different ways blur out of linear ‘musical’ forms and into sonic meditations through the use of drone, saturating textures, and/or spatialization.” The ample Art Share space was filled to capacity with an
Read moreThe Santa Barbara Museum of Art hosted the violin section of wild Up on Thursday, September 27, 2018, for a concert of new music titled Gradient. A good crowd materialized, despite the fact that the outside of the museum was cloaked in scaffolding and fencing for an extensive renovation. The Davidson Gallery was the venue, and this space also contained TV Clock, the video installation by Nam June Paik, inspiring wild Up violinist Andrew McIntosh to program four innovative contemporary works. During the museum’s renovation, ensuring the building was safe and free from any environmental hazards was crucial. This included
Read moreSupersilent 14 Smalltown Supersound 2018 On Friday September 28th, Supersilent – the experimental trio of Arve Henriksen (trumpet, voice and electronics), Helge Sten (Electronics), and Ståle Storløkken (keyboards and electronics) – released a fourteenth album, their second for the label Smalltown Supersound. The group is best known for performances of “slow jazz:” avant jazz that unfurls at a gradual rate. Supersilent 14 revels in slow tempos, as the track “14.7” (embedded below) demonstrates. However, this time out there are a few other components shifted t0 make for a different listening experience. The recording’s dozen tracks – labeled with numbers and
Read moreOn Saturday, September 15, 2018, at the Newman Recital Hall in the heart of USC, the music of Juan Pablo Contreras was heard in a concert titled The Sounds of Mexico. The occasion was his final DMA recital, and only a few empty seats could be seen in the spacious hall on a sunny summer afternoon. The concert was presented jointly by the USC Thornton School of Music and the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles. Juan Pablo Contreras is already one of the most prominent young composers in Latin America. His music has been widely performed by major
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Composers, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Flute, Music Instruments, Performers, Resources
The Glissando Headjoint for flute was invented by performer, composer, improviser, and inventor Robert Dick. Essentially, it adds a carrier tube to the standard C flute headjoint. The lip plate can be moved along the carrier tube to create true glissandi. Much of Dick’s work with the headjoint is in an improvisatory style; most of my work with it has been largely through commissioning works. One of the most rewarding things about this activity as a performer is seeing the variety of sounds composers require from the headjoint in their works. The minimal repertoire for glissando flute compared to the
Read moreOn October 25th, Constellation Records will release Entanglement, the second solo release by Jessica Moss. A violinist and vocalist who is one of the central members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and co-founder of Black Ox Orchestar, Moss draws upon a prodigious range of influences: from the post-rock and avant-klezmer of the aforementioned groups, to drones and loops reminiscent of post-minimalism. Over the past year, she has honed the material of Entanglement at over eighty concerts, developing a side-long piece, “Particles,” and a suite of four “Fractals.” Impassioned, moody, and slow-burning, her compositions are some of the most compelling
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