Terry Riley's Eclecticism in Four-Hand Piano Arrangements
Terry Riley has a problem. His achievement with In C, an aural delight and conceptual master stroke that changed the course of music history, was so enormous that it has totally distorted the listening...
View ArticleChilean Birdsong to Drone Aircraft: Bang on a Can All-Stars' 'More Field...
At times intense, unsettling and raw, the Bang on a Can All-Stars’ new release More Field Recordings, serves as a shadowy sequel to their charming and equally substantial 2015 Field Recordings album....
View ArticleTerry Riley's 'Dark Queen Mantra' Weaves Electric Guitar and String Quartet...
It is possible that someone, somewhere has listened to an assortment of recent works by Terry Riley and not been utterly charmed, but it is best not to imagine what life must be like for such a person....
View ArticleMeet the Composer and Alarm Will Sound's 'Splitting Adams'
John Adams is a contemporary composer, if not the contemporary composer, whose music speaks for itself. Adams' compositions have managed to forge a connection between the majesty of 19th-century...
View ArticleThe Shimmering Nebulae of Paola Prestini's 'Hubble Cantata'
Paola Prestini is more than a composer. Co-founder of the production company VisionIntoArt (VIA) and its recording offshoot VIA Records, her latest institutional triumph is National Sawdust, the...
View ArticleBrooklyn Youth Chorus' Wildly Energetic 'Black Mountain Songs'
The short-lived, legendary Black Mountain College was a bold educational experiment and the epicenter of a mid-century explosion of creativity in American arts. It was a ground for cross-pollination...
View ArticleThe Crossing and the International Contemporary Ensemble's 'Seven Responses'
Any record that pairs The Crossing with the International Contemporary Ensemble is virtually guaranteed to be a new-music lover's dream. ICE is one of the most remarkable little orchestras in the...
View ArticleThomas Adès Blazes With Wit and Brilliance in Orchestral Album
In 1997, at the age of 26, Thomas Adès wrote Asyla, an enormously ambitious symphonic work, and the world of orchestral music was rocked. Among other things, Adès had borrowed extraordinary new colors...
View ArticleBéla Fleck and Colorado Symphony's 'Juno Concerto'
Perhaps no musician has done more to transform the image of the banjo than Béla Fleck. As the leader of his improvising fusion outfit, the Flecktones, he reminds audiences that the banjo can play more...
View ArticleAmerican Contemporary Music Ensemble's 'Thrive on Routine'
The American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) has more than one of the cleverest band names in new music. Since the "acme" of something means the peak, the pinnacle, it also serves as a most...
View ArticlePhilip Glass's Violin Concerto and Leonard Bernstein's Serenade
Philip Glass's First Violin Concerto, hardly new to the discography, was also one of his first experiments with large orchestra. But thanks to soloist Renaud Capuçon, longtime Glass champion Dennis...
View ArticleJanus Trio's 'Book of Memory'
Finally! The chamber group known as Janus is responsible for one of 2010's most delightful releases in any genre, I Am Not. Now the flute/viola/harp trio (Amanda Baker, Beth Meyers, and Nuiko Wadden,...
View ArticleThe Delicious Wit of Composer David Rakowski
David Rakowski writes serious music. Every detail rewards close scrutiny. Every next step is unexpected, every rhythm unsettled; nothing is taken for granted. Each moment draws the listener forward to...
View ArticleListen: 12 All-Star Electronic Musicians Remix Michael Gordon's 'Timber'
Michael Gordon's Timber from 2011 was a breakthrough for the composer, fusing the trademarks of his style – experiments with timbre, and with highly complex relationships between layers of rhythm – to...
View ArticleFlorent Ghys and Bonjour Rock Out with High-Energy Debut
Composer and contrabassist Florent Ghys may hail from France, but he mastered the American style well before transplanting from Bordeaux to Brooklyn. In a city crowded with composers eager to...
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Ethan Hawke Cameos in Pianist Bruce Levingston's Philip Glass Survey
Bruce Levingston, no stranger to the music of Philip Glass, has finally issued an in-depth, two-disc survey of Glass's piano music, and the result is a surprisingly passionate and spontaneous portrait...
View ArticleTyshawn Sorey Composes Chaos in 'The Inner Spectrum of Variables'
Tyshawn Sorey's new album, The Inner Spectrum of Variables, is so surprising that any review should come with spoiler warnings. Six movements, give or take, it unfolds according to an unaccountable...
View ArticleSeattle Symphony Concludes Indispensable Cycle of Late French Master Henri...
Ludovic Morlot's Seattle Symphony has once again proved itself one of the most essential symphony orchestras in the country. Suspicions that its cycle of albums documenting the orchestral music of the...
View ArticleAshley Bathgate Plays Music of Kate Moore in Breakout Debut, 'Stories for...
Everyone can breathe now: Ashley Bathgate has finally released her first full-length solo album. She has made a number of appearances on record — usually as a member of the Bang a Can All-Stars or the...
View ArticleEnergy of Communal Music-Making Courses Through 'The Colorado'
The Colorado, a documentary film directed by Murat Eyuboglu about the geography, ecology, history and future of the Colorado River, received its premiere screening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art...
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