Archive for the ‘The New Classical’ Category

Michael Gordon’s Rushes

Wednesday, March 26th, 2014

This week, Cantaloupe released Rushes, Michael Gordon’s latest recording. An album length piece for multiple bassoons, it layers ostinatos of repeated notes into buzzing micro-polyphonic textures. It is much like Timber, his recent work for percussionists playing wooden slats, but, of course, the permutation of pitches are more accentuated by Rushes’ bassoons. You can hear […]

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BMOP Plays Babbitt

Thursday, March 20th, 2014

Milton Babbitt: All Set Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose, conductor BMOPsound CD   One of the challenges for the reception of music by Milton Babbitt (1916-2011) has been the difficulty the composer encountered in finding performers up to the task of recording his ensemble works with clarity and precision. While one is grateful for […]

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Kate Soper on Carrier Records

Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

  Voices from the Killing Jar Kate Soper, composer and vocalist; Wet Ink Ensemble Carrier Records CD Carrier 021   On her first portrait album, composer and soprano Kate Soper inhabits the interior lives of eight women in various stages of danger and distress. Embodying characters penned by authors ranging from F. Scott Fitgerald to […]

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Vijay Iyer: Mutations

Friday, March 7th, 2014

Vijay Iyer – Mutations Vijay Iyer, piano and electronics; Miranda Cuckson, violin; Michi Wiancko, violin; Kyle Armbrust, viola; Kivie Cahn-Lipman, violoncello ECM Records CD ECM 2372   Pianist and composer Vijay Iyer makes his debut on the ECM imprint with Mutations, a recording of three piano pieces (two of them electronically enhanced) and the title […]

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ICE Clarinetist Rubin’s New Recording

Thursday, March 6th, 2014

There Never is No Light Joshua Rubin Tundra TUN 002 CD   On There Never is No Light, International Contemporary Ensemble’s clarinetist Joshua Rubin presents a program of new music for clarinet, bass clarinet, and electronics by a diverse group of composers, both elder statesman and those of the thirty/forty-something generation. The Soul is the Arena, […]

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Celebrating Octogenarian Composers

Thursday, February 27th, 2014

Next week, the eightieth birthdays of two very different composers are celebrated in New York. On March 3rd, New York New Music Ensemble fetes English composer Harrison Birtwistle with a portrait concert at the DiMenna Center (details here). Cygnus Ensemble and several soloists perform the music of Mario Davidovsky on the 4th at Merkin Concert Hall (details here). While Birtwistle is best known for his stage works […]

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Dessner and Greenwood on DG

Sunday, February 23rd, 2014

  Bryce Dessner – St. Carolyn by the Sea Jonny Greenwood – Suite from There Will be Blood Bryce and Aaron Dessner, guitars; Copenhagen Philharmonic, André de Ridder, conductor Deutsche Grammophon CD   That crossover is not a “one size fits all” phenomenon is amply demonstrated by a new recording on DG. St. Carolyn by […]

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The New Classical

Sunday, February 9th, 2014

The New Classical by Christian Carey I’m pleased to be increasing my involvement with Musical America as the official correspondent for “new music,” about which I’ll be blogging regularly in The New Classical. About me: I am a composer, performer, writer, and musicologist specializing in music theory, Post-WWII, and American music. My compositions have been […]

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