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Sequenza21 | Contemporary Classical Music Blog - Music
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Francesco Tristano – Bach: The 6 Partitas (CD review)
Bach: The 6 Partitas Francesco Tristano, piano Naïve 2XCD In his 2024 recording for Naïve, pianist Francesco Tristano interprets some of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most challenging pieces, the six Partitas for clavier. Tristano’s 2022 On Early Music was an admirable outing, with pieces by
James Romig – Matt Sargent – The Fragility of Time (Recording review)
James Romig The Fragility of Time A Wave Press Matt Sargent, Guitar Composer James Romig’s previous piece for electric guitar, The Complexity of Distance, written for Mike Scheidt, was an overwhelming paean to distorted revelry. It was a swerve from Romig’s previous compositions, wh
Winterreise on DG (CD Review)
Franz Schubert - Winterreise André Schuen, baritone and Daniel Heide, piano Deutsche Grammophon Winterreise is the third recording of Schubert’s cycles/song sets (Schwanengesang isn’t a cycle - it has multiple poets) by baritone André Schuen and pianist Daniel Heide. These were some of
Danish String Quartet – Keel Road on ECM (CD Review)
Danish String Quartet Keel Road ECM Records ECM 2785 Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, Violin, Clog Fiddle, Harmonium, Spinet, Voice, Whistle; Frederik Øland, Violin, Voice, Whistle; Asbjørn Nørgaard, Viola, Voice, Whistle; Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, Violoncello, Bass, Voice, Whistle; Nikolaj B
Ban and Maneri – Transylvanian Dance on ECM (CD Review)
Transylvanian Dance Lucian Ban, piano Mat Maneri, viola ECM Records “These folk songs teach us many things.” Transylvanian Dance is the second recording on ECM by pianist Lucian Ban and violist Mat Maneri; the first was Transylvanian Concert (2013). As the album title sugges
Leo Chadburn Primordial Pieces (CD Review
Leo Chadburn - Primordial Pieces (self-released) Composer and synthesizer performer Leo Chadburn uses very little in the way of material, but it is employed to craft expansive compositions. On “Reflecting Pool,” pianist Ben Smith plays repeated arpeggios with a sustained low note, shadowed b
Laura Lentz releases new EP (CD review)
Laura Lentz Prismatic/Plasmonic EP Music for flute and electronics Laura Lentz, flutes; Sean William Calhoun, electronics Blue on Blue Records Laura Lentz’s Prismatic/Plasmonic EP consists of three works, each addressing contemporary approaches in a different fashion. Lentz plays beaut
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė Aletheia – Choral Works (CD Review)
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė Aletheia - Choral Works Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Kļava, artistic director and conductor Ondine Žibuoklė Martinaitytė (b. 1973) divides her time between her home country, Lithuania, and the United States. Her works have earned her accolades and laurels
The Sixteen at St. Mary’s (Concert Review)
The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers The Deer’s Cry Miller Theatre Early Music Series at Church of St. Mary the Virgin Saturday, October 26, 2024 NEW YORK - This past Saturday, renowned British vocal ensemble The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers, made their Miller Th
Momenta Festival IX: Ives at 150 and a Quartet at 20
On Thursday evening in New York, Momenta Quartet's October festival - now nine years running - closed with an assorted program, enthusiastically curated by violist/composer Stephanie Griffin. Griffin is the last founding member still actively playing with the group. Noting that this festival has eve
Yasmin Williams on Nonesuch (CD Review)
Yasmin Williams - Acadia (Nonesuch) Guitarist Yasmin Williams displayed a number of unconventional methods for playing acoustic guitar during her first two recorded outings, Unwind (2019) and Urban Driftwood (2022). These were no mere tricks of the trade, instead serving as organic component
Sphinx Virtuosi and New York Philharmonic Play Black American Composers
Black American composers dominated the programming at two of New York City's major institutions last week — a 180° turn from the typical fare of Dead White Men at most orchestral concerts. On Wednesday, October 16, Carnegie Hall presented Sphinx Virtuosi -- the flagship ensemble of the Sphinx Org
Splinter Reeds – Dark Currents (Recording Review)
Splinter Reeds - Dark Currents (Cantaloupe) Splinter Reeds, the West Coast’s first wind quintet, has distinguished themselves as advocates for living composers. Dark Currents, their latest recording for Cantaloupe, features two twenty-ish minute long pieces, Tall Grass (2022) by the totalist
Tuesday, October 15th: Sacred and Profane, Sirota and Clement at Symphony Space
Tuesday, October 15th: Sacred and Profane, Sirota and Clement at Symphony Space Tomorrow, Robert Sirota and Sheree Clement, two New York based composers, combine forces to present Sacred and Profane, a shared portrait concert at Symphony Space (7:30 PM, tickets here). Sirota may be best kno
Miles Okazaki – Miniature America
Miles Okazaki - Miniature America (Cygnus Records) Miles Okazaki - guitar Jon Ibragon, sopranino saxophone, slide saxophone, voice Caroline Davis, alto saxophone; Anna Weber, flute, tenor saxophone Jacob Garchik, trombone, bass trombone Matt Mitchell, piano; Patricia Brennan, vibrapho
Louis Karchin A Retrospective at Merkin Hall (concert review)
Louis Karchin: A Retrospective Merkin Concert Hall September 22, 2024 NEW YORK - Composer Louis Karchin has been prolific, even during the pandemic years. In a program at Merkin Concert Hall of chamber works and songs composed between 2018 and 2024, he was abetted by some of New York’s
Wolfgang Muthspiel with Etudes/Quietudes – Solo Live Recording at ORF Radiokulturhaus Vienna Celebrates Craftsmanship and Creativity
With his new solo program, Etudes/Quietudes, Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel celebrates the acoustic guitar, the instrument he switched to at the age of 13. (He had been trained to play classical music on violin.) The core of this new recording is a collection of concert etudes composed by .Mu
VALIS by Tod Machover Opera Review
VALIS by Tod Machover Opera Review By Dana Reason, Oregon State University & Paris Myers, MIT Media Lab The lights dim. Nothing. Then pink. Sophia, played by Kristin Young, a NY based lyric coloratura, emerges in a neon pink bodysuit. She paces what appears to be a cat walk; bot
Brett Dean – Rooms of Elsinore (CD Review)
Brett Dean Rooms of Elsinore BIS CD Jennifer France, soprano; Lotte Betts-Dean, mezzo-soprano Volker Hemken, bass clarinet James Crabb, accordion Juho Pohjonen, piano Andrey Lebedev, classical guitar Swedish Chamber Orchestra Brett Dean, violist and conductor Compo
Cal in Red – Low Low (CD Review)
Cal in Red - Low Low (B3SCI Records) Okay, I’ll admit it; this year I’m having a bit of trouble letting go of summer. Especially because September has brought the temperature down just enough to enjoy being outside; not so the new normal of climate change we experienced in July. The band Cal
Joël-François Durand – Geister (CD Review)
Joël-François Durand Geister Kairos Music Olivia De Prato, violin; Victor Lowrie Tafoya, viola; Constance Volk, flute; Szilárd Benes and Katherine Jimoh, clarinet Mivos Quartet, Quatuor Bozzini Ensemble Dal Niente, Michael Lewanski, conductor On Geister, a double-CD release
Cafe Oto, London: Dave Smith’s 75th Birthday
On the 18th and 19th of August Dave Smith’s 75th birthday was celebrated at Café Oto with two concerts of his music, performed by Jan Steele, Janet Sherbourne, and himself. Each concert began with Smith, who is an extremely masterly pianist performing works of his, and concluded with Steele and Sher
BBC Proms: Mazzoli, Howard, National Youth Orchestra
The Prom on August 10 was presented by The National Youth Orchestra, conducted by Alexandre Bloch and Tess Jackson. The 160 members of the orchestra, who completely filled the stage, were joined by the almost as large cohort of NYO Inspire, who were in various places in the hall, including the galle
Marta Sanchez – Perpetual Void (CD Review)
Marta Sanchez Perpetual Void Intakt CD 421 Jazz pianist and composer Marta Sanchez was born in Madrid and now resides in Brooklyn. She presents eleven originals on her fifth recording, Perpetual Void (Intakt, 2024). Usually Sanchez performs and records with a quintet featuring two saxophonists.
BBC Proms Heiner Goebbles Songs from Wars I Have Seen
The late-night Prom on August 9, presented by the London Sinfonietta and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment, conducted by Chloe Rooke, was devoted to a single work, Songs of Wars I Have Seen by Heiner Goebbels. The work was written in 2007 for those same two groups, on commission from the Sou
Christopher Cerrone – Beaufort Scales
Beaufort Scales is a new CD by Christopher Cerrone recently released by Cold Blue Music. Commissioned by the Lorelei Ensemble, this album explores the musical expression of the wind at sea in eleven beguiling vocal tracks. The composer writes that each of the pieces “...comment on the state of the w
Tonight: New York Premiere by Christian Carey
Tonight, the Locrian Chamber Players gives the New York premiere of Quintet 2 by Christian B. Carey. Sequenza 21 readers know Carey very well through his insightful reviews of concerts and recordings in this publication. He is also a superb composer with a lengthy catalogue of varied works.
BBC Proms–Abrahamsen, Saariaho, Gibson
The BBC Prom on August 7 was presented by the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by John Storgårds. It featured Stefan Dohr as soloist in the Horn Concerto by Hans Abrahamsen, written between 2018 and 2019. The work is mostly a monologue by the soloist which is provided with a luminous and quite beauti
Gesualdo Six – Queen of Hearts (CD Review)
Queen of Hearts Gesualdo Six, Owain Park, director Alasdair Austin, countertenor (final track only) Hyperion Records, 2024 On Queen of Hearts, the low male vocal ensemble Gesualdo Six explores pieces devoted to queens, both the Virgin Mary (in her guise as Queen of Heaven), and quee
Neave Trio – Rooted (CD Review)
Neave Trio Rooted Chandos Records (2024) Neave Trio - violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura - has recently made several imaginative recordings for Chandos. Rooted is influenced by traditional music and by Antonín Dvořák, who brought the concept of u
Zwilich Recorded by BMOP (CD Review)
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Symphony No. 5 Sarah Brady, flute; Gabriela Diaz, violin Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose, Music Director BMOP/Sound 1098 Composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich turned eighty-five in April, and one of the many celebrations of her life and work is a recording by
Guided by Voices – “I Am A Scientist” (30th Anniversary Version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMNjBKRVqPo Video: Guided by Voices: "I Am A Scientist," 30th Anniversary Version Guided by Voices celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of their album Bee Thousand with a remake of one of their early, most-beloved songs, "I Am A Scientist," via Rolling Ston
Donald Berman plays Ives (CD Review)
Donald Berman Ives Avie, 2024 Pianist and scholar Donald Berman has made a special inquiry into the music of American hyper-modernist composers, Charles Ives chief among them. This year marks the sesquicentenary of Ives’s birth, and Berman celebrates the occasion with an Avie CD of the
Hannigan and Chamayou Perform Messiaen (CD Review)
Messiaen Barbara Hannigan, soprano Bertrand Chamayou, piano Charles Sy, tenor; Vilde Frang, violin Alpha (ALPHA1033, 2024) Soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan is an extraordinarily talented and versatile performer. Bertrand Chamayou is a superlative player of the French repert
Falletta Conducts Foss on Naxos (CD review)
Lukas Foss - Symphony 1 Amy Porter, Flute; Nikki Chooi, Violin Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta, conductor Naxos American Classics Lukas Foss (1922-2009) was an omnivorous composer who, over the course of his career, went through multiple style periods. When he was a
Synchromy – My Wings Burned Off
Mimi Hilaire On June 8, 2024 Synchromy presented a workshop reading of My Wings Burned Off, an opera by Jason V. Barabba opera with libretto by June Carryl. This was in conjunction with the 2024 Opera America conference held at various venues all around Los Angeles. The conference is a place fo
Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard and Quatuor Bozzini – Colliding Bubbles: Surface Tension and Release (CD Review))
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 d