SOME RECENT CDs
by Ben Boretz
There is no question that the repetitive-pulse structures of minimalist composition make a powerful experiential point. The only question is whether they do not always make the same point, whose individual inflections are locked within an overbearing stylistic affective definition.
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Americans in Rome
Music by Fellows of the American Academy in Rome, Donald Berman, Artistic Director, 4 Discs, Bridge Records 9271A/D 2008.
by Andrew Violette
The first thing that struck me was the homogeneous style. These composers are not the pioneering visionaries you’d expect from an American disc. You’ll find no Conlon Nancarrow, La Monte Young, Kenneth Gaburo, Morton Feldman or Philip Glass. Instead you’ll find what Kyle Gann terms “midtown” composers – those still working within a tradition acceptable to mainstream ticket and CD buyers of classical music. The craftsmen on these discs reap the rewards of a musical system which lauds those who put out well-packaged and highly skilled music appealing enough to woo the average concert-goer who wants “something more” than another rendition of Mahler but is still put off by a premiere of Milton Babbitt. Bridge’s Americans in Rome marks the history and success of this institutional sponsorship (Problem: how to create good music without pandering). I juggled the first eighteen tracks on disc A (vocal music), without reading the copious notes beforehand, to see if I could pick out the composers. I couldn’t. They all sounded alike. But this is understandable. Samuel Barber and his partner, Gian Carlo Menotti, had already worked out the lingua franca of this type of American art song music which would appeal to a middle-brow audience and it stuck – all the way to third generation Robert Beaser.
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Music with A Lot of Pluck
by Joseph Pehrson ©2009
Guitar Music of Gene PRITSKER performed by guitarist Greg Baker: Scars, Wounds and Lacerations. Available at www.gregbakerguitar.com.
Gene Pritsker is an expert guitarist, so it should be no surprise that he is very capable of writing for his native instrument. Greg Baker has come out with a compendium of the complete solo Pritsker acoustic and electric guitar music to date, and he does a fine job of navigating the intricacies of Pritsker’s work.
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Terpsichore’s Dream
Terpsichore’s Dream for Chamber Orchestra: Instrumental music by Augusta Read Thomas directed by Cliff Colnoton on a one-track CD 15:30. by Gary Edwards Continue reading ‘Terpsichore’s Dream’
Operatic Bats in the Belfry
by Larry Vide ©2008
Robert Moran: The Dracula Diary. Libretto (included) by James Skofield. Houston Grand Opera Studio. Catalyst/BMG Records. 09026-62638-2. (71:24)
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Moving Meditations
by BLC ©2008
Kyle GANN: Private Dances (2000-04); Hovenweep (2000); Time Does Not Exist (2000); The Day Revisited (2005); On Reading Emerson (2006). Sarah Cahill, piano; Da Capo Chamber Players. New Albion, NA 137. (70:46)
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Le dernier cri de coeur
by Leonard Lehrman ©2008
“The Unquiet Heart: American Song Cycles.” • Ronald Perera: Sleep Now • Libby Larsen: Try Me, Good King • Stephen Paulus: Songs of Love and Longing • Bruce Adolphe: A Thousand Years of Love. Karen Smith EMERSON, soprano; Arlene Shrut, piano. Albany/Troy 909. Time: 72:03 Continue reading ‘Le dernier cri de coeur’
The Blonde in Pinsk and Blue
by Leonard Lehrman ©2008
Pinsk & Blue: The Chamber Music of Alla BORZOVA. James Rio & Paul Sperry, tenors; William Schimmel, accordion; Meighan Stoops, clarinet; Yevgenia Strenger, violin; Da Capo Chamber Players, conducted by composer at piano. Majnun Songs (1996); Scherzo (1980); Images Françaises (2002), Pinsk & Blue (1998); Mother Said (1997). Albany/Troy 923. Time: 70:42 Continue reading ‘The Blonde in Pinsk and Blue’
Beware of Music Critics in the Bureaucracy
by Leonard Lehrman ©2008
Melvin Chen plays Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH: Dances of the Dolls; Ten Aphorisms; Sonatas #1&2. Bridge 9238. Time: 67:17 Continue reading ‘Beware of Music Critics in the Bureaucracy’
A Composers’ Goldmine
by Leonard Lehrman ©2008
Songs to Seraphine: Diverse Settings of Heine’s 15-Poem Cycle. Twenty settings of 15 poems in cycle by Heinrich Heine. Music written for this concert by Erwin Ernst Wilhelm Meier, Richard Farber, Don Forsythe, Nancy Rice, Joshua Stamper, Leonard Lehrman, Gerald Ginsburg, Paul Dedell, 11 more composers from 1860-1919. Peter Shea, tenor; Elise Jackendoff, pno. Recorded in performance at Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, Cambridge, Mass. Oct. 28, 2007. Time: 43:51 Continue reading ‘A Composers’ Goldmine’
Brutal Chords Amid the Beauty
by Leonard Lehrman ©2008
David Holzman plays Roger Sessions: Sonatas #1&3; Ralph Shapey: Mutations; Mutations II; 21 Variations. Bridge 9243. Time: 79:31 Continue reading ‘Brutal Chords Amid the Beauty’
In Praise of Esther
by Dary John Mizelle ©2008
“Cigar Smoke:” Robert Rowe: Cigar Smoke • Lawrence Fritts: Musicometry I • Cort Lippe: Trio for Clarinet and Two Computers • Dinu Ghezzo: Abyss • Orlando Legname: Event Horizon III • Lawrence Moss: Lifelines • Zack Browning: Crack Hammer: Esther LAMNECK, clarinet with computer electronics. Innova 673, Time=ca. 61 min
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Compactdiscourse
by Amelia Raitt, eMusic
Gloria Coates is modern music’s most prolific female composer. This release, containing her 15th symphony and two early works, Continue reading ‘Compactdiscourse’
IN THE NEXT ISSUE
Kyle Gann: Private Dances
Kyle Gann: Private Dances. Sarah Cahill, piano; Da Capo Chamber Players. New Albion, NA 137. TT= 70:45.
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Kyle Gann: Private Dances’
A Few Odd Notes Among the Beauties
Here is Leonard Lehrmen’s review of 2 CDs of American song. American Portrait: SONGS from the parlor to the stage, Peter Halverson, baritone, and American Song, Marcus DeLoach, baritone. Orginally published in the Spring/Summer 2005 issue.
Recent Releases
New CDs by Jane Brockman, Daniel Burwasser, Sydney Hodkinson, Chris Lastovicka, Wm. T. McKinley, Brian Schober, Davide Zannoni, Mark Zuckerman Continue reading ‘Recent Releases’
“Ombre-bouchure”
By BLC
“LA BELLE OMBRE.” Music of Yael ACHER and Paul Hindemith. Acher: flute and electronic tracks. Capstone CPS-8768. TT=51:37.
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Recent Releases
[This list cites CD’s by NMC subscribers, associates, and advertisers. All NMC supporters are invited to submit the information pertaining to their latest CD or DVD releases and indicate, if applicable, the website where that information is documented by the record label. Continue reading ‘Recent Releases’